Back On The Tools: Efficient Aussie Tradies Will Reap The Benefits Of A Post-COVID Business Boom

Sydney, 24 September 2020 - Australian tradespeople have been spared the worst of the COVID-19 downturn and those who are organised and proactive may be able to cash in on post-pandemic building and renovation activity, according to new research.

Job management software company Tradify polled 150 trade business owners and managers – and found many had been kept busy during lockdown, helping homeowners complete an array of jobs in and around the home.

Respondents to the Tradify Pulse August 2020 (https://www.tradifyhq.com/reports/thepulse) survey included builders and carpenters (28%), electricians (27%), plumbers and gas fitters (17%) and landscapers (6%).
 
Sixty per cent of Australian respondents stated that COVID-19 had low or no impact on their business, 73 percent of which were focused in the residential sector.  Across the states, New South Wales and Western Australian respondents tended to have the lowest perceived impact, while Victoria had the largest proportion of moderate to high impact.

Indeed, with opportunities to socialise and travel limited by COVID-19 restrictions, many Australians are choosing to spend money on home repairs and improvements instead.  Some tradies said they’ve been busier than ever, clocking record revenue even as trade slowed or ceased in other parts of the economy.  
 
Daniel Simpson, Owner, Danjac Electrical Group based in Sydney, says his business has seen a 20-30% increase in jobs and his March to September turnover has doubled compared to last year. He sees no end to demand for customer quotes fuelled by lockdown and customers spending money previously planned for travel on renovating and upgrading their homes. 

This optimistic view is mirrored  by usage data from a sample of more than 1,500 Australian trade businesses in the Tradify job management app which is used by tradies to quote, schedule and invoice their jobs.  

After an initial downturn in quotes, jobs and invoices when COVID-19 restrictions were first put in place across most states in March and April, activity for most trade businesses has bounced back almost to pre-COVID levels. The exception has been for HVAC businesses, where the heavy restrictions on the food and hospitality sector and restricted use of commercial offices appear to have slowed the rebound.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of total building work done fell just 3.9 per cent to $28,416.7 million in the June 2020 quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

Meanwhile, the federal government’s HomeBuilder scheme, which offers eligible owner-occupiers a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing one, is expected to create a pipeline of work for Australia’s hardworking army of builders, carpenters, plumbers, plasterers, painters, tilers and electricians.

Working smarter

But inefficient systems and processes mean many trade business owners are spending hundreds of hours a year on paperwork that could be better spent on the tools, according to The Pulse survey results. 

40 percent of tradies said they devoted 12 or more hours a week to administration tasks, while a further 24 per cent said they spent between eight and eleven hours a week.

Given 89 per cent of respondents were small businesses employing between one and 10 staff, those figures represent a significant chunk of working hours spent in the office, rather than on site – or a sizeable slice of the weekend.
 
Meanwhile, many tradies struggle with the process of finding new work, managing jobs, getting invoices out and staying on top of their financial position and cash flow. 

Around a third of respondents said they felt in control of their business seldom or sometimes, while 40 per cent stated they ‘often’ felt in control. A further 29 per cent believed they were ‘almost always’ in control.  However, getting quotes out, being clear on their current financial position and processing invoices quickly are all areas of administration where tradies want more control.

Taking advantage of the post-COVID boom

“Paper-based management systems and shoebox accounting are holding a lot of Australian trade businesses back,” said Tradify Chief Executive Officer, Michael Steckler.
 
“Our research suggests tradies would like to have better control over their operations. They already work hard but going digital can help them work smarter too and put them in a better position to make the most of the opportunities that are emerging.”

Tradies who switch from quote books and paper invoices to an end-to-end digital job management solution like Tradify can free up an additional day a week or more. 

That’s time that can be spent generating and completing work.  Indeed, more and more tradies are using a digital app that allows them to respond quickly to customer enquiries, track their time and materials on jobs and invoice as soon as those jobs are completed and improves tradies’ cash flow and profitability.
 
Simpson estimates that he has saved around 80 per cent of the time he previously used to spend on administration by using Tradify’s job management software which supports rapid quoting, scheduling and invoicing.

“What you need to run your business is now all at your fingertips.  I can see on the fly if the job is going to be profitable or not, all the way through.  At the same time, I reckon the detail in my quotes and how quickly I can get them through definitely wins me more business. The professional look doesn’t hurt either,” says Simpson.
 
Instead of spending weekends and evenings sifting through paper notes, Simpson can now down tools and spend time with the family. 

Steckler adds, “Our customers say being able to generate professional quotes on the spot has helped them win additional work, while creating invoices via a mobile device or tablet before they’ve even left a job site means customer payments hit their bank accounts faster.  

Now is a great time for Australians who are on the tools to get serious about using digital tools to get their nights and weekends back and drive their businesses forward.”
 
About Tradify

Tradify job management software is the fastest, simplest and easiest way to run a trade business. By simplifying customer enquiry management, quote creation, job scheduling, job management, invoicing and payments, Tradify is helping more than 15,000 tradespeople in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and beyond reduce their admin time and get their nights and weekends back. For more info, visit: http://www.tradifyhq.com

ENDS