So you’re looking for job management software?

You’ve probably ended up here because you’re looking for the best job management software for your business. As a tradesman, you are probably tired of the daily (or maybe not as daily as it should be) grind of managing your jobs, scheduling appointments, tracking materials, progress, and your team, all whilst chasing those pesky invoices that keep the lights on…

Basically, if you’re still using the traditional pen-and-paper method or struggling to juggle multiple spreadsheets (is it 5 or 6 now?), sticky notes, and scraps of paper, then it’s time to upgrade to the 21st century. 

You already know this right? Evidently, it’s why you’re here.

There are now tons of job management software choices available for tradespeople that can massively assist you, particularly by streamlining your workflow, keeping everything organised (and in one place), and subsequently saving you a lot of headaches. 

No more missed appointments, tasks that just slipped your mind, lost paperwork, or missed invoices. Just pure organisation and peace of mind.

Nevertheless, with so many software options out there for tradesmen, how do you know which one is best for your business? Fear not, my fellow tradesmen, for we’ve researched for you. In this article, we’ll take a look at the best job management software options available for tradesmen in the UK.

We’ll explore the features, then pricing, and finally the reviews of each software and help you one of the best decisions you’ll make for your business*.

We’re normally focused on marketing for tradespeople, but technology is also our bag. 

So, grab a cuppa, put your feet up, and let’s dive in!

* We are not in any way affiliated with any of these businesses

 

What do I need to do before choosing job management software?

As we’ve explained above, choosing the best job management software can be a game-changer for any tradesman. But slow down, before you start scanning through software options and picking your favourite colours (little joke there…), there are a few initial steps we’d recommend you take to help you make the best decision for your business needs. I

Below, we’re going to guide you through and then you’ll be equipped to make an informed decision that meets your unique requirements and sets your business up for success. If you feel like you’ve got all this stuff sorted, then skip ahead to the juicy stuff you’re after!

1. Assess Your Business Needs

First off, you need to know what challenges you’re trying to solve. There may be one or two things that are happening often that are p*ssing you off, but there may be a ton of other annoying processes or heavy manual tasks that you haven’t even brought into this process. Assessing your business needs is a majorly important first step. 

They’ll help you understand your current workflow, identify those pain points we talked about above,  and help you to figure out your priorities and “must-haves” when choosing a tool. To make it easier, here are a couple of questions you can ask yourself…

• What are the primary types of jobs or services that you work on?
• How many staff members, what are their roles, and will they need access?
• What are the biggest pains or bottlenecks in your current workflow? (map your typical workflow)
• Are you struggling with job scheduling or tracking?
• Are you finding it tricky to communicate with your team or customers?
• Are you experiencing challenges with materials or supply management?
• Do you struggle with tracking time, invoicing, or payments?
• What are your business goals, and how can a job management tool help you achieve them?
• What are the must-have features and functions that you need in a job management tool?
• What are your deal-breakers or non-negotiable requirements for a job management tool? (price, features, contract length etc..)

Hopefully, as you go through this and answer these questions above, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of your business needs (maybe some you weren’t aware of) and be better equipped to assess the different job management tool options available.

2. Determine Your Budget and Resources

As with any purchasing decision in your business, you’ll need to determine your budget for this tool and the resource you can commit to it.

You need to sit down and figure out how much you are willing to spend on a job management tool. Look at your current revenue and expenses, and identify how much you can allocate for software costs. Create a business case for this software buying project. A good start here would be to ask yourself the following questions:

• How much time is this going to save
• How many headaches s this going to solve
• How much salary will we save because of automated tasks?
• How much faster will be get paid for work completed?
• How many clients will be retained because of good communication and seamless aftercare?

Remember you need to weigh up the cost against the benefits of the software. You’ll also need to consider the cost of implementation and training. Most job management tools require time and resources to train staff and get them in tune with your business frequencies. Factor in any additional costs associated with implementing the software, and internal staff training (time out from their day-to-day).

3. Research Your Options

Now to the juicy stuff, the main reason you’re here. Researching the massive pool of software options is a crucial step in finding the right job management tool. You should now be equipped with the vital information you need to make an informed decision for your trade business. 

We get it, with so many options available, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. This is why we’ve developed this list. Concise information, features, and pricing (if available – some tools are pricing on application). 

