By industry: Construction and trades
Automation for construction firms and trades.
Quotes out while the customer is still interested. Jobs and crews on one board. Site reports, photos and variations filed against the job, and invoices raised from progress instead of from memory at month end.
- First workflow live
- Enquiry to draft quote, usually inside the first sprint
- Usually owned by
- Owners and directors of construction and trade firms
- Built on
- Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, WhatsApp Business API
- Judged on
- Time to quote and Unbilled variations
In short
Construction automation means enquiries turned into quotes from your rates, jobs and crews scheduled on one board, site reports, photos and variations captured on a phone and filed by job, and invoices or progress claims raised from completed work. SBD builds this around your accounting and job tools, starting with a $500 audit credited to the build.
Who this is for
Who brings us in, in construction and trades.
- Owners and directors of construction and trade firms
- Operations and contracts managers
- Estimators and quantity surveyors
- Office and accounts staff
Is this you?
If three of these sound like your week, this page is about your business.
- Quotes go out days after the site visit
- The schedule is on a whiteboard or in one person's head
- Site photos live in a chat group
- Variations are agreed verbally and not always invoiced
- Subcontractor insurance is checked only when someone asks
What it costs today
Where construction and trades loses the hours.
Quotes take too long
Measurements, rates and supplier prices are pulled together by hand, so quotes go out days later and the customer has already accepted someone else.
The schedule lives in one head
Which crew is on which site, what materials arrive when, and who is off on Friday. All held by one person and a whiteboard.
Site information stays on site
Daily reports, photos and snag lists sit in phones and chat groups. When a dispute comes up, finding the evidence takes a day.
Variations are not recorded
Extra work is agreed on site and never written down, so it is not invoiced, or it is invoiced and disputed.
Invoicing lags the work
Progress claims and final invoices wait for the office to catch up, and cash flow suffers on every job.
Compliance paperwork piles up
Risk assessments, permits, certificates and subcontractor insurance expire or go missing until an inspector or main contractor asks for them.
By company size
Construction and trades at 10 people, and at 1,000.
- 1 to 10
The owner quotes in the evening, runs the crew in the day and invoices at the weekend.
- 11 to 50
Several crews and live jobs, a whiteboard schedule, and site photos spread across everyone's phones.
- 51 to 200
Contracts managers, subcontractors and an office team, with variations and compliance paperwork slipping between them.
- 201 to 1,000
Many sites at once, separate systems per division, and month-end reporting assembled by hand.
What we build
What we build for construction and trades teams.
- 01
Enquiry to quote
Enquiries captured from the website, email and calls, priced from your rate sheet and supplier prices, and a draft quote prepared for an estimator to check and send.
- 02
Job and crew scheduling board
Every job, crew and delivery on one board, with clashes flagged and crews told by WhatsApp where they are tomorrow.
- 03
Site reports from a phone
A simple form for daily reports, photos, snags and hours, written straight to the job record and searchable later.
- 04
Variation capture and sign-off
Extra work logged on site with photos, priced, and sent to the customer to approve before it is done.
- 05
Progress invoicing
Completed stages and approved variations raise the invoice or progress claim in your accounting system, with reminders on overdue balances.
- 06
Compliance and document tracker
Permits, certificates, inductions and subcontractor insurance tracked by expiry, with reminders before anything lapses.
The workflows
The construction and trades workflows, and what sets each one off.
- 01 Enquiry to draft quote
When an enquiry or site visit is logged
ThenRates and supplier prices applied, draft quote sent to an estimator to check
- 02 Crew schedule updates
When a job is booked or moved
ThenThe board updated, clashes flagged, crews told by WhatsApp
- 03 Daily site report
When a crew finishes the day
ThenReport, photos and hours filed against the job
- 04 Variation sign-off
When extra work is logged on site
ThenPriced, sent to the customer to approve, added to the next invoice
- 05 Document expiry reminders
When a permit, certificate or policy nears expiry
ThenOwner reminded, subcontractor asked for the renewal
The numbers we move
How a construction and trades build is judged.
Every build has a number written into the blueprint. These are the ones construction and trades builds are measured by, and how we measure them.
| Metric | Before | After | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to quote | Days after the visit | Draft ready the same day | Time from enquiry or site visit to quote sent |
| Unbilled variations | Unknown | Logged and approved before work | Variations recorded on site against variations invoiced, per job |
| Days to invoice | Weeks after the stage | Days after the stage | Time from stage completed to invoice or claim sent |
| Expired documents | Found at inspection | Renewed before expiry | Permits, certificates and insurance past expiry, per month |
Documents and records
The paperwork that generates itself.
