FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers on hiring industrial field service technicians, posting missions, payments and setting up your profile on FindFST.
Getting Started
FindFST connects industrial companies in Europe and the United States with field service technicians, with no agency in between.
1.A company posts a mission: the machine, the fault or the work, photos and dates.
2.Technicians apply with a quote, or the company invites the technician it wants.
3.The company approves a quote and pays. The payment is held until the work is done.
4.The technician does the work, logging it in Mission Control as they go.
5.When the mission is completed, the technician is paid and both sides rate each other.
The technician keeps 100% of their rate. The company pays the platform fee on top: 6%, or 10% on a mission marked urgent.•Mission: a piece of field service work a company posts.
•Application: a technician's offer to do a mission, with their quote.
•Booking: a technician on a mission, from the moment the company accepts them until the mission is completed.
•Quote: the technician's price. An hourly rate with estimated hours, or a fixed price, plus any travel and other costs.
•Mission Control: the workspace for one booking, with the brief, the quote, the timesheets, the Mission Log and completion.
•Platform fee: 6% on top of the technician's rate, paid by the company, or 10% on an urgent mission.
→Terms of ServiceMissions
Go to →Post a Mission and choose the type: on-site, remote or shift cover.
For on-site and remote work, select the machine from your fleet, or add it there and then. The machine sets the address and fills in its brand, industry and machine type. Answer what kind of work it is and your matching priorities, add at least one photo (up to five) with a short caption each, and press FindFST Engine: it drafts the title and the description, and suggests skills, certifications and parts that you add with a click or leave.
Then post it to every technician, or post it invite only and invite the technicians you choose. Shift cover works differently, see Shift Cover below.
For on-site and remote work, select the machine from your fleet, or add it there and then. The machine sets the address and fills in its brand, industry and machine type. Answer what kind of work it is and your matching priorities, add at least one photo (up to five) with a short caption each, and press FindFST Engine: it drafts the title and the description, and suggests skills, certifications and parts that you add with a click or leave.
Then post it to every technician, or post it invite only and invite the technicians you choose. Shift cover works differently, see Shift Cover below.
The machine and what it is doing wrong, in plain words and with photos. The FindFST Engine turns rough notes into a draft, so a caption like "encoder fault on the unwind, line stops every 20 minutes" is more use than "technician needed".
Then check the draft and add what only you know:
Then check the draft and add what only you know:
•the dates, and how long you expect the work to take
•the certificates the site asks for
•the arrival instructions: the gate, parking, who to ask for
Arrival instructions, and the meeting link on a remote mission, are shown only to the technician you book.It depends on the type of mission:
→Pricing & Refunds
•On-site and remote: optional. Leave it blank and technicians quote their own price.
•Shift cover: there is no budget. You set the hourly rate and the hours per shift, and technicians apply at that rate.
What you pay in the end comes from the quote you approve, plus the platform fee: 6%, or 10% on an urgent mission.→Pricing & Refunds
When the mission is posted to every technician, FindFST emails the technicians whose profiles match at least 80% of its requirements, and the listing carries an Urgent badge. The platform fee also becomes 10% instead of 6%, paid by the company. The technician still keeps 100% of their rate.
•Published: open to applications. The mission page shows Actively Recruiting until a technician is booked or the end date passes.
•In progress: the company has paid an approved quote and the work is under way.
•Completed: the mission is finished and settled.
•Disputed: someone has filed a dispute, and the mission is frozen until it is settled.
•Cancelled: the company cancelled it before a quote was paid.
Yes, until a technician is booked: open the mission and choose Edit Mission Details. Once a booking is confirmed, the pay, the address, the mission type and the requirements are locked, because the technician has quoted against them.
Once Stripe has verified your identity, open →Missions and filter by skill, brand, industry, machine type or country, or search by keyword. The FindFST Engine scores each mission against your profile, so the more of your expertise you list, the better the order.
→Your expertise
→Your expertise
Open the mission and press Apply. The form asks for:
You can apply to each mission once, and your identity has to be verified through Stripe first.
