Guides for running your trade business
25 guides on getting paid, staying compliant and running the job in Australia: what to measure, what to charge, and what to put in writing so the job stays profitable.
- Running your businessHow Much Should You Charge for Callout Fees in Australia?A callout fee stops quick jobs and look-sees quietly running at a loss. Here are typical Australian rates for standard, after-hours and emergency calls, and how to quote them without surprises.
- Running your businessWhat Is Job Management Software? A Tradie's GuideJob management software is one system for the admin side of a trade business — enquiry, quote, schedule, job, invoice, payment. Here's what it actually does, what it replaces, and when it's worth paying for.
- Running your businessCan Xero Do Job Costing? What Tradies Need to KnowAlmost every Australian tradie runs Xero, and sooner or later asks it to tell them what a job actually made. Here's what Xero can and can't do on job costing, and how to get the number you're after.
- Running your businessIs There Free Job Management Software for Tradies?There are genuinely free options, and for some tradies they're the right call. Here's what free actually gets you, where the catches are, and how to tell when you've outgrown it.
- Running your businessHow to Work Out Your Charge-Out RateMost tradies set their hourly rate by asking a mate what they charge. Here's how to work it out properly — from the income you want, the hours you can actually bill, and the overheads nobody counts.
- Running your businessQuote vs Estimate: Which One Should You Send?A quote is a price you're committing to. An estimate is your best read on a job you can't fully see. Sending the wrong one is how tradies end up doing work for free.
- Running your businessAccounting Software for Tradies: What It Won't DoXero, MYOB and QuickBooks all do the books well. None of them was built to run your jobs — and knowing exactly where the line falls saves you buying the wrong thing twice.
- Running your businessHow to Chase an Overdue InvoiceChasing money is the worst part of running a trade business, and most of it is preventable. Here's how to set terms that get paid, escalate properly when they don't, and know when to stop.
- Running your businessHow to Write a Tradie Invoice That Gets PaidAn invoice is a payment instruction, not a receipt. Here's what has to be on one, what makes it get paid faster, and the details that turn a simple invoice into a three-week argument.
- Running your businessHow to Build a Price List for Your TradeA price list turns quoting from an evening's work into ten minutes on site. Here's how to build one from the jobs you actually do, keep it current, and stop pricing the same work from scratch every time.
- Running your businessFlat Rate vs Hourly: What Should You Charge?Hourly protects you when a job is unpredictable. Flat rate rewards you for being fast. Here's when each one makes you more money, and why most established trade businesses end up running both.
- Running your businessWhat Is a Job Sheet? And What Belongs on OneA job sheet is the record of what actually happened on a job — hours, materials, variations and sign-off. It's also the difference between an invoice you can defend and one you can only hope about.
- Running your businessHow to Write a Scope of WorkThe scope is the line between the job you priced and the job you end up doing. Written properly it prevents most disputes; written vaguely it invites them.
- Running your businessWhat Your First Employee Actually CostsThe wage is the part everyone budgets for and it's rarely more than three-quarters of the bill. Here's the full cost of putting someone on, and the chargeable hours they need to cover it.
- Running your businessWhat Is a Maintenance Agreement? And What to ChargeA maintenance agreement turns one-off customers into scheduled, recurring work. Here's what goes in one, how to price it off your own costs, and how to fill the quiet weeks with it.
- Running your businessWhat Is a Work Order? And Why Yours Gets RejectedA work order is the authority to do the work — who approved it, up to what value, against which reference. Get the number wrong on a commercial job and the invoice comes straight back.
- Running your businessHow to Fill Out a SWMSA Safe Work Method Statement is the document that says how you'll do high-risk construction work without hurting anyone. Here's what goes in each field, how to assess the risk properly, and why a generic one is worse than none.
- Running your businessHow to Fill Out a JSAA Job Safety Analysis takes a task, splits it into steps, and works out what could go wrong at each one. Here's how to fill one out so it's useful on site rather than paperwork for the sake of it.
- Running your businessFinding Your Break-Even PointYour charge-out rate tells you what an hour has to earn. Break-even tells you how many jobs a month you need before the business makes anything at all — and it's the number that makes hiring, buying and quiet months make sense.
- Running your businessSubcontractor or Employee?Whether the person working for you is a contractor or an employee is a legal characterisation, not a label you get to choose. Here's what the question turns on, what it costs to get wrong, and who to ask.
- Running your businessService Reminders and Recurring WorkMost trade businesses are sitting on a year's worth of work they've already earned and will never book, because nothing remembers when it's due. Here's how to build the system that does.
- Running your businessSwitching Job Management SoftwareMoving from one job management system to another is mostly a data problem. Here's what to export before you cancel, what actually migrates, how to reconnect your accounting, and when to switch.
- Running your businessManaging Enquiries So Leads Don't Go ColdMost lost work isn't lost on price. It's lost in the hours between someone getting in touch and anyone getting back to them. Here's how to handle an enquiry you can't stop for, and a system that doesn't rely on memory.
- Running your businessFollowing Up a QuoteSending the quote is where most tradies stop, and it's where a good share of the work is lost. Here's the follow-up sequence, what to actually say, and how to get a straight answer instead of silence.
- Running your businessCard Surcharges and Payment Fees: Should You Pass Them On?Every card payment you take costs you a percentage. You can absorb it, surcharge it, or price it into your rates — and each one does something different to your margin and to the conversation at the end of a job.