Time-based vs project-based bookings explained

• How the discipline decides the model

  Every practitioner discipline maps to one of the two models, set in code and not changeable per practitioner.

  • Time-based bookings — for piercers, permanent makeup practitioners, and laser practitioners. Their work fits well-known time slots (a 30-minute lobe piercing, a 45-minute laser session, a 90-minute lip blush touch-up). The practitioner publishes their services with a price and a duration, and clients lock a specific slot.
  • Project-based bookings — for tattoo artists and body modification practitioners. Their work needs upfront discussion before any date can be set: size, placement, references, sometimes multiple sessions. The practitioner sees the brief first, then proposes a date, a duration, and a price.

  The split isn't arbitrary — it reflects how the work actually happens. A piercer can quote a price and a duration off the menu; a tattoo artist needs to look at the reference and the body part before they can.

• Time-based bookings — piercers, permanent makeup, laser

  The booking starts with the client picking a service from the practitioner's list, then choosing a date and a free slot from the agenda. The slot's length is the duration on the chosen service, no negotiation. The client adds notes, agrees to policies, submits.

  What happens next depends on whether the service has a deposit:

  • No deposit — the booking is confirmed the moment the client submits. The slot is locked on the practitioner's calendar.
  • Deposit required — the booking sits as pending until the deposit arrives. The client gets a "Pay Deposit Now" button on the submission success screen and can pay via Stripe (if the practitioner has it connected) or follow the practitioner's manual instructions. Once the practitioner confirms receipt of the deposit, the booking auto-confirms.

  There's no per-field negotiation, no proposal tennis. The slot the client picked is the slot they'll get. One booking, one slot, one session — time-based bookings can't span multiple sessions; if a client needs a follow-up, they book again.

  The setup work the practitioner needs to do for any of this to work — services with prices and durations, the Advanced Availability & Schedule card with weekly hours so the slot calculator can run, deposit settings — is covered in Getting started as a practitioner.

• Project-based bookings — tattoo artists, body modification practitioners

  The booking starts with the client describing the project. Tattoo artists use an intent picker — New Tattoo, Touch-up, Cover-up, or Consultation — and the form then asks for the size, placement, style, and reference images that match the chosen intent. Body modification clients pick a service from the practitioner's list and describe placement and references.

  Both flows then collect scheduling preferences (preferred days, time ranges, single vs multi-session, whether the client can handle several sessions in a row) and a location (the practitioner's home studio, or a guest spot they're hosting elsewhere). The client agrees to policies and submits. The booking lands as pending in the practitioner's queue, waiting for them to read the brief and propose the actual scheduling.

  From there, the practitioner proposes — per session — the date, the time slot, the duration, the price, and the deposit. Each of these is a separate field, and the client accepts or rejects each one independently. Either side can counter-propose. The session only confirms once every field is accepted (and the deposit, if any, is paid and confirmed). Once every session in the booking is fully confirmed, the booking itself becomes confirmed.

  A project-based booking can hold multiple sessions in one record. A long piece that needs three sittings is one booking, three sessions, each with its own date and price. The practitioner can also add a follow-up session to a confirmed booking at any time — when they do, the booking moves back to pending until the new session is fully proposed and accepted.

  The setup work the practitioner needs to do — for tattoo artists, the Tattoo Process & Pricing card with rate, deposit, and workflow notes; for body modification practitioners, the Body Modification Services & Pricing card with at least one service (a price on each service is optional — it's only a rough indicator, since the real price is proposed per session after the brief comes in) — is covered in Getting started as a practitioner.

• What's the same regardless of model

  A lot, actually. Once you look past the form and the negotiation, the rest of the booking system runs the same shape on top of either model.

  • The same statuses — every booking moves through the same lifecycle: pending → confirmed → completed (or dropped), regardless of how it got to confirmed.
  • The same Info Cards are required to accept bookings — Services & Pricing for the discipline, Availability & Schedule, and Policies & Legal — though the contents of each card vary by discipline.
  • The same calendar — every confirmed booking shows up on the practitioner's Bookings calendar (and the studio's calendar, for residents and guest spots).
  • The same deposit options — Stripe Connect (if the practitioner has it set up) or manual payment with practitioner confirmation. The deposit amount is set per service for time-based, per session for project-based. How that money is held, refunded, or forfeited if the booking is cancelled is the same regardless of model — covered in Deposit rules and refund eligibility.
  • The same review process — once the work is complete, the client leaves a one-way review. The practitioner doesn't rate the client.
  • The same chat — every booking gets its own conversation with the practitioner, and a booking tag at the top of the chat shows the booking's current state.

• Why the split matters

  The model affects three things readers usually want to know:

  • What clients see on the practitioner's profile — for time-based, Book Now opens a slot picker. For project-based, Book Now opens a project brief form. Same button, very different next screen.
  • What setup the practitioner needs to do first — time-based practitioners can't take bookings until their services have prices and durations, plus weekly hours so the slot calculator can run. Project-based practitioners can take bookings as soon as their pricing card is filled and their calendar is open; weekly hours are still useful (clients see them on the profile) but don't gate anything.
  • How negotiation flows — none for time-based (the slot is the slot). For project-based, every field is its own back-and-forth, and that's the bulk of the booking experience until everything is confirmed.

  Once a booking is confirmed and on the calendar, both models behave roughly the same way. The differences are upstream of confirmation, not downstream.

Frequently asked questions

Can I switch a practitioner from time-based to project-based, or the other way around?

No. The model is tied to the discipline you picked at sign-up — piercers are always time-based, tattoo artists are always project-based, and so on. Account types and disciplines are permanent on InkMap; if you genuinely need a different one, the only path is to create a new account with a different email.

Why don't tattoo artists have a list of services like piercers do?

Tattoo work is intent-based by design. Clients pick New Tattoo, Touch-up, Cover-up, or Consultation when they tap Book Now, and the form asks for the project specifics from there. Tattoo artists fill the Tattoo Process & Pricing card — rate, deposit, references, workflow — instead of a service menu. Body modification practitioners are project-based but do use a service list; tattoo is the one discipline where the form opens with an intent picker.

Can a time-based booking have multiple sessions?

No. One booking, one slot, one session. If a piercing needs a follow-up check or a laser session needs a repeat treatment, the client books again as a separate booking. Multiple sessions inside a single booking record only exist for project-based work.

What about studios — do they accept bookings the same way?

Studios don't accept bookings on their own profile. Clients book a specific practitioner who works at the studio, and that booking follows the practitioner's discipline model. The studio dashboard then aggregates every team member's bookings into one shared calendar — but each booking on it is governed by its own practitioner's model.

Does the practitioner have to manually accept time-based bookings?

Not when there's no deposit. A time-based booking with no deposit is confirmed the moment the client submits, no practitioner action needed. With a deposit, the practitioner has to confirm the deposit was received before the booking auto-confirms — but that's a deposit step, not a separate "accept this booking" step.