TradeHeading User Guide
TradeHeading Help & Resources

TradeHeading User Guide

Learn how to set up your TradeHeading account and manage customers, estimates, estimate templates, change orders, projects, follow-ups, customer campaigns, reviews and your business website from one simple system.

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Getting Started with TradeHeading

TradeHeading is designed to give small service businesses one central place to manage the entire customer relationship.

Instead of keeping customer information in text messages, notebooks, spreadsheets, email and your phone, TradeHeading keeps the important information together.

Initial Setup Steps

Complete these four steps before you begin sending estimates and invoices. They help make sure your account, team access, business documents and customer payments are ready to use.

1 Verify Your Account and Complete the Setup Walkthrough

Open the account menu in the upper-right corner and select My Account. Confirm that your name, login email and mobile phone number are correct. Your login email is used to sign in and recover your password, so it should be an email address you can access.

  1. Confirm that your Account Status shows Active.
  2. Review your name, login email and mobile phone number.
  3. Select Save Account after making any changes.
  4. Use the account menu to continue through Team Users, Business Documents and Stripe Payments.
Important: Do not share your login information with anyone else. Each person who needs access should have their own user account.

2 Add Additional Users

If an owner, office manager or employee needs access, open the account menu and select Team Users.

Giving each person a separate login keeps access organized and allows you to disable one user's account without affecting anyone else.

  1. Open Team Users.
  2. Select + Add User.
  3. Enter the person's name and email address.
  4. Select the role that matches the access they need.
  5. Save the user and have them sign in with their own account.
  6. Return to Team Users whenever you need to edit or disable access.
Good practice: Give users only the access needed for their work and review the Team Users list whenever staffing changes.

3 Upload Your Business Documents

Open the account menu and select Business Documents.

This area stores documents customers may need with an estimate, including a Certificate of Insurance (COI), W-9, business or trade license, workers' compensation certificate and other supporting documents.

  1. Enter a clear document name, such as 2026 Certificate of Insurance.
  2. Select the document type.
  3. Add the provider, policy or license number and effective or expiration dates when applicable.
  4. Choose the document file from your phone, tablet or computer.
  5. Check Active so the document is available for use.
  6. Check Attach to Estimates to automatically include the document with emailed estimates.
  7. Select Upload Document.

Attaching documents to estimates helps customers verify that your business is insured, licensed and prepared for the work.

Keep expiration dates current and replace expired documents so customers always receive the correct version.

Supported uploads: PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP, DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX files up to 15 MB. PDF is usually the best format for a COI, W-9 or license.

4 Connect Stripe for Invoice Payments

TradeHeading uses Stripe Connect so customers can pay your TradeHeading invoices online.

Stripe securely handles the payment and deposits available funds into the bank account connected to your business's Stripe account.

Connecting Stripe gives customers a convenient Pay Now option on eligible invoices, reduces the need to collect card information manually and helps connect invoice payment activity to the customer and job inside TradeHeading.

  1. Open the account menu and select Stripe Payments.
  2. Select Connect Stripe & Start Setup.
  3. Enter the legal business name, business type, address, phone number and tax information requested by Stripe.
  4. Complete the owner or authorized representative identity verification.
  5. Add the business bank account where Stripe should send invoice payments.
  6. Finish any remaining Stripe requirements until payments and payouts are enabled.
Once connected: Create and send invoices from TradeHeading. Customers can open the invoice, select the online payment option and pay securely through Stripe. Stripe sends the payout to your connected bank account.

What You Can Manage After Setup

Contacts & Leads Keep customer information, lead status, addresses and notes organized.
Estimates & Templates Build professional estimates faster using reusable templates for common jobs, labor, materials and services.
Change Orders Document added or removed work, send it for customer approval and keep the current contract total accurate.
Projects Turn approved work into active projects and track the job through completion.
Follow-Ups Create reminders and tasks so potential customers do not fall through the cracks.
Customer Campaigns Send email, SMS or combined campaigns for seasonal reminders, service follow-ups and special offers.
Reviews Ask happy customers for reviews and track review requests.
Website Manage your TradeHeading-powered business website, images and company information.

Recommended TradeHeading Workflow

TradeHeading works best when you use it as the central record for the customer from the first inquiry through completion of the job.

New Lead → Contact → Estimate → Approval → Project → Complete → Review

1 Capture the Lead

Add every potential customer to TradeHeading. Website inquiries should automatically become leads when your TradeHeading website is enabled.

2 Record the Conversation

Add notes and update the customer's status after you speak with them.

3 Create the Estimate

Create the customer's estimate. If you have a saved template for that type of job, apply the template first and then adjust the scope, quantities and pricing for the customer's specific project.

When the estimate is ready, send the customer the secure estimate link.

4 Follow Up

If the customer does not immediately respond, create a follow-up task so the opportunity is not forgotten.

5 Convert the Approved Estimate

When the customer approves the estimate, convert it into a project.

6 Document the Job

Add project notes and images while the work is being completed.

7 Manage Scope Changes

If the customer requests added or removed work after the estimate is approved, create and send a Change Order.

Wait for customer approval before treating the change as part of the current contract.

8 Complete the Project

Update the project when the work has been completed and make sure all final information is recorded.

9 Ask for the Review

Send the customer a review request while their positive experience with your company is still fresh.

The goal: No forgotten leads, no lost customer information, no estimates that disappear without a follow-up, documented customer approval for changes, and a consistent process for turning completed jobs into customer reviews.

Dashboard

Your dashboard is the starting point for your TradeHeading account. It gives you a quick view of what is happening in your business.

Depending on your account configuration, the dashboard may show information such as:

  • New leads
  • Contacts requiring attention
  • Open estimates
  • Approved estimates
  • Open projects
  • Upcoming follow-ups
  • Outstanding tasks
  • Recent business activity
Tip: Start your workday by checking the dashboard and reviewing your upcoming tasks and follow-ups.

Contacts & Leads

Contacts are the foundation of TradeHeading. A contact can be a new lead, an existing customer or someone you have previously completed work for.

Adding a Contact

  1. Open Contacts.
  2. Select Add Contact.
  3. Enter the customer's information.
  4. Enter their phone number and email address.
  5. Add the service or project address.
  6. Select the appropriate lead status.
  7. Save the contact.

Lead Status

Contact statuses allow you to quickly see where a customer is in your sales process.

  • New – New inquiry or lead.
  • Contacted – You have spoken with them.
  • Estimate Scheduled – An estimate visit is planned.
  • Estimate Sent – Pricing has been provided.
  • Won – Customer accepted the work.
  • Lost – Customer did not move forward.
  • Customer – Established customer.

Contact Notes

Use contact notes to record conversations, special requests, job details or anything else you may need to remember later.

Good practice: Whenever you speak with a customer, add a short note. This creates a useful history of the relationship.

Estimates

TradeHeading allows you to build and manage professional estimates directly from your account.

Creating an Estimate

  1. Open the customer record.
  2. Create a new estimate.
  3. Optionally select a saved Estimate Template to quickly start the estimate.
  4. Enter or adjust the estimate title and scope.
  5. Add or adjust estimate line items.
  6. Enter quantities and pricing.
  7. Review the estimate total.
  8. Save the estimate.
Save time: If you regularly estimate the same type of work, create an Estimate Template so your normal scope, labor, materials and pricing are already entered when you start a new estimate.

Estimate Line Items

Line items can be used to break the job into individual services, materials or project stages.

For example:

  • House pressure washing
  • Driveway cleaning
  • Pool deck cleaning
  • Exterior painting
  • Interior painting
  • Materials
  • Labor

Sending an Estimate

Once the estimate is ready, use Send Estimate.

TradeHeading generates a secure customer link where the customer can review the estimate.

Estimate Tracking

TradeHeading can record important estimate activity, including when the estimate was sent and when the customer viewed it.

Customer Approval

The customer can approve or decline the estimate from the public estimate page.

When an estimate is approved, you can convert the approved estimate directly into a project without entering the customer and job information again.
Protect the original approval: Do not edit an estimate after the customer approves it. If the scope or price changes, create a Change Order from the approved estimate or its connected project.

Estimate Templates

Estimate Templates make it faster to create estimates for jobs and services your business performs regularly.

Instead of entering the same labor, materials, services and pricing every time you create an estimate, you can create a reusable template and use it as the starting point for a new customer estimate.

Creating an Estimate Template

  1. Open Estimate Templates.
  2. Select Create Template.
  3. Give the template a descriptive name such as Interior Painting, Exterior Painting or Pressure Washing.
  4. Enter the default estimate title and scope of work.
  5. Add the common labor, materials, services or other line items for that type of job.
  6. Enter default quantities and prices when appropriate.
  7. Enter the default tax rate.
  8. Save the template.

