You became a tradie to work with your hands, not to become an office manager. Yet here you are, every evening and weekend, chasing invoices, returning missed calls, and begging customers for reviews.
These five admin tasks are silently killing your business. Let's look at each one—and how to fix them without hiring admin staff.
1. Missed Calls ($200-1,500/week lost)
The math is brutal. Every missed call is a potential customer who probably just called the next tradie on Google. If you're missing 10-20 calls a week at an average job value of $150, you're losing $1,500 every week.
The fix: Missed call SMS automation. When you can't answer, customers get an instant text with a link to book online or request a callback. Setup takes 30 minutes and costs about $15/month.
Setup time: 30 minutes
2. Quote Follow-Ups ($500-800/week lost)
You sent a quote on Monday. It's Thursday. Haven't heard back. You meant to follow up but got busy, and now they've hired someone else.
The problem isn't the quote—it's the follow-up. Most customers need 2-3 touches before they commit. If you're not following up, you're leaving money on the table.
The fix: Automated quote follow-up sequences. Set up a simple sequence: follow-up at 48 hours, then 96 hours, then flag for personal call. Most customers respond to the second or third message. Setup takes about 20 minutes in most CRM systems.
Setup time: 20 minutes
Cost: $0-20/month depending on your CRM
3. Invoice Chasing ($300-500/week in cash flow pain)
You've finished the job. You sent the invoice. And now you're playing cat and mouse with payment. This isn't just annoying—it costs you in two ways: the time you spend chasing, and the cash flow gap while you wait.
The fix: Automated payment reminders. Set up a sequence: friendly reminder at 7 days, second reminder at 14 days, firm reminder at 21 days. Include a direct payment link every time. Most tradies find this alone cuts their average payment time by 10-14 days.
Setup time: 30 minutes
Cost: $0-15/month
4. Appointment Reminders ($200-400/week lost to no-shows)
You blocked out 9am Tuesday for a job. Customer didn't show. You wasted an hour plus the fuel to get there. When you call, they're surprised—you thought the appointment was confirmed.
This is avoidable. Every single time.
The fix: Automated SMS reminders. One 48 hours before ("reminder: we're coming tomorrow at 9am"), one the morning of ("see you at 9am today!"). Add a one-click confirmation or reschedule link. This typically cuts no-shows by 60-70%.
Setup time: 20 minutes
Cost: $10-20/month (usually bundled with missed call SMS)
5. Review Requests ($1,000-3,000/month in lost leads)
Great job, happy customer, zero reviews. That's the reality for most tradies. But here's what you might not realise: every review brings 2-3 more jobs on average. Good Google reviews are social proof that beats any ad.
The fix: Automated review requests. 48 hours after job completion, send a quick text asking for feedback. If they respond positively, immediately send a link to your Google review page. If they respond negatively, flag it for you to reach out personally before they post publicly.
Setup time: 15 minutes
Cost: $0-15/month
The Bottom Line
All five of these problems have one thing in common: they don't require you to hire someone. They require you to set up systems that work while you're busy doing actual tradie work.
Total setup time for all five? About two hours. Total monthly cost? Under $75. Potential weekly savings? Somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000.
That's not a bad return on a couple hours of setup.