With a little research, you can find a job management tool that meets both your trade business needs and fits within your budget (both time resource and budget). Below, we’ll dig a little more into the options on the market. Again, we are in no way affiliated with any of these tools.

 

What are the best job management tools?

As you’ll probably have seen from your research so far, there are several top job management software options for tradesmen. Below, we’ve listed some of the best and highest recommended by our own tradesmen connections and clients. 

At the end of the day, the best job management software for tradesmen will depend completely on the specific needs and size of your business. If you’re a one-man band, you’re requirements are going to be the polar opposite of a large blue-chip construction firm.  It’s important that you evaluate each option carefully and choose the one that best fits your business needs. As with any software decision, ensure you understand what you want the tool to solve and speak to their product experts before making any decisions.

If you need help with making these decisions, or understanding where these tools can help with your marketing and sales strategies, then give our experts a shout and they’ll be able to point you in the right direction. Free advice… yeah I’ll take it.

 

Jobber

Jobber is a popular choice for tradesmen due to its features. The tool offers scheduling, invoicing, payment processing, and customer management tools. 

This is from the Jobber site: 

Jobber makes home service easy for everyone. From the customer’s request to the moment you’re paid, Jobber’s easy-to-use app brings everything together to make the entire job and customer experience seamless.

Here are a couple of features:

• Before the Job: Calendar, dispatch, roles, booking
• On the Job: Employee location, employee comms, behaviour monitoring, client notifications
• After the Job: Reports, Analytics, Invoicing, Customer relationship management system integration
• Job Management: Inspection software integration, job tracking, resource allocation, Contract Management

A review from a tradesmen user:

“I used Jobber when I first started my business. They met all of my requirements as a service business and let me manage it remotely thanks to the staff app feature. It helped me manage my service business by letting me schedule jobs and keep track of my staff.”

Pricing: For the features above, you’re looking at around £110/month.

You can learn more about Jobber here, and you can read independent reviews on G2 here.

 

Workever

Workever is an easy-to-use field service and job management software for tradesmen that could simplify every aspect of your business. Grow your trade or service business with software and mobile app that keep your jobs on track. It’s a centralised tool which keeps everything connected and in one place.

This is from the Workever site:

Workever is the all-in-one web-based software that helps you run and organise your service and maintenance jobs, collaborate with staff and have all data centralised in one place.

Here are a couple of features:

• Track the full lifecycle of jobs from quote to invoice 
• Schedule all of your jobs and keep track of your staff
• Your team can access it remotely
• Capture photos, notes, signatures, documents and staff time on every job
• Keep customers updated in an automated way, no more manual updates
• Get paid faster and take payments on the go, in person, or online
• Integrations with your other systems (accountancy, CRMs etc..)

A review from a tradesmen user:

“Having a single place to store vital business data on past, current and future works with all information at the touch of a button…it’s a game changer for us! We’ve been using Workever for a while now and even though the system in itself is worth every penny, it’s their customer service and attention to users that beats all competition.”

Pricing: For the features above, you’re looking at around £29/month.

You can learn more about Workever here, and you can read independent reviews on Capterra here.

 

Tradify

Tradify is another job management tool designed for small to medium-sized businesses in the trades industry. With Tradify, users can streamline their workflow and manage their projects, quotes, invoices, and schedules all in one place. The software is specifically tailored to the needs of tradespeople.

This is from the Tradify site:

Job Management Software for UK Tradespeople. Join thousands of tradespeople building better lives & businesses with Tradify’s job management app.

Here are a couple of features:

• Quoting and invoicing
• Scheduling and job tracking
• Text Messages to customers
• Create, sign, and send digital electrical and gas safety certificates
• Field service management and timesheets
• Manage customer enquiries
• Subcontractor Management

A review from a tradesmen user:

Great platform! So clear to use and every organised person’s dream! Traders in their fields can really enjoy just working on their ongoing projects and knowing that the paperwork side of it will be easy, quick and all in one place at the end of it! Highly recommend it to businesses providing tradesmen services.

Pricing: For the features above, you’re looking at around £21/month (per user).

You can learn more about Tradify here, and you can read independent reviews on GetApp here.

Joblogic

Joblogic is one of the highest-rated job and service management software on the market and is designed to help tradesmen manage their operations. It offers a range of features including, job scheduling, dispatching, asset management, inventory management, invoicing,  and finally, reporting.

