Custom workflow automation software for trades and service businesses.
Custom workflow automation software that runs your approvals, handoffs and reminders by your own rules. For builders, property maintenance companies, clinics, events businesses and agencies across Australia: business process automation that records who approved what, and keeps work moving whoever is in.
A fixed written quote before we start. Pay upfront or in stages. Ongoing management from go-live.
Your rules, run the same way every time.
Every business runs on a set of unwritten rules. The supervisor can approve purchases up to a certain amount. Variations over a threshold go to the owner. A strata client's work orders need the manager's okay before work starts. These rules work, until the person who knows them is on leave.
Custom workflow automation software writes those rules down and runs them. Requests arrive through a form, go to the right person, wait for the right sign-offs, and move to the next team when they are done, with a record of every step. Nothing sits in an inbox, and nobody has to remember the process for it to happen.
Workflow automation is one of the tools we build under custom software development, often alongside a client portal where clients approve their own quotes and variations.
Book a free strategy callSigns your workflows have outgrown inboxes and Zapier
Usually a business with several people raising and approving requests every day, held together by email, group chats and a few automations someone set up years ago.
Approvals live in someone's inbox
Purchases, variations, discounts and leave requests wait for one person to read an email, and work stops until they do.
Nobody can say who agreed to what
When a client disputes a variation or a supplier bill looks wrong, the answer is buried in texts, emails and memory.
The zaps have become a system
A dozen Zapier or Make automations now run part of the business. Nobody is quite sure what each one does, and some fail without telling anyone.
Steps depend on who remembers
The handover from sales to the crew, or from the crew to accounts, works when the right person is in. When they are away, things slip.
What custom workflow automation does differently
Six things a workflow system built for one business can do that a chain of generic automations has to approximate.
What goes into a business process automation system
Most builds start with the one or two processes that cause the most chasing, then grow. We scope only the parts you need.
Zapier, Make or a custom workflow?
Workflow software comes in many shapes, and connector tools are genuinely useful. Here is when they are enough, and when a workflow built around your rules fits better.
Fits simple, linear steps
Zapier, Make and Power Automate are quick and inexpensive for "when a form comes in, add a row and send an email". Tools such as monday.com suit teams that want to manage their own boards and simple approvals.
The trade-off appears as rules multiply: branching logic spread across many automations, failures that go unnoticed, pricing that climbs with every task, and no single place to see the whole process.
Fits processes with real rules
A custom build suits approvals with limits and several sign-offs, handoffs between teams, client approvals and anything where you need to prove later who agreed to what.
The whole process lives in one place, failures are caught and reported, and the rules change when your business does, as part of ongoing management.
There is also a middle path. Keep the simple zaps that work, and move only the rule-heavy processes, such as variations, purchasing or work orders, into one custom workflow.
What workflow automation looks like in different businesses
Illustrative examples to show how the same idea fits different work. They are not past client projects.
Connected to the tools you already use
Workflows start and finish in the systems your team already uses. We connect to them, and never rebuild accounting or payroll.
Mapping the process before we automate it
Automating a muddled process only makes the muddle faster. So we start by mapping how each request really moves today, with the people who raise and approve it, including the exceptions nobody writes down.
- Each step, who does it and what they need to see
- Approval limits and rules agreed and written down
- What should happen when someone is away or a job is urgent
- Existing automations listed, kept or retired
You approve the map before anything is built, and open requests are carried across on the day you switch over, so nothing is lost in between.
How a workflow project is priced and run
A workflow project runs the same way as every custom software build: discovery, a written scope with a fixed quote, building in stages you test on real requests, then go-live and ongoing management.
Every workflow is different, so there is no price list. You see both figures, in writing, for an agreed scope, before we start.
A one-off build fee
Fixed in your quote after discovery. Pay it upfront, or in stages tied to milestones.
Ongoing management
Every build comes with it: hosting, monitoring, updates, fixes and small improvements, billed monthly from the day your workflows go live. New approval limits, new request types and changed rules are part of looking after it.
Who owns the software, and who owns the data
We agree code ownership per project, in writing, before the build starts. There are two options.
We keep the code, you hold a licence
Scalepoint owns the code and you get a licence to use the software in your business. You can buy the code out later if your plans change.
You own the code once it is paid for
Ownership of the code passes to you when the build fee is paid in full.
Your data is always yours, whichever option you choose. Your requests, approvals and their full history belong to your business, and you can export them at any time.
Other ways we can help
Common questions about workflow automation
What is custom workflow automation software?+
Software built for one business that runs its requests, approvals and handoffs according to that business's own rules: who approves what, in which order, and what happens next. It records every step, so the process works the same way whoever is in, and you can always see who agreed to what.
Is this the same as business process automation?+
It is one practical form of it. Business process automation covers any process a business runs, from enquiry to invoice. For trades and service businesses, the processes that benefit most are usually approvals, handoffs between teams and anything that currently waits in someone's inbox.
Should we just use Zapier or Make?+
For simple "when this happens, do that" steps between two apps, yes. They are quick and cheap. Custom workflow automation suits processes with real rules, several approvers, exceptions and a need for a clear history, which is where a chain of zaps becomes hard to follow and easy to break.
Will our team need to learn a new system?+
As little as possible. Most people only ever see a request form and an approve button, on their phone or in an email. Where your team already works in a job app, the workflow starts from there and writes back to it.
How much does workflow automation cost?+
It depends on how many workflows and systems are involved, so there is no price list. After a discovery session you get a fixed build fee and the monthly management fee in writing, for an agreed scope, before any work starts.
Who owns the workflows and the records?+
Your data is always yours, and you can export it at any time. Code ownership is agreed in writing before the build: by default we keep the code and you hold a licence to use it, with the option to buy it out, or the code becomes yours once the build fee is paid in full.
Show us what is waiting in your inbox
Walk us through the approvals and handoffs your team chases every week. We will show you what a workflow built around your rules would look like.