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Interactive example · Trades

A job management app for tradies, built around how your business already runs

Most trade businesses we talk to run on an off-the-shelf app and a pile of workarounds: a spreadsheet for margins, a group chat for the schedule, someone re-typing invoices into Xero on Friday. Below is a working version of the alternative. It's a fictional Ballarat plumber with sample jobs, and you can use all of it.

Try the demoGet one built

In short

A custom job management app takes a trade business from enquiry to paid invoice in one system: quotes built from your own price book and margin rules, a schedule the office and the techs share live, job cards with photos and customer sign-off on a phone, and invoices that sync straight to Xero or MYOB.

Interactive demo: Job management for tradies

Live demo · Kerr Plumbing & Gas, Ballarat is a fictional business with sample data. Nothing you do here is saved or sent.

Kerr Plumbing & Gas

JK
Jobs this week
11
Invoiced
$4,775
Quotes awaiting
2
Ready to invoice
$310

This week

Crew schedule

DK

Dean

Senior plumber

2 jobs

SN

Sasha

Gasfitter

1 job

LB

Liam

Apprentice

0 jobs

Free all day

Built for plumbers, electricians, HVAC and trade businesses

Three people it has to work for, and what each is hiring it to do

  • OwnerStop quoting from memory, and know the margin on every job before it goes out
  • Office managerSee every job's status without ringing the van, and invoice the day it's done
  • Tech on the toolsOne screen for the job: checklist, photos, sign-off, nothing to re-type at the depot

What you just used

How Kerr Plumbing & Gas runs, screen by screen

  1. Enquiry landsCustomerWebsite form, phone or SMS
  2. Try this step in the demoQuote built, sentOfficeFrom the price book, margin checked
  3. Accepted onlineCustomer
  4. Try this step in the demoScheduled to a techOfficeLicence and location suggest who
  5. Try this step in the demoJob signed offOn the toolsChecklist, photos, signature
  6. Try this step in the demoInvoice to XeroSystemGST handled, payment link sent

How the work moves through Kerr Plumbing & Gas: who does what, and where the software takes over. Steps with a mint mark are ones you can do in the demo above.

  1. Quotes from your price book, with your margin rules

    Line items come from your own price list, with good, better and best options so customers choose rather than haggle. The margin guard is a rule you set: drop below it and the quote needs sign-off. Off-the-shelf tools rarely encode that, so it ends up living in the owner's head.

  2. Customers accept online

    The quote goes by SMS and email with a link to accept. Acceptance moves the job straight into the scheduling queue, so nothing waits on someone noticing an email.

  3. Scheduling that knows who can do the job

    Gas work goes to a licensed gasfitter. Jobs cluster by suburb. The suggestion you saw came from rules like those, and yours would carry your own: licences, van stock, apprentices who can't work alone.

  4. One job, two screens, always in step

    The office board and the tech's phone read the same record. A job completed in Wendouree shows as complete in the office before the van leaves the kerb. No end-of-day ring-around.

  5. Proof of work on the job card

    Checklists, photos, materials used, time on site and a customer signature, all captured where the work happens. When a dispute comes up six months later, the evidence is attached to the job.

  6. Invoices that reach Xero by themselves

    Labour and materials from the job card become the invoice, with GST handled, and it syncs to Xero or MYOB with a payment link. Friday's re-typing session disappears.

Built for you

Your rules, not a template's

The demo is one plumber's version. Built for you, the rules are yours:

  • Your price book imported, with supplier cost updates if your wholesaler offers a feed
  • Your quoting logic: call-out rules, after-hours rates, minimum margins, deposit thresholds
  • Your crew structure: licences, apprentices, subcontractors, multiple vans or depots
  • Your job types, each with its own checklist, photos and compliance forms (Victorian plumbing compliance certificates and Certificates of Electrical Safety included)
  • Your customers' channels: SMS, email, a customer portal, or all three
  • Your data brought across from ServiceM8, Tradify, Simpro or spreadsheets

Connects to what you already use

Where a tool offers an API or a calendar feed, the build talks to it directly. Your data stays in accounts you own.

