Quick answer
A custom dashboard for a trade business pulls jobs, quotes, invoices and cash from the systems you already use into one screen you can trust. I build them directly at A$150 per hour + GST with hours capped in writing first. A first dashboard that connects two or three systems usually lands between 30 and 70 hours. You own the code and the accounts at handover.
From four tabs to one screen
How a first dashboard build goes, and where the hours actually go.
- 01
Scope the questions
List the five questions you ask every day and which system holds each answer.
- 02
Connect and check
Read from Xero, job software and forms. Compare every number against the source.
- 03
Hand over
Accounts and code in your name, documentation, and a short list of what to add next.
One screen the office trusts beats a wish list. Add to it once the first version is right.
The four-tab problem
Most trade businesses I talk to run on four tabs. Xero for the money, job software for the schedule, email for the quotes, and a spreadsheet that one person updates on Friday. Every question about the business, from “which jobs are unpaid” to “are we ahead this month”, means opening all four and doing the sums in your head.
The spreadsheet is usually the real system. It is also where things get lost: a variation that never made it from the site note into the invoice, a job marked done that was never billed, a supplier invoice paid twice because nobody could see it had already gone through.
A dashboard does not fix a broken process. It shows you the process. That is usually enough to fix it.
What a trade business dashboard actually shows
The first version is always smaller than the wish list. I would start with the questions you ask every day and build those.
- Jobs: what is quoted, what is booked, what is on site today, what is finished but not invoiced.
- Money: invoiced versus paid, overdue by customer, revenue against cash in the bank. “Revenue looks good, where is the cash?” is the question this answers.
- Quotes: every quote sent, how old it is, and which ones have gone quiet. Quote follow-up is the task owners most often want automated.
- Needs attention: a short list. Approvals waiting, pre-starts not filled in, a supplier invoice that does not match a purchase order.
Everything on the screen traces back to a record in the system it came from. If a number looks wrong, you click it and see why.
What it connects to
Xero, your job-management software, your forms from the field and your inbox. Where a tool has an API, the dashboard reads from it directly and nobody types anything twice. Where it does not, I will tell you during scoping, and that part stays manual or gets a simple import.
Some Xero functions have no API at all, so the dashboard reads Xero rather than writing to it unless we agree otherwise. Field forms in Jotform or similar can feed pre-starts and job cards straight in. Email can be read for supplier invoices and quote replies, with a person approving anything before it changes a record.
What it costs, and why the number moves
A$150 per hour + GST, with the hours capped in writing before I start. A first dashboard that connects two or three systems usually runs 30 to 70 hours. The only reason it moves is how many systems you have and how clean the data in them is. Migrating years of spreadsheet history costs more than starting from today.
Running costs are small and listed in the scope: hosting and a database for a typical dashboard run from free to a few dollars a month on the providers I use. AI usage, if we add any, is metered separately.
Worst case, you pay for a scoping session and receive a written plan of exactly what I would build, in what order, and what it would cost. You can hand that to anyone.
Who owns it
You do. The code repository, the hosting and the database are set up in your name or transferred to you at handover, with documentation. There is no key man risk and no monthly fee to keep it running. If you want ongoing changes, we agree simple monthly development hours after the build has earned its keep.
What not to build first
Leave forecasting, AI predictions and customer-facing portals to last. They are the most expensive parts and they sit on top of data that is not clean yet. Get one screen the office trusts, then add to it.
If your job software already has the report you need, use that. I would rather tell you that on the discovery call than build something you already pay for.
Common questions
How long does a custom dashboard take to build?
About a week of build time for a first version that connects two or three systems, inside a 30 to 70 hour cap. Calendar time depends on how quickly we get access to your systems and how clean the data is.
Can it replace my job management software?
No, and it should not try to. The dashboard reads from the tools that run the business and shows you one view. If your job software is the problem, we talk about that on the call before building anything on top of it.
Do you build dashboards for businesses outside the trades?
Yes. Logistics, property and professional services have the same four-tab problem. The examples here are trade businesses because that is where most of my dashboard work is.
What happens if something breaks after handover?
You own it, so you can fix it with anyone. Most owners keep me on simple monthly development hours after the build; that is agreed separately and is not a retainer you need to start.
Official resources
Explore the tools and check current details with the people who make them.
