Introducing Chippie: job management for tradies, built by a Newcastle family

After a year of building and running it through a real trade business every day, we're launching it properly. This post is the long version of who we are, what the app does, what it doesn't do yet, and what it costs.

It started with a paper diary

Elliott ran his businesses out of a paper diary for the better part of 40 years. He and his son Caleb are both qualified carpenters, and together they run a small tree services business here in Newcastle. When Caleb came on board, he wanted to move the admin onto something digital, so he went shopping for an app.

What he found was the same story everywhere. The good apps cost close to $100 a month and the price multiplied for every team member. None of them were particularly affordable. Almost all of them saved the full product for a desktop and handed you a cut-down version on the phone, which is backwards, because the phone is where most tradies spend their time. He wanted all three things at once, simple, mobile and affordable. Nothing quite hit the mark.

Jeremiah is Caleb's brother and a software engineer. So we teamed up and started building. Caleb and Elliott ran every update through their own jobs, quote to invoice, and told Jeremiah what was wrong until the app was molded to the day-to-day workflow of the business. We have a philosophy of keeping the app simple and easy to operate. But powerful under the hood.

What Chippie does today

Chippie handles the admin side of a job from your phone: you quote it, track it, invoice it and get paid, all in one place. Write a quote in the driveway before you leave and email it as a clean PDF. When it's accepted, it becomes a job on your schedule. When the work's done, the job becomes the invoice, no retyping. Clients receive invoices via email where they can mark them as paid for you to see in the app. And every client's history and details sit in your pocket for next time.

It's the same full app on your phone, tablet or computer. It runs in the browser on iOS and Android today, with a native app in development. There's no manual and no training video. You open it and go, and if that claim doesn't hold up for you, we want to hear about it.

If your books live in Xero, Chippie connects to it on the paid plans. Your clients and invoices push across automatically, and when an invoice gets paid, the status flows back. Your bookkeeper keeps working in Xero the way they always have.

Keeping the whole quote-to-invoice trail in one place has a quiet second benefit: your records stay tidy for the accountant at tax time instead of living across texts, emails and a notebook in the ute.

What it costs

After the pain of not being able to find a genuinely usable tool without getting out our credit card, we decided to do something different and create an app that can get the job done for free. The idea is that people will upgrade after they have experienced the real value of Chippie. Especially given the modest pricing for what you get.

The free tier is genuinely free: one user, 20 jobs a month, no credit card to sign up, and it doesn't expire. Past that, Professional is $25 a month for 2 users and Team is $45 a month for 4 users, with extra users at $10 each. Pay annually and you get two months free. There's no contract, so if it doesn't fit your business you just stop.

Prices as at July 2026. The current numbers are always at chippieapp.com/pricing.

Why we're doing this

The established job management platforms have spent years chasing bigger clients, and the software has grown more complex and more expensive with them. The solo operator, the two-person crew and the partner doing the books at the kitchen table got left behind. Roughly a third of small trade businesses still run on spreadsheets or paper, and having lived that, we don't think it's because tradies are behind the times. It's because nobody built the right tool with low enough friction to get started. Chippie aims to be that tool. Easy enough to use out of the box. Powerful enough to scale a growing team.

Running a one-ute business shouldn't need a secretary, an office computer or software training. It should fit in your pocket and work like the other apps you already use every day.

If that sounds like your business, try it free at chippieapp.com and tell us what it needs to fit your trade better. We read everything.

FAQ

What is Chippie? Chippie is a job management app for small trade businesses. It covers the quote-to-invoice workflow: quoting, job tracking, scheduling, invoicing and card payments, from one app that works the same on your phone and your computer. It's built and owned by a Newcastle family, two carpenters and a software engineer.

How much does Chippie cost? The free tier is $0 for one user and 20 jobs a month, with no card required and no expiry. Professional is $25 a month for 2 users. Team is $45 a month for 4 users, then $10 per extra user. Annual billing gives you two months free.

What phones and devices does Chippie work on? Chippie runs on iOS, Android and desktop today, as the same full app on every device.

Does Chippie integrate with Xero? Yes, on the Professional plan and up. Chippie pushes your clients and invoices into Xero automatically and picks up payment status back from Xero.

Who is Chippie for? Small field-service businesses of roughly one to ten people: carpenters, arborists, landscapers, handymen, sparkies, and trades generally. If you're running a bigger operation with dispatch boards and dozens of staff, the enterprise platforms will fit you better, and that's fine by us.