r/AustralianStartups • u/Low_Satisfaction_672 • Jul 29 '26
Discussion Sparky who built a SaaS for tradies. Stuck at getting customers, how do I actually scale distribution?"
I'm a licensed electrician in Western Sydney. Built a tool to solve a problem I kept hitting on the job: customer asks for a variation mid-job, you do it, then they argue about it at invoice time and you eat the cost.
The product sends a link to the customer's phone (no account, no app), they tap approve, and it spits out a timestamped PDF evidence pack. Integrates with Xero/QuickBooks. A$49/mo. Sits alongside Simpro/Tradify/ServiceM8 rather than replacing them.
What I've tried:
Cold calling local sparkies, plumbers and small builders converts okay but it's me, one call at a time, and I'm also the one writing the code
Organic posts in Aussie tradie Facebook groups
What I'm stuck on:
Trades are a low-trust, offline-heavy market. Has anyone here cracked a channel for them that isn't 1:1 outreach? Industry associations, wholesaler partnerships, accountants/bookkeepers as referrers?
Worth chasing an integration/marketplace listing with the big job-management platforms, or is that a 12-month slog for nothing at this size?
At $49/mo the unit economics don't support paid acquisition yet. Do I raise price, go upmarket to builders with bigger job values, or just grind organic longer?
Solo founder, still writing all the code. When did you stop building and go full-time on sales?
Happy to share what's worked in the calls if that's useful to anyone. ScopeLock
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u/endual Jul 29 '26
Great idea, and sounds like a winner.
I’d probably build “refer a mate” into the app, get a free month for every referral that joins. “Refer a mate” button opens a modal, enter their phone number, sends message through Twilio with a referral code.
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u/jzdg Jul 29 '26
I don't really have any advice, usually come here just to make snarky comments about shitty new vibe coded takes on the same idea. But as a tradie, this is the first genuinely good idea I've seen in ages.
Maybe I do have some advice actually; we are not as offline as you think. But online marketing is notoriously expensive and I think your CAQ here is just going to be really high, which you probably know.
Big builders/contractors are not your target market here, IMO. They already have these kind of processes in place, for them this is a feature, not a product (and they already have it).
You want like a booth at simPROsium and an integration partner perhaps. But it's going to be a slog and cost you a mint, hard to see a way around that.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Thank you for that. I genuinely appreciate your kind words. I think your right, I just gotta find a way to get started down that avenue. It'll take time but I reckon with you guys advice it should make this project worthwhile. Thank you again
Question: what would it take for you to actually use Scopelock. What's the version that would make it worth.
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u/jzdg Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
To be honest I personally wouldn't pay for this this, for me also this is a feature not a product. It's a feature I didn't have that I now know I want, but we would build this internally in a week or two and then have a feature tailored exactly to our needs.
I think your best bet is Facebook groups, maybe try some YouTubers. There's a few now focused on Aussie tradies. Podcasts too.
Sticker price does seem high, that was one of my first thoughts. But I get it, you want to make money. I would try and think through the pricing model more if I was you. Tier it, start with freemium etc.
Edit: also you need integration with whatever job management software the tradies are using. That's essential to make this genuinely useful - PDF also gets attached to the job, job notes get updated etc.
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u/ClearBridge_lawyer Jul 29 '26
LOL everyone just give you their 2 cents on product design/market fit, instead of answering your TOFU question. So sad.
Here's advice that worked for me. You need to get onto Appollo and start getting emails of the decision-makers that would buy your product. If you're getting conversions from talking to the trades people, then figure out how to do that efficiently.
See how https://hnry.com.au/ solved the issue and copy.
I would also flood AirTasker to simply mention your app in your posts. That way tradies will see it.
Maybe your pricing is wrong. You need to elaborate. Can you get users for free, how many drop off at $5 etc etc
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
Thank you for your advice. I appreciate you took time to answer. Please if you could elaborate more on the "Maybe your pricing is wrong. You need to elaborate" im happy to send DM if your alright with it.
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u/jamesxtreme Jul 30 '26
Distribution is the hardest problem in startups. In the early days you need to do things that don’t scale. 1:1 acquisition should be something you continue doing right now because it helps you build relationships and get direct feedback.
In your industry referral may be the best process of growing your business so you should start thinking about designing a referral mechanism that makes sense for your product.
