Why some NZ builders look past Tradify, what Tradify does better, and where CostMate fits. Dated, sourced and plain about what CostMate does not do.
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Tradify is a solid app for running a trades business, and plenty of builders use it happily. The ones who go looking for something else usually want one of two things: a tool that understands building work, or a different way of paying. This page says what we found, where Tradify goes further than CostMate today, and what CostMate does instead.
It is made for all trades. In our trial the forms were electrical and gas certificates plus generic safety forms, with nothing written for builders. That is fine if you are an electrician and less useful if you build decks.
It charges per user. Lite is $48 and Plus is $62, per user per month, excluding GST (Tradify's NZ pricing page, checked 13 October 2026). For one person that is simple. For a crew, each extra login is another seat. There is a separate page on how that adds up.
Quoting is built from your own price lists, kits and templates. We found nothing in Tradify that works out quantities and hours from a description of the job, so the thinking stays with you.
On 9 October 2026 we tried Tradify on a trial account. Three defaults stood out. A new timesheet entry came up as 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, and saving it booked 12 hours of billable time with no break taken off. Dropping a job onto the calendar made a 1-hour appointment, so a job that runs for days needs its end changed by hand. And the customer booking email was ticked by default.
All three can be changed. The point is that they are worth checking on day one, because a default you did not notice becomes a number on a timesheet or an email to a client.
Running the day. Tradify has a scheduler, timesheets, invoicing with payments, enquiries, and sync with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks. CostMate does not have a crew calendar or full invoicing beyond deposits and progress claims. It puts your job's stages on dates, and with Xero connected it sends draft bills and invoices to your own Xero for you to approve there.
CostMate takes a residential job from estimate to paid. You choose a job type and fill in the job, and it works out the materials with quantities and the labour in hours by phase, priced from Dayle ITM and PlaceMakers trade pricing. A rules engine does the maths, so the same job entered twice gives the same numbers, and it writes assumptions and exclusions you can edit. The client can accept the quote on a link, and once you win the job it carries on with variations, hours, receipts, deposits and progress claims. It also flags NZ Building Code points for you to confirm.
There is a free plan, and a 30-day trial of the paid features with no card.
Tradify's prices are from tradifyhq.com/nz/pricing, checked 13 October 2026. The defaults above are what we saw on our own trial account on 9 October 2026, and Tradify may have changed them since. What CostMate does is true of a brand-new account today.
Try any tool on a job you have already quoted before you move your business to it, and check its defaults on day one.