By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Why do so many gasfitters feel let down by business coaching?
Most gasfitters who try a business coach once and never go back were handed advice built for every trade at once, not for gas work. A worksheet about time management does not know the difference between quoting a cooktop swap and quoting a gas line extension, or what a compliance certificate backlog does to a month's cash flow.
The coach has usually never carried a gas licence or stood in front of a regulator's inspector. They can talk about “systems” in the abstract, but they cannot speak to the actual rhythm of a gasfitter's week: the callout that runs long, the pressure test that has to be redone, the hot water job that turns into a flue problem once the roof is opened up. The advice feels generic because it is.
What is actually going wrong when a gasfitting business feels stuck?
What looks like the problem for a gasfitting business is often a symptom of something sitting further back in the numbers. A crew that is always behind on safety checks, or a margin that looks thinner every month on appliance installs, usually has a cause the owner has not actually measured yet.
It might be how LPG conversion jobs get priced against the time they actually take once bottles, regulators and testing are counted in. It might be compliance certificate paperwork eating hours nobody is billing for. A coach who starts the conversation by asking the owner to explain the business, rather than looking at its own data, is working from a picture that is already out of date and will likely land on the same symptom again next month.
What should you look for in a coach for your gasfitting business?
You want someone who has actually run a trade business, who asks to see your own numbers before telling you anything, and who fixes root causes with systems rather than worksheets. Greg Allan, who built his own trade business before coaching others, is one example of what that background can look like.
Ask whether the coach understands the difference between a straightforward heater service and a full install with a new gas line run, because the margin and the risk are not the same job. Ask whether they look at servicing, compliance certificate turnaround and licence renewal time as part of the business's real cost, or whether those sit outside their view entirely. A coach who treats every workload problem as “go and hire someone” has not actually looked at what could be run differently first.
What should you ask a coach before you sign up?
Ask directly whether they will start from your own job and finance numbers or whether the first session is you describing your business to them. The answer tells you a great deal.
Ask how they would find where a problem like a thin margin on appliance installs, or a growing pile of unfinished compliance certificates, actually starts. Ask whether they have ever run a gasfitting or similar trade business themselves, and what they would look at first in a business like yours before suggesting any change.
What are the warning signs to walk away from?
The clearest warning sign is a salesperson first and a coach second, someone more interested in closing you than in your pressure test backlog or your callout pricing. A coach who has never run a trade business, or who gives the same worksheet to a plumber, an electrician and a gasfitter, is not looking at your business at all.
Another sign is advice that stays the same no matter what you tell them, or a coach who cannot explain why a safety check on a carbon monoxide leak risk should be priced and handled differently from a routine bayonet fitting check. If every answer sounds the same regardless of the trade in front of them, it was written before you walked in the door.
How does AI fit into coaching for a gasfitting business?
An AI agent is software that does a job the way you would do it yourself, with your prices, your wording and your rules, and a growing number of gasfitting businesses are starting to use them for the office work nobody bills for. A good coach today should be able to speak to this, not just to traditional advice.
AI agents can take on the non-billable work that eats a gasfitter's week: chasing meter access details before a job, following up compliance certificate paperwork, or sending servicing reminders with your own wording instead of a generic template. The data first approach means the agent is built from your own numbers and your own way of working, not a one size fits all tool rented from somewhere else. That frees you and your crew to spend more time with customers and on the tools, not less.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching, built by Greg Allan, starts from the gasfitter's own job and finance data through the Trade Business Intelligence, not from a description of the business. For a question like choosing a coach, that means looking first at where margin on appliance installs, compliance certificate turnaround or servicing capacity is actually sitting, before any conversation about what to change.
The how, the systems and the step by step, is worked through inside the Academy, with other members. It is built for gasfitters and other trade owners who are open minded, innovative and willing to share, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member, for every member.