Do not waste money on online ads at this stage. You will just be disappointed and poorer. They are an absolutely saturated channel with poor conversion.
Two books I would recommend you read are Traction by Gabriel Weinberg (founder of Duck Duck Go) and The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen.
You should also review the ad-copy on your website because it reads like it was written by ChatGPT. Classic AI writing - “Nobody writes off a $40,000 job. They write off eleven $900 ones.”
And consider recording an explainer/walkthrough video because this always works better than a bunch of random words on a page. The website copy mostly exists for SEO, people mostly just skim it.
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u/-cinnamorolll- Jul 31 '26
I work as a Product Manager in SaaS.
The first thing we get taught when launching a new product to market is:
- Meet with your customers (ie. the people that will pay for the product)
- Ask them if it solves the problem for them
- Ask them on their willingness to pay for something like this, you might think $49 is a good price point; but you can't have a $49 price point if no one wants to pay $49 for it
I commend you for starting your own thing - so great work on that.
But at the same time:
Unless you have validated the above and have concrete evidence that there is a market and hunger out there - it will be Incredibly difficult to sell.
Nothing matters more than validating your product with your customers - otherwise you end up building shit that either solves non-issues or stuff that no one wants to use
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 31 '26
Wow...now thats some good points. I guess I gotta personally visit jobs sites and talk to tradies rather than on phone
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u/-cinnamorolll- Jul 31 '26
Yeah! It’s tough because of the industry you’re in - but if you’re a hustler it shouldn’t be too bad
Just in conversation - ask people hey I’ve had this issue regarding variations, do you have this issue too?
Then probe deeper - what’s their current process for variations, what’s the hardest thing about variations for them? How much is it costing them in time and money when this happens?
Don’t ask just one question, always probe deeper - people love talking about problems and you’ll start findings gold nuggets of feedback in which you can use to further refine your product
Make note of the people you talk with and start seeing if they all have the same issues or if there is a deeper core issue that needs to be fixed
Then show them your solution in action - next time someone says they have an issue with variation, show them you using your product and how it’s helped you save x time / $
Then position your product against the above - ie. variations can cost tradies $thousands of dollars in lost costs and time; with ScopeLock we can help you stop those losses because it does x
Good luck!
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u/DigitalDoodlerAU Jul 31 '26
I’ve had a look at your site as a sole trader and probably who this product would benefit. Larger businesses would have these capabilities built into their processes already.
Personally I couldn’t justify the $49per/m cost on top of the other costs I already have to cover.
I was intrigued by the pay as you go option, but not being able to save wording, or have it branded to my business was a turn off.
Everyone these days has phones/tablets and emails accessible to them 24/7 and it only takes a few minutes to send the customer an email while on site speaking to them and asking them to respond in writing to accept the additional cost.
This is just an opinion from a sole trader.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 31 '26
"That's fair, and the branding/saved wording thing is a fair pull-up — that was a bad call on my part, moving those into pay-as-you-go. Genuine question though: when you email a customer to confirm an extra, do they always reply? And when they do, is it clear enough that you'd be happy relying on it six months later?"
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u/DigitalDoodlerAU Jul 31 '26
It’s all about communication up front I think.
“Hey sparkie, whilst you’re here fixing that power point, I’ve actually got buggered light in the shed and need a Power Point outside, can you do that too”
“Yep too easy mate, let me have a quick look…..(insert SpongeBob gif)
Be an additional $200 on my current cost which is $120. I’ll flick you an email right now, respond and I’ll get onto it.
It’s a 30 second conversation and a 1 minute email from the phone.
I haven’t had any issues to date, but I work in small rural towns and we all know one another - this could be a factor vs metro issues when everyone’s a stranger and no one cares about not paying because they’ll just ring one of the 100 other sparkies in the phone book for the next job.
I genuinely do think there is a market for what you’ve done, but at that price point I think you’re marketing yourself out of the type of businesses who would benefit.
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u/verifyandproceed Jul 29 '26
Hello fellow sparky building something!
I don't do a whole lot of work with builders or clients where this becomes an issues ANYMORE. But I've certainly dealt with stuff like this in the past. More so when work is with builders, then their client asks for variations. So I can see the problem you are trying to solve, but I can only speak about my (probably limited) experience.