→Verification
•your quote: an hourly rate and estimated hours, or a fixed fee
•the dates you propose
•a message to the company: the equipment you know, similar work you have done
On a shift cover mission you pick the days you can cover instead, because the company has set the rate.You can apply to each mission once, and your identity has to be verified through Stripe first.
→Verification
Post a new mission for the extra work. Each mission is one defined piece of work with its own quote, timesheets and payment, and the new one can go to whoever is best placed to do it. If you are the technician and you see more work is needed, tell the company in the Mission Log in Mission Control.
Applications
The company accepts or declines your application, and you get a notification either way.
If it is accepted, a booking is created and the mission opens in Mission Control, where your quote waits for the company to approve it and pay. Nothing is paid at acceptance: the payment comes with the quote approval. If the company rejects the quote, it gives a reason and you can send a revised one.
If it is accepted, a booking is created and the mission opens in Mission Control, where your quote waits for the company to approve it and pay. Nothing is paid at acceptance: the payment comes with the quote approval. If the company rejects the quote, it gives a reason and you can send a revised one.
A pending application stays with the company until it accepts or declines it, and you cannot apply to the same mission a second time.
Once your application is accepted, and until the company has paid, you can use Withdraw from Mission in Mission Control, which cancels the booking. After payment, a problem goes through a dispute instead.
Once your application is accepted, and until the company has paid, you can use Withdraw from Mission in Mission Control, which cancels the booking. After payment, a problem goes through a dispute instead.
Bookings & Mission Control
The workspace for one booking, open to the company and the booked technician from the moment the booking is confirmed. Its tabs:
•Details: the brief, the arrival instructions, the site requirements, and the Mission Log, a chat for the mission
•Quotation: the technician's quote, which the company approves and pays
•Timesheets: the daily hours, hidden on a fixed-price quote
•Completion: extra costs, and closing the mission
The technician also has a Report link, where they write the mission report as the work goes.The status at the top of Mission Control:
•Confirmed: the technician is booked but the quote is not paid yet. It can also read Quotation Pending, Quotation Rejected or Awaiting Payment.
•Accepted: the company has paid and the work can go ahead.
•Disputed: a dispute is open.
•Completed: the mission is closed and settled.
An invitation the technician has not answered yet is pending, and one they turn down is declined.The technician's quote is an hourly rate with estimated hours, or a fixed price, plus travel and other costs, with a note to explain it. Either side can attach up to five supporting documents, a hotel booking for example.
The company approves it and pays in one step, or rejects it with a reason, and the technician can then send a revised quote. A quote cannot be changed while it waits for the company, and once it is paid it is final.
On shift cover there is nothing to negotiate: the company confirms and pays at the rate it set.
The company approves it and pays in one step, or rejects it with a reason, and the technician can then send a revised quote. A quote cannot be changed while it waits for the company, and once it is paid it is final.
On shift cover there is nothing to negotiate: the company confirms and pays at the rate it set.
On an hourly quote the technician logs each day's hours and what they did. The company approves or rejects each timesheet, and a rejected one goes back to the technician to correct. A company that trusts the technician can switch on Auto-Approve Timesheets in Mission Control.
The approved hours times the quoted rate make up the labour in the final amount. Every timesheet has to be approved, and there has to be at least one, before the company can complete the mission. A fixed-price quote has no timesheets.
The approved hours times the quoted rate make up the labour in the final amount. Every timesheet has to be approved, and there has to be at least one, before the company can complete the mission. A fixed-price quote has no timesheets.
Costs that came up during the work and were not in the quote, a part bought on the day for example. The technician enters one amount with a description in the Completion tab, and the company approves it or rejects it with a reason. An approved amount is added to the final settlement and carries the platform fee. It has to be settled before the mission can be completed.
1.The technician presses Complete Mission, rates the company and confirms a short work record. Any extra costs have to be confirmed first.
2.The company presses Complete Mission & Generate Invoice. That settles the money and produces the invoice, and the company chooses whether the mission report is Visible on the technician's profile or Confidential.
