Setup & support
ServiceM8, set up around how your business actually works
Remote setup, migration, training and ongoing support for small trade businesses. Done by people who run a plumbing and heating business on ServiceM8 themselves, so the questions we ask you are the ones that turn out to matter.
The problem we fix
Half-finished setups are why people give up on it
ServiceM8 is not hard software. It is flexible software, which is worse — it will happily let you build something that describes nobody's business in particular.
The paperwork still comes back late
Jobs go out on phones but the readings, photos and sign-off still arrive on Thursday in somebody's head. So invoicing waits, and so does the money.
Half the team never moved over
The office uses it. The engineers went back to the WhatsApp group after week two, because the first week was fiddly and nobody fixed it.
It disagrees with the accounts
Two systems, two versions of the same customer, and a bookkeeper quietly reconciling it by hand every month.
What we do
The four pieces
- 01Setup and onboardingWe start by mapping how work actually arrives in your business — the phone call, the letting agent's email, the repeat customer who just texts. Then we build ServiceM8 to match that: how a job is raised, what gets quoted first, what has to be captured on site, who is allowed to see what, and where the invoice ends up. This is the part that decides whether the whole thing sticks.
- 02Data migrationCustomers, live jobs, outstanding money and the service history you are obliged to keep, brought across from whatever you run now — another job system, a spreadsheet, or a filing cabinet. We will also tell you what is not worth migrating. A move is a chance to leave ten years of dead records behind.
- 03Staff trainingTraining the people who touch it, in the order they touch it: whoever books work in, then whoever prices and invoices it, then the engineers on their own phones. Sessions are short, remote, and recorded if you want them, so a new starter next year gets the same thing.
- 04Monthly support retainerOnce real work is flowing through it, things come up. A new service line, a form that needs another field, a staff change, an integration that starts misbehaving. The retainer is someone who already knows your account picking that up, rather than you working it out at nine at night.
How it runs
What actually happens, in order
No mystery, no discovery phase that bills for six weeks.
- A conversation, free. Thirty minutes. You tell us what the business does and how work moves through it now. We tell you honestly whether this is worth doing.
- A written scope and a fixed price. What we will build, what we need from you, what it costs. No hourly surprises.
- We build it. Configured to the map we agreed, with your real data in it, before anyone is asked to use it.
- We train your people. In the order they touch the work, on the devices they will actually use.
- You run it for a fortnight. Real jobs, real customers. Things will come up; that is the point of this step.
- We fix what real use exposed. Included, not extra. Then you decide whether you want ongoing support or not.
Pricing
What it costs
Two numbers, both honest about being a starting point. We would rather quote you properly after a call than publish a price list that is wrong for your business.
One-off
Setup and onboarding
from£1,000
- Workflow mapping session
- ServiceM8 configured around it
- On-site capture: forms, photos, sign-off
- Accounts link set up and agreed
- Staff training
- Two weeks of live-running fixes
Ongoing
Monthly support
from£150/month
- Someone who already knows your account
- Changes as the business changes
- New staff set up and shown round
- Help when an integration misbehaves
- Priority on add-on releases
- No long tie-in
Quoted separately
Data migration is priced on what is coming across and what shape it is in, because a clean export and a filing cabinet are not the same job. Larger teams and multi-trade businesses are quoted on scope. Either way you get a written figure before anything starts.
Indicative. Final scope and price are quoted after a call — no obligation. Prices exclude VAT.
Questions
The ones we get asked
Do we have to be in the same place as you?
No. All of this is done remotely — screen share, phone and email. It means we can work with businesses anywhere in the UK, and it keeps the cost down because you are not paying for travel.
How long does a setup take?
For a small business, usually two to four weeks from the first call to going live — but most of that is waiting on you, not us. The work needs decisions from whoever runs the business, and those decisions are better made properly than quickly.
What if we are already on ServiceM8 but it is a mess?
That is a lot of what we do. It is usually a smaller job than a fresh setup, because the account already has real history in it. We go through what is there, work out what is fighting you, and fix it.
Do we have to take the monthly support?
No. Plenty of businesses take the setup, get comfortable, and never need us again. The retainer is there for the ones who would rather have someone on the end of the phone than work it out themselves.
Do you sell ServiceM8 subscriptions?
No. Your ServiceM8 subscription is between you and ServiceM8, and you pay them directly for it. We are an independent business that sets up and extends ServiceM8 — we are not ServiceM8 and we do not resell it.
What does it cost?
Setup starts from £1,000 and monthly support from £150 a month, excluding VAT. Those are indicative — the final figure depends on how many people you have, what is being migrated, and how much training is needed. We quote after a call, with no obligation.
Start with a conversation
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation. Tell us what your business does and how work moves through it now, and we will tell you straight whether this is worth doing. We reply within one working day.