Example: Interior Painting Template

An Interior Painting template might contain:

  • Paint & Materials
  • Prep Materials
  • Equipment / Supplies
  • Prep Labor
  • Painting Labor
  • Cleanup

Using a Template to Create an Estimate

  1. Open the customer record.
  2. Select Create Estimate.
  3. Find the Start From Template section.
  4. Select the estimate template you want to use.
  5. Select Apply Template.
  6. TradeHeading copies the template's title, scope, tax rate and line items into the new estimate.
  7. Adjust quantities, pricing, descriptions or line items for that specific customer.
  8. Save the estimate.
Templates are only starting points. Once a template is applied, the customer's estimate becomes independent of the template. You can customize the estimate without changing the original template.

Changing a Template

You can edit a template whenever your normal pricing, materials, services or estimating process changes.

Changes made to a template only affect estimates created from that template in the future. Estimates that were previously created are not changed.

Duplicating a Template

If two types of jobs are similar, you can duplicate an existing template instead of building another one from scratch.

For example, you might duplicate an Interior Painting template and modify the copy to create a Rental Turnover Painting template.

Template Pricing

Template prices can be used as normal starting prices, but you do not have to enter a final price into every template line item.

A line item can have a $0.00 starting price when the actual price depends on the size, condition or scope of the customer's job.

Tip: Start by creating templates for the jobs your company estimates most often. The goal is to save repetitive typing while still allowing every estimate to be customized for the customer.

Change Orders

Change Orders are used when the customer requests added work, removes part of the work or agrees to a price change after the original estimate has already been approved.

Keep the approved estimate unchanged. The original estimate remains the permanent record of what the customer first approved. Each later scope or price adjustment is documented separately as a Change Order.

When to Create a Change Order

Create a Change Order when:

  • The customer asks for additional work.
  • A service, material or part of the job is removed.
  • Unexpected conditions change the scope or price.
  • The contractor and customer agree to revise the contract amount.

For example, if a customer approves a pressure-washing estimate and later asks to add the pool area, create a Change Order for the additional work instead of changing the approved estimate.

Creating a Change Order

  1. Open the approved estimate or its connected project.
  2. Select Create Change Order.
  3. Enter a clear title describing the change.
  4. Explain the added, removed or revised scope.
  5. Add the change-order line items, quantities and prices.
  6. Add any applicable tax amount.
  7. Review the Change Order Total.
  8. Select Save Change Order.

Sending the Change Order

Open the saved Change Order and select Send Change Order.

TradeHeading emails the customer a secure approval link. If the customer has valid SMS consent, the secure link can also be sent by text.

The customer can review the description, line items, Change Order Total and resulting contract amount before selecting Approve Change Order or Decline.

Change Order Statuses

  • Draft – Still being prepared and can be edited.
  • Sent – Delivered to the customer.
  • Viewed – Opened from the secure customer link.
  • Approved – Accepted by the customer.
  • Declined – Rejected by the customer.
  • Cancelled – No longer active.

Understanding the Contract Total

TradeHeading displays three important amounts:

  • Original Estimate – The amount originally approved by the customer.
  • Approved Changes – The combined value of approved Change Orders.
  • Current Contract – The original estimate plus all approved Change Orders.
Important: Draft, sent, viewed, declined and cancelled Change Orders do not change the Current Contract. Only approved Change Orders are included.

Example

  • Original approved estimate: $5,000.00
  • Approved Change Order: +$850.00
  • Current Contract: $5,850.00

Open the Change Orders section on the project at any time to review each change, its status and the current contract amount.

Why this matters: Change Orders give you and your customer a written record of what changed and what was approved before additional work becomes part of the contract. This helps reduce misunderstandings and billing disputes.

Projects

Projects are used to manage work after the customer has decided to move forward.

Creating a Project

A project can be created manually or from an approved estimate.

Whenever possible, create the project from the approved estimate so the customer and pricing information stays connected.

Project Information

Projects can contain information such as:

  • Customer information
  • Project title
  • Job address
  • Project status
  • Priority
  • Estimated project value
  • Required deposit
  • Project notes
  • Project images
  • Related estimate information
  • Change Orders
  • Current contract total

Project Notes

Project notes provide a running history of the job. They are useful for documenting customer requests, schedule changes, materials, job-site issues and completed work.

Project Images

Add images to a project to document the job.

Images can include:

  • Estimate or inspection photos
  • Before / prework photos
  • Work-in-progress photos
  • Damage or problem areas
  • Completed project photos
Good practice: Take before photos before work begins and completed photos before leaving the job. This creates a useful visual record of the project.