3.In the same step, before confirming, the company can rate the technician. If it skips the rating, it gets one reminder to rate later.
A mission nobody completes is completed automatically. Both sides are warned 5 days after the booking's agreed end date, and at least 2 days later the mission completes on its own, approving the timesheets and extra costs that have waited 2 days for the company's review. Anything submitted or changed later waits its own 2 days, and a timesheet dated outside the agreed dates is left for the company to decide. It does not complete while a dispute is open, when a timesheet or extra cost was rejected and not sent again, when no timesheet was logged on an hourly quote, or before the technician has marked a fixed-price mission complete. The Completion tab in Mission Control shows the earliest date.Talk first, in the Mission Log in Mission Control.
Before you have paid, you can remove the technician from the booking in Mission Control, and the mission goes back to being open.
After payment, file a dispute from the Actions menu in Mission Control. The mission is frozen while the dispute is open. Both sides can send messages and evidence, the technician can propose compensation, and the company approves or rejects it. When both sides confirm, it settles automatically. Either side can escalate it to FindFST Support, and the team decides.
Before you have paid, you can remove the technician from the booking in Mission Control, and the mission goes back to being open.
After payment, file a dispute from the Actions menu in Mission Control. The mission is frozen while the dispute is open. Both sides can send messages and evidence, the technician can propose compensation, and the company approves or rejects it. When both sides confirm, it settles automatically. Either side can escalate it to FindFST Support, and the team decides.
Before the quote is paid:
•the company can remove the technician, and the mission goes back to being open, reject the quote, or cancel the whole mission, which ends the booking too
•the technician can withdraw from the mission, or decline an invitation
After payment there is no cancel button: a problem goes through a dispute, which decides any refund. A mission nobody is booked on can be deleted from the company dashboard.Payments & Fees
There is no subscription and nothing to pay to join. When a company books a field service technician, it pays the platform fee on top of the technician's rate: 6%, which covers card processing and FindFST, or 10% on a mission marked urgent. The technician keeps 100% of their rate.
Example, in CHF: a technician quotes CHF 1,000. The company pays CHF 1,060 and the technician receives CHF 1,000, less any fee Stripe or their bank charges on the payout.
→Pricing & Refunds
Example, in CHF: a technician quotes CHF 1,000. The company pays CHF 1,060 and the technician receives CHF 1,000, less any fee Stripe or their bank charges on the payout.
→Pricing & Refunds
When it approves the technician's quote in Mission Control. That one step opens Stripe Checkout for the quote plus the platform fee, and only the company's owner or an admin member can do it. Nothing is paid when an application is accepted.
The money is held by FindFST until the mission is completed, and the field service technician is paid from it.
The money is held by FindFST until the mission is completed, and the field service technician is paid from it.
At completion the final amount is worked out from what was approved: the hours times the rate, or the fixed price, plus travel, other costs and approved extra costs, plus the platform fee.
•Less than the company paid: the difference is refunded automatically. The platform fee is not refunded, because it is charged on the quoted amount or the final amount, whichever is higher.
•More than the company paid: the difference is charged to the card saved at checkout, as long as the new total stays within the tolerance the company chose there (0% to 25%, 10% by default). Above that, FindFST sends a settlement invoice, due in 7 days.
Payments run through Stripe, which is certified to PCI DSS Level 1. FindFST never stores card numbers or bank details: Stripe holds them, and technicians give their bank details to Stripe directly when they set up their payout account.
→Privacy Policy
→Privacy Policy
Invoices & Payouts
•A purchase order for the approved quote, which the technician sees as a mission order.
•A Stripe invoice for each payment, and a credit note for any refund.
•At completion, the invoice for the company and the earnings statement for the technician, each with a PDF.
•The mission report, written by the technician.
Companies find their Stripe invoices under Manage Billing & Invoices. →BillingAt completion FindFST transfers the final amount (the hours or the fixed price, travel, other costs and approved extra costs) to the technician's Stripe account. If the company still owes an overage, that part follows once the company pays the settlement invoice. Stripe then pays it out to the technician's bank on Stripe's payout schedule.
