NextMinute

NextMinute is a job management platform built for residential builders and trade businesses in Australia and New Zealand. It covers the core workflow from quoting through to invoicing, with decent scheduling, timesheets, and live job costing. Users generally rate it well, and the company offers solid onboarding support with no lock-in contracts.

The biggest limitation is integration. NextMinute has no public API, which means you cannot build custom connections to other systems. Your only integration options are the built-in syncs with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, and PlaceMakers (NZ only). If your tech stack extends beyond accounting software and your building supplier, NextMinute becomes an island.

The company has been operating since 2016 and serves around 600 businesses. It recently raised funding and brought in a new CEO, which suggests growth ambitions, but it remains a small operation with roughly 20 staff. For a tradie team that lives in NextMinute and one of the supported accounting platforms, it works well. For anyone needing custom integrations or connections to other business tools, it is a poor fit.

NextMinute was founded in 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand, by entrepreneurs who were frustrated watching mates in the trades drown in paperwork. The company now operates out of Cronulla, NSW, with staff across Australia and New Zealand.

It is a small company with approximately 20 employees, serving around 600 trade businesses. Co-founder David Falconer led the company as CEO for about seven years before stepping down after a funding raise in late 2023. Alex Jenks now serves as CEO and Head of Product. Founder Simon Greenwood remains involved as CTO.

NextMinute scored a significant early partnership with PlaceMakers, New Zealand's largest builders' merchant, which gave it strong distribution in the NZ market. The company has since expanded into Australia and the UK. The recent investment and leadership change suggest the company is positioning for growth, though it remains a small player compared to competitors like Tradify, Fergus, or ServiceM8.

NextMinute is an all-in-one job management platform designed for residential construction and trade businesses. It targets builders, carpenters, roofers, landscapers, pool builders, earthworks companies, and similar trades with teams of three or more people.

Core features include job tracking and scheduling with Gantt chart planning, quoting with templates and supplier price books, invoicing, mobile timesheets, task assignment, document storage, messaging, and reporting. A standout feature is live actual-versus-estimate reporting, which lets you see how jobs are tracking financially in real time. The platform runs on both desktop and mobile, so office staff and field workers can stay in sync.

NextMinute positions itself as an end-to-end solution, covering the full job lifecycle from initial quote through to final invoice and payment tracking.

NextMinute uses tiered monthly pricing based on team size, with all features included at every level. The Trades plan covers 3 to 5 users at USD $89 per month, Trades Plus covers 6 to 10 users at USD $131 per month, and Trades Pro covers 11 to 15 users at USD $191 per month. Teams of 16 or more get a custom quote.

All plans include unlimited projects and jobs, full feature access, setup, training, and ongoing support. There are no lock-in contracts, and you can cancel anytime. A 10-day free trial is available without requiring a credit card. The per-user cost is competitive, especially for larger teams where the price per head drops significantly. Regional pricing is available for Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

NextMinute does not have a public API. This is the single biggest limitation for anyone considering custom integrations. You cannot programmatically read or write data, automate workflows, or connect NextMinute to tools outside its built-in integration ecosystem.

The available integrations are pre-built syncs with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online, and PlaceMakers (NZ only). The accounting integrations are two-way, handling contacts, invoices, supplier bills, payments, and timesheet data for payroll. The Xero integration is well-regarded, rated 4.9 out of 5 from over 50 reviews. The PlaceMakers integration brings supplier pricing and invoices into NextMinute, which then flow through to your accounting software.

There are no webhooks, no developer documentation, and no sandbox environment. If you need NextMinute to talk to your CRM, project management tool, or any other business system, you are out of luck unless you can route data through the accounting software.

Data portability is a concern. NextMinute supports importing jobs, contacts, and quotes via CSV templates, and their team will help with initial data migration. The accounting integrations keep financial data synced bidirectionally with your accounting platform, which provides some level of portability for that data.

However, there is no general-purpose data export function documented, and without an API, bulk extraction of your job history, documents, timesheets, and other operational data would require manual effort or assistance from NextMinute's support team. If you ever need to migrate away, plan for a potentially painful process of getting your historical data out.

There is no developer experience to speak of. NextMinute has no public API, no developer documentation, no SDKs, and no sandbox or testing environment. The platform is designed as a closed ecosystem where all integrations are managed internally by the NextMinute team.

For end users, NextMinute provides a knowledge base at support.nextminute.com with articles covering setup, job management, scheduling, timesheets, invoicing, and reporting. The documentation is functional and covers the basics, but it is end-user focused rather than technical. The company offers unlimited support and training, which is a genuine positive for non-technical users getting started.

Vendor lock-in risk is high. Without a public API, getting your operational data out of NextMinute is difficult. Your financial data stays portable through the accounting software integrations, but job histories, documents, timesheets, scheduling data, and other operational records are effectively locked inside the platform. If you decide to switch to a competitor, you will likely need to work directly with NextMinute's support team to extract your data, and there is no guarantee of a clean or complete export. The no-lock-in contracts are a nice touch, but the practical reality is that your data is locked in even if your subscription is not.

No webhook support available. NextMinute has no public API or developer platform of any kind.

NextMinute is a solid, purpose-built job management tool for small residential trade businesses in Australia and New Zealand. If your needs are straightforward (manage jobs, track time, quote, invoice, sync with Xero or MYOB) and you do not need to connect it to other business systems, it does the job well at a competitive price. The PlaceMakers integration is a genuine bonus for NZ builders who want supplier ordering in the same platform.

However, if you have any need for custom integrations, automated workflows, or connecting NextMinute to tools beyond the supported accounting platforms, look elsewhere. The complete absence of an API is a dealbreaker for any business with a more complex tech stack. Consider alternatives like Tradify, Fergus, or ServiceM8 that offer API access if integration flexibility matters to you.

NextMinute does not hold any publicly listed security certifications such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001. Their privacy policy references compliance with GDPR for EU and UK users and the Australian Privacy Act 1988 for ANZ users. Data is stored on third-party hosted servers and may be transferred to destinations outside Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, including the United States and Canada. SSL encryption is used for payment transactions. The privacy policy includes a broad disclaimer limiting liability for data loss or unauthorised access. No security breaches have been publicly reported, but the lack of formal certifications means you are relying on the company's internal practices without independent verification.