Quotes in Excel, timesheets in a notebook, invoices in Xero? There’s an easier way.

Are you using Excel for quotes, Google Calendar for scheduling, WhatsApp for team updates, and Xero for invoicing – and thinking, there has to be a better way to run my trade business? There is. It’s called Fergus.

Most tradies start out using whatever tools they already have – and for a while, it works fine. You might quote from a Word template, jot job notes on your phone, and send invoices through Xero at the end of the week. But as your business grows, so does the chaos. Jobs overlap, messages get lost, and suddenly you’re spending more time chasing paperwork than getting work done.

Here’s what we typically see:

• Quotes in Excel or Word (hard to track what’s been sent or accepted)
• Scheduling in Google Calendar (no link between jobs, team, or materials)
• Timesheets in a notebook (hours are missed or added late)
• Supplier invoices in Xero (no way to match them to specific jobs)
• And job updates in WhatsApp or text threads (easy to lose track).

It’s a system held together by sticky notes, spreadsheets, and late nights – and your accounting software alone can’t fix that.

Xero is brilliant at accounting. It helps keep your books tidy, your invoices sent, and your cash flow visible. But it’s not built to run jobs. That means you can’t see profit per job, only total revenue and costs. You’re entering data twice (once in your job notes, once in Xero). And you don’t get a clear picture of what’s in progress, done, or overdue. So while Xero tells you how your business performed last month, it doesn’t show you what’s really happening on the ground today.

That’s where Fergus comes in, a job management system designed for tradies that works hand-in-hand with Xero. With Fergus, you can create and send quotes that convert straight into jobs, schedule and track every job across your team in real time, record labour and materials as you go so nothing gets missed, invoice directly from Fergus and sync it all to Xero automatically, and see job profitability instantly – no spreadsheets needed. When Fergus and Xero work together, your whole business finally syncs, from the field to the office to your accountant.

Customers who’ve made the switch say they save hours every week on admin and finally feel in control of their numbers.

“We never miss a job and we never miss costs now. Everything gets billed out. So the difference in turnover and cash flow has been huge.”
— Tyler, Axt Plumbing

No more double handling. No more guesswork. Just clarity, accuracy, and time back in your day.

If you’re tired of jumping between systems just to get the basics done, it’s time to simplify. Fergus connects the dots – so you can focus on the important things, not the admin.

Try Fergus free for 14 days and see how smoothly it works alongside Xero.