Straight answers for owners.
Practical reads on quoting, follow-up, margin and compliance, and on getting more from Fergus and Xero. Written for trade and outdoor construction businesses in New Zealand and Australia.
Latest · Operations
Is there an agency that runs the tech side of a trade business?
Yes. What a technology partner does for a trade business, how it differs from IT support, a Fergus VA or an AI agency, and when it’s the wrong call.
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Who should you get to fix the systems in a trade business?
Five real options for fixing the back office of an established trade business, what each one is good at, and when each is the wrong call.
What can’t your job management software do on its own?
Your job management platform organises the business well. It does not build your quotes, keep every opportunity in front of you or tell you which jobs make money.
Where is your operation quietly bleeding margin?
Fifteen questions and an honest read on where a business your size loses time, cash and margin, plus the first thing we would fix.
Take the diagnostic
How do you get more out of Fergus without becoming a tech expert?
Most businesses use Fergus for quotes, invoices and the calendar. Here are the features that save the most time, and what Fergus still leaves to you.
Five signs your trade business has outgrown spreadsheets
Spreadsheets got you started. Here are the five signs they are now costing you jobs, hours and margin, and what a connected system does instead.
What does manual job management really cost a trade business?
The cost of doing it by hand never shows up on an invoice. Here is how to work it out for your own business, with a worked example.
How NZ trade businesses are winning more jobs in 2026
Being good at the work is table stakes. The businesses winning in 2026 are faster to quote, better at following up and easier to deal with.
How Australian trade businesses are automating their quoting in 2026
Quote automation builds accurate quotes from your own rates, fast enough to reach the client while they are still keen. Here is how it works.
What time records does Fair Work require from Australian trade businesses?
Fair Work expects time and wages records for every employee, kept for seven years. Here is what to record and how to make it part of the job.
How do Australian trade businesses make BAS preparation easy?
Every quarter, the same scramble for receipts and invoices. A little bookkeeping each week turns BAS into a report you run, not a week you lose.
Why are you still quoting jobs at 10pm, and how do you stop?
On the tools since six, and still pricing a retaining wall at 10pm. Why it keeps happening, what it costs, and how to stop.
What happens to your business when you’re the bottleneck?
You book a week off and spend it on your phone. That is a sign the business cannot run without you, and it is fixable.
Book a call.
Thirty minutes. We look at how your business runs today and show you exactly what we’d build first. We work with a small number of businesses at a time.