Finding the right business coach for tradies comes down to one thing: does the coach actually understand how a trades business works? Not in theory — in practice. The cash flow gaps, the quoting by feel, the challenge of getting off the tools and trusting your team to hold their standard when you’re not on site.
Mark has been coaching Australian business owners since 2007. Trades businesses — plumbers, electricians, builders, landscapers, concreters — make up a significant part of his client base. The problems he sees are consistent across every trade, and so is the approach that fixes them.
The Trades Business Problem Nobody Talks About
Most tradies who start their own business do it because they’re good at the trade. What nobody told them is that running a trades business is an entirely different skill set to doing the work. And for most tradespeople, that gap — between being great at the trade and being good at running the business — is exactly where things start to break down.
- Revenue is strong but there’s never much left at the end of the month
- The owner is still on the tools because they can’t trust the team to match their standard
- Quoting is done by feel rather than by a system, and margins are thin or unknown
- The business is growing but it feels more chaotic, not less
- The owner is working six days a week and wondering why they left a wage
None of these are trade problems. They’re business problems. And they don’t get better by doing more work — they get better by running the business more deliberately.
What a Business Coach for Tradies Actually Does
A business coach for tradies works on the commercial side of the business — not the technical side. That means pricing, margins, cash flow, team structure, and leadership. For most tradespeople, this is the area they were never trained in. They learned a trade. The business side was learned the hard way, if at all.
There’s no generic strategy here. A solo tradie adding their first employee has different needs to a 15-person business trying to get the owner off the tools. Mark works with where you are, not where a textbook says you should be.
The Four Biggest Constraints in a Trades Business
1. Pricing and Margin
Underpricing is the number one problem Mark finds when he first reviews a trades business. Most tradespeople price based on what they think the market will accept, or what competitors charge — not on what the job actually costs to deliver at a margin that makes the business viable.
The result is a business that’s busy but not profitable. You win plenty of work but the bank account doesn’t reflect it. A proper job costing system and a pricing review is often the fastest lever to pull in a trades business. A 10–15% price adjustment — done right — can transform profitability without losing the clients worth keeping.
According to the ATO’s small business benchmarks, gross margin varies significantly across trade industries — knowing where your business sits against the benchmark is a useful starting point for a pricing review.
2. Getting Off the Tools
For most tradies, the business is capped at what they can personally deliver. To grow — or to simply work less — you have to get off the tools. That means trusting your team to do the work to your standard, which requires clear processes, the right people in the right roles, and a foreman or leading hand who can hold the team accountable when you’re not on site.
This transition is one of the hardest things a tradie business owner makes. Mark works with owners through exactly this — not just the structural side, but the mindset shift that makes it stick. You can read more about building a self-managing team and what that process looks like in practice.
3. Cash Flow Timing
Trades businesses often have a structural cash flow problem: you pay for labour, materials, and subcontractors before the invoice is paid. If payment terms are loose and debtor days are long, you can be turning over significant revenue and still be short on cash every month.
Getting your invoicing, payment terms, and cash flow forecasting right is foundational. Mark covers this as part of cash flow coaching — it’s a short-term fix that has long-term impact.
4. Team and Leadership
A trades business with staff is a business that requires leadership — whether the owner thinks of themselves as a leader or not. How you communicate expectations, how you hold people accountable, how you handle underperformance — these all shape whether your team performs or whether they coast.
Most tradies were never taught how to lead people. Developing leadership skills as a business owner is a learned behaviour, and it’s one of the areas where working with a business coach for tradies makes the most practical difference. Fair Work Australia’s guide to managing underperformance is also worth bookmarking for any trades employer dealing with team issues.
What Business Coaching Looks Like for a Trades Business
Mark doesn’t run workshops or sell courses. He works one-on-one with business owners — typically fortnightly sessions — focused on the specific constraints in your business right now.
For a trades business, that usually means starting with the numbers: a clear picture of your margins, job costs, and cash flow position. From there, the work moves to whatever is the primary constraint — whether that’s pricing, team structure, getting off the tools, or something else entirely.
Every session is practical. There’s always a clear action between meetings. And the accountability is built in — you’re not paying for someone to listen to you; you’re paying for someone to keep you moving.
A Real Example
One of Mark’s clients runs a plumbing business in South West Sydney. When he first came to Mark, he had six employees, was working every Saturday, and had a net profit margin under 8%. He was underquoting regularly — not knowing it — and had no system for holding his team accountable when he wasn’t on site.
Over six months they worked on three things: a job costing system that made underpricing visible, a leading hand structure that gave his best employee the authority and brief to manage the team on site, and a weekly review rhythm so nothing slipped through without being caught.
Within twelve months, his margin had nearly doubled, he’d recovered his weekends, and the business had taken on two more employees — without him being the one managing the extra workload.
That’s the kind of change a business coach for tradies can produce — not overnight, not without work, but consistently when the right things are addressed in the right order.
Is This Right for Your Trades Business?
Coaching works when you’re willing to look honestly at what’s not working and commit to changing it. If you’re looking for someone to validate your current approach, it’s probably not the right fit.
If you’re tired of being the person everything runs through, want to actually profit from the business you’ve built, and are ready to work on the business rather than just in it — it’s worth a conversation.
Book a free Discovery Call with Mark. No pitch, no pressure — just an honest 45-minute conversation about where your trades business is and what’s actually holding it back.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a business coach for tradies do?
A business coach for tradies works on the commercial side of the business — pricing, margins, cash flow, team structure, and leadership. For tradespeople, this typically means building the systems and structure that allow the business to perform without the owner being involved in everything.
How do I know if my trades business needs a coach?
If you’re still on the tools more than you want to be, if margins are thin despite being busy, if cash flow is unpredictable, or if the business feels like it’s running you rather than the other way around — those are the clearest signs. The first conversation is free.
How long before I see results from business coaching?
Most trades business owners see meaningful change within 3–6 months. Pricing and cash flow improvements often show up faster. Getting off the tools and building a self-managing team is a longer process — typically 6–12 months — but the progress is visible throughout.
Does business coaching work for sole traders?
Yes. Coaching for sole traders typically focuses on pricing, time management, and building the foundation to take on a first employee. The work is different to a multi-person business, but the impact is just as significant — often more so, because a sole trader’s personal income is directly tied to how the business performs.
How is Mark different from other business coaches for tradies?
Mark has 35 years of business experience and has coached hundreds of Australian business owners since 2007. He’s worked extensively with trades businesses and understands how they operate — the cash flow cycles, the team dynamics, the challenge of getting off the tools. The coaching is practical and specific to your situation, not generic frameworks.