ServiceM8 + Make: Five Automations a Tradie Can Build in a Week

ServiceM8 is built for tradies, but most owners only use a fraction of it. Pair it with a Make scenario and you can close the gaps where work falls through: quote follow-ups, review requests and after-hours replies, all running on autopilot.

ServiceM8 is a job management platform built for Aussie tradies. It handles scheduling, quoting, invoicing, photo uploads, and a thousand other things you’d otherwise need three separate apps for.

But most tradies use a fraction of it. The job card works, the invoice goes out and the diary syncs, while the rest of the platform sits untouched because nobody had time to learn it.

There’s another problem ServiceM8 alone can’t solve: the gaps between systems. ServiceM8 holds your job data. Xero holds your accounting. Google Calendar holds your diary. Your phone holds your SMS. When a job needs to flow across two or three of those, you end up doing it manually.

Make is a workflow automation tool, similar to Zapier but cheaper and more powerful for the kind of automations a small trades business actually needs. ServiceM8 has a Make integration (and webhook support if you want to go deeper). With a free or $10-a-month Make plan, you can stitch ServiceM8 into the rest of your stack and close the gaps where work falls through.

Here are five Make scenarios you can build in a week.

Currency note. This article was published on 1 May 2026 and last reviewed on 26 August 2026. That review added this note. It did not re-verify the Make plan pricing, and the ServiceM8 integration and webhook features described below, and those change without notice. Confirm the current position with the vendor before making a decision on it.

Automation 1: Missed call → instant SMS auto-reply

The problem: Customer rings at 6:45pm. You’re on a job or driving home. They leave a voicemail or hang up. Meanwhile, your competitor’s auto-responder fires within 30 seconds. By morning, the job is gone.

The build:

1. Trigger: Missed call on your business mobile (most VoIP providers, such as MyNetFone, MNF, Twilio or even a Google Voice number, can send a webhook to Make when a call is missed).
2. Make action 1: Send SMS to the caller from a Twilio or ClickSend number: “Hi, this is {your_business_name}. Sorry I missed your call. I’m on a job. I’ll ring you back first thing tomorrow morning. For urgent issues, please call again and I’ll do my best to pick up.”
3. Make action 2: Create a follow-up task in ServiceM8 with the caller’s number and a 7am next-day reminder.

Build time: 90 minutes. Cost: ~$0.10 per SMS sent. Payback: one job you would’ve lost.

Automation 2: Quote sent → 48-hour, 5-day, 10-day follow-up sequence

The problem: Quote goes out, you mean to chase it, you don’t, it goes cold. A quote nobody chases is a job you priced and never booked.

The build:

1. Trigger: Quote moved to “Sent” status in ServiceM8.
2. Make action 1 (48 hours later): Send SMS to the customer: “Hi {first_name}, just checking you received the quote for {job_description}. Any questions, give me a call on {your_number}. Cheers, {your_first_name}.”
3. Make action 2 (5 days later, if quote still “Sent”): Send a second SMS: “Hi {first_name}, following up on the quote from last week. Still happy to talk through any of it. Are you still keen to go ahead?”
4. Make action 3 (10 days later, if quote still “Sent”): Send a third message and create a task in ServiceM8 prompting you to ring them personally.

Build time: 2 hours. Cost: ~$0.30 per quote followed up. Payback: one cold quote that turns into a job.

Automation 3: Job complete → Google review request

The problem: You finished the job, the customer was happy, you meant to ask for a Google review, you forgot. Forgetting compounds. After 50 jobs, you’ve earned the right to 50 reviews and got 3.

The build:

1. Trigger: Job status changes to “Complete” AND payment received in ServiceM8.
2. Make action 1 (24 hours after completion): Send SMS: “Hi {first_name}, thanks for the job today. If you’ve got 30 seconds, a quick Google review would mean a lot. It helps other locals find me when they need a {your_trade}. Here’s the direct link: [your-google-review-link]. Cheers, {your_first_name}.”
3. Make action 2: Log the review request to a Google Sheet so you can track which jobs got asked.

Build time: 60 minutes. Cost: ~$0.10 per request. Payback: every finished job gets a review request, not just the ones you remember to ask about.

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking (Google Business Profile Help), so every review this collects helps you show up when locals search for a tradie.

Automation 4: Invoice paid → thank-you message + folder archive

The problem: The job’s done, the invoice is paid, and the customer never hears from you again until the next time they need a plumber. Six months later they’ve forgotten your name. Year-on-year repeat business suffers.

The build:

1. Trigger: Invoice marked as paid in ServiceM8 (or via the Xero connection if invoicing is on that side).
2. Make action 1: Send a short thank-you SMS or email: “Hi {first_name}, just confirming payment for the recent job came through. Thanks for trusting me with the work. If anything plays up, give me a yell. - {your_first_name}”
3. Make action 2: Move the job’s photo folder from “Active” to “Completed” in Google Drive (or Dropbox).
4. Make action 3 (90 days later): Add the customer to a “warm leads” segment in a tool like Mailerlite or send a one-line check-in SMS: “Hi {first_name}, hope the {work_done} is still holding up. Let me know if anything’s playing up. - {your_first_name}.”

Build time: 90 minutes. Cost: under $0.10 per job. Payback: improves repeat-customer rates without any manual chasing.

Automation 5: New enquiry form → ServiceM8 client + diary check + auto-quote prep

The problem: A new lead comes in via your website form. You see the email tomorrow morning. By then the customer has already booked someone else.

The build:

1. Trigger: New form submission on your website (your contact form, Jotform, Typeform, or wherever leads come in).
2. Make action 1: Create a new client record in ServiceM8 with the form data.
3. Make action 2: Check Google Calendar for your next two days of availability and pull the first two free 2-hour slots.
4. Make action 3: Send the lead an SMS within 60 seconds: “Hi {first_name}, thanks for getting in touch about {job_type}. I’ve got availability {slot_1} or {slot_2}. Reply with which suits and I’ll lock it in. - {your_first_name}.”
5. Make action 4: Notify you via SMS or email so you know a lead just came in.

Build time: 3 hours (this one’s the most complex). Cost: under $0.20 per lead. Payback: you reply first, while the customer is still deciding who to call.

What this stack actually costs to run

A small plumbing or electrical business running all five automations is looking at roughly:

At roughly $45 to $75 a month, the stack costs about $135 to $225 a quarter. If it saves one job a quarter worth more than that, it has paid for itself.

The order to build them in

Don’t try to build all five in one week. Do them in this order:

1. Quote follow-up sequence (automation 2): these are jobs you’ve already priced, and chasing them by hand is the first thing to slip in a busy week.
2. Google review automation (automation 3): the quickest build, and every review keeps working for you in local search.
3. Missed-call auto-reply (automation 1): pays for itself the first time it saves a job.
4. Invoice paid → thank-you (automation 4): keeps your name in front of past customers for the next job.
5. New enquiry → instant SMS (automation 5): gets your reply in before the customer rings the next tradie.

Build one a week and in five weeks all five are running on top of the ServiceM8 you’re already paying for.

ServiceM8 covers the quote and the invoice. It has never seen the call that went to voicemail or the customer list you haven’t opened in two years. See the full picture in the five revenue leaks in a trades business.

Where to start

If you’d like a quick map of which automation will move the needle fastest for your specific business, plus a 30-minute walkthrough of what to build first, book a free AI Ops Audit.

We’ll look at your current ServiceM8 setup, identify the two or three biggest gaps, and tell you whether to build it yourself or get help.

No sales pitch. Plain English. If your business can’t benefit from any of this, we’ll tell you straight.