Trade Business Management System

Your website and your office in one place, from the first enquiry to the paid invoice.

Overview

Small trades team talking through the day beside their vans outside the office

The Trade Business Management System (KA Trade, version 3.0.1) is one WordPress theme that runs both your public website and your office: online enquiries with photos, quotes your customers accept online, deposits, a schedule for your engineers, a phone app for the engineers themselves, renewal reminders, invoices and a customer portal.

It installs on your own WordPress website and keeps your data in your own database. Payments go through WooCommerce and your own payment provider account. Text messages, WhatsApp, accounting software and AI estimating are optional and use your own accounts with those services.

Who it is for

UK trades and engineering businesses, such as heating, plumbing, electrical and building firms, that want their website, quotes, jobs and repeat work in one system.

Features in detail

Homeowner filling in a quote request with photos on her phone in her kitchen

Website and enquiry form

A front-end website built to turn visitors into enquiries.

Homepage, service pages, service-area landing pages and a projects gallery with before and after photos
A four-step quote form: service, property and timing, postcode, then contact details with consent
The postcode step tells the customer straight away whether you cover their area; enquiries from outside it are still received and marked as out of area
Customers can add photos and see a guide price range you set for each service
A call and quote bar on mobiles, with colours, wording and badges set in the WordPress Customiser

Office manager moving enquiry cards across a board on a large monitor

Enquiries board

See every enquiry and move it on.

A board of stages: drag a card to move an enquiry on
Choosing "Lost" asks for a reason; "Postponed" enquiries get an automatic follow-up after three months
Book a site visit, or book simple work such as a service or repair as a job without a quote

Couple reading and accepting a quote on a laptop at their dining table

Quotes customers accept online

Send a clear quote and let the customer say yes online.

Add lines from your own price list, including optional extras the customer can tick
VAT, deposit percentage, validity and terms set once in Settings
The customer views the quote online, ticks extras, signs by typing their name and pays the deposit
You are told the moment a quote is first opened
Up to three automatic follow-ups until the customer accepts or declines
Print or save a quote as a PDF, and record phone acceptances and cash deposits by hand

Office coordinator planning the week for several engineers on a wall calendar

Jobs and scheduling

Plan your engineers' week.

An accepted quote becomes a job, waiting for the deposit, then ready to schedule
A week-by-engineer view and a month view
Drag unscheduled jobs and site visits onto a day and an engineer, including jobs that last several days
Move a job to another day or engineer, and send the customer an appointment confirmation

Engineer in work clothes checking his next job on a phone beside his van

Engineer phone app

A simple app-like page for engineers on the road.

Engineers sign in on their phone and see today's jobs and the next two weeks, without access to the admin area
Each job shows the postcode of the job address, with directions, call and text buttons
"I'm on my way" lets the customer know, with an expected arrival time if you add one
Start the job, take photos, write notes for the office, get the customer's signature on the phone and complete the job
Notes are saved with whichever button the engineer presses next, and unsaved notes are kept on that phone if the page reloads
A calendar link so each engineer's jobs appear in their phone calendar

Desk calendar marked with a gold clip beside a phone and a mug in a small office

Renewal reminders

Bring repeat work back every year.

Add a renewal item, such as an annual service or a yearly safety check, by hand or from a completed job
Customers are reminded 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before it is due, with a link to choose a date
Overdue items are flagged to the office
Marking the work done moves the next due date on
The dashboard shows renewals due in the next 90 days and their expected value

Letting agent checking several properties on a laptop in her office

Customer portal

One page for each customer to see and book their work.

Work grouped by property, with overdue and due-soon items highlighted
Book several properties in one go, with tenant contact or access notes
Download the documents you attach to a renewal through a private link
See unpaid invoices, quotes and past work in the same place
Each colleague at a customer company gets their own private link and permissions, and can be sent email copies
Reset a customer's or a colleague's link, or turn portal access off, from the admin area

Trades business owner preparing an invoice on a laptop at his workbench desk

Invoices

Turn a job into an invoice and get paid.

Lines come from the quote and the deposit already paid is taken off
Customers pay by card through WooCommerce or by bank transfer
Record bank transfers, cash and cheques by hand, including part payments, and void an invoice when needed
Automatic reminders after the due date, and payment terms per customer

Bookkeeper working through a stack of invoices with a calculator

Accounting software

Get invoices into your accounts.

Export invoices as a CSV in Xero or QuickBooks Online format, or as a plain spreadsheet
Optional live webhook for every invoice sent and payment received, for use with an automation tool
Optional direct connection to your own Xero or QuickBooks Online account, set up with your own developer app
The direct connection has been tested against a simulated server only, not with real accounting accounts, so try it with a test company in your accounting software first

Estimator in a bathroom being renovated, checking a tablet and a notepad

Draft quotes from photos with AI

An optional starting point for a quote, which you check.

Uses your own API account with a supported AI provider (charged by the provider per use)
Sends the customer's photos, description, your services and your price list, and returns suggested lines, prices, assumptions and questions to check on site
You review and edit the draft before anything is sent: nothing goes to the customer automatically
The AI model names are set in Settings; if your provider renames or retires a model, update the name there
Tested with simulated responses only, so try it on a real enquiry before relying on it

Van driver looking at a route map on a phone mounted on the dashboard

Routes and map

Plan a sensible order for the day.

