Plain-English definitions

Trade and job management glossary

The terms Australian tradies deal with every day, from progress claims and variations to SWMS and pricebooks, explained straight.

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Callout fee: A fixed charge for attending a job, covering the travel and the first period on site. It is charged as part of, or on top of, the quoted work.
Certificate of compliance: A document a licensed tradesperson issues to certify that completed work meets the relevant Australian standards and regulations. The name and the rules differ by trade and by state.

Dispatch board: A scheduling view that shows jobs against staff and time, used to assign work and move it around. Also called a scheduling board or run sheet.

Field service management: Software that coordinates work done away from the office, covering scheduling, a mobile app for field staff, job records, quoting and invoicing.

Good, better, best quoting: A pricing approach that offers the customer three tiered options for the same job, so they can pick the scope and price that suits them.
GST: The goods and services tax, a 10% tax on most goods and services in Australia. Registered businesses charge it on their sales and claim it back on their purchases.

Job costing: Tracking the labour, materials and other costs against a single job, so you can compare what it actually cost with what you quoted and see the margin.
JSA (Job Safety Analysis): A document that breaks a task into steps, identifies the hazards in each and sets out how they are controlled. It is completed before higher-risk work begins.

Kit: A saved bundle of pricebook items, labour and materials for a job you do all the time, dropped into a quote in one go rather than added line by line.

Prime cost (PC) item: An allowance in a building contract for an item not yet chosen, such as tapware or tiles. It is adjusted up or down once the actual item is selected.
Pricebook: A stored list of a business's materials, labour rates and standard items with prices, used to build quotes and invoices quickly and consistently.
Progress claim: An invoice for part of a larger job, billed at agreed stages as the work progresses rather than all at the end. Common on longer building jobs.
Provisional sum: An amount included in a contract for work that cannot be fully priced when the contract is signed. It is reconciled against the actual cost later.
Purchase order (PO): A document a business sends a supplier to order materials at agreed prices. It is used to track committed costs against a job.

RCTI (Recipient Created Tax Invoice): A tax invoice raised by the buyer rather than the supplier, allowed under ATO rules where both parties agree in writing. It is common in some subcontracting arrangements.
Retention: A percentage of a progress claim the customer holds back until the job is finished and any defects are fixed, then releases. It protects against incomplete work.

SWMS (Safe Work Method Statement): A document required for high-risk construction work that sets out the hazards and the control measures. It is kept on site while the work is done.

Take-off: Measuring the quantities of materials and labour from plans or from the site, to build up an estimate or a quote.

Variation: A change to the agreed scope of a job, priced and approved separately so the extra work gets paid for rather than absorbed.

Work order: An instruction to carry out a specific job, holding the site, the scope and the details the crew needs to get the work done.

Quotes, progress claims, variations and GST-correct invoices, all in one place, built for Australian trades.