COACH Software – Frequently Asked Questions

You can sign up to COACH after you have created a balcony design and wish to save it. You will be sent a verification email after signing up. You must click the link within the email to confirm and verify your account.  

Before you begin a design you can also sign up by selecting “Login” from the top right corner then select the sign up option.

COACH enables you to create compliant balcony designs faster whilst giving you the detail you require to adequately specify the product. When using COACH and after use you will get access to a suite of design information. Below is a list of some of the features you will have access to after signing up to the software.

• Computerised pricing of your COACH balcony design
• Tender submissions for your balcony design
• Automatic structural calculations

• Generating the quality process for each balcony
• Automated production drawings
• Guidance tips based on the location of the project.
• Computer created BIM files
• Value engineering analysis

• Standard design library for customers
• And more…

This is not part of the current version of COACH. In the future this will give the ability for you to set up a company profile and link colleagues to designs and projects. If you wish to share your project in the current version, you must request a proposal and then contact the estimator who completed the proposal to share the project on your behalf. 

This feature is not available in the current version 4.0. We are currently working on this feature and it will be released imminently. 

Yes, you can use a balcony library template for your projects and can change the specification to fit your needs, but please note that these spec changes do not happen on the template itself. You cannot permanently change the library. You only modify the design within the project. 

To use a template to begin configuring your design you can use the balcony library. On the current version the balcony library only includes predefined balcony designs by Sapphire. Simply select the “Use Template” button to make changes to the template.

Please Note: Users cannot save balconies to the balcony library. This can only be populated by our team

When creating a balcony, the COACH software provides you with a range of customisations, this includes the ability to change:

• The balcony name and quantity of units
• The connection type (Cast-In/Post Fixed), slab thickness and floor thickness

• The Cassette shape, size (including angles), drainage type and decking option
• The Balustrade type, height, top rail and fascia
• The Colour of decking, façade and balcony
• A summary of your specification.

If there is something that you would like to see or have on your balcony which is not listed, please select the closest option that is available and add some free text in the notes box. This will then be reviewed to see if your requirement is able to be met.

Yes, every time you start creating a new balcony and wish to save the design, the software will ask you to save the balcony design to a new project or existing project.

You can also select “Add balcony” from the project page. This will take you to the configurator. Then when you click save it will be immediately stored to that project.

Yes. You are now able to add your required RAL numbers for each component. Currently you can only display some generic colours in the 3D image and configurator.

If there is something that you would like to see or have on your balcony which is not listed, please select the closest option that is available and add some free text in the notes box. This will then be reviewed to see if your requirement is able to be met.

Designs are individual balcony designs and projects are groups of balcony designs. One project may have numerous balcony designs, types and quantities.  

To edit a previous design, select the project you wish to amend, select edit mode in the top left corner of the project page. An edit option will then show in the bottom right of the project page.

Please note that when you request a proposal, you will loose your edit rights until the estimator comes back with the requested proposal… That’s intentional as we do not want user to add/remove balconies during the proposal preparation

Once you have requested a proposal you automatically lose your edit rights until an estimator comes back to you with the requested proposal, unless an estimator gives your edit rights upon your request. That’s intentional as we do not want user to add/remove balconies during the proposal preparation.

If you wish to make changes to the project and proposal you must contact the estimator. Minor changes may be made by the estimator unless they wish to give you access.

No, only one person can edit a project at one time. We encourage collaboration but only one individual can edit a design and project at any time to safeguard the project from error. You can see who is editing the design (if anyone is) when you wish to edit the project. 

The purpose of this feature is to enable you to keep a simple list of current projects you are working on. If a project is not current, you may wish to archive it.

When you archive a project, you only archive it for yourself. If a project is archived but has been marked as a favourite, it will remain in the favourite list.

You can restore archived projects if you wish to edit or change the old design.

To change the project details, enter the project page. Select the project you wish to change the details for. Select the “Edit Project Details” to amend the name, description, address and postcode.  

If you wish to share your project in the current version, you must request a proposal and then contact the estimator who completed the proposal to share the project on your behalf. 

Select the project from your Current Projects list. Top left of the project details is a ribbon icon. Click this ribbon to mark the project as a favourite. Select again to remove from favourites. 

This function is not available within the current version but a future version will include this feature. If you want to use an existing design on a new project, follow the step below to copy the balcony design to a new project. 

To copy or reuse an old balcony design on a project, enter the project page and select the project you wish to copy or reuse. Select “Go to Project”. Select the design you wish to copy. Select the duplicate/copy icon beside the delete button to copy the design to another project.  

Please Note: To copy a balcony design to a new project, you must first create a new project, then select to copy the design to the new project. To create a project, you must first create an initial balcony design. 

Yes, you can add/remove balconies to/from a project as long as you have edit rights. But if another user is editing your project, you can’t do it at the same time. There are 2 ways to do this.

Firstly, you can start a new design from the top navigation by selecting “Create New Balcony” and after designing you can assign it to the project.

Second, you can go to the project manage page, select the project you wish to add a new design to and select the “Add Balcony” button from the right project overview menu.

Please note: When you request a proposal, you will lose your edit rights until the estimator comes back with the requested proposal. That’s intentional as we do not want user to add/remove balconies during the proposal preparation.

Yes, you can change the name of a balcony design/type when you begin to design the balcony. This is the first field you can amend when creating a new design.

You can also rename the design through the project manage page. Select the project which includes the design you wish to rename, beside each balcony design within the project is the option to edit the design. Select the “Edit” button beside the design you wish to change.

This will open the design for changes. Within the Balcony Info tab, you can change the balcony name. Click save to save your changes.

Yes, all balcony designs are set as default to 1 balcony. You can change the quantity of balconies by selecting the project which includes the design you wish to amend the quantity for, beside each balcony design within the project is the option to edit the design. Select the “Edit” button beside the design you wish to change.

This will open the design for changes. Within the Balcony Info tab, you can change the “Number of” balconies. Click save to save your changes.

In version 4.0 you can create up to 30 different balcony types within a single project. 

After the proposal is finished by one of our estimators you will receive an email notification with a link and password to access your proposal pack online. You will need to select the link and enter this password online to access the proposal pack. 

The proposal pack includes four documents and potential additional files.

1. Your balcony proposal
2. Technical Submission
3. Installer Pricing & Information
4. Terms & Conditions
5. Additional files (this can include images of the balconies)

All documents and images are available for download from the COACH system.

No, customisations can not be made on the proposal. You can make customer requests/notes on individual balcony designs but not the proposal. When designing your balcony, every option, such as decking, balustrading, colour etc has a notes section. You can add custom notes and requests within this field during the design. 

After submitting the project for a proposal, you cannot edit the project, unless you contact the estimator. To request another proposal please contact the estimator to make them aware of the changes you wish to make to the existing proposal. 

Project Pricing can only be requested by requesting a proposal for your project. To do this see the above question on requesting a proposal.