Many tradespeople dream about becoming their own boss, but the hours spent on quotes, invoices, and schedules can easily become a nightmare. The admin end of your trade business is equally as important as how good you are on the tools — handling enquiries, quotes and estimates, invoices, and managing subcontractors are all essential to your growth and reputation.
The smartest way to run your trade business is to use job tracking software. Below we explain the how and why.
The best way to find success is by having a solid plan in place. Download our free Business Plan Template for trade businesses!
Short on time? Jump ahead!
- Admin made easy with job tracking software
- Robust mobile app
- Track each project using job cards
- Create quick quotes, estimates, and invoices
- Charge exactly what you’re owed
- Allocate jobs efficiently
- Get the most out of your team
- Keep subcontractors in the loop
- Stop chasing up timesheets
- Keep on top of schedules
- Less admin pain, more bottom-line gain
1. Admin made easy with job tracking software
Putting off admin tasks until you’ve knocked off for the day has always been accepted as part of the job. But with most trade business owners spending an average of 18 hours per week on their admin, it’s also what stops many small businesses from hitting their full potential.
Job tracking software (like Tradify) lets you get your admin done on-site, between jobs or from your work van, so you can spend your evenings and weekends doing more of what you love.
2. Robust mobile app
On the Tradify mobile app, you can access many of the same features you’ll find on Tradify’s web version, right from the palm of your hand. You can easily manage enquiries, helping to reduce response times and win you more work. Additionally, sole traders have an optimised version of the Tradify mobile app that caters to the needs of a solo operator.
3. Track each project using job cards
Forget having an appointment calendar in one spot, notes for the job in another, and a quote saved elsewhere. Tradify lets you create job cards to store all that vital information in one place and get the work scheduled quickly.
With job cards, you can:
- Manage field staff by assigning tasks and due dates.
- Attach health and safety forms and job service reports.
- Add specific financial info like bills and purchase orders.
- Customers can sign documents like quotes, forms and job service reports.
4. Create quick quotes, estimates, and invoices
With Tradify, you can create quotes and estimates from any device. The faster you can create and send a quote, the more likely you will win the job. Tradify also syncs with popular accounting and payment software packages like Sage, Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, and Stripe — further reducing double-handling. It means you can create invoices in an instant and get paid quicker.
5. Charge exactly what you’re owed
While your time estimates might only be out by 20 minutes a day, over a week, that can quickly add up to a lot of lost profit. Job management software keeps records of how long jobs take (especially recurring work), clarifying on whether you’re charging enough, which types of jobs are money-makers, and which might be better to decline politely.
Not sure how much to charge? Check out our Charge-Out Rate Calculator.
6. Allocate jobs efficiently
Use the real-time map functionality (available on the mobile app and web) to see the locations of upcoming jobs. You can allocate team members by region, or plan your week if you’re operating solo. If field staff have location permissions enabled, you can also see who is close by to dispatch if an urgent job comes in.
7. Get the most out of your team
Job tracking software will minimise downtime by ensuring your team know exactly where to be next (and even help them navigate to their next destination). Through Tradify, they’ll receive notifications of their upcoming jobs and any changes you might make.
8. Keep subcontractors in the loop
Tradify’s Connections feature lets you send appointments and jobs to subcontractors, regardless of whether they’re paid Tradify users or not. This means you don’t have to change how you’re working if you need an extra pair of hands, and it makes them feel part of your team.
9. Stop chasing up timesheets
Job tracking software with timesheet functionality makes it easy for staff to create and submit digital timesheets and use the live job timer to record hours. That way, you don’t have to wait for timesheets to be submitted or chase them up come month’s end, and your team gets paid accurately.
10. Keep on top of schedules
Juggling multiple jobs (and staff, if you have them) can quickly become overwhelming. Tradify’s scheduling software provides you three views to see upcoming jobs — what’s happening today, who is allocated and where. You can also organise jobs with custom statuses, categories, and by customer profiles.
11. Less admin pain, more bottom-line gain
Do you often take a stab in the dark when you’re quoting or estimating? Do you spend Mondays figuring out what team members to send to which jobs? Not sure where you jotted down contact details for a new enquiry? All of that is lost time and money.
With job tracking software, your bottom line will benefit from:
- More accurate quoting - thanks to historical data stored against previous jobs
- Less double-handling - notes, timesheets, and client data are all stored in one central location.
- Less downtime - team members know where they need to be next.
- Getting your evenings and weekends back - you’ll be more focused and productive when you’re on the job.
Job tracking software provides a simple solution to deal with admin tasks as they pop up throughout the day. By tackling these as you go, you’ll avoid a colossal catch-up at the end of the week. Keeping on top of admin with simple, easy-to-use job tracking software will make your trade business more efficient — and ultimately boost your bottom line.
Sign up for a 14-day free trial. No credit card required, no contracts. Or pop over to one of our live demo webinars to see Tradify in action!