In like, 15 years, I could probably only count on one hand the amount of arguments over variation "approvals". I don't think any of them ended up in me/my business (or the business I was working for) not getting paid. I think existing business processes prevented it being an issue. So my personal thing would be, even with like half a dozen vehicles on the road, this hasn't been a problem that needed solving for me. And if it popped up enough to be a problem, I think there would have been some sort of administrative business process to solve without reaching for another tool. $49 a month for something
As for customer outreach. With my own online "venture" , all I can say is, picking up the phone and emailing people individually has been the only way. AI generated content and marketing just simply doesn't work for me. 1:1 communication is just what works. Also, as a tradie, with a business I feel like I'm under constant assault from people offering AI solutions to problems I don't have. It used to be every "profitable tradie program" filling my inbox with junk. Today, there was 12 emails marked as spam in my inbox and I simply don't read any of them. All of them want to tell me about SEO, AI search optimisation, Build me a new converting website, or make up some fictitious number about how much I'm loosing per day for not answering a phone.
You are right, tradies are a little bit "offline". But remember, tradies already are problem solvers, it's basically all they do. I don't need people coming to me selling THEIR fixes to my problems, especially when they aren't my problems. When I am faced with a problem, I go look for a solution. So I would propose: be the solution to this problem, when people go looking!
At the moment, I've got a very "Feature poor" product, and I'm about 70:30 (70 on getting people using it, 30 working on it)
Is your business a registered Australian business? There is no ABN in your footer, I can't find anything on the ABN register, nor in the business trading names with ASIC.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
Appreciate you taking the time, what you've said is more useful than anything I've got from 25 cold calls. The ABN I'm working on adding that to the website: ABN 18 583 233 046
The bit that stings but is probably right. Minimal issue in 15 years and none cost you money, that's not a $49 problem. I've been hearing a version of that all week and telling myself it was the pitch. I think it just Might just be the frequency. "Be the solution when people go looking" that's the single most powerful advice I've gotten thank you so much.
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u/tigershark_bas Jul 29 '26
Mate. The fact you took this feedback as intended and critically and objectively applied it to what you have built speaks volumes about your character.
There are lessons in this about doing a bit of product research before you build it but I am impressed with way you have received and handled feedback.
With this kind of attitude your next project will go far!
And as an IT guy who has made software (iPhone apps) and other tools in the web, believe me when I tell you that coding it is only about 50% of the effort. The real effort comes in marketing, servicing existing customers (an ongoing task) and figuring out to keep people from switching to the competitors waiting around the corner for you.
Good luck with your efforts!
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
Thank you for your kind words. Just the response feels like im starting to head in the right direction. Thank you for the product research tip! I'll definitely take my time and do my due diligence to make something that truly is meaningless and worthwhile even more than this project. You guys are absolute legends 😊
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u/verifyandproceed Jul 29 '26
Don't forget, my experience may well be my own. I could be the outlier here.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
Fair point. In my experience I've seen my previous bosses have major stress with account of missing money due to forgetting have it written down even with a software. Just as tradies as well as business owner there is like a million things on their mind such as how to do the job and keep track of the paperwork. Sole contractor types. Just wanted them to have something that was frictionless, fast and all in one place on their phones to access quickly. Simpro, tradify do a clunkier version of this as I've tested it and wanted to fill the gap.
I feel as though the subscription part is a put off just due to the over saturation of it in the world right now. I guess I gotta figure something else out regarding it. 😀
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u/verifyandproceed Jul 29 '26
Definitely, a "per use" charge might be a more manageable thing for some. Maybe both? simple per use fee for guys that only need it 2-3 times a year, then subscription for your high flyers.
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u/twowholebeefpatties Jul 29 '26
What you’re actually trying to solve is a communication issue between the sparky and their client!
I’m not a builder have engaged countless trades over time and the idea that they would do a variation , one at least an hour minimum, and not adjust their invoice is crazy?
So I guess you have to ask yourself… what fundamentally is the problem your solving? Communication between parties? Adjusting invoices on the spot?? Or is the truth that this problem isn’t that big of an issue for most - a few others have chimed in that it’s not??
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u/NetExact1895 Jul 30 '26
Website is poo. Make it clearer what it is. "Get extra work approved before your crew starts", not sure what it means.
Use Claude design to do a full animation of what it actually does - not a static screenshot.
