Build three things in Tradify: a staged quote from templates, variations priced and accepted online before the extra work starts, and progress invoices drawn from the quote by percentage, fixed amount or line. Progress invoicing needs Pro ($51 per user a month) or Plus ($61), so test all three in the 14-day trial first.
One premise check before you start. Tradify's own trade pages list electrical, plumbing, gas, HVAC and property maintenance, not building, and the pages I read describe extra work through optional quote sections rather than anything labelled variations. The pieces a builder needs are documented all the same: quote options with online acceptance, optional quote sections, progress invoicing with deposits, progress payments and retentions, bill tracking and subcontractor connections. Treat the trial as a fit test, not a formality.
Is Tradify a fit for a small builder? Five checks first
Tradify is built around service trades that quote, schedule and invoice from a phone. A building job is longer and is paid in stages, so decide what you need from the tool before you spend a trial week on it. I found nothing on its pages about programme charts, a customer portal or selections sheets. If your jobs depend on those, compare it with a builder-specific tool such as those in a comparison of JobTread and Buildertrend for a small builder, and keep Tradify for the quote-to-invoice chain it does document.
Five checks decide whether it fits. Run each in the trial on a job you have already finished:
- Can a quote show your stages as priced lines a homeowner understands?
- Can you invoice a percentage, a fixed amount or one line of that quote, and does the remaining balance stay right?
- Can a customer accept extra work online before it starts?
- Do supplier bills and purchase orders land on the job, so you can see margin before the final stage?
- Does the invoice sync cleanly into Xero or QuickBooks Online?
If any of the first three fail, stop. The rest of the app does not rescue a quote that cannot be staged or a variation that cannot be accepted.
Which plan: what Pro and Plus add for a builder
The pricing page lists features by plan, and the builder-relevant ones fall on two tiers. List prices are per user per month in dollars: Lite $47, Pro $51, Plus $61.
| What a builder needs | Plan that lists it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Quote options and online acceptance | Pro | Not on Lite |
| Quote and invoice templates, job templates | Pro | Job templates are listed under Pro |
| Progress invoicing: deposits, progress payments, retentions | Pro | The core of stage payments |
| Costing and bill tracking, timesheets, subcontractor scheduling | Pro | Costs against the job |
| Pricing and markups | Plus | Lite's list says "pricing and margins"; test how each behaves |
| Purchase orders, job tasks, kit bundles, reporting | Plus | Tasks can hold a stage checklist |
| SmartRead for Bills, SmartWrite | Plus | The AI SmartTools; Plus only |
For a firm of three users, Pro costs $153 a month ($1,836 a year) and Plus $183 ($2,196 a year). The $30 gap is $360 a year. At $45 an hour of your time that is 40 minutes a month, so Plus pays for itself only if purchase orders, markups and the two AI tools save the three of you more than that. A firm that prices cost-plus and orders materials by purchase order will pass that bar easily. A firm that quotes fixed prices from a rate sheet and pays suppliers on account may not, and should start on Pro.
Step 1: load your rates, your price list and the accounting link
Before the first quote, put three things in. First, your labour rate; Tradify's free tools page includes a charge-out rate calculator you can use to check yours. Second, a price list: Tradify accepts a supplier's price list as a CSV file, so import the one you buy from most and delete lines you never use. Third, the accounting link to Xero or QuickBooks Online, which Tradify lists on every paid plan. Raise one test invoice and confirm it arrives with the right numbering, because Tradify says its invoice numbering can be matched with your accounting package.
Check how markups behave before you trust any quote. Take $1,000 of materials. A 20% markup prices them at $1,200. A 20% margin prices them at $1,250, because margin is a share of the selling price. That $50 gap per $1,000 is $1,500 a year on $30,000 of materials, and the pricing page lists "margins" under Lite and "markups" under Plus, so find out which one your plan applies before you rely on it.
Step 2: set up statuses, a job template and a stage checklist
Pro lists custom job statuses, job templates and job photos and files, and Plus lists job tasks. Together they turn the five stages into something the whole crew can see. Name the statuses after the money, not generic labels: Quoted, Accepted, Stage 2 frame and roof, Stage 3 lock-up, Stage 4 fit-out, Snagging, Complete. Each time a job moves to a stage status, that is the moment the matching invoice is due, so nobody has to remember it.
