Win More of the Work You Want, Improve Cashflow, and Grow Your Business
If you’re a trade or supplier in Australia’s residential building industry, chances are your business has grown on the back of your reputation. You do quality work. You show up on time. You don’t cut corners.
But lately, the game has changed. You’re juggling more jobs. Admin is creeping into your weekends. And builders seem more focused on price than ever before.
You’re starting to think beyond just getting through the week. You want a steadier flow of work. Better margins. More time with your family — and a way to grow your business without burning out.
That’s where Connected Procurement comes in.
In this post, we’ll unpack what Connected Procurement actually means, how it works, and how it helps trades and suppliers like you:
Find better jobs and more reliable builders
Cut back on unproductive admin
Improve cashflow with more predictable work
Market yourself more effectively — without paying for ads
Focus on growing your business (while still doing what you’re good at)
🔍 So, What Is Connected Procurement?
Connected Procurement is a modern, digital-first way of coordinating how work is shared, scoped, scheduled, and managed in construction — across builders, trades, and suppliers.
Instead of relying on phone calls, spreadsheets, and email chains, it brings everyone together in a shared online platform. Think of it as the digital infrastructure that connects the right builder with the right trade or supplier at the right time.
Platforms like BuiltGrid make this possible — turning a traditionally messy, manual process into something more efficient, reliable, and fair for everyone involved.
💡 Why Trades and Suppliers Are Turning to Connected Procurement
For many tradies and suppliers, business growth just happens — through word of mouth and doing good work. But growth brings more complexity:
You need to quote faster
Your schedule gets harder to manage
You spend more time chasing paperwork
Builders are under pressure, pushing prices down
Connected Procurement helps you handle that complexity, and actually use it as a platform for growth — not a burden.
Let’s break down what that looks like in practice.
💵 1. Improved Cashflow Through Predictable Work
Cashflow is the lifeblood of any trade business. But when your work pipeline is stop-start, it gets tough:
One week, you’ve got too much on
The next, you’re chasing jobs and overdue invoices
Payments get delayed
Your team’s hours are up and down
And your personal income suffers
Connected Procurement platforms help smooth this out by providing a steady flow of high-quality job leads from active builders. Not only that — job scopes and timelines are locked in earlier, which allows you to:
Better manage your team’s capacity
Quote more accurately
Plan ahead for purchases and deliveries
The result? More predictable income and fewer cashflow surprises.
📊 According to the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (2023), unpredictable project timelines are a key contributor to financial stress among trade businesses.
🤝 2. Access to More Builders — Without Chasing Work
Traditionally, winning more work meant knocking on doors, scrolling Facebook groups, or spending money on ads.
Connected Procurement changes that.
By joining a platform like BuiltGrid, your business becomes visible to a wide network of quality builders — many of whom are actively looking for skilled, reliable trades and suppliers in your area. Your business profile, track record, compliance docs, and past project data work together to give builders confidence in choosing you.
You can set preferences to match the kind of jobs you want — so you’re not flooded with irrelevant work, just quality leads that fit your capabilities.
🧠 BuiltGrid data shows that trades with a complete digital profile are 3.5x more likely to be awarded repeat work.
🔁 3. Maintain a Steady Flow of Work to Support Your Team
Having a team is a big responsibility. You’re not just putting food on your own table — you’re supporting livelihoods.
But managing team capacity when work is inconsistent is tough. Delays, no-shows, or surprise cancellations can leave you either short-handed or overcommitted.
With Connected Procurement, job scheduling and coordination are handled in a shared system. You get:
Clear start dates
Transparent builder expectations
Early visibility into upcoming work
This helps you plan your labour needs more effectively and keeps your crew working — which means you can grow with confidence.
📉 4. Reduce Admin That Eats into Billable Hours (and Family Time)
No one gets into the trades to push paper — but as your business grows, so does the admin:
Chasing quotes
Sending invoices
Following up on emails
Coordinating job changes
Managing compliance docs
A BuiltGrid survey of over 200 trades and suppliers showed that on average, tradies spend 8–12 hours per week on admin, often after-hours or on weekends.
Connected Procurement automates or simplifies most of this:
One place to receive and send quotes
Auto-notifications on schedule changes
Digital document storage
Real-time updates from builders
Less time at your laptop means more time on tools, or with your family.
🎯 5. A Smarter Way to Market Yourself — Without the Cost
Let’s be real: paying for ads on Facebook or printing flyers doesn’t work like it used to. The cost is high, and the return is low — especially when most builders aren’t looking there for new trades.
Connected Procurement gives you access to a targeted jobs board, where builders post actual work opportunities. No guesswork. No middlemen.
You don’t need a fancy marketing plan — your work speaks for itself. And with a digital profile that shows your experience, compliance, and reliability, builders can find and engage you directly.
Cost-effective, direct-to-builder marketing. No paid ads required.
🧠 Bonus: Helping You Price for Value, Not Just Cost
If you’ve ever lost a job to a cheaper quote — even when you know your work is better — you’re not alone.
The problem isn’t just price. It’s how value is communicated.
Connected Procurement helps fix this by:
Standardising scopes so you’re quoting apples-to-apples
Allowing you to show past performance and reliability
Giving you visibility into job timelines so you can quote accurately
Tracking your delivery metrics, which builders value
This helps shift the conversation from price to performance — and can lead to stronger relationships and better rates.
🧱 Real Connected Procurement Stories from the Industry
Let’s take a quick look at how real trades are using Connected Procurement to grow:
Sam, a concreter from Newcastle, uses BuiltGrid to access work from four new builders. “I used to rely on one main builder. Now I’ve got backup and options. We’re not panicking between jobs anymore.”
Mina, a tiling contractor in outer Melbourne, said: “Quoting used to take over my Sundays. Now we get jobs scoped properly and can send a price back in half the time.”
Brent, a supplier rep for a building materials company, said: “It’s changed how we connect with small builders. We’re not cold-calling anymore — they’re coming to us through the platform.”
🔑 The Key Connected Procurement Takeaways for Your Business
✅ Improve your cashflow with more predictable, better-scoped work
✅ Get access to more builders without spending on marketing
✅ Keep your team working with steady, scheduled jobs
✅ Win back your time by reducing quoting, chasing, and paperwork
✅ Price more accurately to protect your margins and value
✅ Grow your business while still doing what you’re good at
💬 Ready to Learn More?
Connected Procurement isn’t just for big builders — it’s for growing trade and supplier businesses that want to work smarter, win better work, and build a business that works for them (not the other way around).
Whether you’re quoting now, planning ahead, or just curious, the team at BuiltGrid is here to help.
👉 Speak to the team at BuiltGrid today and discover how Connected Procurement can help your business grow.
📚 Sources
Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (2023). Improving Work-Life Balance in Construction
BuiltGrid Internal User Survey (2024)
HIA (2023). Digital Transformation in Residential Construction
IBISWorld (2024). Trade Contractors in Australia: Trends and Outlook
