Can Cash Workspace calculate my margin on each piece?

No. It stores the material cost lines and the payments you record on a piece so both sit on one record, but it does not compute margins, profit, or tax figures for you. Any totals you want to read off the record are ones you enter and arrange yourself. This is organizational guidance, not accounting advice.

Does it read my casting invoices or stone certs automatically?

No. There is no OCR or automatic extraction. You attach the casting invoice or certificate to the piece record and type in the cost, carat, or cert number yourself. The workspace keeps the document and your recorded figures together, but it does not read the documents.

Can it remind clients about the balance owed on a commission?

No. Cash Workspace does not send automatic payment reminders and does not process or collect payments. It records each deposit you log and the remaining balance so you know the number, but reaching out to the client and taking the final payment happens outside the workspace.

How should I handle a commission paid in three stages?

Keep one record for the piece and log each payment as it arrives with its date, amount, and the stage it covers, attaching the receipt each time. The record then shows every deposit in and the balance still owed, so at delivery the remaining amount is clear without recombining slips of paper.

Cash Workspace

Use the Freelancer template

For jewelers and custom studios

Repair ticket and custom order records for jewelers

A ring resize, a stone reset, or a one-off engagement piece can sit on your bench for weeks while gold and stones move in and out and the client pays in stages. This page is about keeping one record per physical item that holds both halves of the picture: the high-value material going into that exact piece, and the deposit-vs-balance trail showing what was collected and what is still owed. Cash Workspace is a free place to organize those records, attach the casting invoice, the stone cert, the deposit receipts, and the intake photo, and see at a glance which pieces are paid in full and which still carry an open balance. It does not read your documents, sync your bank, or process payments. You record the figures and attach the proof, and the record keeps them together against one piece.

Start a free workspace See a per-project cash view

The problem

Why a single per-piece record matters at the bench

When a custom piece or a complex repair runs for weeks, the money and the materials drift apart. The deposit lands in one place, the casting house bills you later, the loose diamond comes in on a memo, and the client pays the balance at pickup. By the time the piece is done, the slip of paper in the envelope no longer tells you what the gold actually cost or whether the second deposit ever cleared. A per-piece record keeps the material cost and the payment trail attached to the same item so nothing about that ring or pendant lives only in your head.

A custom commission may take a 50% deposit at design approval, a second payment when the stone is sourced, and the balance at delivery, so the open balance changes three times before pickup.
Gold and stones are the expensive part of the piece, and the casting invoice or stone cert often arrives days or weeks after you quoted the client.
Repair tickets pile up in a tray and the deposit envelope gets separated from the work order and the before photo.
At pickup you need to know the exact remaining balance on that one piece, not a rough total across the bench.
When the same client commissions a second piece, last year's deposit math is impossible to find unless each piece had its own record.

Per-piece workflow

Building one record for one piece, from intake to paid in full

Each repair ticket and each custom commission gets its own record inside a per-piece folder. You add material costs as the casting and stone invoices arrive, and you log each deposit as it comes in, so the record always shows the material cost on one side and the running balance on the other. These are practical organizing steps, not accounting calculations done for you.

1
Open the piece record at intake
When a repair drops off or a commission is approved, create a record like 'CO-2026-014 Sapphire halo engagement ring' or 'RT-2026-208 Solitaire resize 6 to 7'. Attach the signed work order and an intake photo of the piece, and record the quoted total and the agreed deposit schedule in the record notes.
2
Log the deposit you collected
Record the first deposit (date, amount, method) and attach the deposit receipt. For a $4,200 commission with a 50% deposit, you record $2,100 in and a $2,100 balance remaining, so the record shows the open balance from day one.
3
Add material cost as proof arrives
When the casting invoice or the loose-stone invoice comes in, add it as a material-cost line on that piece and attach the document. Use product-defined expense categories such as 'Gold casting', 'Loose stones', and 'Findings' so the material side of each piece is consistent.
4
Record interim payments and update the balance
If the client pays a second stage when the center stone is sourced, log it and attach the receipt. The record now shows two deposits in and a smaller balance still owed, with every payment proof on the same piece.
5
Close the piece at pickup
When the final balance is paid, record the last payment, attach the final receipt, and note the piece as paid in full. The completed record holds the full material cost, every deposit, and the zero remaining balance for that one item.
6
File the finished piece into the fiscal-year folder
Move the closed record into the year's completed-pieces folder so the active bench tray only holds open work, while finished commissions and repairs stay retrievable with their full cost and payment trail intact.

Record structure

What to record on each piece

These are the fields to capture per repair ticket or commission so the material cost and the deposit-vs-balance trail both live on the same record. Record them by hand; Cash Workspace stores and organizes them but does not extract them from your documents.

Piece ID and description: A unique reference plus a plain description, e.g. 'CO-2026-014 Sapphire halo ring, 18k white gold' or 'RT-2026-208 Resize solitaire 6 to 7'.
Type: repair ticket or custom commission: Marks whether the piece is a bench repair or a bespoke build, so you can keep the two streams distinct within the same per-piece structure.
Quoted total and deposit schedule: The agreed price for the piece and the planned stages, e.g. '50% at approval, 25% at stone sourcing, 25% at delivery'.
Material cost lines: Each gold, stone, casting, or findings cost as its own line with amount and category, e.g. 'Gold casting $640', 'Center sapphire 1.8ct $1,950', 'Side diamonds $310'.
Deposits and payments received: Date, amount, and method for each payment in, e.g. 'Deposit 2026-03-04 $2,100 card', 'Stage 2 2026-04-11 $1,050 transfer'.
Remaining balance: The balance still owed on this piece after payments received, updated as each deposit lands and recorded so pickup is unambiguous.
Stone details and certificate reference: Carat, type, and the lab cert or appraisal number for higher-value stones, with the cert document attached to the piece.
Status and key dates: Intake date, promised date, current stage (e.g. at caster, setting, ready for pickup), and whether the piece is paid in full.

