AI back-office for trade businesses · SE Queensland
Stop buildingquotes at 10pm.Start approving them.
Officehand builds your trade business an assistant that knows how you quote. A voice note and photos from site become a draft quote in your format, priced only from your own sources, waiting for your yes at night. Nothing goes out without you.
- You approve everything
- No price without a source
- Your data stays yours
- Local to SE Queensland
Your assistant
reads your business brain
“Old 135 litre electric in the garage, customer wants a heat pump. New isolation valve and tempering valve, about six metres of pipe. Unit can go on the side wall.”
Before you leave the street
Got it. Is there a power point within reach, and do they want the old unit removed?Illustrative example, made-up job
Sound familiar?
Every quote, price and invoice waits for the same person. You.
You didn't get into the trade to do admin at night. But the know-how is in your head, so everything comes back to you, and the business can only grow as fast as you can quote.
9:47pm
Quoting when everyone else is shut
The only time you get to the computer is at night. Suppliers and subbies are closed, so every price question waits for tomorrow.
21 days
Quotes that quietly go cold
A big quote went out three weeks ago. No reply, no follow-up, and nobody noticed it slide off the screen.
Not billed
Jobs finished, never invoiced
The work's done. The notes are still in the ute. The invoice goes out late, or not at all.
Unknown
Profit per job is a guess
You find out what a job made when the accountant tells you, months later. By then you've priced ten more the same way.
What the assistant does
Your back office, drafted while you’re on the tools.
One assistant with a business brain: your rules, your prices, your way of doing things. It drafts. You decide.
01 · Quotes
Approve the quote instead of building it.
Your team sends a voice note, photos and measurements from site. The assistant asks for anything missing before they leave the street, then drafts the quote in your categories and wording. You review one page at night.
- Every price shows its source and date
- No source means no price: the line is flagged for you
- Your corrections teach the brain, so drafts get closer to yours
Ensuite renovation
Site: Caloundra · Drafted from the site voice note and photos
- Demolition and disposal, strip to frame$1,850Rate cardYour rate card
- Plumbing: relocate toilet, rough-in and fit-off$3,400Supplier replyPlumber reply, 6 Oct
- Waterproofing to standard, shower and floor$1,150Supplier replyWaterproofer reply, 6 Oct
- Tiles: PC allowance, 22 m²$1,210Your ruleYour rule: $55/m² PC
- Frameless screen, supply and installAskNo sourceWaiting on supplier reply
Price requests · Q-0583
Sent 6:30am from your email
- PlumberRelocate toilet, rough-in, fit-off$3,400Replied 9:12am
- WaterprooferShower and floor, 6.5 m²$1,150Replied 10:40am
- TilerFloor and walls, 22 m² Opened, no reply yet
- Screen supplierFrameless screen, 900 mm Sent 6:30am
Replies are filed against the quote lines with the source and date. Your price list grows as they come in.
02 · Supplier prices
Prices in by the time you sit down.
Approve a scope at night, and price requests go to your suppliers and subbies at opening time, from your own email. Replies are read back in and filed against the quote, so most prices are already there by evening.
Your own price list builds itself from real replies, with a date on every line.
03 · Money
Know which jobs make money, every Monday.
Each accepted quote becomes the job budget, and the assistant compares it with what Xero shows each night. At 6:30 on Monday you and the office get one email: quotes gone quiet, finished jobs not invoiced, overdue invoices by age, and any job running over.
Every line has a job number, so you can check it in seconds.
From Your assistant to you and the office
Monday money: 3 things need you this week
Paid last week
$18,640
Also worth a look
2 hot water quotes over 14 days
Books reconciled up to Fri 2 Oct · every line links to its job number
Your 7pm briefing
4 things, about 6 minutes
- 3 quotes ready to approveQ-2291, Q-2294, Q-2297
- 2 supplier replies inPrices filed against Q-2294
- Deposit paid on the Kawana jobDraft contract pack ready to check
- Plumber hasn't confirmed TuesdayDrafted a reminder for you to send
04 · Paperwork
Contracts, invoices and variations, drafted for a yes.