This is from the Joblogic site:

Joblogic is a market leader in field service management software for small to medium-sized businesses. Established in 1998, the company has the stability and experience required to deliver world-class software that will enable you to grow your service business confidently. In 2013, management duo James Whatmore (CEO) and Yacoob Moolla (CTO) acquired the business to create a global company that could deliver the best field service management software to installation and maintenance contractors all over the world.

Here are a couple of features:

• Route scheduling
• Job tracking and progress management
• Job sheets and staff scheduling 
• Gas certificates 
• Customer alerts
• Invoicing and quoting
• Accounts integrations 
• Customer portals
• Dashboards and reporting 
• Asset management and purchase ordering
• Stock Control

A review from a tradesmen user:

“We have been operating for 50 years, and all our systems and records have until very recently been paper-based. This has created various bottlenecks that have been damaging in terms of efficiency and responsiveness to customer requirements. I have embarked upon a root and branch upgrade of our business processes, hardware, software, training and recruitment and part of this has been sourcing a CRM/Job Management System that will allow us to refine our processes across all our activities and improve efficiency. We’ve started using Joblogic only recently but have rolled it out across the company already because the staff and management have picked it up so quickly. We have already noted significant improvements in our responsiveness to customers. All our office staff now have instant information to hand, instant updates from field engineers and can provide answers immediately over the phone despite not even necessarily having known a job was being undertaken.”

Pricing: For the features above, you’re looking at around £35/month (per user).

You can learn more about Joblogic here, and you can read independent reviews on Capterra here.

 

OutOnSite®

OutOnSite can help businesses that are organising complex jobs using paper job sheets and whiteboards. This causes delays and lost clients which negatively impacts cash flow. OutOnSite offers a combination of simple job management software and mobile apps to organise your jobs and engineers, in the cloud and on the go.

This is from the OutOnSite website:

Poor job management is costing you thousands of £’s. Increase your profits and stay in control with OutOnSite software.

Here are a couple of features:

• Quoting software 
• Invoice creation from a job task
• Job tracking & job progress manager
• Create jobs 
• Manage schedules
• Customer reminders 
• Job sheet app
• Update job details 
• Customer sign-offs

A review from a tradesmen user:

“I signed up for the free trial of the app and had a question regarding one of the functions. I contacted customer support via chat and they couldn’t have been more helpful. Together we worked through a few functions that would be key to my business and I was able to obtain all of the answers I needed. I left the chat feeling that although my experience of OutOnSite is still limited, the outstanding customer service I received has given me the peace of mind and confidence to move forward with the app.”

Pricing: For the features above, you’re looking at around £29/month.

You can learn more about OutOnSite here, and you can read independent reviews on TrustPilot here.

 

So to summarise…

So you should now have a bit of a plan to attack your software project. To summarise the steps:

Assess your business needs:

The first step in buying job management software is to break down your current processes and pain points within your business. As a tradesperson, you should consider what tasks you desperately need help with (or the opportunity to automate) – this could be things such as scheduling appointments, managing job sites, tracking materials and your team, invoicing on task completion, and chasing payments automatically. Make a list of the features you need and prioritise them based on their importance – try to understand the time and cost savings associated with solving those problems.

Determine your budget:

Secondly, the cost of job management software can vary widely, from software that costs hundreds of pounds per month to the time needed to upskill staff and get the software integrated within your business and its processes. You’ll need to consider your budget and the value the software will bring to your business before making a purchase. Again, try to create a business case for this.

Research the options

Lastly, once you have a list of your needs, budget and resources you’re willing to put into this project, you’ll need to research the different job management software options available to you – you can use our list of 5 above if it helps. Look for software that meets your needs and has positive reviews from other tradespeople (I’ve included links to independent review sites on all the options above). Consider factors such as cost, ease of use, problems in your processes it solves, and if it can make your payments from clients faster and more efficient.

If you need help with undertaking systems in your business though, give Trade Pixels and shout. We are marketing and technology experts for the trade industry. We provide everything you need to drive more enquiries on the web and get in front of local customers. Our service comes with absolutely no jargon, clear pricing, and also a 14-day turnaround. Simple digital marketing and websites for tradesmen like you. 

Being a tradesperson is what you do best. 

Like most, it’s likely that you don’t know where to start when it comes to building a website or getting more customers online. Luckily, we’re good at what we do too and we help drive leads for tradesmen. Want to know more? Drop us a line.