How Much Is Admin Costing Your Trade Business?
Australian tradies lose an average of $55,000–$120,000 per year to unbillable admin. Find your number in 60 seconds.
How the Calculator Works
Enter your hourly charge-out rate, then estimate how many hours per week your business spends on each admin category: quoting, invoicing, scheduling, and customer follow-up.
The calculator uses your opportunity cost — what those hours could have earned if spent on billable work — to produce a weekly and annual admin leak estimate. It then shows you the projected impact of moving to an automated job management platform, based on real-world efficiency gains from Australian trade businesses using ServiceM8.
Tip: Most tradies underestimate by 30% because they only count desk time. Include phone calls about scheduling, variations discussed on-site, compliance forms filled out from memory, and time chasing outstanding quotes — not just invoicing at a desk.
Industry Benchmarks: Annual Admin Leak by Trade
Based on 2026 data from Australian sole trader to 5-person teams at median charge-out rates.
Ready to Plug the Leak?
ServiceM8 eliminates the manual handoffs that create most of your admin overhead. Starts at $65/month. The software pays for itself in week one.
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