TailoredQuote vs Fergus for UK Tradespeople

Fergus is a job management platform built for trade businesses. TailoredQuote is an AI quoting tool that helps you win more work. Here is where each one shines.

Fergus started in New Zealand and has steadily grown its UK user base among plumbers, electricians, builders, and HVAC contractors. It is a comprehensive job management platform that covers the full workflow from enquiry through to payment. You can schedule jobs, assign staff, track costs against budgets, manage purchase orders, and invoice clients — all from one dashboard.

TailoredQuote focuses specifically on the quoting stage. When a potential client asks you to price a bathroom refit, kitchen installation, or house extension, TailoredQuote generates a detailed, professional scope of work using AI. It writes clear descriptions of every task, calculates pricing, and produces a branded PDF with optional room mockups. The aim is to help you present like a large, established firm — even if you are a one-person operation.

These two tools address different pain points. Fergus helps you manage the operational side of running a trade business — scheduling, costing, staff coordination, and invoicing. TailoredQuote helps you win the work in the first place by producing quotes that are more detailed, more professional, and faster to create than what most competitors submit. Understanding which problem is more pressing for your business will guide the right choice.

Feature Comparison

When to Use Fergus

Fergus is an excellent choice for trade businesses that need to manage multiple active jobs simultaneously. If you have a team of tradespeople working across different sites, Fergus helps you schedule their time, track job costs against budgets, manage purchase orders for materials, and ensure every job is invoiced accurately.

One of Fergus's strongest features is real-time job costing. You can see at a glance whether a job is on budget, which helps you identify problems early and avoid situations where you complete a large project only to discover you have lost money on it. For businesses that have moved past the early growth stage and need tighter financial control over their operations, this visibility is genuinely valuable.

Fergus also handles the full quote-to-invoice lifecycle. You can create quotes with manual line items, convert them to jobs when accepted, track progress, and generate final invoices. For service-based work like boiler installations, electrical rewires, or emergency call-outs, where the scope is well understood and the quoting process is straightforward, Fergus's built-in quoting may be all you need.

When TailoredQuote Is the Better Choice

TailoredQuote is the better choice when your biggest challenge is winning work rather than managing it. If you are losing quotes to competitors who present more professionally, or if you are spending too long writing detailed scopes of work for bathroom refits, kitchen installations, or renovation projects, TailoredQuote directly addresses both problems.

The AI generates scope descriptions that use professional construction language — the kind of clear, detailed breakdown that clients associate with established, trustworthy firms. Rather than listing "bathroom tiling" as a single line item, TailoredQuote breaks it down into preparation, waterproofing, adhesive application, tile laying, grouting, and finishing. This level of detail reassures clients that you understand the full scope of work.

The room mockup feature gives you an additional edge. Before the client has committed, you can show them a visual of what their new bathroom, kitchen, or living space will look like. This is a powerful sales tool that very few small trade businesses currently offer, and it can be the deciding factor on higher-value projects.

For sole traders and small firms without employees, TailoredQuote provides the quoting capabilities you need without paying for job management features you will not use. For larger firms already using Fergus, adding TailoredQuote to handle the quoting stage can improve your win rate without disrupting your existing workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions