As a tradie, you spend a lot of time on the road. When you’re running from job to job, it’s easy to stuff expenses into your wallet or glovebox and think “I’ll deal with it later”, or to make a mental note to chase clients up for payments only to forget it after a hectic day. These little things add up. Before you know it, you’re using up valuable evenings or weekends to dig around for old receipts or email clients about invoices, rather than kicking back with your mates at the footy.

Tradies have it tough already and you didn’t get into the game to lose your weekends to admin. That’s where having access to the right tools makes all the difference.

There’s an app for everything these days, from an employee clock in and out app to mobile payment apps. If you’re looking for ways to be more productive and make life easier, these top apps for contractors and tradies will do the trick.

Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks

One of the biggest headaches of being a tradie is managing money. It takes time to invoice customers and chase up payments. Plus, when you’re working with paper documents, things easily get misplaced along the way. Accounting software helps you out with with all the tools you need to manage money from anywhere, at any time.

The best accounting software for tradies includes Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks. These apps keep track of your finances on the road. Send invoices and payslips directly from the app to an email address to minimise paperwork, and set up automatic reminders for clients so you don’t need to chase them down every time a payment is due. With everything in one place, it’s a whole lot easier to get what you need when you need it.

Asana

When you’re out and about all the time, your to-do list quickly becomes a blur. Asana is a project management app that helps you plan and structure your tasks so you stay on top of your work while on the go. This could include jobs that need to be done for a client, or admin stuff like uploading expenses to your accounting app.

Asana’s super simple to use, especially if you love that satisfying feeling of checking off a to-do list. All you need to do is create a project in the app and list out your tasks. As you go along, simply tick them off in the app so you know exactly where you’re at in a project. You can also upload files that you need to have access to on the road (contract scans or site plans, for example).

PayPal

While some clients prefer to pay cash, most will use card. Hiring a mobile eftpos machine is expensive and adds extra bulk, which is why digital payment apps are the way to go.

PayPal is an app that allows you to send and receive payments online. All you need is a PayPal account and the app installed on your phone. When a job’s done, clients simply send money directly to your PayPal account using your mobile number or email.

What sets PayPal apart from the rest is that it’s easy to use and secure, so your money stays safe and sound. PayPal also saves you from trips to the bank to withdraw your cash. With just a few taps in the app, your money is transferred directly into your bank account.

Hipages

If you’re landing new clients, sooner or later you’ll need to bring extra hands on deck. However, protecting your reputation is important. You don’t want to give the task to just anyone, after all.

Hipages is one of the best tradie apps to find a trusted person to help with a new job. Post a job online from anywhere, get quotes from professional tradies who are interested, and choose the best one that fits your budget and needs. All Hipages tradies are licensed and monitored, so you can rely on them to get the job done.

Geo (that’s us!)

If you like the idea of managing your tradie business while on the road, a job management platform like Geo is your (digital) right hand man. Using Geo, it’s easy to manage a job from start to finish no matter where you are.

In Geo, quickly create jobs and assign them to staff while you’re out and about. All you need to do is put in the details of a job into the app and send it off to your tradie or apprentice, who’ll get a notification on their phone. Once the job is done, they simply update the status in the app and you’ll get a notification that everything’s complete. Creating quotes and invoices, or taking payments is also simple. Everything’s done straight in the app because Geo connects directly with accounting software like Xero or MYOB.

Geo is made for tradies, which means it’s super easy to use and affordable no matter how big or small your business is. What’s more, Geo’s support team is there to help if you run into any bumps along the way. All this equals less time spent on admin and job management, and more free time to do what you love.

If you’re ready to trade your overtime for free time, Geo is the way to go. Geo’s a mobile timesheet app, an employee scheduling app, and a job quote app all in one. Try it for free for 30 days here.