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The “Blue Collar Blueprint” Tech Stack for Operators, Agencies, and Service Hustlers

Alex Lathery’s no-fluff, field-tested tools for building and automating a profitable home services brand

✨Hey there, tech stackers! 🚀

This one’s for the operators. The hustlers. The sweaty startup crowd building real businesses in the real world.

After helping multiple blue-collar businesses streamline their operations this year, Alex Lathery dropped his no-nonsense, battle-tested tech stack for service businesses—and he calls it the “Blue Collar Blueprints.”

If you run a cleaning company, referral agency, HVAC shop, or anything that sends a van out and invoices after—it’s time to pay attention 👇

🧠 Alex Lathery’s “Blue Collar Blueprint” Tech Stack

🧼 Booking Koala – For Referral Cleaning Agencies

The engine for booking, pricing, and payments. Tailor-made for cleaning and home service referral businesses.

  • Clean UI

  • Price calculators

  • Digital payments
    💸 $27–$57/month

NiceJob – Automate Your Reviews

Want Google reviews on autopilot? NiceJob makes sure your happy customers actually leave them.

  • Automated email/SMS review requests

  • Real-time review popups on your site
    💸 $75/month

📋 Jobber / HouseCallPro / GoHighLevel – All-in-One CRMs

Pick your poison—they’re all packed with features to help service operators automate and scale.

  • Online booking, client management, payment processing

  • Email/SMS marketing

  • Scheduling and dispatch
    💸 ~$100+/month

🌐 Webflow – Your Website, Done Right

Alex says it best: “Maybe I’m biased… but Webflow is the best.”

  • Fully custom design

  • Fast + reliable hosting

  • Zero reliance on breakable plugins
    💸 $20/month

📈 ResponsiBid – Smart Quote Generator

Need a tool to quote, follow up, and win the job? ResponsiBid is like your online estimator plus sales assistant.

  • Dynamic quotes

  • Follow-up sequences via email/SMS
    💸 $200/month (but with serious utility)

📊 QuickBooks – Finance Ops Without the Headache

The blue-collar finance MVP. Payroll, invoicing, expenses, taxes—it’s all here.

  • Track income and expenses

  • Handle payments + deductions
    💸 $25–80/month

☎️ RingCentral – Communication Central

One platform to handle calls, texts, documents, and business numbers.

  • Team comms

  • Unlimited calls

  • Dedicated business lines
    💸 $19.99/user/month

📁 Google Workspace (Gsuite) – The Backbone

This one needs no intro. Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Drive, Meet. Your digital filing cabinet + collaboration space.

  • Custom domain emails

  • Document collaboration

  • Cloud file storage
    💸 $6/user/month

🔩 Why It Works

This stack is optimized for:
✅ Home services
✅ Cleaning agencies
✅ Referral businesses
✅ Blue-collar pros building real income

It’s lean, automatable, and replaces spreadsheets and chaos with process and clarity.

🤖 AI Prompt Tip

“Write a follow-up SMS for a customer who received a quote from ResponsiBid but hasn’t replied. Keep it friendly and persuasive.”

Automation = speed. AI = leverage. Use both.

📣 Want to be featured?
Are you using a killer service business stack? Share it with us—no matter your industry. Let’s spotlight the tools behind real-world growth.

Always remember,

Explore broadly
Not just SaaS or tech, but multiple disciplines.

Share ideas selflessly
Be willing to share your knowledge. Keep giving and it will come back to you.

Your stack is not going to save you
You are. So just build.

Go crush it,
Mark

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