Skilled Trades Digitalisation — Standard Software Instead of a Subscription
Digitalise your trades business without a subscription — bought, not rented.
Over a million trades businesses in Germany — and most still work with spreadsheets, paper timesheets and a drawer full of quotes. krafteq Handwerk is standard software for businesses with 5 to 50 employees: enquiry, quote, costing, job, crew scheduling, time tracking, e-invoice and the export to your tax adviser in one system. You are not commissioning a build; you buy a permanent right of use and receive an installation of your own — fully without an internet connection if you want it. Whatever does not fit your business in the first months, we fine-tune. From Leverkusen, for trades businesses across the Rhineland and throughout Germany. We are currently rolling krafteq Handwerk out with the first businesses: you test it free of charge, receive an individual offer afterwards, and we set up your business together with you.
Set up for your trade — SHK (plumbing, heating, air conditioning), electrical, painting, joinery, roofing and more: the installation arrives with the terms, units and templates of your trade, not as an empty system. krafteq is based in Leverkusen — a personal point of contact, not a call centre.
Pain PointsWhy digitalisation in the skilled trades has stalled for years
The figures are documented, not assumed. The industry association ZDH, the Cologne Chamber of Skilled Crafts and a Bitkom survey of 504 trades businesses all describe the same picture: high demand, high barriers, and few offerings that suit businesses with 5 to 50 employees. The linked sources are further down in the market data section. These six points come up again and again in our initial conversations — from plumbing, electrical, painting, joinery and roofing alike.
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96 per cent worry about IT security and data protection
In a Bitkom survey of 504 trades businesses, 96 per cent name IT and data security as well as data protection concerns as a barrier to digitalisation (as of August 2025; source below with the market data). Putting customer data into someone else's cloud creates a gut-feeling problem — and, depending on the vendor, a data protection problem. krafteq Handwerk runs in an installation of your own: on servers in Germany, on your own server, or entirely without an internet connection inside your own network.
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Many businesses still work manually
The customer list in a spreadsheet, quotes from a text template, timesheets on paper, invoices by email. Many businesses still rely on exactly those routines — even though everyone in the business knows it could be done better. The problem is not the will; it is that nothing has really fitted so far.
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If you do not build software, you cannot specify it
The most common reason to avoid switching is not the price. It is the worry of noticing only after go-live — as a layperson — that something is missing, with expensive rework and long arguments to follow. That is why you are not buying a build project here but standard software that already reflects the daily work. There is nothing to specify, and whatever does not fit after go-live we fine-tune, within the scope your offer sets out beforehand.
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The e-invoicing requirement — the immediate prompt
The phased mandatory e-invoice (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD) is forcing trades businesses to act. Those without invoicing software need one. Those on an older solution need to check whether it produces the format at all. In krafteq Handwerk e-invoicing is built in — receive, send, file with immutable document states, export to your tax adviser. That supports a GoBD-appropriate way of working; whether the overall process is compliant also depends on your organisation, configuration and procedural documentation.
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Isolated tools and duplicate data entry
Customers in the email client, jobs in a spreadsheet, timesheets in a messenger, quotes in a word processor, receipts at the tax adviser's: every piece of information lives somewhere else. Duplicate entry, typos, forgotten follow-ups. What you need is one system with one data set — not ten tools that do not talk to each other.
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No in-house IT team — and no wish for one
You are a master tradesperson or the owner, not an IT manager. If krafteq operates the installation, servers, security updates, backups, monitoring and support run with us, under a GDPR data processing agreement. If you prefer to run it yourself or work entirely offline, that works too — then you need someone for the server. We say that upfront rather than playing it down.
Our ApproachStandard software, fine-tuned for your business
Bought, not rented: a one-off fixed price for a permanent right of use, plus the operation of your installation — annually with krafteq, the first year included, or self-hosted. Billing is per business, not per head: site access for your crew is included, and the software does not get more expensive when you hire.
Standard software, but not off the peg: the installation arrives with the terms, units, wage groups and templates of your trade. Adjusting starts without development — switch off areas you do not use, rename processes and statuses, set number ranges and print layouts. If that is not enough, we build it.
Local from Leverkusen, personally reachable: the competitors sit in Hamburg, Berlin and Hanover. We meet you in the Rhineland in person, speak German, and write contracts in plain language. Your data stays in Germany — or, if you prefer, entirely on your own premises.
ProcessFrom the enquiry to software in daily use
You see the software with your own data before you sign anything, and the terms are in the offer before you order. No open consultancy invoice, no sales pressure, and no requirements list you would have to write.
