What can AI do for an owner-run trade or industrial business?

For an owner-run trade or industrial business, AI is useful where a weekly process is already leaking time and money, and that work is clear enough to measure. The first useful step is a dollar figure on that leak, not a new tool. At Versantly, that figure comes from the 45-minute diagnostic.

What kinds of work can AI help with?

The work that usually leaks is the office and coordination work around the job, not the trade skill itself. That can include quoting, scheduling, chasing variations or invoices, timesheets, and writing up job notes. AI can help draft or organise that work once you know what it is costing. It does not replace a licensed tradesperson.

In an owner-run firm, the same person is often on the tools or on site, then back at the desk at night. That is where quoting, variations, and job notes tend to pile up. A common place for the leak is the office work around the job.

Much of that office work already lives in the job software trade owners run, such as ServiceM8, Simpro, AroFlo or Tradify. The quotes, jobs and invoices are often already sitting there. The question is what that weekly work is costing you, and whether AI can help you move through it faster, not whether you need another system.

The National AI Centre's "Choose a solution" guidance notes that many organisations begin with existing tools, and that standalone tools can fit low-risk tasks. It also says your business remains responsible for how AI is used. A quote that binds the business, or work that could affect someone's safety, still needs a person to check it.

If you want the broader starting advice for any Australian business, I have already written Where should I start with AI in my Australian business?. This article stays with the leak in a trade or industrial firm, and how to price it.

How do I put a dollar figure on the leak?

Pick one weekly process that already takes time. Write down the hours it takes in a typical week, and the loaded cost of that time, using a figure you already know. Multiply the two. That is the weekly leak. Do this before you buy a new tool. At Versantly, we get that figure in the 45-minute diagnostic.

The method is:

Weekly leak = H × C

H is the hours a week the process takes. C is the loaded cost of that time, in dollars an hour. A yearly figure, if you want one, is H × C × 52.

Say quoting takes 4 hours a week, and the loaded cost of that time is $80 an hour. The weekly leak is 4 × 80 = $320. Over a year that would be $16,640. Use your own hours and your own cost.

If you cannot put a decent estimate on H or C, the process is not yet clear enough to price, and it is a poor first candidate. Price the leak you already have.

Which leak should I fix first?

Start with the weekly process that already costs the most, as long as you can measure it, and a mistake would not be dangerous to leave to a tool. In a trade or industrial firm, that is usually a repeated office process around the job, not a new product a vendor wants to demo.

The National AI Centre also says there is no single right solution, and that the aim is to choose the simplest option that meets your needs. I have already pointed to that guidance in How do I choose an AI implementation partner in Australia?. Sometimes the fix is a standard quote sheet, a tighter job handover at the end of the day, or stopping a double entry between the site and the office. The dollar figure tells you whether the work is large enough to bother with a tool at all.

When is AI the wrong starting point?

AI is the wrong starting point when you cannot yet price the leak, when the work changes every time, or when a mistake would bind the business or could affect someone's safety. In those cases, fix the process, or keep a person in the loop, before you add a tool.

A tool is a poor first move when you cannot measure the cost, or when the cost of being wrong is high. You may decide the work is not worth a new tool, and you may not need a partner.

What does the 45-minute diagnostic cover?

The 45-minute diagnostic is the first meeting. We work through your numbers with you and, if it helps, whoever runs the jobs or the office. You leave with a dollar figure on what the leak is costing you. If it's small, we'll say so. We don't talk price until you have that figure.

This article is written for an owner-run trade or industrial business. That includes construction and civil firms. If you want help after the diagnostic, a Fractional Chief AI Officer can build the AI roadmap with you, and every project is tied back to the figure. I have already defined that advisory in the earlier article. The advisory page is for that later work.

Put a dollar figure on the problem

If you run a trade or industrial business, book the 45-minute diagnostic and leave with a dollar figure on the leak.

Author

I'm Johnny Sukkar, founder of Versantly, which is operated by Lycaon Media Pty Limited (ABN 22 671 975 983). I've been in lending since 1990 and in broking since 2008, and I've been building and running AI workflows inside my own brokerage since 2023.