An in-depth look at Fergus, a NZ tradie favourite
Job management software is what we live and breathe here at FreeUp, and as a Kiwi company we love to be able to use and recommend homegrown JMS platforms like Fergus! Created by NZ tradespeople for NZ tradespeople, it is unsurprisingly an intuitive tool with all the features necessary to run your trade SME efficiently and profitably.
Read on for an overview of what Fergus can do, who it’s good for, and our tips for making the most of it from an experienced virtual assistant who specialises in clients using Fergus.
Fergus features
This all-rounder can take care of a wide array of tasks.
Costing, quoting, estimating, and invoicing: The finance functions of Fergus make it easy to accurately quote, cost, and invoice for a job. Template options reduce the amount of time you have to spend on repetitive data entry, and you can upload price books to make it even quicker.
Scheduling: With Fergus it’s intuitive to create schedule items, assign team members, and understand what’s on the agenda with a colour-coded calendar visual. Add notes into jobs so you don’t forget a thing and keep your team automatically updated with notifications.
Job management: With comprehensive digital job cards, all the need-to-know information is in one place and accessible to your whole team. You can add directions to the site, notes, track and record all costs, fill out certificates, log hazards, and more—all in one centralised place.
Financial reporting: with the capability to carefully track costs against jobs, report on staff performance, and see profit or loss at a glance, Fergus empowers business owners to take control and improve their profitability. They can discern where money is being lost and remedy it.
Fergus integrations
Almost as important as what your job management software can do individually is whether it plays well with others! Fergus streamlines job management from start to finish by integrating with some other popular key pieces of software.
Accounting softwares: Fergus integrates with another homegrown heavy hitter, Xero. This is key for many NZ SMEs! It also works with MYOB and QuickBooks so you can sync contacts, invoices, and payment.
Suppliers: There is a list of trade suppliers that Fergus partners with to make it easy to automate pricebooks updates, purchase orders, and invoice reconciliations. These include Reece, Corys Electrical, Ideal Electrical, J.A. Russell, Mico, Chesters, Plumbing World, Plumbing Plus, Advance Electrical, Scott Electrical, and Redpaths. Additionally, there is a longer list of suppliers for which users can automatically import materials invoices using the email ingestion technology.
These partnerships and integrations are another way that Fergus makes life easier admin-wise. When you can auto-update supplier lists to populate quotes and invoices, you’re saving a lot of time!
Who is Fergus best for?
The software is, according to their website, designed for use by electricians, plumbers, builders, HVAC installers, roofers, and a variety of field service businesses.
Software specialist Kelly, who works with Fergus for a variety of clients, had this to say:
“Fergus is great for any trade that works with labour and materials and needs to accurately manage these, so basically all of them… It is great for anyone who needs to be able manage their business and communicate with their team on the go.”
Their supplier integration list makes Fergus ideal for plumbers, electricians, and similar industries. Specifically, it is great for those with roaming teams to keep track of—so perhaps not the best option for a construction company working on fewer large projects.
Where is Fergus strongest?
The clear and easy-to-use drag-and-drop calendar makes Fergus a scheduling powerhouse—and as mentioned above, for this and other reasons it excels at managing teams across jobs and locations. The app will, when asked, send automatic reminders to clients about site visits, cutting down on administration time.
Kelly’s favourite feature is the GPS function allowing you to see where various team members are in real time. It allows her to give accurate estimates when clients call asking how far away a tradie is, and also makes it easy to check who’s close by for urgent jobs.
Financial management functions are also a major plus for business owners, offering transparency and opportunities to grow. Kelly says:
“Fergus helps business owners by giving a clear picture of back costing to see where supplier invoices and labour have been added to jobs at cost and by providing the ability to control what markup is added.
They can also utilise the "Fergus Performance Dashboard '' which gives you a snapshot of how your business is currently sitting financially with a breakdown of labour, materials, overheads and profit. It allows you to compare these figures to previous periods.
Another great feature is the "Performance Simulator" which allows you to edit three key metrics (charge out rate, overheads, and margin on materials) to get a simulation of what your profits would have been based on your sales, so you can easily see where you can make adjustments to increase profitability.”
Customer service
Software users will always have questions, so it’s very much a bonus when the company has prompt and responsive service. There is a great online live chat function (with real people) which makes it easy to get answers to any urgent question. Kelly has found that most of her queries are covered in their extensive help section, training videos, or FAQ database.
Whether Fergus seems right for you or you’re still undecided on which JMS direction to take, Free Up can help you to pick, set up, implement, and optimise your software. Get in touch with the team and let’s get the ball rolling!
