Best Quoting Software for Electricians in South Africa (2026)

Short answer: if you run an electrical contracting business in South Africa and want quotes, progress claims, COCs, job cards and staff timesheets in one system priced in rand, QuotingHub is built for exactly that. If you only need quick quotes and invoices on your phone, a lighter tool will do. This guide lays out the options honestly so you can pick the right one for the size of your business.

What South African electricians actually need from quoting software

• Itemised quotes with materials, labour and preliminaries, sent as a branded PDF.
• 15% VAT and rand pricing without workarounds, plus clear wording when you are not a VAT vendor.
• Progress claims for larger jobs, so you can claim a percentage of each line every month instead of waiting for practical completion.
• Variation orders signed off by the client and tracked against the original quote.
• A Certificate of Compliance (COC) under SANS 10142-1 and the Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, captured digitally and linked to the job.
• Job cards for callouts, repairs and maintenance that techs fill in on their phones.
• Timesheets you can trust, ideally GPS clock-in, so payroll matches who was really on site.
• A link to your accounting package, which in South Africa is very often Sage.

The options

1. QuotingHub — best all-in-one system for SA electrical contractors

QuotingHub was built in South Africa and has a dedicated electrician product. The Business plan covers project quotes with sections and line items, variation orders, a COC tracker with a digital SANS 10142-1 certificate, monthly progress claims, invoicing, as-built quantities and a Sage Business Cloud Accounting integration. Every plan includes GPS clock-in for up to 20 staff, and the Professional plan adds job cards with client signatures on mobile.

Pricing (ZAR, monthly):

• Starter — R999: GPS staff clocking and scheduling.
• Professional — R1,999: adds job cards for callouts, maintenance and repairs.
• Business — R3,199: adds project quotes, variation orders, COC tracker, progress claims, invoicing and Sage.

Up to 20 staff are included; extra staff are R40/month each. 30-day free trial, month-to-month, no contract.

What it doesn't do: it is not an accounting package (it pushes to Sage rather than replacing it), and it is not a design tool for drawing circuit layouts.

Best for: electrical contractors with a few staff or more who quote projects, claim monthly and issue COCs.

See QuotingHub for electricians →

2. Tradify — good general job management, priced per user

Tradify is a job management app from New Zealand used by trades in several countries, including South Africa. It handles quotes, scheduling, job tracking and invoicing well, and connects to common accounting packages.

Drawbacks for SA electricians: it is priced per user per month, so the cost grows with every tech you add. Capterra South Africa lists it from roughly R400–R480 per user per month at the time of writing. It is a general trades tool, so there is no built-in SANS 10142-1 COC, and progress claims on larger contracts are not its focus.

Best for: small service-and-repair outfits that want a polished scheduling app and do few large contracts.

3. ServiceM8 — strong for callout-driven businesses

ServiceM8 is an Australian field-service app that works well for callout and maintenance work: dispatch, job cards, photos and invoicing from the van.

Drawbacks for SA electricians: it is built around the Australian market, it has no built-in South African COC, and it is aimed at service jobs more than quoted projects with monthly claims.

Best for: electricians whose work is mostly callouts and who are happy to handle COCs and project claims separately.

4. Simple SA quoting apps (for example TradiQuote)

A handful of local, mobile-first apps produce quotes and invoices for South African tradespeople at a low flat monthly fee. TradiQuote, for example, lists a flat rate of R299/month on Capterra.

Drawbacks:these are quote-and-invoice tools. They generally don't cover progress claims, variation orders, COCs, job cards or staff timesheets, so a growing contractor outgrows them.

Best for: one-person operations that just need a neat quote on the phone.

5. Excel and Word templates

Still the most common way SA electricians quote. It costs nothing up front, but every quote is rebuilt by hand, VAT formulas break, copper and cable price changes have to be updated row by row, and nothing links the quote to the claim, the variation or the COC.

How to choose

• Sole trader, mostly small jobs: a simple quoting app or a good template is enough.
• Callout and maintenance work with a few techs: you need job cards and timesheets — QuotingHub Professional, Tradify or ServiceM8.
• Contractor quoting projects, claiming monthly and issuing COCs: QuotingHub Business is the only option here built around the South African COC, progress claims and Sage.

Frequently asked questions

Is there quoting software made specifically for South African electricians?

Yes. QuotingHub has an electrician product built in South Africa, with rand pricing, 15% VAT, a digital SANS 10142-1 COC, progress claims and Sage integration.

Can my electricians use it on their phones?

With QuotingHub, staff log in on their phones to clock in with GPS, fill in job cards, upload site photos and capture client signatures.

Do I still need Sage?

Keep Sage for your books. QuotingHub handles everything up to the invoice — quote, variations, claims, job cards — and pushes claims and invoices to Sage Business Cloud Accounting.

If you're writing your first proper quote, read our guide on how to write an electrical quotation in South Africa.