New research by St.George Bank has revealed that 75 per cent of tradies have aspirations to be self-employed in the next 12-18 months and female tradies are alive and kicking with 40 per cent of representation in the research.
The St.George Bank Tradie Economy Report surveyed over 600 people across Australia who identify as a tradie or someone working in the trades field. The most prevalent roles were in the fields of building and construction, electrical, followed by landscape and gardening.
The report revealed the top major business concerns for tradies were being paid on time, profitability, followed by the ability to pay bills and manage their cashflow. Conversely, they were least concerned about the political landscape, competing with larger businesses, and having a succession plan.
Anthony Mathews, National Head of SME at St.George Bank, said, “For this industry to succeed they need help with sourcing new customers, hiring good workers (both 44 per cent), managing slow paying customers (43 per cent) and gaining better access to cashflow (36 per cent). The good news for tradespeople experiencing such concerns is that following recent Federal Budget announcements, instant asset write-offs have increased to $30,000 and expanded to more businesses with a turnover of up to $50m.”
Mathews added, “When it comes to leveraging technologies that help improve customer service, Australia’s trades industry are seeking mobile banking apps for faster payments (39 per cent), invoicing tools that can automatically send invoices and reminders to customers (34 per cent) as well as apps or technology that allow their customers to provide instant feedback (30 per cent).”
Tools of the trade to drive sales
According to the majority of respondents, word of mouth is ranked the most important tool to drive sales (65 per cent), followed by personal contacts and networking (60 per cent), and social media sites (44 per cent).
The top marketing channels used to increase business profits were social media (45 per cent), their business’s website (33 per cent) and mainstream advertising (nine per cent).
A large portion of tradies still rely on a laptop (55 per cent) or desktop computers (47 per cent) ahead of smartphones like the Apple iPhone (41 per cent) to assist in running their business.
Tradies are savvy savers
More than half of respondents surveyed financed their business through their own savings (57 per cent) ahead of a business loan or credit card (both 33 per cent).
In fact, a quarter (24 per cent) stop to think about their personal finances every day and almost half (49 per cent) visit a financial adviser to discuss their personal savings goals regularly.
“It’s positive to see tradies are taking their financial wellbeing seriously and even thinking about the long term success of their business with a quarter of respondents having a retirement plan in place,” Mathwes said. “However, understandably, 31 per cent are too busy running their business to seek advice or progress with their retirement plan. In addition, 30 per cent of respondents don’t pay themselves super.
“There are other low-cost finance options to consider such as equipment finance for example which can help alleviate the financial pressure and also provide positive tax advantages through instant capital write off.”