When a client accepts, the contract details and deposit invoice are drafted from the quote. “Stage two done” by voice note becomes a draft stage invoice. Supplier bills are matched to the job. At 7pm you get one short briefing with what needs you.
A person checks, signs and approves every one.
How it works
Built in small stages. Each one useful on its own.
Start with the Check. Then build one stage at a time, at a fixed price quoted up front. You pay for a stage once it’s live and working, and you can stop after any of them.
Start
The Check
A$495, refund test, credited to the build
Stage 1
The business brain
Your rules, written down once
Stage 2
Quote builder
Site notes in, draft quote out
Stage 3
Supplier prices
Prices gathered while you work
Stage 4
Profit per job
Which jobs actually make money
Stage 5
Back office and the 7pm briefing
Paperwork drafted, you approve
The way in
Find out what’s sitting in your quotes and invoices first.
Before anyone builds anything, you should know what's at stake in dollars. Two low-risk ways to find out.
Step one
Free 15-minute look
Free. Nothing to sign.
On your own screen, with you driving. No access key, nothing to sign. I'll point at two or three quotes that went quiet and any finished jobs with no invoice, and tell you straight whether the Check is worth it for you.
The way in
Quotes & Cash Check
A$495
Fixed price · No GST charged
A fixed-price look at the money sitting in your quotes and invoices. Dollar figures and job numbers, so you can check every line.
- Quotes that went quiet. Open quotes more than 14 days old, ranked by value, with job numbers.
- Finished jobs not invoiced. Work that's done but never billed, and how many days jobs usually wait for an invoice.
- Invoices running late. Overdue invoices by age, and where Xero and your job software disagree about what's been paid.
- Hours spent quoting. Roughly how many hours a week you and your team spend building quotes, and where it goes.
The refund test
If it doesn’t find at least three items of A$500 or more, or A$2,000 in total, you get your A$495 back. Credited in full to your first build stage if you go ahead within 30 days.
Ground rules
You approve everything. That’s the whole design.
The assistant drafts. People decide. Here's what that means in practice.
What it will never do
- Send messages to your customers, or phone them
- Hold, move or collect your money
- Quote a price, a scope or a date on your behalf
- Sign, lodge or pay anything
- Lock you into a contract or a platform
You approve everything
Nothing reaches a client, and nothing gets paid or signed, without a person saying yes. The assistant drafts. You decide.
No price without a source
Every price traces back to a supplier list, a supplier reply, your rate card or a number you typed. If it can't trace a price, it stops and asks. It never guesses a price or measures from a photo.
Your data stays yours
Xero, the business brain, your price lists and your phone number stay in your name. Leave with 30 days' notice and take a full export.
It doesn't talk to your customers
The assistant doesn't message or phone your customers. It drafts wording for you, and you send it from your own email or job software, when you choose.
Pay per stage, once it's live
Each stage has a fixed price, quoted before we start. You pay for a stage when it's live and working. If it takes me longer, that's my cost.
Small and local on purpose
I cap Officehand at five clients so each one gets proper attention. I'm on the Sunshine Coast and will come to you anywhere in South-East Queensland.
Built for quoted work
Made for trades that quote bigger jobs.
It pays off where quotes are big, take real time to build, and are worth following up. Pick yours.
- 01Plumbing & gasBig quoted jobs (hot water, bathrooms, relines) sit alongside call-outs, and it's the biggest pool of 5 to 20 person trade firms in SE Queensland.For plumbers and gasfitters
- 02Air conditioningBig-ticket installs, two or three options on every quote, and a summer rush that buries the owner in quoting.For air-conditioning and refrigeration businesses
- 03Fire protectionEvery inspection round creates defect quotes, approvals from strata managers are slow, and hundreds of small service invoices make it easy to miss some.For fire protection businesses
- 04ElectricalUpgrades, solar, batteries and EV chargers mean site-specific quotes, wholesale prices that move, and variations on renovation jobs that never get billed.For electricians and electrical contractors
- 05Builders & renovatorsThe full assistant: the know-how lives in the owner's head, quotes happen at night when suppliers are shut, and job profit is a guess.For builders and renovators
- Another trade?0420 535 327
If you quote jobs worth a few thousand dollars and you’re the one building every quote, it probably fits. Ask me.
