Most solo tradies are running $200–$400/mo in software subscriptions and using maybe 30% of the features they're paying for.
That's not a productivity stack. That's a hobby.
Here's the minimum-viable setup that covers every critical function of a solo trade business — calls, jobs, invoices, reviews, and scheduling — for under $65/mo total. No fluff, no overlap, no "we might use this someday."
Why Your Stack Got Bloated in the First Place
You bought tools reactively. A slow week hit, you watched a YouTube video about "scaling your trade business," and you signed up for something with a free trial. Then another. Then a CRM someone in a Facebook group swore by.
In practice, the average solo tradie who's been in business three-plus years is paying for 8–12 subscriptions. Only 3 of them are doing real work.
The rest are solving problems you don't actually have yet, or duplicating something a cheaper tool already handles.
Cut anything that overlaps with another tool. Cut anything you haven't logged into in 30 days. Cut anything built for teams when you're a one-person operation — you're paying for seat capacity you'll never use.
The 5-Tool Stack
1. Call screening and lead capture — ~$20/mo Every missed call is a lost job. In practice, a solo tradie misses 35–60% of inbound calls during the day because they're on a roof or under a sink. You need something that answers, qualifies, and logs the lead automatically. This is the one spot VettedCalls fills in the stack — it handles the phone so you don't lose the job to the guy who picked up.
2. Job management and scheduling — ~$19/mo (Jobber Lite or similar) You need a single place to see your jobs, schedule them, and track what's been done. Nothing more. You don't need the $99/mo tier with client portals and automated campaigns. The $19 tier does the job.
3. Invoicing and payments — free to ~$5/mo (Wave or Stripe-based) If you're paying more than $5/mo flat for invoicing as a solo operator, you're overpaying. Wave is free. Square invoicing is free. Stripe charges only on transactions. Pick one and stop paying a monthly seat fee for a feature every payment processor gives away.
4. Google Business Profile management — free This one costs you nothing and is the highest-ROI marketing action available to any tradie. Keeping your hours updated, responding to reviews, and posting one photo a week takes 15 minutes. The operators who do this consistently dominate local map pack results. No subscription required.
5. A simple one-page booking form — ~$10/mo (Calendly or equivalent) Customers who don't want to call still want to hire you. A basic booking form that drops straight into your schedule eliminates the back-and-forth text thread. You don't need a full website rebuild. One embedded form handles it.
Total: ~$49–65/mo depending on your choices.
What to Cut Right Now
If you're running any of these, question them hard:
A second CRM. If Jobber is already tracking your customers, you don't need HubSpot or Keap. Those are built for sales teams with pipelines and 3-month nurture sequences. You do one-call closes and repeat customers. A CRM with 400 features is solving someone else's problem.
Email marketing platforms. Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign — unless you have a newsletter or a genuine repeat-purchase strategy, you don't need this. A $15/mo tool broadcasting to 60 customers twice a year is not worth it.
Social scheduling tools. If you're not posting consistently without the tool, you won't post consistently with it. Cut it and post directly.
Multiple project management apps. Asana and Trello and Notion open in three tabs is not a system. It's avoidance. Pick one and close the others.
The Real Number
The difference between a $65/mo stack and a $350/mo stack isn't features. It's $3,420/yr back in your pocket — which is about 4–6 average jobs, depending on your trade.
That's not software savings. That's a truck payment.
Audit your subscriptions before the end of this week. Go to your bank statement, filter for recurring charges, and list everything. Then ask: "Is this doing something nothing else in my stack does?" If the answer is no, cancel it today.
This week's move
Pull up your last two months of bank statements right now and highlight every recurring SaaS charge — then cancel anything you can't immediately explain to another tradie in one sentence.
Forward this
If another tradie you know is still losing leads to voicemail, send them VettedCalls.