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Enquiry and test instance
You tell us briefly what it is about — trade, size, software currently in use, where things get stuck. You receive a confirmation by email; we get back to you within one working day as a rule with one or two quick questions and then set up a test instance of your own by hand, with the terms, units and templates of your trade. It is usually ready within three working days. You try it with your own data, without a sales call and without obligation.
You judge the software against your own daily work rather than against a feature list.
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Initial conversation and offer
In a conversation — by phone or on site in Leverkusen — we clarify what your business needs and what the product does. Where something is not covered, we say so. Then your offer follows: the fixed-price perpetual licence, the operation of your installation, the scope of the fine-tuning — in writing, before you order.
One price, one scope, no renegotiation.
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Setup, data transfer and go-live
We set up your own installation — your own database, your own domain, your number ranges, tax rates, wage groups and print layouts. Whatever the legacy system exports, we take over: customers, jobs, master data. Whatever your previous vendor will not release, we say upfront. On-site introduction on request.
Your team works with its own data, not with an empty system.
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Operation, fine-tuning and updates
The operation runs with krafteq — servers in Germany, security updates, backups, monitoring, maintenance and support, the first year included — or with you, including entirely without an internet connection. Whatever does not fit in the first months we fine-tune, within the scope from your offer. All updates are included in the first year; after that they run through maintenance, and without maintenance your version simply keeps running.
No in-house IT team required — and no subscription fee that never ends.
FeaturesWhat krafteq Handwerk covers in daily use
A job runs all the way through: customer enquiry, quote, costing, scheduling, site documentation, time tracking, e-invoice, accounting export. One system, one data set, no retyping between quoting tool, spreadsheet and bookkeeping.
Enquiries, quotes, costing
Contacts and enquiries with follow-up dates, quotes with hierarchical line items, catalogue and supplier prices via Datanorm, costing with a real surcharge structure per cost type. GAEB tenders can be imported and exported again.
Jobs, projects and sites
Jobs and projects with configurable statuses, crew scheduling, measurements, defects, site diary and questionnaires. A job's status lives in one place — not across three programs and a note.
Mobile time tracking on site
Your crew records hours, measurements and receipts on site through the day view — in the browser on smartphone and tablet, with no app installation. Hours are recorded and months are closed; krafteq Handwerk does not calculate payroll itself.
Invoices and e-invoicing
Interim, final and recurring invoices, ZUGFeRD PDF and XRechnung as standard, open items, dunning and payment matching against the bank statement via CAMT.053. Compliant, with no extra module.
Receipts, cash book, tax adviser
Receipts with email intake and quarantine, a cash book following German rules (corrections only via reversal), DATEV export including the document package with posting proposals and a dispatch history. The booking happens at the tax adviser's — krafteq Handwerk is deliberately not a bookkeeping system with a general ledger and balance sheet.
Office and site see different things
The office sees the full scope with settings, finances and reports. The site sees a lean section: day view, measurements, hours, receipts, own schedule. That split is enforced on the server, not merely hidden in the menu.
Set up for your trade
The installation arrives with the terms, units, wage groups, catalogue categories and print templates of your trade — not as an empty system you would have to configure yourself. Areas you do not use can be switched off; the data stays and the decision is reversible.
Your own installation, data export at any time
Your own database, your own domain, your own configuration — not a system shared with other businesses. Operated by krafteq, on your own server, or entirely without an internet connection. Data export at any time; your data belongs to you.
ResultsHow digitalised trades businesses work today
Try it with your own data
You get your test instance of krafteq Handwerk — set up for your trade and ready for your own data. A short request is enough; it is usually ready within three working days. No sales call, no obligation — we get back to you within one working day as a rule with one or two quick questions about your business. Afterwards you receive an individual written offer; we set up your business together with you. For trade businesses. Not a trade business? Then write to us via the contact form.
- No subscription
- No sales call
- No obligation
Skilled Trades Digitalisation — Standard Software Instead of a Subscription — let's tackle it
Let us discuss how we can solve this challenge for your organization.
“Trades businesses do not need a software suite with 200 features, and they do not need a development project either — they need a system that already knows the working day: enquiry, quote, job, hours, invoice, tax adviser. So we sell standard software with an installation of its own, bought once instead of rented monthly, and we fine-tune whatever does not fit. We are based in Leverkusen, we speak German, and we write contracts in plain language.”
FAQFrequently asked questions about trades digitalisation
Does your project not fit a standard product?
When a standard product is not enough — a sprawling tool landscape, a legacy system at the end of its life, a process no software on the market maps — krafteq builds it individually: in house, at a fixed price, with the same toolchain as the product. With custom work the source code can be handed over in full.
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