Most job management software is sold to firms with an office, a dispatcher and ten vans. If it’s you and one van, you’ll pay for screens you never open. What a sole trader needs from job software is a much shorter list, and this guide goes through it: what to have, what to leave out for now, and the questions to ask before you pay for anything.
The test: does it stop work falling through a gap?
A one-person business loses money in three places:
- between a quote being accepted and the work getting a date;
- between finishing the work and sending the invoice;
- between sending the invoice and being paid.
Job software earns its monthly fee if it closes those gaps. Everything else on the feature list is extra, and worth paying for only once you need it.
What you need
One list of the work you’ve won
Every job in one place, each with its client, the site address, who to ask for on site, and the quote it came from. Not a notebook, a WhatsApp thread and your inbox. In Sendinvo a job starts from an accepted quote with one press of Start job, and the client, the site and the quote come with it. Work you didn’t quote, like a call-out, starts from scratch.
A status you don’t have to keep up to date
Plenty of tools ask you to drag a card or pick a status after every visit. On a busy week you won’t, and a list that’s out of date is worse than none. Sendinvo works each job’s status out from its visits and invoices: Not booked, Booked, In progress, Ready to invoice, Invoiced and Paid. The only one you set is Archived. So anything reading Ready to invoice is finished work you haven’t asked to be paid for yet.
A date, and the client told
Booking a visit should take seconds and leave the client with something in writing. In Sendinvo you book a visit for the morning, the afternoon, all day or a set time, and the client gets an email from your company saying when you’re coming and where, with a line asking them to reply if it doesn’t suit. Move it and they get a second email saying what it was and what it is now. There’s more on getting this right in how to schedule jobs when you work on your own.
The site details where you’ll look on the day
The side gate code, where to park, where the stopcock is, the dog. A job’s notes hold that, and the site contact’s name and phone number sit beside the address, so you’re not scrolling back through messages on the doorstep.
Photos kept with the job
A photo of what was there before you started settles most arguments before they start. It belongs with the job, not lost among your own pictures. See before and after photos on trade jobs for what to take.
The invoice raised from the job
When the work’s done, the invoice should fill itself in from the quote rather than being typed again at the kitchen table. Raise invoice in Sendinvo does that, and a job can have more than one invoice: a deposit up front, a stage, then the balance. The job shows what was quoted, what’s been invoiced, what’s been paid and what’s left to invoice, so a deposit paid in March doesn’t hide the balance you still haven’t billed.
Getting paid without chasing by hand
An invoice the client can pay from their phone, and reminders that go out without you remembering. Once you connect Stripe, Sendinvo invoices carry a card and Pay by Bank link, and payment reminders go out on a schedule you set once.
What you can leave out for now
- Dispatch boards and route planning. With one van, you are the dispatcher. Sendinvo doesn’t plan routes or track anyone by GPS.
- Timesheets and payroll. You know your own hours. Sendinvo has neither.
- Stock, purchase orders and supplier bills. If you buy materials for each job at the merchant, the receipt and your bookkeeping cover it. Sendinvo doesn’t do these.
- Text messages. Sendinvo emails clients; it doesn’t send texts.
If your business already needs those, a broader platform fits better. Sendinvo vs Tradify sets out where one of them is ahead.
Three questions to ask before you pay
What happens to the price when you take someone on? Many job management tools charge for each person. That’s fine for one, and turns the second and third into a cost decision. Sendinvo is one price for the whole team, whatever their role. More in adding your team without paying per person.
Does it work on the phone you have? Sendinvo runs in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer. The iPhone app is on its way to the App Store. There’s no Android app, so on Android you use it in the browser.
Can you take everything with you if you leave? Ask before you put two years of work into something. In Sendinvo, Export everything emails you one zip file: spreadsheets of your clients, invoices, quotes and payments, the PDF of every document you sent, and every job’s photos.
What it costs
Sendinvo is 30 days of everything, free and with no card, then £20 a month for the company, with every feature in it. You don’t have to use jobs at all: quotes and invoices still work on their own, and a job is there for work that needs visits, photos or more than one invoice.
Questions
Do I need job management software if I work on my own?
Not always. If you’re rarely more than a few days ahead and you invoice the day you finish, a diary and an invoicing app may be all you need. Job software earns its place once won work waits for a date, or finished work waits for an invoice.
Can I use Sendinvo for quotes and invoices without jobs?
Yes. Quotes and invoices work on their own. A job is there for work that needs visits, photos, or more than one invoice.
Does Sendinvo work on Android?
In the phone’s browser, yes. There’s no Android app. The iPhone app is on its way to the App Store.
Does Sendinvo plan routes or track staff?
No. It doesn’t plan routes, and it doesn’t track anyone’s location.