Then save an "Extension" job template with those stages. On Plus, add a task list under each. A filled-in list for Stage 3 looks like this:
- Windows and doors delivered and checked against the order.
- First-fix plumbing pressure-tested and photographed before boarding.
- First-fix electrics photographed before boarding.
- Weathertight photo uploaded to the job.
- Customer walk-through booked before the Stage 3 invoice goes out.
The photos are not decoration. When a stage is disputed, a dated photo on the job is worth more than a recollection, and Pro's job photos and files keep them next to the quote and invoices they relate to.
Step 3: build a staged quote template
Here is the main example. A small builder quotes a $36,000 bathroom and utility-room extension, paid in five stages. The stage lines carry the money, and the description under each says what has to be finished before it is billed:
| Stage line | What it covers | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Deposit on acceptance | Booking the job and ordering long-lead items | 10% | $3,600 |
| 2. Groundworks, frame and roof | Foundations, timber frame, roof structure and covering | 30% | $10,800 |
| 3. Lock-up and first fix | Windows, doors, first-fix plumbing and electrics | 30% | $10,800 |
| 4. Second fix and fit-out | Plastering, tiling, fittings, second fix | 20% | $7,200 |
| 5. Completion and handover | Snagging complete, certificates handed over | 10% | $3,600 |
| Contract sum | 100% | $36,000 |
Tradify lets you build a quote from saved templates, price lists and kits, and its invoicing page says you can raise a progress invoice from a quote as a percentage, a fixed amount or a particular quote line. That gives you two ways to structure the same job. In the first, the quote shows five priced stage lines and you invoice by line. In the second, the quote is an itemised build-up and each stage is a percentage of the total. The first reads clearly to a homeowner and bills cleanly. The second hides less. Try both in the trial and send each to a friend; the one they can explain back to you is the one to use.
Write each stage description as a billing condition, not a sales line. Compare:
- Before: "Frame and roof incl. joists, as discussed."
- After: "Stage 2: groundworks, frame and roof. Excavation and foundations, timber frame, roof structure and covering to weathertight. Invoiced when the roof covering is complete."
The second tells the customer when the invoice will arrive and gives you a clear finish line. Save the whole thing as a quote template called "Extension, five stages" and reuse it. If your contract holds back a retention until a defects period ends, the pricing page lists retentions under progress invoicing, but none of Tradify's pages I could open explains how a retention is set up and released, so test how a retention line prints before you promise it to a customer.
Step 4: handle variations without rewriting the quote
Tradify's quoting page says you can add optional sections to a quote, removing the need to edit previous quotes, and that customers can accept or decline quote options online. Those are the nearest documented tools to a variation. Keep variations on the quote side, and in the trial edit one invoice after creating it, then reopen the quote: if the remaining balance has not moved, an invoice edit is a trap, because the quote would no longer know what is left to bill.
A routine that works with those tools:
- Capture it on site. A photo and a one-line note on the job, with the date.
- Price it from your rates. Labour hours at your charge-out rate, materials with your markup, and the days it adds.
- Add it as an optional section or a separate quote with a plain description, a price and the time effect.
- Send it for online acceptance and wait. No work starts until the acceptance email arrives.
- Bill it on its own invoice so the customer can match each variation to a payment.
Take two variations on the $36,000 job. Variation 1, underfloor heating in the new bathroom: materials cost $620, marked up 20% to $744, plus 12 hours at $85 is $1,020, so $1,764, adding 1.5 days. Variation 2, a credit for leaving out a tiled splashback the owner will do: minus $480. The revised contract sum is $36,000 + $1,764 - $480 = $37,284. Record each in a small register with its number, date, description, price, days added and status, because the register is what you will lean on at final account.
Send the customer something like this, with your own details in the brackets:
Subject: Variation 1: underfloor heating in the new bathroom
Hi [first name],
As we discussed on site, the price to add underfloor heating to the new bathroom is $1,764. It adds one and a half working days to the programme. We will not start this work until you accept the variation, which you can do from the link in this email. If you accept, we will bill it on a separate invoice from the stage payments.
[your name]On Plus, SmartWrite can generate descriptions from your line items, adjust tone and correct spelling. Use it on the variation's lines, then compare its description with your lines and delete anything it adds that you did not price. A description that promises "all necessary electrical works" when you priced a thermostat is an argument waiting to happen. For wider guidance on pricing change orders, a guide to pricing variations and change orders with AI goes through the on-site capture and the knock-on costs.