Names and tax rules differ by country. We build for the ones you file under, whether that is VAT, sales tax or GST.
Systems we connect in construction and trades
What is usually already there, and what we add.
Anything with an API or a database we can read works the same way. Each tool links to its page in the integrations directory.
- Your job management system
-
Google Workspace -
Microsoft 365 -
WhatsApp Business API - QuickBooks
-
Xero -
Zoho Books -
Supabase -
Retool -
n8n
Proof
Proof from builds like this.
- Customer story
Enquiry and quotation platform on SAP
An enquiry and quotation platform for a distributor. The pattern, enquiry in, priced from rates, draft quote checked by a person, is the same one behind construction quoting. We have not built this for a construction firm yet.
Read the story - Customer story
Lightweight project management system
A lightweight project management system for a services business, the same shape as a job board with stages, owners and deadlines.
Read the story
The offer
The site to invoice starter
Thirty days to quotes out faster, one schedule everyone can see, and site work that turns into invoices.
- Week 1 to 2audit of quoting, scheduling, site records and invoicing with hours and quote times measured
- Week 3blueprint, first build chosen by payback, usually site reports or the scheduling board
- Week 4 onscheduling board, site reports, variation sign-off, progress invoicing, document reminders
- Accounts in your name, training for the office and crews, sixty days of hypercare
What this does not do
So the scope is clear before the call.
- Structural, engineering or safety sign-off. People with the right qualifications make those calls.
- Replacing specialist estimating or BIM software. We connect to it where it has an API.
Terms, defined
Construction and trades terms, in plain English.
- Variation
- A change to the agreed scope of work, usually extra work, that should be priced and approved before it is done.
- Progress claim
- An invoice for work completed to date on a staged job, rather than a single final invoice.
- Snag list
- A list of defects or unfinished items found at inspection that must be fixed before handover.
Questions
What people ask about construction and trades automation.
Do you replace our job management software?
No. If you already run a job management or accounting tool that works, we connect to it through its API and fill the gaps around it. If you run on spreadsheets and chat groups, we can build a light job board in your own accounts.
Will crews actually use it on site?
Only if it is quicker than what they do now. Site forms are a few taps on a phone, photos attach directly, and crews can keep using WhatsApp for updates that we read and file.
Can it price quotes on its own?
It prepares a draft from your rate sheet, measurements and supplier prices. An estimator checks and sends it. Nothing goes to a customer without a person approving it.
Does this work for trades as well as builders?
Yes. Electricians, plumbers, fit-out firms and builders share the same pattern: enquiry, quote, schedule, site record, invoice. The forms, stages and wording are yours.
How long until the first part is live?
Site reports and the scheduling board are usually live inside the first two-week sprint. Quoting takes longer because the rate sheet has to be set up properly first.
Reading
- Systems
How much should an AI agent be allowed to do?
An agent with an unscoped token dropped a production database and its backups in nine seconds. The permission model we use for every agent: read widely, write narrowly, spend with a cap, and escalate when unsure.
- Systems
Invoice intake with an agent: the first thirty days
What the first month of an invoice intake agent looks like from the inside: how the queue behaves, which invoices escalate, what the finance team changes, and the three settings that decide whether it survives month two.
Related
- Function
Operations
The order moves through the business without anyone re-typing it, and everyone who needs to know, knows.
- Function
Finance and accounting
Close faster, chase less, and see the numbers without waiting for month end.
- Function
Compliance and risk
Make the audit trail a by-product of doing the work, not a project you run afterwards.
- Industry
Professional services
Intake and engagement letters that run themselves, client documents collected without chasing, deadlines that cannot slip, and billing that follows the work.
By industry: Manufacturing, Distribution and logistics, Consulting and agencies, Service and e-commerce, Healthcare, Real estate, SaaS, Professional services, Retail and wholesale, Lending, insurance and financial services, Nonprofits and charities, Education and training, Hospitality and travel
Construction and trades
Talk to us about the site to invoice starter.
Bring the one construction and trades workflow your team still runs by hand. You leave the call with a yes or no on fit and the first thing we would build.
Book the call