Cash Flow Forecast Planner for Tradies — Anonymous Tradie

The 15-minute Tuesday morning habit that stops you going broke while flat out.

Fully booked. Still broke. Sound familiar?

You're winning jobs. You're hammered. But somehow the account keeps hitting zero between invoices. You can't take a day off. You haven't paid yourself in three weeks. Materials for the next job are due tomorrow.

That's not a work-ethic problem. That's a cash flow problem.

73% of trade businesses don't see year four. It's not because they were bad at their trade — it's because the money coming in never matched up with the money going out. Fully booked tradies go under all the time. You don't get a warning. You just one day can't make payroll.

This planner gives you the warning.

WHAT IT IS

A 13-week rolling cash flow forecast built in Excel, specifically for Aussie tradies. You put in your quotes pipeline, your fixed costs, and your current bank balance. The spreadsheet shows you exactly what your account will look like every week for the next three months.

Red weeks = cash crisis incoming. Amber = tight. Green = healthy.

Most tradies find out about a cash gap when the EFTPOS machine declines a Bunnings purchase. This planner finds it 8 weeks out, when you've still got time to do something about it.

WHAT'S INSIDE

5 sheets. 201 working formulas. Everything connects.

- How To Use sheet — plain English, walks you through it in 5 mins.

- Quotes Pipeline — every quote you've sent, weighted by probability of winning, mapped to when the cash will hit your account.

- Recurring Costs — pre-loaded with 20 typical tradie cost categories (vehicle, insurance, phone, subscriptions, wages, super, BAS, income tax). Fill in your numbers, monthly-to-weekly converts automatically.

- 13-Week Forecast — the main show. Opening balance, expected income, total costs, closing balance per week. Conditional formatting flags every dodgy week in red or amber.

- Dashboard — one screen. Current cash, lowest expected week, weighted pipeline value, weeks-in-crisis count.

WHO IT'S FOR

- Sole operator tradies and small crews (1–10 staff)

- Anyone who's ever been flat out and broke at the same time

- Tradies who want to stop finding out about cash gaps from the bank

- Anyone who's about to take on a bigger job and isn't sure if they can afford to

WHO IT'S NOT FOR

- Tradies who run a tight book and already forecast properly — you don't need this

- Anyone looking for a magic fix instead of a 15-minute weekly habit

- Office types looking for a corporate finance template — this is built for blokes on the tools

WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY GET OUT OF IT

Catch cash gaps 4–8 weeks before they hit. Stop taking on jobs that'll bankrupt you. Have the bank conversation early (when they're 10× more helpful). Pay yourself consistently. Sleep at night.

You'll spend 15 minutes every Tuesday morning updating it. That's it. The most valuable 15 minutes of your week.

PRICE — A$37

Less than a half-day apprentice cost. One cash crisis caught early pays for it a hundred times over.

WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU BUY

- The full Excel planner (.xlsx) — works in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers

- The "How To Use" sheet with step-by-step instructions in plain English

- 30 pre-formatted pipeline entry rows + room to add more

- Free updates if I improve the planner

INSTANT DOWNLOAD. NO LOGIN NEEDED. WORKS ON ANY COMPUTER.

Real talk. No names. Just results.

— Anonymous Tradie

anonymoustradie.au