Step 5: stage payments, reminders and online payment
Tradify's invoicing page confirms the method: a progress invoice raised from the quote, by percentage, fixed amount or quote line. The routine is to invoice from the quote, pick the percentage, amount or lines, and repeat from the quote for each stage, so the quote stays the record of what is left to bill: its total minus what each linked invoice has taken. Tradify's help centre would not load when I checked, so confirm each click on screen in your trial rather than trusting this order.
For the extension, the invoices fall like this:
| Invoice | Raised when | Amount | Remaining on the quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| INV 1, deposit | The quote is accepted | $3,600 | $32,400 |
| INV 2, stage 2 | Roof covering complete | $10,800 | $21,600 |
| INV 3, stage 3 | Lock-up and first fix complete | $10,800 | $10,800 |
| INV 4, variation 1 | Underfloor heating installed | $1,764 | Separate, from its own acceptance |
| INV 5, stage 4 | Second fix and fit-out complete | $7,200 | $3,600 |
| INV 6, completion | Handover | $3,120 | The final $3,600 less variation 2's $480 credit; check how the credit shows against the quote |
Switch on the reminders. Quote and invoice reminders are listed under Pro, and Tradify says automatic reminders can go by email or text for unpaid invoices. Card payment runs through Stripe, with a "Pay Securely Now" button on emailed invoices; card fees are Stripe's, so look at its current rates before you offer card payment on a $10,800 stage. Your costs run ahead of these payments, which a job app will not show you. A cash-flow sheet built with AI, as in a guide to a construction cash flow forecast in a spreadsheet, covers that gap.
Step 6: costs, bills and purchase orders against the quote
Pro lists costing and bill tracking, timesheets and subcontractor scheduling; Plus adds purchase orders, and SmartRead for Bills, which reads a photo of a supplier invoice and fills in its details. The benefit is margin you can see before the last stage, not after.
Do the check at each stage invoice. The extension's price is $36,000 and, at a 30% gross margin, its expected cost is $25,200. After Stage 2 you have invoiced $14,400, which is 40% of the contract. If costs track progress, you should have spent about 40% of $25,200, which is $10,080. Say the job shows $10,950 ($5,100 labour and $5,850 materials). That is $870, about 9%, over. It is far cheaper to find out why before Stage 3, usually a materials price or a day of labour that was not on the plan, than at the end.
Test SmartRead honestly. Photograph five supplier invoices, including one crumpled, one with many lines and one split across two jobs, and see whether each lands on the correct job with the right amounts. A tool that reads clean invoices and fumbles real ones saves less than its price suggests; a ten-receipt test of scanners for tradespeople shows how to score it.
For subcontractors, Tradify's Connections feature is included in the subscription, with no limit on connections. A sub can sign up for a free version, accept or decline invitations and see the appointment details and your contact details. Its page does not describe subs sending invoices back, so bring sub invoices in as bills, photographed or keyed, and agree your payment terms in writing outside the app.
Where the AI helps in this workflow, and what Pro users do instead
Tradify's SmartTools are two features, both on Plus only, and a builder's week touches both. Here is where each fits, and what to do on Pro:
| Task | On Plus | On Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Tidy descriptions on a long quote | SmartWrite generates descriptions from your line items and fixes spelling and tone | Paste the lines into a chat assistant |
| Write a variation description | SmartWrite, then check against your priced lines | The same chat assistant routine |
| Capture a supplier bill | SmartRead for Bills reads a photo of the invoice | Key it in, or check whether your accounting package reads bills itself |
| Weekly client update | No Tradify tool documented | A chat assistant, with dates you supply |
On Pro, a prompt like this does the SmartWrite job, and it shows the habit to build with either route: give the lines and forbid additions.
Rewrite these quote lines as a plain-English description for a homeowner. Use only what is listed. Do not add materials, standards or guarantees.
Lines: underfloor heating mat, 6 m2; thermostat and floor sensor; screed preparation; 12 hours labour. Excludes tiling and changes to the electrical supply.An illustrative reply: "We will supply and fit an electric underfloor heating mat of about 6 square metres in the new bathroom, with a thermostat and floor sensor, and prepare the floor beforehand. The price includes 12 hours of labour. Tiling and changes to the electrical supply are not included." What you would fix: it added "electric" and "in the new bathroom" on its own. Both may be true, but neither was in your lines, and a description is a promise. Edit until every phrase maps to a line you priced.
