# Your First Project

Create a project, follow it, and learn the layout every job shares.

A new job usually starts as a folder tree someone copies from the last job, wrong in ways nobody notices until October. In Submittal Kit a project starts as one form, and the structure comes with it.

## Create a project

1. Open **Projects** and click **New Project**.
2. Enter the **Job Number** first (optional, e.g. 80-26-0014). It leads the form because it's how everyone will refer to the job; your most recent number is shown as a hint so the sequence stays consistent.
3. Add the **Project Name**, an optional description, and click **Create Project**.

Not ready to commit a real job? On an empty project list, **Build a sample project** creates a worked example with equipment, submittals, and a schedule already in place, so you can explore before entering your own work.

![The New Project form](https://submittalkit.com/static/images/help/your-first-project-new-project.webp)

## Follow the projects you work

Every project row carries a star. Starring a project follows it, and your [dashboard](/help/dashboard) rolls up only the projects you follow, so a new member sees a project picker before anything else. Follow the jobs that are yours; skip the ones that aren't. Followers also receive schedule emails when a change moves the finish date meaningfully (see [Project settings](/help/project-settings)).

## The project page

Open a project and the work lives in three tabs:

- **Equipment.** The register of everything you're furnishing. Start here, or [import your BOM](/help/import-a-bom).
- **Submittals.** The packages you'll compile and issue from that register.
- **Specifications.** The project spec, [uploaded](/help/upload-specifications) and readable in place.

Above the tabs, the **Logs & lists** band holds every record page for the job: Schedule, Submittal Log, RFI Log, Punch List, Change Orders, Contacts, Procurement, and Budget. Each shows a count of what it holds, so a glance tells you which records are live on this job.

![A project's tabs and Logs & lists band](https://submittalkit.com/static/images/help/your-first-project-tabs.webp)

> The register is the foundation everything else reads from. Ten minutes on the [Equipment tab](/help/equipment-register-basics) now pays back in every submittal, RFI, and O&M manual later.

When the register has entries, [create your first submittal](/help/create-a-submittal).

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Submittal Kit · Getting started · Updated 2026-08-15
Canonical: https://submittalkit.com/help/your-first-project