From Software Pain to Gain: Emma’s Journey with TradiePad

24 Apr From Software Pain to Gain: Emma’s Journey with TradiePad

Emma helps to manage the day to day running of a busy construction company in Sydney. She is the partner to a tradie in both work and life, mum of one active toddler and long time member of the Tradiewives community.
TradiePad recently helped Emma with the technology in their business Wardle Construction and we asked her to share her experience with you all in this blog.

The Tangle Before TradiePad
As with many growing trade businesses, Emma was working with a combination of software that had been bolted into the business as it grew to perform certain tasks. Problem was, they were all independent of one another. They had reached the stage where to grow further and be efficient they needed one central system which could perform the majority of the tasks and integrate where needed to other platforms like their email and accounting software. This would not only help streamline their daily workflows but would also cut out paying for multiple software subscriptions.

“We were using more than ten different online platforms and Microsoft tools to run the business, we didn’t have a job management software in place and were not tracking project costs accurately.”

 

The Search for a Solution
These days, tradespeople have many software options tailored to their requirements, giving them plenty to choose from. The toughest part about picking the right one is the time it takes to figure out and compare each program. Emma realised that they needed an expert to step in to fast track this process and find the perfect solution for their needs.

“We tried to look for a job management system ourselves for about two years. We tried so many software demos and tried to navigate our own way, but in the end that became a full time job that got us nowhere!”

 

The decision to seek help
The lightbulb moment came when Emma realised that endlessly trying out different solutions on their own was taking up so much of her time and getting them no closer to a decision. It wasn’t just about picking the right software either; it was about actually making it work for them, implementing it into the business and training their staff how to use it correctly.

“We’re not job management software experts, so we were wasting so much time as novices trying to do what we needed professional help with. Even if we had selected a software on our own, the implementation felt so difficult. We eventually made the right decision to engage TradiePad.”

Discovering TradiePad

“I first learnt about TradiePad either from Facebook or Google search. We initially did a scoping session with TradiePad a good few years ago, honestly at that time we felt like we couldn’t afford to go ahead. A few years later after trying everything ourselves and getting nowhere but stressed, we realised we couldn’t afford not to work with TradiePad!”

So, they decided to go for it and asked TradiePad to step in and guide them to a solution to suit their business. The result, a quick and stress free experience!

 

“Handing the reins over to experts to do what they do best while we focused on what we do best was great. We now have more free time to work on the business rather than stressing about not having a job management system or not running the business properly. Another big element for us was TradiePad training our field team as well!”

For tradie business owners, having an expert to conduct the training is crucial. It helps in managing change and ensures that everyone on the team feels confident in using the new system by providing them with the necessary knowledge and support.

Reflecting on the Journey
Hindsight is one of those wonderful things so we asked Emma what she wished she had known all those years ago when she started searching for software solutions for their business and we loved her response!

“The benefits of using TradiePad far outweigh the cost, it’s an investment in your business!”

 

A Word to Tradiewives
If you’re in the same boat as Emma was, juggling the day to day of your tradie business while searching for systems to help, stop wasting your time! There are better things you could be doing than researching and trialing software.
Our team at TradiePad would love to help you fast track that whole process so you can get on with the more important things in your business (and life!). Reach out to us if you would like to chat more about how we can help.