A trial plan: run one finished job through Tradify
Take a job you completed last year and rebuild it in the trial, using a friend's email address as the customer. Aim to finish in a week. Pass or fail each of these:
| Test | Pass if |
|---|---|
| 1. Staged quote | Five stage lines send as a clean, branded quote |
| 2. Online acceptance | Your friend accepts from the email and you are notified |
| 3. Deposit | A 10% invoice from the quote reads exactly $3,600 |
| 4. Second invoice | A 30% invoice raised after it shows the right remaining balance |
| 5. Variation | An extra accepted online before work, billed separately |
| 6. Accounting | The invoices sync into Xero or QuickBooks Online with correct numbering |
| 7. Costs | A supplier bill lands on the job and changes the margin view |
| 8. Retention | A retention line prints and releases the way your contract says |
Tests 1 to 5 must pass. If test 8 fails, ask Tradify support how they handle retentions rather than assuming. Keep a note of the minutes the whole job took in the app, against how long you spend on the same paperwork now, because the switch only pays if the paperwork gets shorter.
My rule of thumb for the decision afterwards, not a standard. If tests 1 to 5 pass and you mostly quote fixed prices, take Pro. If they pass and you price cost-plus or raise purchase orders weekly, price Plus against the 40-minutes-a-month sum above and take it only if you can see the saving. If any of tests 1 to 3 fail, do not switch, however good the rest looks.
If it does not fit, where to look next
If the staged quote or the variation test fails, you have lost a week, not a year. Fergus is the closest alternative with phases and progress claims, and a set-up for builders on Fergus, with job costing and progress claims walks through the same job there. For deposit and stage wording that works in any tool, a builder invoice template for stage payment requests gives the text, and the quote, variation and invoice steps above carry over to whichever app passes your own trial.
Tradify questions from small builders
Does Tradify have a plan for builders?
Tradify has no builder-specific plan. It sells Lite, Pro and Plus per user, and its trade pages list electrical, plumbing, gas, HVAC and property maintenance rather than building. Builders use the general plans, and progress invoicing sits on Pro and Plus, so run the 14-day trial on a finished job before you decide whether it fits.
Which Tradify plan does a builder need for stage payments?
Tradify's pricing page lists progress invoicing, covering deposits, progress payments and retentions, under Pro at $51 per user a month and Plus at $61. Lite does not list it. Plus adds markups, purchase orders, job tasks and the two AI SmartTools, SmartRead and SmartWrite, which matter if you buy a lot of materials.
Can Tradify handle variations?
Its pages describe extra work through optional quote sections that avoid editing earlier quotes, quote options a customer accepts or declines online, and progress invoices drawn from a quote, rather than anything labelled variations. Test whether that suits your contract wording, and test whether an edited invoice changes the quote's remaining balance before you ever fix a variation that way.
How much does Tradify cost for a three-person building firm?
At list prices, three users cost $153 a month on Pro or $183 on Plus, which is $1,836 or $2,196 a year. Tradify prices per user per month, quotes a Custom plan on request and offers free training and support. Its pricing page says nothing about contracts or set-up fees, so ask before you sign, and check the page for your account, because regional pages show other currencies.
Is there a free trial for Tradify?
Yes. The trial lasts 14 days, includes all the features and needs no credit card, according to Tradify's pricing and feature pages. Use it on one finished job, from quote to final invoice, with a friend's email address as the customer, so you see the customer's side of online acceptance as well as your own.
Further reads
- Tradify vs Fergus for Plumbers and Electricians: AI Features Compared — See how Tradify's AI compares with Fergus's assistant
- Tradie Apps: Quote, Schedule and Invoice Tools Compared, With AI Features — Score four job apps on their AI features
- AI Scheduling for Small Builders: Subcontractors and Deliveries — Schedule subcontractors and deliveries with AI
- Writing Client Updates and Snag Lists With AI for Builders — Write client updates and snag lists faster
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Tradify pricing, quoting, invoicing, job tracking, estimating, connections and free tools pages, read in October 2026. Tradify's help centre did not load, so on-screen steps are given as checks to confirm in the trial.