For plumbers, electricians, builders and trade businesses

A 15-minute check-up for the business behind the tools.

Seven areas, a straight score, and a ranked list of what to fix first. Most of it is the office side of the business, which is usually where the money goes missing.

Written around what you already run, whether that's ServiceM8, Tradify, simPRO, or a phone and a notepad in the ute.

Start the free check-up → What's changing in 2026
Free  ·  No card required  ·  No sales call
A score across 7 areas

See where the business is strong, and where it's quietly leaking money.

A ranked action plan

Not a list of everything. The things worth fixing first, in order.

How to actually fix it

Each priority comes with step-by-step instructions, built around the tools you already use.

Realistic time estimates

Every fix tells you how long it'll take before you commit to it.

64 /100
Overall business health
New client enquiry 71
Booking & scheduling 68
Google & online presence 55
Referral relationships 80
Existing & past clients 43
Internal systems 62
Technology & automation 38
Reviewed September 2026

Three things that changed for trade businesses this year.

01

Card surcharges stopped on 1 October, including on commercial work

From 1 October 2026 you cannot add a card surcharge, and two edges matter more to a trade business than to most. Card payments between businesses are not exempt, so commercial work and builder-to-subcontractor payments are inside it. And what binds is the date the card payment is made, not the date you issued the invoice, so a September invoice with a card fee on it that gets paid in October is caught. Bank transfer, PayID and direct debit are not covered.

RBA Conclusions Paper and FAQ; ACCC business guidance · reviewed September 2026
02

Payday super reaches your subcontractors, not just your employees

Super has to reach the fund within 7 business days of payday, and the ATO is explicit that this covers independent contractors paid mainly for their labour. In a sector that runs on labour-only subbies, that is most of the people you pay. Two details worth having: a business day excludes a public holiday anywhere in any state or territory, even one you are not in, and the first contribution for a new worker or a new fund gets 20 business days instead of 7.

ATO, Payment deadlines for Payday Super (updated 29 September 2026) · reviewed September 2026
03

Your business name on a text now reads "Unverified"

Since 1 July 2026 an unregistered SMS sender ID is replaced with the word Unverified, and those messages are grouped with suspected scams in the same thread on your customer's phone. If your job reminders, on-my-way texts or payment links go out under your business name through ServiceM8, Tradify or a bulk SMS provider, that is you. You register through your telco or message provider rather than directly, and your ABR contact details have to be current. Texting from a mobile number is unaffected.

ACMA sender ID register · reviewed September 2026
What we look at

Seven areas, in the language of a trade business.

The areas feed each other. A quoting problem usually shows up as a cash problem two months later, and a quiet month almost always started somewhere else.

Start the check-up →
New job enquiries

What happens when the phone rings while you're under a house, how fast a quote goes back out, and whether the ones who never replied ever get chased.

Quoting & scheduling

Whether quotes go out the same day or the same week, whether the diary is a system or a whiteboard, and what one cancellation does to the rest of the day.

Google & online presence

Whether you come up for your trade in your suburbs, whether the service area is actually right, and whether the reviews are recent enough for anyone to believe them.

Repeat & commercial clients

Whether builders, property managers and strata know you exist, and whether the good ones are looked after any differently from a one-off callout.

Existing & past customers

Service reminders, warranty follow-ups, and the customers from three years ago who would call you first if you gave them a reason to.

Internal systems

Whether the business runs for a week without you, whether anyone else can find a compliance certificate, and how much of it exists only in your head.

Technology & automation

Whether job management, invoicing and accounting are talking to each other, or whether somebody is retyping the same job into three places.

No migration required

Written for the tools already in the business.

Tell us what the business runs on and the steps come back specific to it, down to which screen to open. The first thing we suggest is not going to be new software.

Job & field management
ServiceM8TradifyAroFloFergusJobber
Larger operations
simPROServiceTitan
Accounting
XeroMYOB

Running something that isn't listed, or running on paper? Say so in the check-up and the plan is written around that instead.

What comes back

One priority, as a trade business actually receives it.

Not "improve your lead management". A specific job, ranked against everything else we found, with an honest estimate of what it takes on a night you would rather be doing anything else.

Priority 1 · New job enquiries
Set up after-hours call capture so a missed call still becomes a job lead
New job enquiries ⏱ 1 hr to set up HIGH impact
  • Turn on after-hours or overflow call handling in your job management platform.
  • Write the three questions that qualify a job, so the job card arrives usable rather than as a name and a number.
  • Read the missed-call log for a fortnight and count how many became quotes.
On the paid plan, this is where Spryng writes the setup and the qualifying questions for your specific platform.
Before you start

Questions tradies ask us.

I'm a one-man band. Is this built for bigger outfits?

No, and a sole operator usually gets more out of it. The same seven areas apply whether there is one van or eight, but with one van there is nobody to cover the area that isn't working. The plan comes back in order so you can do one thing and leave the rest.

Do I have to connect ServiceM8 or Tradify?

Nothing to connect and no passwords to share. You tell us what you run on and the steps are written for it. The only thing we look at directly is your public website and Google listing, which your customers can see anyway.

Is this just going to tell me to buy more software?

It shouldn't, and if it does, it has failed. Most of what comes back is turning on something you already pay for, or writing down a process that currently lives in your head. Where a tool genuinely is the answer, you will get a reason and a time estimate, not a sales pitch.

How long does it actually take?

About fifteen minutes, and you can stop and come back. There are no essay questions. Most of it is picking the answer that sounds most like your business.

What do I get at the end of it?

A score across the seven areas and a list of priorities in order, free, straight away. Each one carries a realistic time estimate, so you can pick something that fits the evening you have rather than the week you don't.

Is it free?

The check-up, the score and the ranked plan are free and need no card. Pro is $49 a month for step-by-step implementation guidance and progress tracking, and it hasn't launched yet. Nothing you get free now starts costing later.

How much should I charge as a tradie?

Start from your real cost, materials plus labour plus overhead, then add margin on top, not the other way around. Most trades price off a rough hourly figure and end up covering overhead out of what should have been profit. The check-up's pricing questions exist to catch exactly that gap.

Why do tradies undercharge so often?

Because most pricing is set from memory or a competitor's quote, not from actual job cost. Industry research puts the average undercharge at $15,000 or more a year once materials, callback time and overhead are properly counted. It's rarely one bad decision, it's a rate that was never revisited.

Free · 15 minutes · no card

Find out where the business is actually losing money.

Fifteen minutes, at the kitchen table. No card, and nobody rings you afterwards. Just a straight read on which part of the business to fix next.

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