Everything UK trade business owners ask about managing jobs online

Field service management software handles the end-to-end operation of a trades business: customers book online, the system offers each job to the right worker, collects deposits, tracks job progress, and raises the invoice when the job completes. OptiTech Automation is built specifically for UK trades: plumbers, electricians, gas engineers, drainage companies and HVAC specialists.

OptiTech Automation runs in five stages. Start-up is £199 a month plus a one-off £129 Onboarding Investment, £328 to start, for up to 5 workers. Standard is £599 plus £249, £848 to start, for up to 15 workers, and is recommended up to around 1,500 bookings a month. Growth is £1,749 plus £999, £2,748 to start, for up to 30 workers and around 3,000 bookings a month. Dominator is £3,599 plus £2,499, £6,098 to start, for up to 90 workers. Empire is application only, price confirmed on assessment. Booking volumes are guidance, not a cap. Worker counts are the limit. Fair use applies. The Onboarding Investment is waived for the first ten businesses to join, on any Stage, the Start-up Stage included.

Yes. OptiTech Automation works for sole traders. You are the worker. Customers book through your booking page, pay a deposit upfront, and the job appears in your schedule. You manage it from your phone. You do not need employees for the platform to be useful.

OptiTech Automation is built for UK trades and designed around UK compliance, UK VAT invoicing, and GDPR from the start. Jobber originated for North American companies and was adapted for UK use. OptiTech Automation also includes automatic worker dispatch, which Jobber does not have natively: each confirmed booking is offered to the best-fit worker. Both take deposits online.

Mostly. The OptiTech Automation worker app caches the rota and the details of an open job on the phone, so when signal drops on site the schedule stays readable and a status change or a note queues locally and sends the moment the connection is back. Photos need a connection to upload. It is a Progressive Web App, installable on iOS and Android.

OptiTech Automation integrates with Stripe. When a customer books, they pay a deposit through a secure Stripe checkout on your booking page. The deposit is held and released when the job is completed. No card reader required. Customers receive a payment confirmation and job reference automatically.

No. Every completed job raises a numbered invoice on the platform with the customer contact, line items and UK VAT applied correctly, and emails it to the customer automatically. You record payments against it from your dashboard and export every record as CSV whenever you want it.

When a booking is confirmed, OptiTech Automation identifies the best-fit worker by location, availability and skill, then offers them the job with a notification. Nothing is silently assigned: you keep the final say and can override at any time. It replaces the morning WhatsApp group rota.

Yes. Each OptiTech Automation account includes a customer-facing booking page. A customer visits the page, picks a time slot, describes the job, and pays a deposit through Stripe. The booking appears in the owner dashboard immediately. No phone call, no back-and-forth. The enquiry is captured the moment the customer commits.

Yes. This is one of the core problems OptiTech Automation solves. WhatsApp groups create chaos: missed messages, no audit trail, no deposit collection, no automatic dispatch. OptiTech Automation replaces the group with a structured dashboard. Workers see their jobs. Owners see all jobs. Everything is logged.

OptiTech Automation's Start-up Stage covers up to 5 workers and the Standard plan up to 15. The Growth plan handles up to 30, Dominator up to 90, and Empire is application only for multi-branch groups. All include automatic job offers to the right worker, worker-level job tracking, payout governance, and an owner dashboard. Growth adds the command-centre dashboard and is recommended up to around 3,000 bookings a month. Booking volumes are guidance, not a cap. Worker counts are the limit. Fair use applies.

The technical setup takes one session, typically 30 to 60 minutes for the owner. Cristian (the founder) reviews every new account personally and confirms the configuration is right for your trade and area before switching you live. You can set up your booking page and run the full workflow before you pay. Your card is authorised when you confirm your setup, but your subscription is not charged until your account is reviewed and you go live.

Yes. OptiTech Automation stores all data on EU-region servers (Supabase PostgreSQL), operates under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is ICO registered (C1963975). Your customer data belongs to your business. You can export it in full at any time, including on the day you cancel.

Checkatrade is a lead marketplace. You pay for visibility and they keep the customer relationship. If you leave, you start from zero. OptiTech Automation is a platform where your customers, bookings, and data are entirely yours. You build a direct relationship with every customer you serve, and you keep it.

Yes. OptiTech Automation is built for UK field trades including gas engineers, plumbers, domestic and commercial electricians, EV charger installers, heat pump installers, HVAC engineers, drainage companies, and solar PV installers. Each trade type has its own configuration options, compliance fields, and customer-facing booking language.