Plain answers about quoting, staging a job, what the customer sees, what happens when work is contested — and what Stagex does not do.
Quotes & milestones
Quoting and getting the job staged
How a job goes from a quote in the ute to a signed-off stage with an invoice against it.
What is milestone tracking, in plain English?
You break the job into stages when you build the quote — deposit, rough-in, fit-off, whatever suits the work. As you finish each stage the customer signs it off in their portal, and Stagex marks it complete and generates the tax invoice for that stage. You always know what's done, what's signed, and what's still owed.
Does Stagex hold my customer's money?
No. Your customer pays you directly, on whatever method the two of you agree — bank transfer, card, cash on the day. Stagex does not currently offer escrow, hold customer funds or operate a trust account. Customer-money functionality is unavailable. What Stagex does is track the milestone and produce the invoice for it. See /product-status for the full list of what is and isn't live.
How fast do I get the invoice out?
The moment the stage is signed off. The line items, GST and job reference are already there from the quote, so there's no re-keying and no waiting until Sunday night to do the paperwork. Getting the invoice out the same day is usually the difference between being paid this month and next.
What if my customer goes quiet mid-job?
Stagex shows you exactly which stages are complete, which are waiting on a sign-off and how long they've been sitting there, with the timestamped record of what you submitted and when. That record is what you take to a payment claim or a solicitor. Stagex is not holding any money on your behalf, so there's nothing for it to release — chasing the debt stays your call.
Do I still need to send invoices?
Yes, and Stagex writes them for you. Every signed-off milestone produces an Australian tax invoice with GST, numbered and tracked against the job, ready to send from Stagex or hand to your accountant.
Is there a percentage fee on my jobs?
No. You pay one flat monthly subscription and that's it — Stagex takes no cut of the work you run through it, because your customer's money never passes through Stagex. See the pricing page for the plans.
Customer experience
What the customer sees
Tradies worry that staging a job formally will spook the customer. It does the opposite. Here's what they actually see.
Will the customer feel like they have control?
Yes — and that's the point. They can see every milestone, every photo and every sign-off in their portal, and nothing gets marked done without them agreeing it's done. For a homeowner spending $80k on a renovation, a clear stage-by-stage record beats a wall of silence and a surprise invoice.
What do they see in their portal?
A live view of the job: which stages are complete, which are in progress, which are waiting on their sign-off, and the invoice raised against each one. Photos and notes you upload show up against the right milestone. They can also flag a problem with a stage from there.
How does my customer actually pay me?
Directly to you, exactly as they would today — bank transfer, card, however you normally take money. Stagex does not sit in the middle of that payment and does not collect or hold their funds. You record the payment against the invoice and the job stays up to date.
Does my customer need a Stagex account?
No. They get a link to their portal for the job. They can view the stages, look at the photos, sign off completed work and see their invoices without creating anything or paying anything.
Disputes & evidence
When things go sideways
Most jobs don't have disputes. But when one does, the difference between getting paid and writing it off is whether you've got a clean trail.
What counts as "done" for a milestone?
Whatever you and the customer agreed on when you set the milestone up. Stagex prompts you to write the completion criteria into the quote — things like "slab poured and cured", "electrical rough-in passed inspection", "final coat applied". Vague milestones cause disputes, so be specific.
What if the customer disputes my work?
Either of you can raise the problem against that specific milestone and attach evidence — photos, sign-off forms, inspection certificates, messages. Stagex records both sides with timestamps so there's one agreed version of what happened and when. It does not hold, freeze or move any money, because it never had any.
Who decides who's right?
You and your customer do, or whoever you'd normally turn to — a mediator, your industry body, the tribunal, a solicitor. Stagex does not adjudicate and does not make a binding determination. What it gives you is the clean, dated record that makes those conversations short.
Can I use evidence in court if it comes to that?
Yes. Every event on a Stagex job — milestone setup, photos, sign-offs, messages, payments — is timestamped and stored in a tamper-evident hash chain. You can export a court-admissible PDF of the whole job history at any time. Solicitors love it because it saves them a week of reconstructing the timeline.
What Stagex isn't
What Stagex does not do
The questions we get asked most, answered straight. Stagex is software for running jobs — it is not a bank, a trustee or a payments business.
Does Stagex ever touch my customer's money?
No. Not at any point. Your customer pays you directly and Stagex records that it happened. There is no Stagex-held balance on your job, so there is nothing to release, refund or freeze.
Why not? Other platforms offer it.
Stagex does not currently offer escrow, hold customer funds or operate a trust account. Customer-money functionality is unavailable. We would rather ship software that does less and says so than describe a service we do not run. /product-status spells out exactly where that stands.
Is Stagex a trust account for BIF Act or SOPA purposes?
No, and it does not discharge any obligation you have under those regimes. If your contract requires a project trust account, that is a separate arrangement you set up with your bank and your accountant. What Stagex gives you is the per-milestone paper trail — quotes, sign-offs, invoices, dates — that those regimes expect you to be able to produce.
What happens to my data if Stagex goes broke?
You can export your jobs, clients, quotes and invoices at any time, and we'd give notice before shutting anything down. Because no customer money ever sits with Stagex, an insolvency would be a software problem for you, not a financial one.
Is the platform secure?
Subscription card payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI DSS Level 1 certified — the highest tier — and Stagex never sees or stores a full card number. Stagex's primary application database is currently hosted by Supabase in Singapore, encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. Stagex uses third-party service providers that may process or store information in Australia and other countries. See our Privacy Policy for current information about overseas data handling.
Still got a question?
If your question isn't here, the product status page lists exactly what works today and what doesn't. Or just talk to the team — a real human will get back to you.