The payout is in the mission's currency. If your bank account is in another currency, Stripe converts it and its conversion fee comes out of your payout. To avoid that, add a bank account in the mission's currency to your Stripe account, where Stripe allows one for your country.
The payout is in the mission's currency. If your bank account is in another currency, Stripe converts it and its conversion fee comes out of your payout. To avoid that, add a bank account in the mission's currency to your Stripe account, where Stripe allows one for your country.
Verification & Stripe
Through Stripe. On the Verification tab of your profile, connect a Stripe account: Stripe checks your identity and sets up the bank account your payouts go to. Until that is done you cannot see or apply to missions, and your profile is not listed in the technician directory.
The bank account can be in the EU, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, the United States or Canada. You can live anywhere.
To use the dashboard you also need at least 3 skills, 3 industries and your years of experience on your profile.
→Verification
The bank account can be in the EU, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, the United States or Canada. You can live anywhere.
To use the dashboard you also need at least 3 skills, 3 industries and your years of experience on your profile.
→Verification
Automatically, the first time the company pays for a mission or opens its billing page, which is when its billing is set up with Stripe. A verified company gets a check mark on its public profile. Posting missions, inviting technicians and sending messages do not wait for it.
Companies do not need a Stripe account of their own: they pay through Stripe Checkout.
Companies do not need a Stripe account of their own: they pay through Stripe Checkout.
On the Uploads tab of your profile:
→Uploads
•your CV, as a PDF. The FindFST Engine reads it and suggests skills, industries, a bio and more, which you accept or ignore.
•reports of past work and certificates, as PDFs or images. The AI summarises each report, and the summary stays private until you publish it.
•your professional liability insurance certificate, which the FindFST team reviews. Some missions require it.
Licences are a tick list, with nothing to upload. Never upload a medical certificate.→Uploads
Stripe often confirms an identity straight away, but sometimes asks for more documents, which takes longer. An insurance certificate waits for the FindFST team to review it. The Verification tab shows where you are.
→Verification
→Verification
Profiles, Search & Machines
What lets companies and the FindFST Engine match you to the right missions:
→Your expertise
•your skills, machine types, brands and industries, as specific as you can: "Siemens S7-1500" says more than "PLC"
•a bio with the equipment you know and the work you have done
•a photo and your role title
•your CV, which fills much of this in for you
The FindFST Engine reads only the structured parts (skills, machine types, brands, industries and certifications). Companies read the rest.→Your expertise
•your logo, a short description and your website
•your machines, on the Machines tab, because they feed every mission you post
•your site requirements (PPE, access rules, the site induction) for each address, which carry into your missions
•your billing address and VAT number, printed on invoices and purchase orders
Once you have added machines, press Write with AI on the Profile tab and the FindFST Engine drafts a description from your machines and addresses for you to check.→Company profile
Two ways:
•Search →Technicians by skill, brand, industry, machine type and country, and invite the one you want to a mission.
•Post a mission. The FindFST Engine compares it with the verified technicians and shows the best matches with a score and the reasons for it, so you can invite them. Technicians can also find the mission and apply.
Every technician listed has had their identity verified.The FindFST Engine compares a mission's requirements with a technician's structured profile: skills, machine types, brands, industries and certifications. It gives a score out of 100 with the reasons and the gaps. Free text such as a bio never goes into it, and neither does the rating, so a technician new to the platform is not marked down for being new.
The score is advice: you choose who to invite and book. If you pick Local for being nearby on an on-site mission, only technicians within 100 km are shown, and Regional shows only technicians in the mission's country.
The score is advice: you choose who to invite and book. If you pick Local for being nearby on an on-site mission, only technicians within 100 km are shown, and Regional shows only technicians in the mission's country.
Both sides rate each other from 1 to 5 stars, with an optional comment of up to 500 characters that is shown publicly.
•The technician rates the company when they complete their side of the mission.
•The company rates the technician when it completes the mission. If it skips the rating, it gets one reminder to rate later.
