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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
Tech Stacks is human-compiled, edited, and designed.
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