Job Management Software
Jobber, ServiceM8, Tradify, Simpro, AroFlo. There are a lot of options and the wrong one will cost you more time than it saves. We work out how your business actually runs, get you onto the right platform, and — the part that decides whether it sticks — make sure your crew is still using it in month three.
The vendor runs the rollout. We run the adoption. Everyone else in the chain is measured on getting you switched on. Nobody is measured on whether it is still being used at Christmas, and that is where this actually fails.
Why the wrong platform costs more than no platform
Most tradies who have tried job software once are reluctant to try again, and usually for a good reason. They picked a platform on a recommendation from someone in a different trade, spent a weekend setting it up, used it properly for three weeks, and then quietly went back to the whiteboard and the notes app.
That is not a discipline problem. It is a fit problem. A platform built around scheduled maintenance contracts will fight you every day if your work is quoted jobs and variations. One built for a solo operator will run out of room the moment you put a second van on the road. Software you are working around is worse than no software, because you are now doing the job twice: once in the app and once the way you actually work.
The other half of the problem is that nobody is neutral. Every platform sells direct, most pay referral commissions, and many of the reviews you will find are written by people paid a referral fee.
How we choose the platform
We start with how your business runs now, not with a feature comparison. That means a short walk through the parts that actually cost you time: how a job gets booked, who takes the call, what happens when the scope changes on site, how materials get recorded, when the invoice goes out, and what your bookkeeper needs at the end of it.
From that we can usually narrow eleven options down to two or three, and the differences that matter turn out to be specific rather than general. Whether variations can be quoted and approved from the phone. Whether the accounting sync is two-way or one-way. Whether purchase orders can be raised against a job from a supplier’s app. Whether the scheduling handles a two-day job across three visits without you re-entering it.
We are independent. We do not take referral commissions from any of the platforms, so if the honest answer is that your current setup is fine and you have a process problem rather than a software problem, that is what we will tell you.
What we do
- A structured review of how work actually flows through your business
- A shortlist of two or three platforms with the reasons for each, in writing
- Setup and configuration: job types, quote templates, price lists, users, permissions
- Accounting integration with Xero or MYOB, tested against a real job before you rely on it
- Data migration from spreadsheets, your old platform, or wherever the client list lives now
- Supplier and purchase order integration where the platform supports it
- Training for you and anyone else who has to use it, on their own phone
- A check-in after the first month, when the real questions surface
What changes when it fits
You stop quoting at nine at night. Jobs get scheduled once instead of being re-explained on the phone. Materials get recorded against the job when they come off the truck, not reconstructed from memory at the end of the month. Invoices go out on the day the work finishes, which is the single biggest thing you can do about cash flow. And you can see what a job made instead of finding out at the end of the quarter.
What it costs
Two products, and plenty of businesses only ever buy the first.
| What it is | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Assessment, solo | One person quoting and invoicing, and one way a job starts | $1,639 |
| Platform Assessment, team | A team, a yard, or more than one way a job can start | $2,739 |
| Adoption Support | Across the rollout: the process decisions, dealing with the vendor, getting the crew actually using it, and checking a month later that it stuck | $1,320/day — usually 3–4 days on your own, 5–7 with a team |
If the problem is only the invoicing, start cheaper. Switching on what your accounting software already does is $429 and takes a couple of hours. Come here when the whole job is running on memory, not just the chasing.
Prices include GST. The assessment is fixed scope and fixed price, and the recommendation is yours whether or not you go any further with us.
Adoption Support is quoted as a project with an agreed go-live date, in days rather than open-ended. We configure the platform, migrate what needs migrating, run a live job through it end to end before cutover, and train whoever is using it — on their own phone, not on a screen in a meeting room. After go-live we check in at a month, because that is when you find the two things nobody thought to ask about during setup.
Then we get out of the way. Most clients speak to us once a year after that, usually because they have added a van or a staff member and something needs adjusting.
What we do not do
We are not the platform’s help desk. Once you are up and running, a bug inside ServiceM8 is ServiceM8’s problem, and we will tell you that rather than bill you to sit on hold on your behalf. What we sell is getting it chosen, configured and adopted — a job with a start and a finish. If you want somebody on hand afterwards for the occasional problem, that is support bought in hours, not an open-ended arrangement bundled into this.
We do not resell licences and we take no commissions. You buy your subscription direct at the same price you would pay without us. It is the only reason our shortlist is worth anything.
Who this suits
Sole traders through to businesses running five or six vans. It works whether you are moving off paper and spreadsheets for the first time, replacing a platform that never fitted, or already on the right platform but only using a third of it. If you are running twenty vehicles and a dedicated office team, you are past the point where this is the right conversation and we will say so.
Common questions
What if I have already paid for a platform I do not like? Fairly often the platform is fine and the configuration is wrong. Before recommending you move, we will tell you whether what you have can be made to work, because migrating is disruptive and should not be the first answer.
Do you get paid by the software companies? No. We take no referral commissions and we do not resell licences. You buy your subscription direct at the same price you would pay without us.
How long does a setup take? For a sole trader on a straightforward platform, usually one to two weeks including data migration and training. Multi-user setups with purchase orders and supplier integration run three to six weeks depending on how clean the existing data is.
What happens to my old data? Client records, job history and open quotes get migrated where the platforms allow it. We tell you up front what will not transfer, because something never does, and we agree what to do about it before cutover rather than after.
Can you just fix what we have instead? Yes, and it is often the cheaper answer. Configuration, integration and training on an existing platform is a smaller piece of work than a migration.
Related services
- Automation — once the platform fits, switch on the automation most businesses are already paying for and never turn on
- Tech Health Check — if job software is one of several things you want looked at, not the only one
- Setup & Support — hours you can buy for after the rollout, without a contract
Next step
If you are not sure whether your job software is the problem or the way you are using it is, that is a normal place to start. Book a 20-minute technology conversation and we will work out which one it is before you spend anything.