Digitisation key for overworked tradies
For Callan May, the initial Covid alert level 4 lockdown in April 2020 was the catalyst to improving his electrician business, City Electrix.
Since deciding to go out on his own in 2015, May has been busy with little time to break down how he could make things better.
At the end of each day on site, there was always plenty of paperwork. Customer invoices and quotes to manage, not to mention manual tracking and management of all the jobs on the go.
“I think the old school mentality of tradies is that you need to work harder to make more money. But I knew there were plenty of jobs Iwas doing at night that a computer could do even better.
“I’d always been interested in the potential of digitising my business, but it didn’t feel like I ever had enough time or expertise to properly look into all the options available.
This all changed in 2020 when the nation was sent into lockdown and Callan’s business ground to a halt overnight. With tools down and time to spare, Callan began learning the ins and outs of digitising his business.
“During lockdown I finally had the time to do a deep dive into all the various digital tools available for small businesses.
‘‘Some of them were tradie specific, others just suited to the way I run the business.
“More recently, during the 2021 lockdowns, I used the time to train my team. It gave us the perfect opportunity to learn together and iron out any complications or issues we had.
‘‘Now we don’t double up on a lot of the work, it all works together right from our phones.
“It was a good thing too, because as soon as we shifted to level 3, demand for work went through the roof and it’s still frantic.
‘‘If we didn’t have the digital tools in place, I would be staying up late each night and working through the weekends. I know there are plenty of tradies right now doing things the hard way, but it’s really worth their time to stop and find the right tech,” says May.
The City Electrix team uses an app called Fergus, a job management software for Kiwi tradies that means they can manage jobs end-to-end in one central location.
This includes scheduling and intelligent insights to help future planning, as well as the management of supplies and jobs
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Xero’sWhy We’re In It hub guides small business owners through the first steps of embracing digital tools and improving wellbeing. xero.com/whywereinit
when things get really busy.
This and his other apps link back to Xero, meaning his team can invoice and quote while on the road, cutting down on the admin jobs at the end of each day.
“It means my business is more productive and I have more time for myself. I get more quality time with my partner and if the weather is looking good, I can get my mountainbike out without the worry my workload will become overwhelming,” says May.
Over lockdown he got his electrician employee and apprentice to properly learn how to use the app so they’re geared up on it too. It’s saving him even more time because there’s no doubling up on the paperwork, moving it from one system to another.
This article is published in association with Xero as part of a commercial arrangement between Stuff and Xero.