Why Trade Mechanics
Get hours back. Know your business.
Most trade businesses run on several programs, tied together by hand. Trade Mechanics does that work for you, in one system, and shows you how every job, and the whole business, is doing.
The patchwork costs more than its bills
An estimating program, a time clock app, a schedule, spreadsheets for job costs. Each does its part, and people do the rest: typing the same numbers twice, searching email and folders for a supplier invoice, matching costs to jobs at the end of the month. By the time the numbers meet, the job is long finished.
| The usual patchwork | Trade Mechanics | |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier invoices | Typed in or filed by hand, matched to jobs later | Read for you, put on their jobs and checked as they arrive |
| Estimate prices | Looked up on the last invoice or a price sheet | Filled in from what you actually paid: the highest of your suppliers' latest prices, so it never comes in low |
| The crew's hours | Paper or a separate time clock, copied into job costs | Clocked in on the job from the crew's phones, so they land on the job |
| Billing | Another program, typed from the proposal | From the signed proposal's payment schedule, with retainage |
| A job's profit | Worked out after the job, in a spreadsheet, if at all | On every job while it's running |
| Finding things | Email, folders and spreadsheets | On the job's page |
| What you pay for | Several subscriptions | One, with every feature in every pack |
Time back
Get hours back every week
The work people do by hand to hold a patchwork together, Trade Mechanics does.
- Supplier invoices, done for you. Invoices your supply houses email are read, put on their jobs and checked: a price above usual, a total that doesn't add up, a missing job. Only the ones with a problem need a look.
- Estimates that price themselves. Paste a material sheet: each row is matched to a product and priced from your own purchases.
- Hours from the job site. The crew clocks in and out on the job from their phones, and the office approves the week.
- Billing from the proposal. Deposits, progress payments and the final bill come from the signed proposal's payment schedule.
- No more searching. The estimate, proposal, purchases, hours, photos, notes and billing are all on the job's page.
- No month-end matching. Costs land on the job as they happen.
Business intelligence
Know how your business is really doing
When every cost and hour lands on its job, the numbers are there while you can still act on them.
- Profit on every job, while it's running, with the estimate against actual for materials, tools and equipment, subcontractors and labor.
- Your finished jobs ranked by profit, the least profitable first, so you see which kinds of work pay.
- A snapshot of the business: the pipeline, work won, what's ready to bill and what's owed, this month or this year.
- Why work was passed on, kept with every job you didn't pursue.
Better numbers mean better decisions: which work to go after, how to price the next estimate, when to chase a payment, and how busy the weeks ahead are.
Lower cost
Pay for one system, not several
What it does the work of
- An estimating program
- A time clock app for the crew
- A scheduling tool
- Job costing in spreadsheets
- Tracking purchases and supplier prices
- Proposals and billing
What it costs
- One price for your pack, from $149 a month
- Every feature is available in every pack, nothing held back
- No contract, no setup fee
- Prices on the website, not a quote
Keep your accountant, your books and your payroll: Trade Mechanics works alongside them.
See pricingWhat makes it different
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It learns your words
It starts out knowing the trade: manufacturers, products and the shorthand suppliers use. Then it learns yours. Tell it once that "12-2 rx" is 12-2 Romex, and every estimate after knows. It remembers your suppliers' item codes, your job names and what you paid, so it needs less help the longer you use it.
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Prices from what you paid
Estimate prices come from your own purchases: each supplier's latest price is compared and the highest used, so an estimate never comes in low. A product your suppliers price very differently is marked to check.
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Clean data, kept clean
A weekly check finds job names that are probably the same job ("WOODS", "Woods APT Buildings") for you to merge. Each supplier item is identified once, and a mistake is fixed right where you see it.
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AI that does specific jobs, and you can check its work
The System reads supplier invoices, works out what a supplier's item is, and suggests products for estimate rows. A supplier invoice with a problem is flagged for a look, items it isn't sure of are listed for a person, and a suggested product is used only when someone chooses it. Your data isn't used to train AI models.
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Your own private system
Each company has its own site, its own database and its own storage. Your customers, jobs and prices never share a database with another company's, including your competitors'.
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Built for contractors who estimate, propose and build
Scopes of work, proposals with payment schedules, change orders, retainage and progress billing, with a phone app for the crew. Built with an electrical contractor, in the trade's own words.
See it on a demo
We'll show you Trade Mechanics and answer your questions. Packs start at $149 a month, with every feature in every pack.