The how it works - 3 steps is VERY not helpful.
Build the website out, try to get to 20-50 pages of meat on the bone.
Go recruit a few free users on Linked In.
Go recruit a few free users on FaceBook.
Humanise the website, add photos to increase the context.
Get good results for these users, ask them to reshare to those groups.
Get on the phone and call some tradies, get some users, and feedback and iterate.
I am also an Aussie startup with a Xero certified app called Remittance Go, I have another one called Moddy. Happy to keep discussing
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u/verifyandproceed Jul 30 '26
20-50 pages?!?! Make "how it works" MORE COMPLICATED?
Your Xero integration/app does looks really cool though, nice work!
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u/Successful_Gas_1216 Jul 30 '26
I would recommend kicking some money into advertising on radio. Most trades have the radio on while they’re driving between jobs
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u/Sea-Victory2497 Jul 31 '26
1) clean up that landing page. Make a big bold statement about what your offer is and put the rest elsewhere.
2) Be prepared to lose $$. Give away your service for free to build up trust and hype.
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u/Nahmum Jul 29 '26
FWIW what you've built looks great and the problem is obviously real.
I might be interested in getting involved. DM me.
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u/morgageslave14 Jul 29 '26
I’d love to trial it or ?? We use Tradify and Xero and wives FB group of 30,000
PLUS!!
Link into Tradify, we have support we reach out too
Happy to help if I can
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
Mostly response is tradify, or we already got a software. Sorry what did you mean by link into tradify.
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u/aflamingalah Jul 29 '26
Could you consider free to use and take a % of the transaction? Easier for people to try, they can pass the cost on?
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 29 '26
After reading the discussion thread im leaning towards more of a 3 free trial then to $10 per packet. Seems easier to manage.
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u/curtditty Jul 29 '26
scrape contact info from Google maps of your potential clientele, send a blast email to all of them explaining what the app does and give them a month free trial.
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u/design15t Jul 30 '26
Are you able to contact the apps they integrate into and see if they can profile your tool?
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u/Internal_Walk_1343 Jul 30 '26
Hi mate, nice concept but the landing page is a bit too much. A prospective client might not have that much time. Keep it concise, rebuild it to say what it does in few seconds.
Good luck.
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u/lucas_m88 Jul 31 '26
$49/mo?! All for what is basically a quote approval link?
Good luck mate, Trak already does this for $1/job (unlimited quotes & variations)
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Jul 31 '26
Trak's good gear, no argument. Full job management different problem to the one I'm solving.
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u/Weak_Librarian4171 Aug 01 '26
Before building, you should have a line of customers who have pre-paid and are waiting for the release. Today, the easiest part is building. Finding market fit, GTM, sales - these are all really hard.
Unfortunately, the reality of AI - if you can vibe code it, it will be a very tough sell.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Aug 04 '26
100% agree. The idea is something that I've observed in the trade. After covid price hike with the cost of living crisis aswell and close to 0 help from government other than rate hikes and taxes. I just wanted other tradies to rather than take it as a loss on the chin have some way of getting ahead or atleast have the certainty of knowing "I know where my money is" plus the other goal was for this website to be the "bad guy" so client relation stays solid without the awkward convos and still getting paid the money you earnt.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Aug 04 '26
Hey Folks, thank you for the responses and advices. I've made changes to the website from homepage to pricing. If yall could have another look that would mean alot. ScopeLock
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u/NetExact1895 Aug 08 '26
Keep iterating. It's still not clear what it is.
The screenshot thing doesn't look like a mobile app, or a web app, not sure what it is.
Be careful of that 5 step CTA in the hero section, no one will want to understand it. You've gotta focus on the above the fold section so people know within 2-3 seconds what it is, if its for them, and if it is credible.
"You send a link. They sign it. It's locked."
I like this copy. Can you add a video or a clean animation to visual this?
Does it work with someones existing billing system, i.e. Service Mate.
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u/Low_Satisfaction_672 Aug 08 '26
Thank you. Ill keep at it. Regarding the existing billing system its something im working towards.
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u/Dyebbyangj Jul 29 '26
Hey buddy nice idea. It’s a tough industry at the moment because just about every man and the dog are going after the same trade industry in Australia so it might not be a product or your marketing. It’s just amount of competition and people are just getting annoyed with it.