Trades & field services

Trades and field services run on enquiries, jobs, and vans. If you're running a plumbing, electrical, or general contracting outfit in the UK, you know the drill: leads land everywhere, jobs get allocated on the fly, and handover from office to field often lives in someone's head or a WhatsApp thread.

The operational reality in this sector

Most trade businesses take enquiries by phone, web form, and sometimes job boards or referrers. The office assigns work, updates diaries, and chases materials or access. The field turns up, does the job, and reports back. In between, there's quoting, scheduling, and handover—scope, keys, access, special instructions. A lot of that still runs on spreadsheets, paper, or "it's in an email somewhere." Job management software helps, but it rarely captures every intake point or cleans up the chaos before the job lands on the engineer's list.

Common friction we see

• Enquiries from website, phone, and job boards never land in one place; you discover leads days later or by accident.
• Job allocation is ad hoc—who's free, who's local—with no clear ownership or SLA.
• Handover to the van is verbal or buried in threads; scope creep and call-backs follow.
• Diaries and job systems don't talk; double entry and missed updates are routine.
• You can't easily see what's open, what's quoted, or what's slipping without chasing people.
• New or temporary staff take weeks to understand "how we actually do it."

What this looks like in practice

A typical electrical contractor has a simple website form, a shared inbox, and a couple of job boards. Enquiries get forwarded or manually typed into a spreadsheet. The office manager allocates work by memory and availability. Engineers get a job sheet—sometimes printed, sometimes a PDF—with scope and address. Changes or access details arrive by call or WhatsApp. Quoting is done in a mix of email and spreadsheets. When things get busy, leads sit unanswered, jobs slip, and "who was doing that?" becomes a daily question.

How we typically approach this

We start with discovery: we map where enquiries come in, how they're assigned, and how handover to the field actually works. We then design a single intake pipeline and clear workflows—who owns what, what triggers the next step—without dumping the tools you already use. We integrate your forms, inbox, and job boards into one place, and we wire job allocation and handover so the field gets what they need without the chase. We keep the interface simple; we train your team and support go-live. Handover is documented so you can run it yourselves.

What changes after implementation

• Every enquiry captured in one place, with clear ownership and response SLAs.
• Jobs routed and assigned consistently; less "I thought you had it."
• Clean handover to the van—scope, access, notes—so engineers show up prepared.
• Single view of what's open, quoted, and in progress.
• Fewer call-backs and fewer lost leads.

Tools we commonly work with

We work with what you use: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, job management systems (e.g. Jobber, Commusoft, similar), accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks, and form builders. We connect intake, scheduling, and handover so you're not rekeying or juggling tabs.

A short example from the field

Illustrative example. A heating and plumbing firm had enquiries from their site, two job boards, and the office phone. Each went into a different inbox or spreadsheet. We built a single intake pipeline, clear assignment rules, and a simple handover checklist that fed into their existing job system. The office could see what was open at a glance; engineers received scope and access details in one place. Quote turnaround and first-time fix rates both improved.

FAQs

Our engineers won't use another app. How do you handle that?
We design around how you work. If that means phone and job sheets, we make those the interface. We've seen field teams adopt simple, focused tools when the benefit is obvious—fewer call-backs, less double-keying.

We're flat out. When would we find time for this?
Discovery is a few focused sessions. Build happens in phases. We don't need you off the tools for weeks. We'll agree a rhythm that fits.

What about our existing job software?
We integrate with what you use. The aim is one source of truth and clear handover, not a rip-and-replace. We plug into job boards, diarising, and invoicing where it makes sense.

Next step

If this sounds familiar, we can help you capture every enquiry, route jobs clearly, and hand over to the van without the admin chaos. View our services to see what we offer, or see how we work to understand the journey.