Fergus is a New Zealand-based job management platform popular with plumbers, electricians, and HVAC businesses. But is it the right fit for UK tradespeople who want professional proposals fast? We compare pricing, AI features, and UK suitability to help you decide.
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QuoteSmith vs Fergus at a glance
Everything you need to know before choosing
Fergus is a job management platform built in New Zealand, primarily targeting plumbing, electrical, and HVAC businesses. It covers the full job lifecycle — quoting, scheduling, job tracking, timesheets, purchase orders, and invoicing. It has grown in popularity across New Zealand and Australia, and has expanded into the UK market.
QuoteSmith takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than managing your entire business, it focuses on the single most important step: winning the work. QuoteSmith uses AI to generate professional, branded proposals complete with detailed scope of work, project timelines, and terms and conditions. You enter your job details and line items, and the AI does the writing for you.
The key question is whether you need a full job management system or a tool that helps you create quotes that actually win work. If your biggest bottleneck is writing proposals, QuoteSmith is purpose-built for that problem.
Fergus uses tiered pricing that starts at around $40 NZD per user per month for its basic plan. For UK customers, this translates to roughly £20-25 per user per month at current exchange rates, but the full-featured plans cost significantly more. A small team of three on Fergus could easily spend £80-120 per month, and you may need the higher tier to access features like purchase orders and detailed reporting.
QuoteSmith is a flat £39 per month with no per-user charges and no feature tiers. Every feature is included at one price. You also get your first proposal completely free with no credit card required, so you can judge the quality before you spend anything.
Fergus provides standard quoting tools — you can create quotes with line items, add descriptions, and send them to clients. However, the content of those quotes is entirely manual. You write the scope, you type the descriptions, and you format everything yourself. There is no AI assistance.
QuoteSmith's AI engine generates the entire proposal narrative for you. Based on the job type, your line items, and the project details you provide, it writes a professional scope of work using correct trade terminology, creates a realistic project timeline, and includes comprehensive terms and conditions that reference UK building regulations. The output is a polished, branded PDF that reads like it was written by a quantity surveyor — not a generic template.
Fergus was built for the New Zealand and Australian markets. While it works in the UK, its default terminology, tax settings, and support resources are oriented toward Australasian users. UK tradespeople may find that templates and system defaults need significant customisation to feel natural.
QuoteSmith is built exclusively for the UK market. It uses British spelling and terminology, GBP pricing throughout, automatic 20% VAT calculations, and generates terms that reference relevant UK building standards and regulations. There is nothing to reconfigure — it works for UK tradespeople out of the box.
Choose Fergus if: You need a comprehensive job management system with scheduling, timesheets, and workflow tracking, and you are comfortable with a platform designed primarily for the Australasian market.
Choose QuoteSmith if: You want to create professional, AI-generated proposals that help you win more work. You value UK-specific content, simplicity, and flat predictable pricing without per-user fees.
Yes. QuoteSmith is £39 per month flat with no per-user fees. Fergus starts at around $40 NZD (roughly £20) per user per month, but costs escalate quickly for teams and you need higher tiers for essential features. QuoteSmith's flat pricing is simpler and more predictable for UK businesses.
If your primary need is creating professional, branded quotes and proposals that win work, QuoteSmith is the better tool. It uses AI to generate complete proposal content automatically. Fergus is a broader job management platform — if you need scheduling, timesheets, and workflow management, Fergus covers more ground but at a higher total cost.
No. Fergus provides quote templates and manual entry tools, but it does not use AI to generate proposal content. QuoteSmith uses AI to automatically write detailed scope of work descriptions, project timelines, and terms and conditions based on your job details — saving you significant time on every quote.
Fergus was founded in New Zealand and primarily serves the NZ and Australian markets. While it is available in the UK, its terminology, tax handling, and default settings are geared toward Australasian users. QuoteSmith is built from the ground up for UK tradespeople, with GBP pricing, 20% VAT calculations, and UK building regulation references.
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