  • Xero
  • MYOB
  • Stripe
  • Square
  • Google Calendar
  • Outlook
  • SMS
  • Google Maps
  • Your website forms

Spreadsheets, an off-the-shelf app, or a custom build?

ServiceM8, Tradify, Fergus and Simpro are good products that thousands of Australian trades run on happily. The question is whether your business fits their shape.

CriteriaSpreadsheets and group chatsOff-the-shelf appCustom job app
Time to startAlready runningDaysWeeks to a couple of months
Up-front costNoneLowA fixed-price build
Ongoing costHidden in admin hoursPer user, per month, rising as you hireHosting and support, flat as you grow
Fits your quoting rulesOnly in someone's headIf they match the templateExactly, because they're written in
Who owns the data and the codeYou do, scatteredThe vendor holds it; exports varyYou do
Best whenYou're a one-person operation just starting outYou're under about ten people and your process is standardYou've outgrown the template or the per-seat bill

How we'd build yours

Fixed price, agreed before we start

  1. Map one real job, start to finish

    A two-hour session with you and whoever runs the office. We follow an actual job from enquiry to payment and write down every step, workaround and rule.

  2. Fix the scope and the price

    You get a written scope: what's in the first version, what's deliberately left out, and one fixed price. Nothing starts until you've approved it.

  3. Build in fortnightly slices

    Quoting first, usually, because it's where the money is. You use each slice on real jobs while the next is built, so the edge cases surface early.

  4. Move your data and switch over

    Customers, job history and price lists come across from your current system. We run both side by side for a week or two, then switch.

What moves the price

Custom work is quoted individually, at a fixed price, once the scope is written down. These are the things that make the biggest difference.

Number of job types
Each with its own checklist, forms and pricing logic.
Integrations
Xero is standard. Supplier feeds, GPS tracking or a customer portal add to it.
Data migration
Clean exports are quick. Years of messy spreadsheets take longer.
Offline use
Techs working in rural areas without signal need the phone app to work offline.
Australian app build costs, published openly

When you shouldn't build this

If you're under about ten people and your process looks like everyone else's, stay on ServiceM8 or Tradify. They're cheaper, proven, and you'll be running tomorrow. Custom starts to make sense when you're paying for a lot of seats, fighting the software every day, or your quoting and scheduling rules are part of why you win work. We'll tell you on the first call which side of that line you're on.

Want this, with your name on it?

Tell us how the work runs today. We'll reply within one business day with what we'd build first, what we'd leave out, and whether an off-the-shelf tool would serve you better.

Email

jayson@pixelapps.com.au

Location

Macedon Ranges, Victoria

Serving clients across Australia

Only if a quick call would be easier than email.

What are you after?(optional)
Rough budget(optional)

A range is enough. It helps us recommend the right approach, not the biggest one.

We reply within 24 hours. No obligation, and we never share your details.

Common questions

Software that runs the life of a job in one place: the enquiry, the quote, the schedule, the work on site and the invoice. The office and the techs in the field see the same live record, so nobody chases paperwork or re-types it into the accounts at the end of the week.

Not by default. Off-the-shelf apps are cheaper and faster to start, and they suit most small trade businesses. A custom build wins when your quoting or scheduling rules don't fit their templates, when per-user fees across a growing team add up, or when you want to own the system outright.

Yes. Completed jobs become invoices in Xero or MYOB automatically, with GST handled, and payment status can flow back so the office sees what's paid without logging into the accounts.

The field view is built for a phone first. Where techs work in areas with patchy coverage, it can be built to work offline and sync when signal returns. That adds to the build, so we only include it where it's needed.

Usually, yes. Customers, sites, price lists and job history can be exported from most systems and spreadsheets and imported, so you start with a full database rather than an empty one.

It depends on how many job types, integrations and user types are in the first version, and the timeline is written into the fixed-price scope before any work starts. Quoting usually comes first, because it is where the money is, and you use each slice on real jobs while the next is built, so the first useful version is in your hands well before the whole thing is finished.

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