What apps are trades using for quoting jobs now?

[Leon M]

I’m trying to simplify the setup a bit — right now it’s a mix of notes, photos, and doing quotes later at home, which isn’t ideal.

There are loads of apps out there (Jobber, Tradify, QuickBooks), but most of them feel quite heavy for solo trades or small teams.

Ideally looking for something mobile-first where you can:

• keep job details
• track photos
• put together quotes
• not spend evenings doing admin

What are you all actually using day-to-day? Anything that genuinely saves time on-site?

 

[Aegis]

Absolutely do not consider Jobber for quotes. It's actually a relatively competent CRM, but falls down badly on quoting.

 

[fisicx]

Spoke to my builder mate and he just uses his phone for everything. He has tried various apps but all way too complicated for him. His wife does the accounts so evening admin is almost zero.

 

[StrategyDoctor]

In my experience with similar apps and dealing with a number of trade clients have to agree with the comments above that most of these platforms end up being overkill for a solo trade or small team.

In reality, the issue isn’t usually the tool, it’s the process. If you don’t simplify that first, any app just becomes another layer of admin, that can eat your time or causes frustration because it doesn't work as you expect it to. Don't under estimate the learning curve, and you may have to adjust your work flow to suit the app.

I’ve seen similar setups to what @fisicx mentioned work well:

• phone for notes, photos and basic job tracking
• simple quoting template (Notes / Excel / Google Docs) you can reuse quickly
• accounts handled separately (or by someone else)

The key is being able to capture everything on-site and turn it into a quote quickly, without rework later.

A lot of the “all-in-one” apps promise that, but in practice you spend more time feeding the system than it saves.

If you do go down the app route, I’d be looking for something very lightweight and mobile-first (and I haven't come across one) otherwise you’re better off building a simple system that fits how you actually work.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Spoke to my builder mate and he just uses his phone for everything. He has tried various apps but all way too complicated for him. His wife does the accounts so evening admin is almost zero.

In my experience with similar apps and dealing with a number of trade clients have to agree with the comments above that most of these platforms end up being overkill for a solo trade or small team.

Is this a gap/opportunity I see yonder?

 

[fisicx]

I got halfway through a small trader plugin that did simple quotes with some planning functionality but what they really wanted was an app.

I can't do apps (too thick) but when I asked around it would be a struggle to both market and monetize a simple app.

Things have moved on now so there could be an opportunity for someone to invest some time building an app. AI could probably do it for you.