Trade stories

Not marketing.
Their words.

We didn’t write these. We sat down with four Trades and asked what actually changes when you can see the job before you show up. Here’s what they told us.

nate_photo
Electrical

Nate Miller

Operations Coordinator Phase Electric Bloomington, Minnesota

Nate has full control over the quality and timeliness of his crew's electrical work. What he has no control over is whether the work before him is done, and done right. Phase Electric's work comes in two phases: early rough-in, then trim after countertops go in. That means Nate is always dependent on the preceding trade finishing before he can bring his guys back.

For a long time, his crews showed up to sites that were ready — and to sites that weren't. That meant a dead job and a wasted morning, and the last thing Nate needed was his guys looking for work elsewhere.

Now Nate has a real-time window into where the work before his actually stands, not where someone said it would stand. He can see when Definitions of Ready are hit, exactly what “ready” means spelled out instead of a vague “it's done,” and send his crew when the site can actually take them.

It used to be a regular thing, sending guys to a job that wasn't ready. That barely happens anymore.

Nate Miller, Phase Electric
lorrie
Flooring

Lorrie Ulvi

Logistics Team Contract Interiors Mendota Heights, Minnesota

Lorrie doesn't install flooring. She manages the people who do: contracted crews running five to six jobs a day across 12-plus communities. They're not on her payroll and not on her timeline, which makes accountability hard when something slips.

It used to mean living on the phone. Did the material show up? Is that crew still on site? Did the job on Maple actually close out, or did someone just say it did? Nothing was confirmed until she called someone and confirmed it herself.

Now the schedule, the job notes, and the photos all live in one place. When a question comes up, she's not stitching the answer back together from text messages, emails, and her own notes. She just pulls it up.

I spent half my day just confirming things. Did this happen, did that happen. Now it's all right in front of me.

Lorrie Ulvi, Contract Interiors
martinez
Countertops

Rubbi Martinez

Customer Service Manager Leon's Countertops Bloomington, Minnesota

In countertop work, a quality problem rarely surfaces when it happens. It surfaces weeks later, on a warranty call, when nobody can quite remember who did what or when. By then the conversation is frustrating for everyone: the builder, the homeowner, and Rubbi.

For a long time, her only answer was memory. Which crew was on that job? When did they start? How did they leave it? Weeks after the fact, with no record to point to, those questions turned every go-back into a guessing match nobody could win.

Now Rubbi has crew-level history on every job: who was responsible, when they started, how they finished. Warranty conversations stopped being arguments and became a matter of pulling up the record. The same data she uses to plan capacity and catch quality issues early has become something more, too. Leon's leadership takes those performance reports to other builders as proof of what the company delivers, turning a track record into a way to win new work.

When there's a go-back, I can tell you exactly which crew was on that job, when they started, and how they left it. I'm not reconstructing it from memory anymore.

Rubbi Martinez, Leon's Countertops
erika
Closets & millwork

Erika Larson

Scheduling Manager Harkraft Minneapolis, Minnesota

Harkraft has installed closet organizers and bathroom accessories in new homes for 20 years. The sequence has never changed: painters finish, then Harkraft comes in. But sometimes builders flip that order to fill dead days in their schedule. They move Erika's work up ahead of paint, and when the painters come through, they pull the organizers off the wall and put them back badly. Erika ends up with warranty calls and go-back work on installs that were perfect until someone else touched them.

She's not fixing her work. She's fixing someone else's scheduling problem.

Now she can see where the preceding trades actually stand and move her start date to where it belongs: after paint, before her crew loads a single shelf.

Our install work only holds up if we're after the painters. Now I can send the crew out at the right time, every time.

Erika Larson, Harkraft

Curious what this looks like for you?

Trade Overview
Trade FAQ
Logo
Terms of Use

These Terms and Conditions of Use (these “Terms”) set forth the terms and conditions under which TradeTrax, Inc (“TradeTrax”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) makes the TradeTrax Platform (the “Platform”) available to you (“you” or “your”) as a registered Platform user. By completing and maintaining your registration on the Platform, you confirm your agreement to be bound by these Terms. Initially capitalized terms used but not defined in these Terms have the meanings given to them in the Service Agreements (“Services Agreements”) available to authorized parties of these agreements.