Example setup

An example layout for one studio

A folder tree that keeps active bench work separate from finished pieces, with one record per physical item. Repair tickets and custom commissions each have their own per-piece record carrying both material cost and the deposit-vs-balance trail.

Custom Commissions 2026 / Active

One record per in-progress bespoke piece, e.g. 'CO-2026-014 Sapphire halo ring' holding the work order, intake photo, casting invoice, sapphire cert, and two logged deposits with the remaining balance.

Repair Tickets 2026 / Active

One record per repair on the bench, e.g. 'RT-2026-208 Solitaire resize 6 to 7' with the signed ticket, before photo, gold cost line, the deposit taken at drop-off, and the balance due at pickup.

Completed Pieces 2026 / Paid in Full

Closed repair and commission records moved here at pickup, each showing full material cost, every deposit, the final payment, and a zero remaining balance, e.g. 'CO-2026-009 Emerald three-stone pendant'.

Material Invoices 2026

Casting house invoices, loose-stone invoices, and findings receipts, each also attached to the specific piece record it belongs to so costs trace back to one item.

Deposit & Payment Receipts 2026

Receipts for every deposit and balance payment, named by piece ID and stage, e.g. 'CO-2026-014 deposit', 'CO-2026-014 stage 2', attached to their piece records.

Common mistakes

Common mistakes to avoid

Tracking deposits in one list and material costs in another, so no single piece ever shows both its cost and its open balance.
Recording only the total taken and not which stage it covered, so at pickup you cannot tell whether the second deposit was actually collected.
Letting the casting invoice sit unattached because it arrived after the quote, leaving the piece with no recorded gold cost.
Reusing one folder for all repairs instead of one record per ticket, so before photos and deposit receipts get mixed across pieces.
Forgetting to attach the stone certificate to the piece, so the highest-value material has no proof tied to it.
Leaving finished pieces in the active tray, making it hard to see which records still carry a real outstanding balance.

How it helps

How Cash Workspace helps

One record per physical piece

Create a dedicated record for each repair ticket or commission, keeping material cost lines and the deposit-vs-balance trail together against that single item.

Attach the proof to the piece

Attach the work order, intake photo, casting invoice, stone certificate, and each deposit receipt directly to the piece record so nothing is filed loose.

Product-defined material categories

Use consistent expense categories like gold casting, loose stones, and findings so the material side of every piece reads the same way.

Fiscal-year and stage folders

Separate active bench work from completed, paid-in-full pieces with year folders, so open balances stand out from finished records.

Export and accountant-ready records

Export a piece's records, or a year of completed work, into clean records you can hand to your accountant at tax time.

Per-project cash view folder

Pair expected inflows and costs for a single project or commission to read its net cash position as work progresses.

Antique dealer acquisition cost records

A sibling per-item ledger for buy-restore-resell goods, recording acquisition plus restoration spend against the eventual sale price per unique item.

Deposit held records overview

Keep a running overview of refundable deposits you are holding and their expected return, useful when a commission deposit may need to be returned.

Receipt and invoice organizer

Organize the casting invoices, stone-supplier invoices, and deposit receipts that back each piece into tidy, attachable records.

Client payment follow-up

Track which pieces still carry an outstanding balance so you can follow up on the unpaid portion before or at pickup.

Unpaid invoice tracker

See open balances across pieces at a glance when several commissions are mid-stage with deposits taken but balances still owed.

Finance workflows

Browse the full set of finance organizing workflows to pair this per-piece approach with monthly and year-end routines.

FAQ

Questions jewelers ask

Can Cash Workspace calculate my margin on each piece?: No. It stores the material cost lines and the payments you record on a piece so both sit on one record, but it does not compute margins, profit, or tax figures for you. Any totals you want to read off the record are ones you enter and arrange yourself. This is organizational guidance, not accounting advice.
Does it read my casting invoices or stone certs automatically?: No. There is no OCR or automatic extraction. You attach the casting invoice or certificate to the piece record and type in the cost, carat, or cert number yourself. The workspace keeps the document and your recorded figures together, but it does not read the documents.
Can it remind clients about the balance owed on a commission?: No. Cash Workspace does not send automatic payment reminders and does not process or collect payments. It records each deposit you log and the remaining balance so you know the number, but reaching out to the client and taking the final payment happens outside the workspace.
How should I handle a commission paid in three stages?: Keep one record for the piece and log each payment as it arrives with its date, amount, and the stage it covers, attaching the receipt each time. The record then shows every deposit in and the balance still owed, so at delivery the remaining amount is clear without recombining slips of paper.

What this page does and does not do

Cash Workspace is a free tool for organizing your repair and commission records: keeping one record per piece, attaching documents, and recording the material costs and payments you enter yourself. It is not accounting or bookkeeping software and does not give tax, legal, or valuation advice. It does not sync with your bank, read or extract data from your invoices and certificates, classify documents, send payment reminders, or process payments. Material costs, deposits, balances, and stone details are figures you record and verify; the workspace simply keeps them together against each piece. This is organizational guidance only.

Start organizing your pieces for free

Open a free Cash Workspace and create your first piece record today: one repair ticket or one commission, with its material costs and deposit-vs-balance trail in one place. As more pieces come across the bench, each one keeps its own record from intake to paid in full. Cash Workspace is operated by HELPERG LLC; questions are welcome at info@helperg.com.