Why did we start TradeBox Australia?

TradeBox Pty Ltd trading as TradeBox Australia, is an Australian privately owned company, co-founded in 2017 by me (Riley T Reid, director) and my construction lawyer wife, Fionna C Aitchison Reid.

Fionna and I co-founded our other business, a construction law practice called Aitchison Reid Building and Construction Lawyers (AR), in 2012. 

• AR serves trade contractors, subcontractors, homeowners and small developers. It does not act for builders.

• Almost all of Fionna’s 20 year+ legal career has been as a construction lawyer.

• I have worked as practice manager in AR since 2014.

• Short bios for Fionna and I are on AR’s About Us page.

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Over the years, most tradies bringing contract dispute matters to AR have had terrible contracts. Terrible contracts make it difficult for construction lawyers to get tradies out of contract disputes, and typically those disputes are costly in legal fees and other monetary losses for the tradies.

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It costs around AUD$4,500 or more in upfront fees to get a bespoke tradie contract crafted by AR, and ongoing fees of AUD$1,100 or more per one-off update of a contract for compliance with legal changes (flowing from court decisions and legislation changes). So, many tradie clients didn’t get contracts from AR due to the expense, despite the cost being small compared to the significant losses tradies have in contract dispute matters.

In response, Fionna and I wanted to create a solution that would give tradies hope and protection. So we created TradeBox, to make it easier for tradies to get legally compliant, trade-specific contracts on cash-flow-friendly subscriptions with ongoing updates to the contracts included in the subscriptions (being updates for legal compliance with court decisions and legislation changes).

 

What is TradeBox and how does it help trade contractors?​

• TradeBox provides contract terms and conditions (contracts) to our trade contractor customers.

• Our contracts are specifically written for trade contractors, not builders. 

• We use an Australian construction law practice, being AR, to craft the templates that we use to produce our contract product packages for our TradeBox customers (being our contracts, additional supporting documents and guidance documents).

• The contracts are crafted in plain English, making them very easy to read and understand. 

• The contract product packages are designed to be easy to use, legally compliant, and compatible with tradies’ business systems and processes (from the basic, through to the advanced business systems and processes).

• The contract product packages are provided to our trade contractor customers on subscription, paid monthly on a yearly commitment.

• Our current suite of contracts are for use in Queensland only. Construction laws differ by state/territory (jurisdiction), which means a contract designed for one jurisdiction (say, Queensland) can’t be used in another. We will be launching contracts for NSW and VIC in 2024.

• Check out more on this link, an Introduction to TradeBox.

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How are trade-specific terms included in TradeBox contracts?

Our Focus and Ultimate product customers can have add-on trade terms (Trade Schedules) that are trade-specific. For example, a metal roofing TradeBox customer can have the Metal Roofing Trade Schedule added to their terms, a plumbing TradeBox customer can have the Plumbing Trade Schedule added to their terms, and so on.

We have Trade Schedules for the following trades: Bathroom and Laundry Renovations, Civil Electrical, Concrete, Concrete Finishes, External Cladding, Landscaping, Metal Roofing, Plumbing, Waterproofing. Check out more on this link, Trade Schedules for TradeBox Focus and Ultimate Contract Products.

Trade Schedules are crafted in consultation with the trades. This is because the crafting of trade-specific terms requires the unique combination of years of trade contractor experience, with years of construction law experience. The only way that TradeBox can provide trade-specific contract terms and conditions that cover real trade issues, is by getting the construction lawyers to listen to TradeBox’s tradie customers. Check out more on this link, Explainer on the Trade Schedule Consultation Process.

 

What types of contracts are provided by TradeBox?

• Our contracts differ by contract types and contract products.

• Our contract types differ by whether they are for commercial use (with commercial building owners, commercial tenants, developers, builders), domestic use (with homeowners), or subcontract use (with your subbies). Check out more on this link, Introduction to Contract Types.

• Our contract products differ by whether they are just the core terms and conditions only, or they have the ability to have add-on schedules. Up to three schedules can be added to the Focus product, and up to six to the Ultimate product. Check out more on this link, Introduction to Contract Products.

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How are contract subscriptions purchased by a customer?

• Subscriptions are selected and purchased on our website here. 

• We deliver by email, the contract product package within 4 business days of the subscription purchase. 

• Check out more on this link, Explainer on the Selection Process and Delivery Process.

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What are the contract subscription fees?

Contract subscription fees include GST and transaction fees, are charged in advance, and are paid monthly on a yearly commitment. Subscriptions are purchased by debit card or credit card. A one-off setup fee is charged at the start of the subscription, which is two times the value of the monthly subscription fee.

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The current monthly subscription fees (as at 24 May 2024) are set out in the table below.