Maintain Automation Partners
Before you hire, automate.
We find the repeat work slowing your team down, build the automations that take it off them, and keep them running. Your people get their week back, and you grow without adding admin.
For construction, professional services and growing businesses up to 500 staff.
The work goes up. The office falls behind.
Most growing businesses hit the same wall. The answer seems to be another coordinator, estimator or admin. That hire costs closer to $100,000 a year once super, payroll tax and leave are in, and it adds to the same problem next year.
You're about to advertise
Another coordinator, scheduler, estimator or admin. The job ad is usually a list of repeat work.
Nights go on quotes and tenders
The owner or a senior person writes them after hours, often for work that never goes ahead.
Your people re-key everything
The same job, client or invoice typed into three systems, and someone chasing where it is up to.
Taking the repeat work off the team you have often costs less than the hire, and it keeps paying back.
What we do
What we take off your team
Enquiries answered in minutes
Every new enquiry acknowledged, qualified and followed up, including the ones that arrive at 8pm on a Friday.
Quotes and tenders out faster
First drafts built from your own past work and pricing, ready for a person to check and send.
No more typing things twice
Your CRM, accounts and job system kept in step, so information moves on its own.
Jobs scheduled, people told
Won work lands in the schedule, and crews and clients get the update without anyone chasing.
Reports that build themselves
Weekly job reports, month-end packs and documents produced on time, every time.
Know-how on tap
Past jobs, tenders and how-we-do-it, searchable by anyone. New starters get up to speed faster.
Who we help
Three kinds of business, one way of working
Businesses with three or more people doing admin, coordination, estimating or scheduling, up to 500 staff.
Construction
Quotes that eat your nights, enquiries that go cold, an office running to keep up with the crews.
See how we help →Engineering, consulting, legal and accounting firmsProfessional services
Every tender starts from scratch, the know-how lives in a few people, and new starters take months to be useful.
See how we help →Any other sector, up to 500 staffSmall to mid-market businesses
Systems that don't talk, people re-keying between them, and reports nobody has time to build.
See how we help →How an engagement works
Discover. Quantify. Design & Implement. Optimise.
Four stages, each with a clear result. You can stop after any of them, and you keep everything we have produced.
- 01Assess · Week 1
Discover
A free 30-minute Automation Review, then, if it makes sense, a short survey of your admin team, a 30-minute chat with each role and a look at the systems you use.
You get: A clear picture of where your admin time goes.
- 02Assess · Weeks 1–2
Quantify
We cost every task, work out which ones can be automated, and record a baseline: how long quotes take, how fast enquiries are answered, how many hours go on re-keying.
You get: Your Automation Map: every task costed and ranked, with what to do first. Guaranteed.
- 03Implement · Weeks 3–8
Design & Implement
One page per process for you to sign off: what starts it, what happens, where a person checks. Then we build it in your own accounts, test it on real work and train your team.
You get: Live automations, written instructions and recordings, and a before-and-after against the baseline.
- 04Manage · Every month
Optimise
We keep everything running when your software changes, fix anything that breaks, and take the next job off your team from the Map.
You get: A one-page monthly report: hours given back, what is running, what is next.
What it costs
Map it first. Then choose how we continue.
Every client starts with the Automation Map. After it, you choose a fixed-price project, a monthly retainer or a full-time Automation Lead, and the Map tells you which suits your business. Prices are ex GST, indicative and confirmed in writing before you commit.
Assess
Find the work worth automating.
- Automation ReviewFree30 minutes. Nothing to buy.
- Automation Map$3,500Under 50 staff. Two weeks.
- Automation Map$7,50050–500 staff. Three weeks, including how your systems and data connect.
Credited in full against a project of $15,000 or more, or an Automation Lead, if you go ahead within 30 days.
Build
A defined set of builds from your Map.
- Fixed-price projectQuotedPriced from your Map before you commit. 50% on signing, 50% when it goes live, with a 30-day warranty.
- Keep Running$750/moAfter the warranty: monitoring, fixes and updates when your software changes. No new builds.
Keep Running has a six-month minimum.
Ongoing
Keep taking work off the team.
- Monthly retainerRecommended$3,000/moTwo days a month of our team: one new job off your team each month, and everything kept running.
- Automation Lead$13,500/moOne named person, full-time, working only for your business. For larger programmes.
Six-month minimum. Then 30 days' notice for the retainer, 3 months' for the Lead.
The monthly retainer
Your automation team, two days a month.
For most businesses, the retainer is the option we recommend. Instead of a one-off project, you get a team that knows your business and takes one more job off your people every month.
$3,000 a month + GST · six-month minimum
A new job off the team every month
Worked from a list taken from your Map that you can see and reorder, starting with what costs you most.
Everything kept running
Fixes and updates when your software changes are included, so nothing quietly stops.
A monthly call
30 minutes with you or your ops manager to agree what comes off next.
A one-page report every month
Hours given back against the baseline, what is running, and what is next.
A coordinator on $80,000 costs closer to $100,000 a year. The retainer is $36,000. We are not a replacement for every admin role. We are the reason the next one is not needed, and the people you have stop doing work a computer should.
Our promises
No risk in finding out
The Map is guaranteed
If we don't find at least $50,000 a year of work we can automate ($100,000 for businesses over 50 staff), you don't pay, and you keep the Map.
You own everything
Every account in your name, every automation documented and recorded. If you stop, you keep it all and we hand over within 30 days.
A person stays in charge
Anything that goes to a customer is checked by one of your people before it is sent, until you choose otherwise.
We tell you when to hire
Some work needs a person. If the honest answer is to hire, we will say so.
Questions
What owners ask us
Do I need to understand the technology?
No. You tell us where the time goes and what good looks like. We handle the rest and explain everything in plain English.
Will this replace my staff?
It replaces the repeat work, not the people. Most clients use it to avoid the next hire and to free up the team they have for the work that needs a person.
What systems do you work with?
The ones you already use: your CRM, accounting software, job management system, email and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. If something cannot be connected, the Map will say so before you spend anything on a build.
How long until something is working?
Most fixed-price projects are live six to eight weeks after the Map. On the retainer, one new improvement goes live each month.
What happens when our software changes?
The retainer and the Automation Lead cover updates and fixes. After a project, the 30-day warranty covers it, then Keep Running or the retainer does. We recommend one of them for every build, because software changes and automations need looking after.
What if we want to stop?
After the six-month minimum, the retainer runs month to month on 30 days' notice, and the Automation Lead on 3 months' notice. Everything we built stays in your accounts and keeps working, and we hand over within 30 days.
Is our data safe?
We work in your accounts with access you can remove at any time, handle personal information under the Privacy Act, and do not put your customer or staff details into AI tools.
We have more than 500 staff. Can you help?
Yes, through our Strike Pair: a business analyst and an automation engineer who get one process running in ten days. Is it a 10-day job?
Start here
Book a free Automation Review
Thirty minutes. Send us the job ad you're about to post, or tell us where the time goes. We'll go through it task by task and tell you what could come off the list, and what needs a person. There's nothing to buy on the call.
Rather pick a time yourself? Open our calendar.
