10 Automations every Australian tradie should have.

The pain: Phone rings while you're under a sink. By the time you call back, the customer's gone with whoever picked up first.

The fix: A 24/7 AI phone agent answers, asks the standard qualifying questions (postcode, urgency, service area), and books the job directly into your calendar. You get a text summary.

The pain: You send a quote at 5pm. Customer doesn't reply. You forget to chase. Job goes cold.

The fix: When a quote is sent, automatically email the customer at 24hr, 72hr, and 7-day intervals with progressively softer wording. If they reply, the sequence stops. If they don't, you get a 'phone this lead' nudge.

The pain: Customer keeps ringing to ask 'what time is the plumber coming?' Office team spends hours answering the same question.

The fix: Field service software auto-dispatches jobs to the right tech, sends the customer a 'we're on our way' text 30 mins before, with a tracking link. Customer questions drop to zero.

The pain: Receipts pile up in the ute. Materials lists on clipboards. Invoicing is delayed because nobody has time to type it all in.

The fix: Snap a photo of a receipt — AI OCR extracts vendor, amount, GST, and auto-files it to Xero with the right job allocation. Materials voice-noted at the end of a job are auto-added to the invoice.

The pain: You're great at your job but you have 12 Google reviews. The competitor down the road has 200 and they're not as good as you.

The fix: When a job is marked complete in your scheduling software, automatically send the customer a text 24 hours later asking for a Google review with a one-click link.

The pain: You're spending $800/mo on Google Ads, $400 on Facebook, $300 on a directory listing. You have no idea which one is actually generating jobs.

The fix: Every enquiry source is tagged automatically (call tracking number per channel, unique web form fields). Monthly report shows you which ads pay back and which to kill.

The pain: You do annual service contracts. Reminding customers their service is due is manual and you miss half of them.

The fix: When a job is logged in your system, auto-schedule a follow-up reminder 11 months later. Customer gets a friendly email asking to book in, with a one-click link. You retain recurring revenue without thinking about it.

The pain: Customers pay slow. Chasing them feels awkward. Some never pay.

The fix: Automated reminder cadence after an invoice goes unpaid: gentle nudge at 7 days, firmer at 14, formal at 30. Tone of voice configured by you. Tracks who's still outstanding.

The pain: Your inbox is chaos. New job enquiries are mixed in with supplier invoices, supplier marketing, council notices, and so on. Things get missed.

The fix: AI auto-categorises incoming emails (Job Enquiry / Invoice / Supplier / Internal / Marketing). Job enquiries get instant attention; everything else is filed for batch handling.

The pain: Office team constantly asks 'is John free Tuesday afternoon?' or 'what's our hourly rate for X?'. Owner becomes a human reference book.

The fix: A private chatbot trained on your business — service area, hourly rates, team availability, common process steps. Office staff ask it instead of interrupting you.