Going paperless: the technology a trade business needs

Plenty of good trade businesses still run on a diary, a carbon-copy invoice book and a shoebox of receipts. It works, until the business grows past the point where one person can hold it all in their head. The right technology doesn't change the work. It takes the paperwork off your evenings, stops jobs and money falling through the gaps, and leaves you with records you can find when you need them. This guide covers the tools that matter, in the order most businesses need them.

1. A phone that's set up for work

You already carry the most useful piece of technology on site. Set it up properly: a separate work number or at least a business voicemail, a business email that isn't a personal address, and photos backed up off the phone. Before-and-after photos settle more disputes than any paperwork, as long as you can find the right one later.

2. One place for every job

The first real step up is a single list of every job and where it's up to: enquiry, quoted, booked, in progress, done, invoiced. A whiteboard does this for a sole trader. Once there are two or three of you, or jobs that run over weeks, you need it on everyone's phone, with the customer's details, notes and photos attached to the job rather than spread across text messages.

3. Quotes and invoices from the job

Writing a quote at the kitchen table at 9 pm, then retyping it as an invoice when the job's done, is where hours and mistakes come from. Good software builds the quote from the job, turns the accepted quote into the invoice, and adds GST and your ABN correctly every time. The faster an invoice goes out, the faster you're paid; see cutting the time it takes to get paid.

4. Accounting software, connected

Your bookkeeper or accountant almost certainly works in an accounting package. If your job software can send invoices to it, nobody has to type them in twice and the two never disagree. Ask any job management tool which accounting software it connects to, and what exactly it sends.

5. Records you can find in five years

The ATO's record-keeping rules say most business records must be kept for five years, and they can be kept electronically, as long as they're protected from being changed or lost. That rules out a phone full of unlabelled photos of receipts. Keep invoices, quotes and receipts in software that stores them against the job, and make sure you can export them if you ever change systems.

6. Then the extras

Once the basics run themselves, the tools that save the next lot of time are scheduling and route planning, automatic payment reminders, and AI to sort the inbox and draft replies. Our guides to scheduling a trade business and using AI without the hype cover those.

How BizzMate fits

• A job board with every job's customer, notes, photos and history in one place.
• A phone app for people in the field, with checklists, photos and the customer's signature on site.
• Quotes and invoices built from the job, with GST and your ABN, and invoices locked once they're sent.
• Xero: on Crew plans and up, invoices and contacts are sent to Xero for you.
• Reports you can download as a spreadsheet whenever you or your accountant need them.

Not sure what to look for in software like this? Read what job management software should do, then try BizzMate free for 14 days.