Profitability and improved technician efficiency are the key challenges for tradies in Australia, according to a recent study by ServiceTitan, the cloud-based software for the trades.
In the land down under, 39% of tradies said they are focused most on profitability, and 40% said they need more training for technicians. Just more than half report the lack of training affects sales.
To two ServiceTitan experts, the needs in Australia should be viewed as opportunity. By taking some basic steps, Australian businesses could see increased revenue, growth and profit.
“There is so much untapped potential,” said Jim McCalla, a ServiceTitan industry advisor for the Australian market.
“It would be so easy to get good,” said Ellen Rohr, Brand and Marketing Lead at ServiceTitan and owner and founder of the Zoom Drain Franchise.
ServiceTitan’s survey of 1,025 Australian tradies and executives was conducted by Thrive Analytics between 14 March and 4 April 2025.
“There's so much opportunity in just doing a few things,” Rohr said. “Some of them are scary and I get that, but the opportunity is there to grow and really provide for your team and provide better service for your customers and have a better living for yourself and your family.”
The survey showed 39% of Australian tradies see gross margins in the 21-30% range, and net margins between 6% and 10%. Most want to help profit by reducing costs – primarily for labor but also for materials.
Rohr said of that traditional approach: “To the man with a hammer, everything is a nail.”
She stressed that correct pricing is vital, even if it means increasing prices.
“Until you get priced right, you're never going to solve your profitability challenges,” Rohr said. “And it's scary to raise your prices, especially if not everyone will -- and they won't.”
She referred to what she called “the poppy syndrome,” which refers to individuals working against the success of others. Rohr told of one crab trying to escape a bucket full of them. When one tries, the rest pull it back. Rohr advocates escaping the bucket.
Three-quarters of respondents said pricing is based on time and materials, and 51% said they use flat-rate pricing for some services. Legendary Plumbers in Melbourne found great benefit in proper pricing combined with the good-better-best options in ServiceTitan.
“Good-better-best has taken our average ticket through the roof,” co-founder Mitch Boerner said.
This is an example of tradies helping profitability by taking advantage of technology, something McCalla advocates. Forty-three percent of tradies interviewed use basic software or pen and paper. A dedicated software like ServiceTitan can easily track unsold estimates.
“All these jobs that maybe somebody brings back on a piece of paper and it gets put into a folder and nobody's really following up,” he said. “A lot of the companies that have seen improvement installed a process, and our software helps them do that, along with presenting options out in the field. That unlocks a whole other sector of the business where they could go to the client's home and present the good-better-best on ServiceTitan.”
Tradies also want to increase the efficiency of technicians, with 57% of respondents saying a lack of training of technicians is a significant barrier to upselling.
Rohr said the answer is to look within.
“Everybody wants to find that lightning in the bottle,” she said. “And the reality is, it comes down to growing your own.”
New South Wales and Queensland are two states with associations and training programs, but there are no nationwide standardized programs or certifications. Instead, they vary by state.
Rohr admits that growing your own technicians can sound daunting, but she said the return makes the effort worthwhile. More important, formalizing training -- on operational systems, technical skills, and sales and communication skills – leads to company-wide improvement.
“If the cost increases your closing rate, it’s worth it,” she said. “If you focused on close rate as your No. 1 statistic for service tech efficiency, just close rate, could they close one more call a day? Just improving close rate would make all the difference.”
Most Australian tradies market via word of mouth (70%) or the website (76%). Less than three in 10 respondents use digital solutions such as Google Ads (29%), email marketing (24%), search engine optimization (17%), or SMS/text messaging (13%). Only 9% of respondents said they use outbound calling for marketing.
McCalla suggests taking advantage of all marketing opportunities, then tracking every effort via a software like ServiceTitan.
“They need to know where leads are coming from,” McCalla said. “Every little bit that they save will go back into the business.”
Boerner said Legendary takes full advantage of tracking marketing campaigns.
“With the click of a button, I can see how our SEO is doing, how our Google ad is doing,” he said.
“Having the ability to know exactly where our calls were coming from, what particular type of marketing was working, made all the difference for us,” said Vickie Irwin, co-owner of Network Plumbing in Sydney.
Rohr used the formalizing word for marketing as well. A business could formalize a digital campaign or a text campaign. It could track what customers have dogs and what kind, and perhaps the techs could bring them a treat when work is done. She mentioned a rewards plan for repeat customers, or even creating a program to meet other referral partners and bringing doughnuts for all to enjoy.
“Formalizing a relationship can go a long way,” Rohr said.
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Finally, maximizing the offerings of a software can promote efficiencies and foster growth. McCalla said not tracking unsold estimates alone means losing four to five jobs per week.
“Do the math on that, and that’s significant money,” he said.
The upcoming Australian generation grew up with technology, appreciates it and enjoys it. To them, technology is an everyday part of life.
“You could get 500% better in a short period of time by focusing on some really basic things,” she said. “Getting priced right, training for your technicians, a little bit of automation in your systems. There's so much opportunity with just doing a few things.”