A rating cannot be changed or deleted once submitted. The overall rating is the average of all the ratings received.On →Machines, press Add Machine. Take a photo of the machine, and one of its nameplate if it has one: the FindFST Engine reads them and fills in the name, brand, industry, machine type and model for you to check. You can add up to five more photos or documents, a manual for example, and give the machine its own address if it is not at your company address. Serial numbers are not accepted.
Selecting the machine on the mission form sets the mission's address and fills in its brand, industry, machine type and control system, so the right technicians match. The rest of the machine record is offered as suggestions you can add. The machine's photos and documents are shared with the technician you book.
Mission Reports
The technician writes it in Mission Control while the work goes on: a daily log, photos and a summary, which the FindFST Engine can draft. It locks when the mission is completed.
The company decides when it completes the mission:
•Visible: listed under Completed Missions on the technician's profile. Opening it takes a login.
•Confidential: only the rating and the comment are shown, and the company can choose to share the report with the technician.
Messages, Notifications & Support
Yes. A company's owner or admin member can message any technician from their profile, the matching list or a mission page, and a verified technician can message a company from its profile or a mission page. A company and a technician profile share one conversation, kept on the Messages tab of Support. A message is not an application and creates no booking.
→Messages
→Messages
You get a notification in the app for everything that needs you: applications, mission updates, timesheets, messages, payments and bookings. Technicians can also get saved search and urgent mission alerts. In the notification settings you choose which of these also reach you by email or as a push notification. A few always arrive, a dispute being filed for example.
→Notification Settings
→Notification Settings
What it needs to run the platform: your profile, your missions and bookings, timesheets, ratings and the documents you upload. Payment details stay with Stripe. Private details, such as a mission's arrival instructions or a technician's phone number, are shown only to the people who need them.
→Privacy PolicyFor a copy of your data, ask through →Contact Support.
→Privacy PolicyFor a copy of your data, ask through →Contact Support.
On the Account Management tab of your profile, with your password. It is not possible while you have an active mission, booking or open dispute. Your profile is removed and your login closed, but invoices and the records behind them are kept for accounting.
→Account Management
→Account Management
Signed in, go to →Contact Support: write the subject and the message and attach up to five files, screenshots for example. That opens a support ticket, which you can follow and reply to on the Support Tickets tab of Support, where the team updates its status (New, In Progress, Resolved). To follow up on a resolved ticket, open a new one and mention the old one.
Field Service Manager
Team Profiles let one account run several technician profiles, for a field service manager with a crew. Each profile has its own name, photo, skills and rating, and applies to missions and is booked as its own technician. All payouts go to the account's one Stripe account. There is no limit on how many profiles an account holds.
→Team Profiles
→Team Profiles
On →Team Profiles, press Add Technician and fill in their name, photo and expertise. The button works once your own Stripe account is set up for payouts. Each new profile then verifies its identity with an ID document that the FindFST team reviews.
Yes. Once a member's ID is approved, the Login button on their row emails them a code to set a password. Their login opens Mission Control for their own missions (the brief, the timesheets and the report) and their notification settings, and nothing else.
Identity, yes: the owner is verified through Stripe and each member through an ID document. Insurance can be uploaded for each profile, or a profile can use the approved policy of another profile on the team.
The profile says so: "Member of [name]'s team on FindFST", with the team's other profiles listed beneath it.
Shift Cover
A mission to cover shifts at your site, rather than work on one machine. On →Post a Mission choose Shift Cover, then pick the address, a category (Maintenance, Mechanical, Electrical, Multi-skilled, Automation & Controls, Hydraulics & Pneumatics, Welding & Fabrication, Instrumentation & Calibration, HVAC & Refrigeration, or your own), the dates, the hourly rate and the hours per shift.
The company sets the terms: the hourly rate times the hours per shift times the number of shifts, plus the platform fee (6%, or 10% if urgent). Technicians apply at that rate, with no negotiation, choosing the days they can cover. The company confirms and pays in Mission Control, and the approved hours are settled at completion.
