By the time I started my last business in Melbourne, I'd spent nearly 20 years in trade businesses. I'd built companies up to $3.7M turnover. I'd managed large teams, dealt with the ATO, negotiated with creditors, done the whole thing.
And I was done with all of it.
I had young kids at home. I wanted to make good money real money but I wanted my time back too. I didn't want another big operation with all the weight that comes with it. I wanted lean, profitable, and simple.
So that's what I built. A small insulation business underfloor and ceiling installs that generated over $20,000 a month in profit with four guys and no office staff.
Just smart systems, set up properly from the start.
Here's exactly how it worked.
The Business Model
The core idea was simple: one trade, done well, in a defined area. Insulation is unglamorous work. There's no prestige in it. But there's consistent demand, reasonable margins, and if you set it up right very little complexity.
I deliberately stayed narrow. No commercial work. No big contracts. Just residential installs, repeat customers, and word of mouth backed up by a website that did the selling for me.
The Website Did the Heavy Lifting
I built the site on Squarespace. Nothing fancy. But the about page was built around me personally married with kids, years of trade experience, running a small boutique operation. No corporate language. No stock photos. Just a real person who knew what they were doing and was happy to say so.
Then I made three YouTube videos. I called the series The No Bullshit Guide to Home Insulation.
One video explained the common pitfalls what dodgy installers cut corners on and why it matters
One broke down how R-values actually work in plain English
One showed a real underfloor installation from start to finish
That was it. Three videos, embedded on the site. But they worked harder than any ad I could have run. Someone would find me, watch the videos, and by the time they sent an enquiry they already trusted me. They weren't shopping around. They'd already decided.
My quote conversion rate was over 80%. That's not because I was cheap. It's because the selling was done before I even showed up.
The Phone Problem and How I Fixed It
When you're quoting jobs and on the tools all day, the phone becomes the enemy. Every time it rings you're either pulling over to answer it, missing it and losing the lead, or answering it mid-job and looking unprofessional.
I installed a text service directly on the website. Customers could text instead of call. The moment they did, an automatic reply went back:
That one change transformed how the business felt to run. The phone stopped ringing off the hook. Every enquiry came in as a text I could read when I had a moment and respond to properly. Nothing fell through the cracks. Customers felt looked after from the very first interaction.
The Team and How They Were Paid
I had four guys working for me hard working and motivated. Smart, hard-working, reliable. And I paid them by the square metre, not by the hour.
That one decision changed everything about how the team operated. They weren't watching the clock. They weren't dragging jobs out. They were motivated to move efficiently because their income was directly tied to their output. Two of the guys really took to it they were making over $3,000 a week at their peak.
The arrangement worked because it was honest and transparent. They knew exactly what they'd earn on every job before they started. No surprises, no disputes. And because they could control their income to a point, they showed up every day ready to work.
The Systems That Made It All Run
This is the part most tradies skip and it's the part that made the whole thing work. Every dollar I spent on software paid for itself ten times over by eliminating the need for office staff.
I built pre-configured products for every install type. R2.0 underfloor $18/sqm. R2.5 underfloor $23/sqm. Every product, every labour rate, pre-loaded. On a quote, I'd measure the house, punch in the square metres on my iPad, and hit send. The customer had their quote before I'd left the driveway. When they approved it, one click scheduled the job and triggered a materials order.
Once a week I'd hit the order button. The next day everything was delivered. The guys would arrive at 6am, check the job list on their phones, load up the materials and go. I didn't have to be there. They didn't need to call me. It just happened.
When a job was marked complete, I'd generate the invoice and send it in about thirty seconds. Most clients paid by card over the phone that was genuinely the longest part of the process. Everything else was automated.
Fuel, materials, anything I'd photograph the receipt on the spot. It went straight to my accountant. No filing. No end of month chaos. My accountant had so little work to do that their fees were minimal.
When a job was finished, the guys had a direct Google review link on their phones. They'd send it to the client on the spot while the job was fresh and the client was happy. We built up a strong review profile quickly which fed directly back into the website converting new enquiries.
The text service on the website meant no calls were missed and no leads were lost. Every enquiry was captured, acknowledged immediately, and responded to properly when I had a moment.