  1. Use of Platform. You will only use the Platform for the purposes described in the Services Agreements.
  2. Protection of Login Credentials. You agree to keep and protect your Platform login credentials confidential, not share them with any person or entity, and otherwise protect them from unauthorized use. Failure on your part to adequately protect your login credentials or your providing any person or entity with use of your login credentials are grounds for immediate termination of your Platform account.
  3. Authorization to Disclose Information. In connection with the registration process, by disclosing to TradeTrax and/or uploading to the Platform information regarding yourself and/or any other person or entity to whom or to which such information relates, you represent and warrant to TradeTrax that you are authorized to disclose and/or upload such information, and that TradeTrax is authorized to retain, use and disclose such information as it deems necessary or appropriate in connection with the conduct of its business.
  4. Platform Access.You are responsible for obtaining and maintaining, at your own cost, all equipment and data network access necessary to use access and use the Platform. Your mobile network’s data and messaging rates and fees may apply if you access or use the Platform from your mobile device(s). You are responsible for acquiring and updating compatible hardware or devices necessary to access and use the Platform, including as a result of any updates thereto. We do not guarantee that the Platform, or any portion thereof, will function on any particular hardware or device. Further, access to and use of the Platform may be subject to malfunctions and delays inherent in the use of the Internet and electronic communications. We disclaim any liability arising from any such malfunction or delay
  5. Prohibited Conduct. In connection with your use of the Platform, you agree that you will not do any of the following:
    1. knowingly provide or submit false or misleading information;
    2. use the Platform in connection with the distribution of unsolicited commercial, political or other messages (i.e., spam) unrelated to the receipt or performance of services available on the Platform;
    3. discriminate against or harass anyone on the basis of race, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age or sexual orientation, or otherwise engage in any violent, harmful, abusive or disruptive behavior;
    4. use, display or disseminate (including by inclusion in your own website or other printed materials) TradeTrax’s name, trademark(s), Platform content or other proprietary copyrights of TradeTrax without TradeTrax’s express written consent;
    5. dilute, tarnish or otherwise harm the TradeTrax brand in any way, including through registering and/or using internet domain names, trade names, trademarks or other source identifiers that are confusingly similar to TradeTrax domain names, trademarks, trade names or other copyrighted material;
    6. use any technology (including robots, spiders, crawlers, scrapers, viruses, trojan horses) or other automated means or processes to (i) access or collect data or other content from the Platform for any purpose, or (ii) avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair, descramble,
    7. or otherwise attempt to circumvent any technological measure implemented by TradeTrax to secure and protect the Platform; or
    8. take any other action that damages or adversely affects, or could damage or adversely affect the performance or proper functioning of the Platform.
  6. User-Supplied Content.
    1. We may, in our sole discretion, permit you from time to time to submit, upload, publish or otherwise make available to us through the Platform textual, audio, and/or visual content and information, including commentary and feedback related to the provision or receipt of services available on the Platform (“User-Supplied Content”). Any User-Supplied Content provided by you remains your property.
    2. You represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all User-Supplied Content or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases necessary to grant to us the license to the User-Supplied Content as set forth above; (ii) each person identified, depicted, or shown in in your User-Supplied Content, if any, has provided consent to the use of such User-Supplied Content consistent with these Terms of Use; and (iii) neither the User-Supplied Content, nor your submission, uploading, publishing or otherwise making available of such User-Supplied Content, nor our use of any User-Supplied Content as permitted herein will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s intellectual property or proprietary rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation. We reserve the right but are not obligated, to review, monitor, or remove User-Supplied Content, in our sole discretion and at any time and for any reason, without notice to you.
    3. We do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, quality or appropriateness of any User-Supplied Content appearing on or accessed through the Platform. Any such User-Supplied Content is the sole responsibility of the person or entity from whom or which such User-Supplied Content originated. By using the Platform, you understand that you may be exposed to User-Supplied Content that is incorrect, inaccurate or misleading. We have no obligation to screen, preview, monitor or approve any User-Supplied Content. However, we reserve the right to review and delete any User-Supplied Content that, in our sole discretion, violates any Services Agreements between TradeTrax and any User, these Terms or any other policies of TradeTrax. You agree that You must evaluate and make your own judgment, and bear all risks associated with, your use of, or any decision that you make with respect to, any User-Supplied Content. Under no circumstances will we be liable in any way for any User-Supplied Content that contains any errors, omissions, defamatory statements, or confidential or private information, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any User-Supplied Content submitted, accessed, transmitted or otherwise conveyed through the Platform. You waive the right to bring or assert any claim against us or any of our affiliates relating to User-Supplied Content, and release us and our affiliates from any and all liability for or relating to any User-Supplied Content.
  7. Amendment We may amend these Terms from time to time in our sole discretion. Amendments will be effective upon our posting of such updated Terms at this location and available at contracts@tradetax.com. Your continued access to and use of the Platform after such posting confirms your consent to be bound by these Terms, as so amended
Logo
Let’s talk!

Send us a message so we can get to know you and give you full access.

  • Builder
  • Trade
[contact-form-7 id="4688a6c" title="Builder Form"]
[contact-form-7 id="49aa4c0" title="Trade Form"]
Logo
Our team is happy to give you a personalized walkthrough with one of our platform experts.
  • Builder
  • Trade
[contact-form-7 id="85abc9f" title="Builder Form (Request a demo)"]
[contact-form-7 id="5e7d3cc" title="Trade Form (Request a demo)"]