Tasks & Follow-Ups

Follow-up is one of the most important parts of converting leads into customers.

TradeHeading allows you to create tasks connected to your customers, estimates and projects.

Examples of Tasks

  • Call customer about estimate
  • Schedule site visit
  • Follow up on unanswered estimate
  • Confirm project start date
  • Collect deposit
  • Order materials
  • Check project completion
  • Send review request

Creating a Follow-Up

When viewing a project or estimate, use the + Follow-Up option to create a task associated with that record.

Important: Do not rely on remembering to call someone back. Put the follow-up into TradeHeading when you first think of it.

Email & SMS Customer Campaigns

Customer Campaigns let you contact multiple customers at one time from TradeHeading.

They are useful for seasonal reminders, service follow-ups, customer re-engagement and special offers.

A campaign can be sent by Email, SMS, or Email + SMS.

You choose the audience, write the message, review the recipients and then confirm the send.

Create Campaign → Choose Audience → Write Message → Review Recipients → Send

Creating a Campaign

  1. Open Campaigns from TradeHeading.
  2. Select New Campaign.
  3. Enter an internal Campaign Name, such as Fall Cleanup or Spring Pressure Washing Reminder.
  4. Choose whether the campaign should be sent by Email, SMS, or Email + SMS.
  5. Choose which customers should receive the campaign.
  6. If the campaign includes email, enter the Email Subject.
  7. Write the campaign message.
  8. Optionally add call-to-action text and a URL.
  9. Select Continue to Send to review the campaign before anything is delivered.

Choosing the Audience

TradeHeading provides several ways to choose the customers for a campaign:

  • All Contacts – Uses the contacts in your TradeHeading account.
  • Existing Customers – Targets contacts identified as customers.
  • Customers Not Serviced Recently – Useful for reaching customers who may be ready for another service.
  • Select Customers – Lets you manually choose the individual contacts who should receive the campaign.
Good practice: For your first campaign, use Select Customers and send a test to yourself before sending to a larger customer list.

Email Campaigns

When sending by email, enter a short subject that makes the reason for the message clear. Then write the main customer message.

Keep the message conversational, useful and focused on one primary reason for contacting the customer.

SMS Campaigns

SMS campaigns are designed for short customer reminders and follow-ups. Keep the message direct and easy to read on a phone.

TradeHeading adds SMS opt-out language when needed. SMS messages are only sent when the customer's normalized phone number has an active SMS consent record in TradeHeading.

SMS consent: A phone number appearing on a contact record does not automatically make that number eligible for campaign text messages. TradeHeading checks the SMS consent record before sending.

Email + SMS Campaigns

Choose Email + SMS when you want to use both communication methods.

TradeHeading evaluates email and SMS eligibility separately, so a contact may receive email even when their phone number is not eligible for SMS.

Personalizing the Message

Campaign messages can use customer and business variables. TradeHeading replaces these variables with the appropriate information when the campaign is sent.

Variable Purpose
{{first_name}} Customer's first name.
{{last_name}} Customer's last name.
{{business_name}} Your business name.

Call to Action

You can optionally enter a Call to Action Text and Call to Action URL.

This can direct customers to a useful page such as your website, contact page or estimate-request page.

Review Before Sending

Selecting Continue to Send does not immediately send the campaign.

TradeHeading first displays the campaign review page. Review the campaign name, message and recipient counts.

For SMS campaigns, the review page also shows how many recipients are eligible for text messaging.

Nothing is sent from the review page until you select Send Campaign. Use the review step to verify the message and audience before confirming the campaign.

Sending the Campaign

  1. Review the campaign information.
  2. Confirm that the recipient counts look correct.
  3. Select Send Campaign once.
  4. TradeHeading processes the eligible email and/or SMS recipients.
  5. When processing is complete, the campaign record shows the delivery results.

Saving a Draft

If the campaign is not ready to send, select Save Draft.

This stores the campaign so it can be reviewed and completed later.

Campaign Status & Delivery Results

TradeHeading records campaign and recipient activity so you can see whether a campaign has been processed and whether individual email or SMS deliveries were sent, failed or skipped.

A recipient may be skipped when the required delivery information is missing or when the phone number is not eligible for SMS.

Scheduling Campaigns

Scheduled campaign delivery is not currently enabled. Campaigns can be saved as drafts and sent manually when you are ready.

Coming later: TradeHeading is structured to support scheduled campaigns in the future. Until scheduled delivery is enabled, use Save Draft and return to the campaign when you want to send it.

