Why tradie-preneurs will be the big winners in the next 12 months

This week we were proud to have hosted our Annual General Meeting for 2021, highlighting the ways in which hipages Group has continued to thrive throughout the turbulence of COVID-19, how consumer confidence has kicked back and, most importantly, how we have supported our tradie customers throughout. It has also been an opportunity to look at the year ahead for our customers.

The home improvement industry is booming with huge growth opportunities for tradie businesses over the next 3 – 12 months with an estimated $34 billion worth of potential jobs up for grabs nationally.

This data comes from our latest consumer research – the Home Improvement Dollar Report – conducted by ThriveInsights, with homeowners aged 30 – 65 years citing a planned median spend of $5,000 on home maintenance, improvement, repairs or renovations per household. The findings are pretty insightful, with a clear message to tradies – homeowners need you and they need you now!

We wanted to highlight the job opportunities currently up for grabs for tradies and why now is the perfect time for tradies to branch out and start their own business.

With many trades being “tools down” for months due to COVID-19 restrictions, our insights have shown that 34% of homeowners put off their home improvement plans, however we’ve already seen the bounceback in activity that we expected, with record job volumes on hipages in October 2021. Consumer confidence is high, especially in New South Wales, with similar trends expected in Victoria.

65% of homeowners plan to renovate their home within the next six months. This makes now the perfect time for tradies to leverage hipages, to easily build their pipeline and network amid Australia’s latest renovation boom.

Hayden Wattley, Sydney-based electrician from Wattley Air Conditioning and Electrical is a great example of this. He joined hipages in 2020, starting his business when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, which ended up being a difficult time due to ever changing restrictions. However Hayden was able to grow his business through the quality leads on hipages with Hayden sharing that 75% of his business comes through the platform. Once NSW came out of its first lockdown period, Hayden was able to take advantage of the jobs boom for his business – similar to what is being experienced across the country now. It’s stories like these that make me really proud.

We also know that starting your own business is nerve wracking; building your customer base from scratch and not always knowing where they will come from. This is why lead generation tools are so important for trade businesses with hipages offering a simple way for sole trades to secure quality job leads with local customers. You can be set up in less than 24 hours with the help of our sales team who will create your business listing page. This is where you can easily add images of previous work, share background on the types of jobs you offer and it will be where all your customer reviews will be housed. You can think of hipages as your all in one marketing tool – no need to build your own website as we help you with all of that.

When it comes to the current job opportunities in the market, while some seasoned businesses might be booked up for Christmas, our research indicates that only 24% of homeowners have engaged a tradie for their planned jobs over the coming months. This leaves the majority of Australians in need of expert trades to get the job done. We anticipate this demand from homeowners will inspire a new wave of tradie-preneurs to make the jump into new business ventures.

For those unsure on how to get started, hipages offers a number of tools and resources to help you get on your feet, or for those who’ve been restricted during lockdowns, to get back onto your feet. With an average of one home improvement job posted by homeowners on our platform every 20 seconds, hipages is the digital tool you need to build a pipeline of work from the remainder of 2021 and into early next year.

With the industry having been in both lockdown and limbo over the past year, we’re certainly excited by this trajectory and we hope it inspires new to sole traders and young business owners to see the potential which the next 12 months has for earnings.