For electrical contractors in South-East Queensland
Switchboard, solar and EV charger quotes, drafted before you're back in the van.
Officehand builds electrical contractors an assistant that drafts upgrade, solar, battery and EV charger quotes from a site voice note and photos, in your format and priced from your own wholesaler lists. Variations agreed on site become written variations and invoice lines. You approve everything.
Best fit: electrical contractors with 5 to 20 staff quoting upgrades, installs and renovation work, often with builder work on the side.
Your assistant
reads your business brain
“Old ceramic fuses, full board change, four RCBOs minimum. EV charger in the garage, about twelve metres from the board. Customer wants it running off the solar.”
Before you leave the street
Single or three phase? And are the consumer mains OK to keep?Illustrative example
Where electrical quoting hurts
The jobs that make the money are the ones that wait for you.
The work it’s built around
- Switchboard upgrades and safety switches
- Solar and battery installs
- EV charger installs
- Smoke alarm upgrades ahead of the 1 January 2027 Queensland deadline
- Renovation rewires and extensions
- New home fit-offs and builder work
- Commercial fit-outs and maintenance
- 01
Every board is different
Main switch rating, consumer mains, room for RCBOs, the meter box. Miss one on site and the quote is wrong, or you go back.
- 02
Wholesale prices move
Your wholesaler's price changed last month. Your quote template didn't.
- 03
Variations that never get billed
The client adds three power points mid-job. Agreed on site, done, and never written up or invoiced.
- 04
Builder work pays slowly
Progress claims go to builders, and nobody checks which ones are overdue until the bank balance does.
How a job would flow
For example: a switchboard upgrade and EV charger in Springfield
A made-up job, to show how the pieces fit. Your rules, your prices and your wording go in the business brain first.
- 1
9:20am
On site
A voice note: old ceramic fuses, full board change, at least four RCBOs, a charger in the garage about 12 metres from the board, the customer wants it to run off the solar. Photos of the board and meter box.
- 2
9:22am
Gaps caught
"Missing: single or three phase, and are the consumer mains OK to keep?" Your rule for every board change.
- 3
Afternoon
Draft quote
Board parts from your wholesaler list with dates, the charger from a supplier reply, labour from your rate card, your network paperwork line. Nothing invented.
- 4
7:50pm
You approve
One page, one change, approved. It goes out from your job software in the morning.
- 5
Mid-job
A variation, by voice
"Client wants two extra double power points in the garage." That becomes a written variation for the client to sign and a draft invoice line, so it isn't lost.
Switchboard upgrade and EV charger
Site: Springfield · Drafted from the site voice note and photos
- New switchboard enclosure, main switch, 4 x RCBO$690Supplier listWholesaler list, 1 Oct
- 7 kW EV charger, supply$1,290Supplier replySupplier reply, 2 Oct
- Board change and charger install, cabling 12 m$875Rate cardRate card, 7 hrs
- Network and compliance paperwork$120Your ruleYour rule: every board change
- Surge protection (optional)$240You typed itPrice you typed
Every line shows where its price came from. The red line has no source yet, so the assistant leaves it blank and asks you.
Built in stages
What the assistant would do for electricians and electrical contractors.
Each stage is useful on its own, has a fixed price quoted up front, and is paid for once it's live. These are the stages that usually matter most in your trade.
Start
The Check
A$495, refund test, credited to the build
Stage 1Key
The business brain
Your rules, written down once
Stage 2Key
Quote builder
Site notes in, draft quote out
Stage 3
Supplier prices
Prices gathered while you work
Stage 4Key
Profit per job
Which jobs actually make money
Stage 5Key
Back office and the 7pm briefing
Paperwork drafted, you approve
Stage 1 · The business brain
Your site checklist for boards, solar and chargers, your rates, margins and builder terms.
Stage 2 · Quote builder
Upgrade and install quotes drafted from site, with your options and paperwork lines.
Stage 4 · Profit per job
Profit per job type, and builder progress claims by age in the Monday money email.
Stage 5 · Back office and the 7pm briefing
Variations by voice note, written up for signing and added to the invoice.
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 builder progress claims over 30 days
Books reconciled up to Fri 2 Oct · every line links to its job number
The Monday money email, with made-up figures. Every line links to a job number you can check.
Your tools stay
Keep the software you already pay for.
The assistant works around your job software and Xero, and prices from your wholesaler price lists (Rexel, MMEM, Middy's, L&H or your local wholesaler). No new platform to learn and nothing to migrate.
Software electricians and electrical contractors commonly use
- ServiceM8
- Fergus
- simPRO
- AroFlo
- Tradify
- Xero
Listed for compatibility only. Where your software allows a read-only key or exports, I work from those. Where it doesn’t allow outside tools, a person enters the approved quote. Officehand isn’t affiliated with, endorsed by or a certified partner of any of these companies.
The way in
See the dollars before you decide anything.
Most electricians and electrical contractors I talk to have no idea what's sitting in old quotes and unbilled jobs. Find out first.
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 everythingNothing reaches a client, and nothing gets paid or signed, without a person saying yes. The assistant drafts. You decide.
- No price without a sourceEvery 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 yoursXero, 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 customersThe 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.
Local
For sparkies across the growth corridors
New estates in Ipswich, Logan and Moreton Bay, renovations across Brisbane, and steady upgrade and solar work on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast. I work with electrical contractors across South-East Queensland, and I'm based on the Sunshine Coast. Read-outs in person or on a call.
- Based
- Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Phone
- 0420 535 327
- Areas
- Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Gold Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Noosa, Redlands
Does it check our work against the wiring rules?
No. Design and compliance are yours. The assistant applies your own site rules as reminders (for example, always ask about phase and consumer mains on a board change) but it doesn't design, certify or sign anything.
Can it really capture variations?
Yes, from Stage 5. A voice note on site becomes a written variation for the client to sign and a draft invoice line. A person checks both before anything goes to the client.
We do lots of small jobs like smoke alarms. Is it worth it?
The quote builder matters most for the bigger quotes. For lots of small jobs, the Check and the Monday money email are the useful part: finished jobs with no invoice, and overdue invoices by age.
Will it work with Fergus, ServiceM8 or simPRO?
For the Check I use a read-only key you create, or exports. For the build, the approved quote goes into your job software as the record. I'll confirm what's possible with yours on the free look.
Does it contact my customers or builders?
No. It drafts quotes, variations and wording for you to send. Nothing reaches a client without a person saying yes.
How much does it cost?
The Quotes & Cash Check is A$495 (no GST charged), with a 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 money back. It's credited to your first build stage if you go ahead within 30 days. Each build stage then has a fixed price, quoted after the Check, and you pay for a stage once it's live. My first three clients get founding client pricing. The free 15-minute look costs nothing.
No sign-up, no access key
Book a free 15-minute look for your electrical business.
On your own screen, with you driving. No access key, nothing to sign. If it won't pay for itself for you, I'll say so.