See an engineer's jobs for the day on a map with estimated arrival times
"Optimise order" suggests the shortest order, and you can drag to change it
Save the route, and choose whether to update appointment times and tell customers their new times; both options start unticked, saving never moves an appointment earlier, and only customers whose time moves later are told
Open the whole route in Google Maps
Times are estimates from straight-line distance and an average speed, not live traffic; addresses need a UK postcode

Tradesman carrying boxed materials away from a builders merchant counter

Suppliers, materials and purchase orders

Order materials and see what is left for labour and profit.

Suppliers with their order email, your account number and branch details
Import a supplier price list from a CSV file, with a mark-up per item or a default mark-up
Use materials in quotes at cost plus mark-up
Create a purchase order from a job, email it to the supplier and mark it received
Each job shows its value, the materials ordered and the amount left

Smiling customer reading a message on her phone at her front door

Text messages and WhatsApp

Send messages the way your customers prefer.

Test mode by default: messages are recorded but not sent
Connect your own Twilio, WhatsApp Cloud API or other provider account through a custom webhook
WhatsApp messages you start need a message template that Meta has accepted for your account
26 editable message templates, in email and text versions
Quiet hours hold back automatic follow-ups and reminders; instant messages, such as enquiry confirmations and "on my way", are still sent
An optional missed-call webhook can text back a link to your quote form

Office administrator working on a desktop computer in a small trades office

Running it

Tools for whoever looks after the website.

Automatic tasks run every 15 minutes; a server cron job is recommended
Customer data can be exported to CSV, and a customer and everything linked to them can be deleted on request
Your data stays in the database if you switch theme; switching back brings the system back
There are no automatic updates or built-in backups: new versions are installed by uploading the theme zip, and backups come from your hosting or a backup plugin
Settings are changed by a WordPress administrator; the office manager role runs the day-to-day work

What you get

The Trade Business Management System (KA Trade theme, version 3.0.1) as a download, available straight after payment from a secure link and in your account.
An illustrated user manual in British English (PDF) covering installation, first-time set-up and day-to-day use.
After-sales support for the system as supplied (see below).
What you need to provide: a WordPress website (6.4 or newer) with HTTPS hosting and PHP 7.4 or newer, WooCommerce with your own payment provider account for deposits and card payments, an email (SMTP) account for sending quotes and reminders, and a server cron job. Optionally: your own SMS or WhatsApp provider account, an accounting software account and an AI provider API account.

Terms

Before you buy

Version 3.0.1 has been tested by its developer on a local test copy with made-up customers and amounts. It has not been run with a live business's data.

Outside services need your own accounts and have not been proven with live accounts. Payments, text messages, WhatsApp, the direct Xero and QuickBooks connections and AI estimating all use your own accounts with those services, and any fees they charge are yours. The accounting connections and AI estimating were tested against simulated responses only. Try each one with a small, harmless example first.
Estimates are estimates. AI suggestions and route times are starting points for you to check, not prices or arrival times you can rely on.
Test first. Set the system up on your website and try a full enquiry, quote, deposit and invoice yourself before you take real customers through it.
Check the currency before you take deposits. When the theme is activated, or WooCommerce is installed afterwards, a shop still set to US dollars is switched to pounds sterling (GBP) once; a currency you have chosen yourself is never changed. If WooCommerce uses any currency other than GBP, the admin area shows a warning with a button to switch.
Customer portal links. Portal links are private, so share each one only with the person it is for. From the customer's page in the admin area you can reset the account holder's link or a colleague's link, so that the old link stops working straight away, or turn portal access off.
Your homepage details. The homepage starts with neutral placeholder wording, and the ratings and figures sections stay hidden until you fill them in. Any ratings, figures, badges or accreditation details you add are shown as you write them and are not checked by the system, so make sure they are true.
Your responsibility: your prices, terms, VAT settings, the accreditation logos you show and the messages you send are yours to check.

After-sales support

Support specialist with a headset at her desk, helping a customer

Your purchase includes after-sales support for the system as supplied. If something does not work as described in the user manual, tell us and we will investigate and fix it.

After-sales support does not include changes, additions or tailor-made (custom) work, such as altering screens, wording, workflows, reports or notifications, or adding new features. These are charged separately. For changes to your system, see our System Customisation Service, or ask us for a quote for larger work.

After-sales support also does not cover hosting, domain names, email account set-up, server administration, outside-service accounts (such as payment, SMS, WhatsApp, video, meeting, accounting or AI services), or any third-party fees, which remain your responsibility.

See the System Customisation Service

Frequently asked questions

Do I need my own website hosting?

Yes. The system is a WordPress theme, so you need a WordPress website with HTTPS hosting, WooCommerce for payments and an email (SMTP) account. Your hosting company can help if you are unsure.

Can customers pay a deposit by card?

Yes, through WooCommerce and your own payment provider account, such as Stripe or PayPal. Phone acceptances and cash deposits can also be recorded by hand.

Do text messages, WhatsApp, accounting and AI work straight away?

No. They are optional and need your own accounts with those services. Messages start in test mode, and the accounting connections and AI estimating have only been tested with simulated responses, so try each one with a small example first.

Can my engineers use it on their phones?

Yes. Each engineer gets a sign-in that opens their own job list on their phone, with directions, photos, notes and the customer's signature, without access to the admin area.

Are changes or custom work included?

No. After-sales support covers the system as supplied. Changes and tailor-made work are charged separately, for example through our System Customisation Service.

Smiling trades business owner standing with arms folded in front of his van

Ready to run your trades business from one place? Buy now, or contact us with any questions.