For trade business owners who hired the wrong bloke
He interviewed well.
That is the problem.Learn how to hire good people.
A bad hire is not bad luck and it is not bad judgement. It is what a business gets when nothing in it was ever built to find out who someone actually is.
9,000+ trade business owners trained
You are not the only one
49
owners, of the coaching calls we can read from the last five months, have a hire that went wrong in them or a job nobody can fill.
“This tradesman just didn’t work out.”
“I’ve just found it’s really hard to find good people.”
49 of 496 coaching calls with readable transcripts, 26 March to 27 August 2026. Quoted with every identifying detail removed.
The thing nobody tells you
You can pick people fine
You wrote the same ad as everyone else, so you got the same people.
You asked what he would do, and he told you beautifully.
You found out on a customer’s job. And now you are certain you cannot pick people.
The interview was never the test.
A trade business hires whoever its ad attracts, whoever its questions let through, and whoever its first ninety days never checks. An interview measures how well somebody interviews. Everything that actually matters shows up later, on someone else’s house, at your expense.
“This time we’re going to take a bit longer to get the right person.”
Thirty minutes, one on one. It costs nothing.
What it is actually costing
The wage is the smallest part
The wage was the cheap part
The rework, the callbacks and the materials cost more than he ever did. And you paid him while he made them.
The customer who saw it
They rang you, not him. That is a reference you will never get back, and it was earned over years.
The year you lost
One member put it at six to twelve months of progress, gone. Not the wage. The time you were not building anything.
The hire you now will not make
Burnt once, you go back on the tools and stay there. The business stops growing because you stopped trusting.
What changes
A business good people want to join
An ad that filters before you read it
Written so the wrong people do not apply. Changing two words in a job title is enough to change who turns up.
Questions he cannot rehearse
Ask what he has already done, not what he would do. Past behaviour is checkable. Intentions are free to say.
A first ninety days that tests
A trial, a review date in the diary, and a standard he is measured against while it is still cheap to be wrong.
A business that runs without you
The point of the right person is not the labour. It is that the job leaves the yard and you do not have to.
“I suppose it gives me that little bit of breathing room to not be in too much of a rush and try and find the right person rather than just someone to fill a gap.”
He is not describing a better judge of character. He is describing an owner who stopped hiring to fill a hole, which is the only reason the wrong person ever gets the job.
Proof it changes
Owners who were here, and are not any more
Real members, real names, on the record.
“I work four days a week and about four to five hours a day, by choice. I could work more if I wanted to, but I choose to be time-rich. Without Tradies Success Academy, there's no way I'd be doing that.”
4.9 from 123 Google reviews, and 9,000+ trade business owners trained across Australia and New Zealand.
No cost, no card, and you are not obliged to buy anything.
The complimentary coaching call
Thirty minutes, one on one
With a trade business coach who has run one. Not a webinar.
Where the business is now, and what is actually capping it.
What your last hire really cost, and what let him through.
The first thing to change before you advertise again, and the order to change it in.
How our training, programs and tools would help you do it. It costs nothing and you are not obliged to buy anything. For owners over $20k a month.
Who you will be talking to
A trade business owner, not a salesperson
One on one with a coach who has built and run a trade business. Fourteen specialist coaches sit behind them.
Greg Allan
Founder
National Electrician of the Year in 2017 and 2024. Built Response Electricians into a Service Business of the Year winner, four years running.
Josh Graham
Lead Coach
Built and sold two electrical businesses with 100+ staff. Business strategy, operations and hiring at scale.
Jack May
Lead Coach
20+ years carpentry. People management, quoting systems and strategic planning for trade owners.
Aaron Pacheco
Accounting
Translating finance into plain English. Cash flow, profitability and financial confidence.
How we help
What we actually do about it
Not a pep talk. The ads, the questions and the training that change who turns up in the first place.
The lessons on finding and keeping people
Ten lessons on finding and hiring good tradies, ten on when to hire and what it unlocks, eleven on leading a team. Ideal candidate profiles, the two words that quadrupled applicant quality, and the brilliant jerk who costs you good apprentices.
Take a lookSystems built live, then yours to keep
Weekly sessions where real trade business systems get built in the room and dropped into a click-and-paste prompt pack library. Bring the job you want automated, including the hiring one, and build it with the room.
Take a lookThe apprentice cost calculator
What a hire actually costs you all in, and how much billable work they have to carry to break even. Free, on this site. The number is almost never the hourly rate you carry in your head.
Take a lookLive sessions every week
Business Foundations with Greg Allan, live, weekly. Fourteen specialist coaches behind it, and other owners hiring for the same roles in the same week.
Take a lookBefore you book
Who this call is for
Book it if
- You are turning over $20k a month or more and a hire has already gone wrong
- You are back on the tools covering for somebody, or for nobody
- You have a job ad out now and you are not confident about who it will bring
- You want to get off the tools and cannot see how to do it safely
- You want a hiring process, not a better gut feel
Give it a miss if
- You are under $20k a month, in which case the free app is the better start and it already includes a coaching session
- You want somebody to do the hiring for you
- You believe good people simply do not exist any more
- You are not willing to change how you advertise or how you interview
Straight answers
What people ask before they book
Is this a sales call?
It is a coaching call and we do talk about how our training, programs and tools would help, because that is the point of us. It costs nothing, there is no obligation, and you will get a straight read on your business either way.
What actually happens when I put my email in?
The calendar loads and you pick a time that suits. It takes about thirty seconds and there is no card and no form to fill out first.
How long is it and who will I be talking to?
Thirty minutes, one on one, on a video call with a trade business coach who has built and run a trade business. Not a webinar and not a salesperson reading a script.
I am not hiring right now. Is it still worth it?
Usually more so. The changes that make a hire work are made before the ad goes out, and the owners who get burnt are almost always the ones who advertised the week they got desperate.
I have tried a business coach before and it went nowhere.
Most owners we speak to have. The difference here is that everything is built specifically for trade businesses, by people who have run them, and 9,000+ owners have been through it.
Learn how to hire good people.
Pick a time. Thirty minutes, no cost, and you will leave knowing what to change first.
Turning over under $20k a month? Start with the free app instead. It costs nothing and it already includes a complimentary coaching session.
P.S.
He interviewed well because interviews reward interviewing. That is not a flaw in your judgement, it is a flaw in the test, and the test is something you can change before you advertise again. Another year on the tools covering for a hire that did not work costs more than thirty minutes does.