Campaign Tips

  • Keep SMS messages short and focused on one action.
  • Use a clear email subject so customers understand why you are contacting them.
  • Use customer-name personalization when appropriate.
  • Test a new campaign with yourself before sending it to a large customer list.
  • Review the recipient counts before confirming the send.
  • Use campaigns for useful customer communication, not repeated unnecessary messages.

Customer Reviews

Customer reviews can be one of the most valuable marketing tools for a local service business. TradeHeading helps you make review requests part of your normal workflow.

Google Review Link

Your Google review URL can be stored in your business settings. This allows TradeHeading to direct customers to your Google review page.

Sending a Review Request

  1. Open the customer or completed project.
  2. Create or open the review request.
  3. Select Send Review Request.
  4. The customer receives your review message and link.

TradeHeading records when the review request was sent so you know which customers have already been asked.

A great time to request a review is immediately after the customer tells you they are happy with the completed work.

Photos

TradeHeading includes photo management so you can maintain images used for your business and website.

Photos are especially useful for showing examples of completed work.

Good Photos to Upload

  • Before and after photos
  • Completed projects
  • Your team working
  • Equipment and vehicles
  • Specialty services
  • Interesting or high-quality projects
Use clear, well-lit images whenever possible. Good project photos make your website significantly more effective.

Videos

Videos can be managed from the TradeHeading video section and used to help showcase your company and completed work.

Useful videos might include:

  • Completed project walkthroughs
  • Before-and-after videos
  • Customer testimonials
  • Service demonstrations
  • Short introductions to your business

Testimonials

Testimonials allow you to highlight positive comments from your customers.

Add strong customer testimonials to help future customers understand the quality of your work and service.

Testimonials may also be displayed on your TradeHeading-powered website.

Your Business Website

TradeHeading can provide a customer-facing website for your business in addition to the internal business management system.

This is especially useful for businesses that do not already have a professional website.

Website Settings

Your business settings can control information such as:

  • Business name
  • Business logo
  • Featured website image
  • About / Who We Are image
  • Business tagline
  • Service area
  • About your business
  • Website call-to-action text
  • Facebook information
  • Instagram information
  • Google review information
  • Review request message
  • Business email information

Website Leads

When a prospective customer submits an inquiry from your TradeHeading website, their information can be added directly to your TradeHeading account.

This eliminates the need to manually copy leads from website emails into a separate customer system.

Your website and customer-management system work together. A website visitor can become a lead, then an estimate, project, completed customer and finally a review — all inside TradeHeading.

Add TradeHeading to Your Phone

You can add TradeHeading to your phone or tablet's home screen so it opens like an app.

This gives you quick access to your dashboard without having to type the website address each time.

No app-store download is required: TradeHeading is a web app. Open app.tradeheading.com in your browser, sign in and follow the instructions below.
iPhone or iPad (Safari)
  1. Open Safari and enter app.tradeheading.com.
  2. Sign in to your TradeHeading account.
  3. Tap the Share button — the square with an upward arrow.
  4. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
  5. Keep the name TradeHeading, then tap Add.
  6. Tap the new TradeHeading icon on your home screen whenever you want to open TradeHeading.
Android Phone or Tablet (Chrome)
  1. Open Google Chrome and enter app.tradeheading.com.
  2. Sign in to your TradeHeading account.
  3. Tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner.
  4. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  5. Confirm the name, then tap Add or Install.
  6. Tap the new TradeHeading icon on your home screen whenever you want to open TradeHeading.
You're ready: TradeHeading will now be available from your home screen for fast access to contacts, estimates, projects, tasks, campaigns and the rest of your account.

If you do not see the option, make sure you opened the site directly in Safari on an iPhone or iPad, or in Chrome on an Android device.

Browsers opened inside an email, text message or social-media app may not show the home-screen option.

Users & Team Members

You can add additional users to your business account so employees, office staff or managers can access TradeHeading using their own login.

Using individual accounts helps keep business access organized instead of sharing the owner's login.

User Roles

  • Owner – Primary business account owner.
  • Admin – Administrative access to business functions.
  • Manager – Access appropriate for managing daily operations.
  • User – Standard team-member access.
Each employee should have their own login whenever possible. Avoid sharing the owner's username and password.

Account & Password

Your account page allows you to manage your personal TradeHeading login information.

Changing Your Password

  1. Open Account.
  2. Select the password change option.
  3. Enter your current password.
  4. Enter your new password.
  5. Confirm the new password.
  6. Save the changes.

Use a unique password that you do not use for other websites or services.