About
You know the trade. I know systems.
I'm Richard Read. I build back-office assistants for trade and building businesses in South-East Queensland, one owner at a time.
Richard Read
Founder, Officehand
- Based
- Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Background
- Business analyst, 10+ years
- Phone
- 0420 535 327
I’m a business analyst. For more than ten years I’ve worked inside large organisations on ERP systems, industrial instruments, pay compliance and workforce management. Most of that work comes down to the same thing: finding where information gets stuck between people and systems, and fixing it so the right person sees the right thing at the right time, with plenty of automation along the way.
Trade businesses have the same problem, only the person everything gets stuck on is the owner. The know-how is in your head. Quotes wait for you. Prices need phone calls when you’re on the tools. Job profit is a guess because the numbers live in three places.
What I’ve built
- A phone quoting app for a two-man landscaping business in New Zealand.
- AI quoting assistants for tradies that learn the owner’s rules, with a hard rule that no price goes in without a source.
- An AI assistant for my wife’s business, working across her email, calendar and documents.
What I’m not
I’m not a tradie, a builder or a lawyer, and I won’t pretend to be. Your rules, prices and compliance calls stay yours. Contract and variation wording gets checked by Master Builders, the QBCC or your own lawyer before we rely on it.
I run Officehand alongside contract work as a business analyst. That’s why I cap it at five clients and reply by the end of the next business day rather than in ten minutes. You always deal with me.
How I work
Four things I won't compromise on.
- Honest about limitsIf the Check shows this won't pay for itself for you, I'll say so and stop. I'd rather lose a sale than sell you something you don't need.
- Drafts, not decisionsThe assistant drafts and a person approves. That's not a feature I might switch off later. It's how the whole thing is designed.
- Your business stays yoursYour data, rules, price lists and phone number stay in your name. If you leave, you take a full export and a hand-back note.
- Small on purposeFive clients at most. You get me, not a ticket number, and a 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
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.