IV. Trades & Artisans
SME Residential and Commercial Trade Services
Key focus: The tradies and makers of a Great Small City keep everything else running. We help them design work that is safe, fair and worth staying in.
The capability gap: Trades in Great Small Cities are under pressure from skills shortages, rising compliance and paperwork, slow payment and disputes, and the strain of being the only provider for a whole district. Owners carry it all, and apprentices and workers feel it. Good work design, using the SMART framework (Stimulating, Mastery, Agency, Relational, Tolerable demands), helps businesses keep their people and their footing.
The digital gap: Australia will need about 1.3 million tech workers by 2030, according to the ACS Digital Pulse report. Many tradespeople are near-tech already. Electricians, plumbers, mechanics and fabricators install, configure and fix connected systems every day. Yet regional trades are rarely offered a digital pathway, and the businesses themselves often lack the digital literacy to use the tools they pay for. We treat digital capability as a trade skill: learned on the job, passed between generations, and designed into good work.
What we work on:
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SMART work design with owners, apprentices, employees and subcontractors
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Digital literacy and responsible AI training for trade owners, workers and apprentices, taught on the tools and in the context of real jobs
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Trade-to-tech pathways that help tradespeople, young people and hidden workers move into regional digital roles such as field technicians, systems installers and digital support
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Pairing digital workers with trade businesses, so digital careers can grow in Great Small Cities instead of only in the capitals
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Trade-specific apps and integrated ICT systems led by one of our in-house engineers
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Legal design for trade warranties, escrow processes and paperwork aligned with regulation
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WHS and data safety assessments and audits
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Fabrication R&D and digital skills for artisans and makers
Who it serves: trade businesses and their apprentices, employees and subcontractors; artisans and makers; digital workers who partner with trades or want to build a regional career; young people (18–25) choosing between a trade and a tech career, who shouldn't have to choose; hidden workers looking for a way back into work; industry, workforce and digital-skills policymakers.
Work with us:
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Trade businesses: take the Steady Check, or talk to us about what's putting pressure on your team, including the digital tools that aren't pulling their weight.
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Apprentices, young people and jobseekers: find out about placements, digital skills and trade-to-tech pathways.
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Digital workers: partner with regional trades on real projects and build a career outside the capitals.
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Policymakers, researchers and investors: partner on pilots that show what well-designed, digitally capable trade work does for a town.