Years ago, Richie Foster was searching for the best service-based software for his Melbourne business, Fix-It Right Plumbing, and the same software kept popping up: ServiceTitan.
Foster, a self-proclaimed “sales nut” who’s run countless service jobs in his career, was intrigued by the U.S.-based software solution for the trades. His mentor, the technician sales expert Charlie Greer, taught him that a successful business’s sales process must include four aspects: flat-rate pricing, memberships, add-on pricing and the ability to group tasks.
Foster read that ServiceTitan could do all of that—and more—for his company.
“These guys get it,” he remembers thinking at the time. “They understand how a service business like mine is supposed to run.”
There was only one problem: ServiceTitan wasn’t servicing Australia—yet.
For years, Foster emailed ServiceTitan and asked if he could sign up, and for years, he got that same reply. So he chose a local software that “didn't do any” of the four sales aspects that Greer had taught him, and he created his own pricing software.
The combo worked. Over time, Foster saw his business grow to 12 techs and reach $6 million in revenue.
“But I knew that (my company) was built on a shoddy foundation of software,” Foster said. “I knew that at some point, it was going to break.”
Plus, he found himself spending too much time tinkering with the technology.
“I (realised) I couldn't develop software full-time and also (run) a company.”
He wouldn’t have to. After years of waiting, Foster finally got a “Yes” from the software he wanted all along.
Fix-It Right switched to ServiceTitan in November 2024. And Foster said they’ve already seen an increase in net profit.
‘Everything talks to each other’
For years, Foster had no idea that he was undercharging on toilets.
But after going live with ServiceTitan, he finally had robust reporting features and an up-to-date consistent pricebook—and most importantly, those features were interconnected.
“(With ServiceTitan), everything talks to each other,” Foster said. “The reporting on (my previous software) was atrocious. I knew that my guys and girls were not producing what I knew they could. But to mine the data out of those two systems that didn't really talk to each other was just insane.”
Before ServiceTitan, Foster said, his sister would regularly mine data and create homemade technician dashboards so that everyone at Fix-It Right had access to key performance indicators (KPIs). But this process took two weeks. “She was manually changing all of the numbers,” Foster said.
“(With ServiceTitan, this data is automatically updated on) their dashboard, live. It's there. Technicians have it in their hands.”
Foster said ServiceTitan’s reporting and pricebook gave him the insight to allocate the correct amount of install time at the right rate for each task.
“Especially on some items like toilets,” Foster said. “We were probably barely making money putting toilets in. (After we saw that data in ServiceTitan), the price of those pretty much doubled, because they needed to.
“That's where (we had a) gain of an extra 10%-20% net profit—just from doing that alone.”
Raising the ceiling
Foster built Fix-It Right around the sales process, and for years, he dreamed of growing his business into an eight- or nine-figure company, just like he’d seen plumbing businesses in the U.S. do.
But under his old software, he knew there was a limit as to how large his company could grow.
“I thought we were getting close to (the ceiling) at $6 million,” he said.
All of that has changed with ServiceTitan.
“Now, I know I've got a platform (where) there are other, $150-$200 million companies that have grown using (the software) and are just thriving because of it,” he said. “(ServiceTitan has) lifted the ceiling of my company, which could have been $10 million on (my) old system. I could push that to $100 million with (ServiceTitan).”
Looking ahead, Foster’s keen to dive deeper into the platform, such as custom reports and the marketing features to track leads. And, most importantly, he’s finally stopped worrying about his software holding the business back.
“I can really focus on growing the team and investing in the team,” Foster said. “(That) was a big worry. Now, I don't worry about that.”