“You know the trade. I know systems.”
Richard Read · Founder, Officehand
Business analyst · Sunshine Coast
Who does the work
One person you can ring. Not a call centre.
I’m Richard Read, a business analyst. For more than ten years I’ve worked inside large companies on ERP systems, pay compliance and workforce management, with plenty of automation along the way. I’m not a tradie, and I won’t pretend to be.
I’ve built this kind of thing before: a phone quoting app for a two-man landscaping business in New Zealand, AI quoting assistants that learn an owner’s rules, and an assistant for my wife’s business that works across her email, calendar and documents.
I keep Officehand small on purpose, five clients at most, so you deal with me, and I reply by the end of the next business day.
Founding clients
Three places. South-East Queensland. Founding pricing.
I'm taking on three founding clients in South-East Queensland. You get founding client pricing on every stage. In return I ask for honest feedback along the way and, if you're happy with the results, permission to share them. You approve every word before anything is published.
There are no client reviews on this site yet, because I won’t make them up. The first ones will be real, named and approved by the client.
- 01Founding client pricing for the first three clients
- 02Fixed price per stage, quoted after the Check
- 03A monthly service fee only once the assistant is live, month to month
- 04Leave any time with 30 days' notice and a full export
FAQ
Questions owners ask
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, ring me.
Something else? Ring me on 0420 535 327.
What is Officehand?
Officehand is a done-for-you AI back-office for small businesses in South-East Queensland, starting with trade and building businesses. I build your business an assistant that knows how you quote and run jobs. It drafts quotes from a site voice note, asks suppliers for prices, shows profit per job from Xero, and drafts contracts, invoices and variations. A person approves everything before it goes anywhere.
Is this software I have to learn?
No. It works where you already are: voice notes and messages on your phone, a short email on Monday, and one page to approve at night. Your job software and Xero stay as they are.
Does the AI send anything to my customers?
No. The assistant doesn't message or phone your customers. It drafts quotes and wording, and a person in your business checks it and sends it from your own email or job software. Nothing reaches a client, and nothing gets paid or signed, without a person saying yes.
What if the AI gets a price wrong?
Every price must come from a source: your supplier list, a supplier reply, your rate card or a number you typed. Each line shows where its price came from. If there's no source, the line is flagged and left blank, and you still approve every quote.
Which software does it work with?
Trade businesses I talk to use ServiceM8, Tradify, simPRO, WorkflowMax, Buildxact, Fergus and Xero. For the Check I work from a read-only key you create, or from exports. Some systems don't allow outside tools in, and then a person enters the approved quote. Officehand is independent and isn't a certified partner of any of them.
How much does it cost?
The free 15-minute look costs nothing. The Quotes & Cash Check is A$495 (no GST charged), refunded if it doesn't find at least three items of A$500 or more, or A$2,000 in total, and credited to your first stage if you go ahead within 30 days. Each build stage has a fixed price, quoted after the Check, paid once it's live, then a monthly service fee. My first three clients get founding client pricing.
Who owns the data and what if I want to leave?
You do. Your Xero, the business brain, your price lists and your phone number stay in your name. Leave with 30 days' notice and take a full export of your data.
Where are you based?
On the Sunshine Coast. I work with trade and building businesses across South-East Queensland, including Brisbane, Moreton Bay, the Gold Coast, Logan and Ipswich, in person or on a call.
No sign-up, no access key
Start with a free 15-minute look.
On your own screen, with you driving. I'll point at what's sitting in your quotes and invoices, and tell you straight whether the Check is worth it.