Why a mid-year review can help you spot what's costing time and money
You probably already know that running a trade business is more than just working on the tools.
You're dealing with customers, pricing jobs, ordering materials, managing suppliers, checking job details, sending invoices and trying to stay on top of everything.
For a while, you can manage it all. But once the year gets going, there's usually a lot more to check and remember. And the busier the business gets, the more admin there is to keep on top of.
Take Matt, an electrician with an apprentice and another qualified electrician helping him with residential jobs.
He's busy, the team's working hard, and from the outside, everything looks good. But when he finally checks where things are at, he realises a couple of big jobs haven't even been invoiced, and a few quotes from May were never followed up.
So yes, he's busy, and his business isn't falling apart. But it does show there are a few things costing him time, delaying payments and making admin harder than it needs to be.
That's why a mid-year review is worth taking time out to do. It helps you see what's been missed, what's costing time or money, and where your admin or systems might need a tidy-up.
Start with what's changed since January
By July, your business may not look the same as it did at the start of the year.
You might have more jobs booked in, different suppliers, new customers, or have taken on a couple more tradies to help on site.
That's a good place to start your review of the past six months. Look at what's changed, then ask yourself if the admin still works for the business you're running now.
Are jobs being recorded in one place? Is there a clear process for following up quotes? Are invoices being sent at a set time each week? If a customer asks for a change or sends through photos, is that information saved somewhere easy to find?
Top tip: Pick one job from the last couple of months and check how it was handled.
Where were the details saved? Who followed up the quote, and was it recorded anywhere? When was the invoice sent?
If you had to go looking for that info, it's a good sign something needs tidying up.
Check what still needs to be closed off
Once you've looked at what's changed since January, check what's still sitting there unfinished.
It could be a job that's been completed but not invoiced, an overdue invoice, a quote you haven't had a yes-or-no on, or receipts for materials, fuel, or tools that still need to be recorded.
Depending on your set-up, you might find this in Xero, Fergus, Tradify, a spreadsheet, your inbox, calendar, notebook or messages.
These are the kinds of things that can cost you time and money when they're left too long or get lost altogether.
If a job's finished but the invoice hasn't gone out, that's money not sitting in your bank account. And it's going to affect cash flow, especially when you've still got suppliers, wages, subcontractors or GST to cover.
If a quote hasn't been followed up, you could be missing out on work while a competitor down the road picks it up.
If expenses haven't been recorded, that's another job waiting to be done. It also makes it harder to see what's actually going out each month.
To keep it simple, check these three things:
What completed jobs are still to be invoiced?
Are any invoices overdue for payment?
Which quotes or customer messages need following up?
Make job details easier to find
After you've checked what still needs to be closed off, it makes sense to look at why some of those jobs, invoices or follow-ups were missed in the first place.
It usually comes back to where the details are being kept.
Customer requests, photos, quotes, notes, and invoice details are easy to lose track of when they're split across texts, emails, notebooks, and your job system.
If you have to look in three or four places to check one job, the system needs a tidy-up.
From there, choose one main place to save important information for each job.
This is where you would keep the agreement, customer changes, photos, quote details, invoice status, plans, and anything else someone might need if they had to pick up the job later.
This part of your review is about making sure you, your team, or someone helping you with admin knows exactly where to look for the details when they need them.
Whether it's next week or 12 months from now.
Check what gets in the way of a good Google review
Customers don't see how your admin is set up, and they probably don't care. But they do notice when they get mucked around.
They notice when a quote takes longer than expected, a message doesn't get answered, or they're not sure what's happening next.
Most tradies want to be known as reliable, organised and easy to deal with. The work on site might be great, but if customers have to keep chasing for updates, it can still affect how they see your business.
The final part of your mid-year review is to look back over the past few months.
Were there jobs where customers had to chase you about an issue? Were there quotes that took too long to send? Were there invoices, updates or changes that left customers frustrated or confused?
If the same issues keep coming up, it's a sign to look at your admin processes. Do you need to make some changes?
Or is it time to get help with that part of your business before it leads to unhappy customers and bad Google reviews?
Ready to spend less time in the office?
If your mid-year review shows the same jobs, invoices, quotes or follow-ups keep getting missed, it might be time to bring in a virtual assistant to help with the admin side of your trade business.
Shadow Administration supports tradies with the annoying but necessary admin tasks that keep the business moving, including invoicing, Xero bookkeeping, job processes, client communication and general admin.
So instead of trying to catch up after a long day on the tools, you can get the right help in place and spend more time focusing on your trade.
