Häufig gestellte Fragen
What does a trades ERP cost?
Realistic implementation costs for a trades ERP in the mid-market range between 30,000 and 180,000 euros over the first three to five years, depending on user count and depth of customisation. Businesses with 10 to 50 employees typically land at 60,000 to 110,000 euros including on-site measurement, materials and service modules. On top come annual maintenance and update fees of around 18 to 22 percent of the licence sum for on-premises models, or a cloud subscription that scales roughly at 70 to 180 euros per user per month depending on the feature set. More in our guide ERP costs.
Cloud or on-premises — what suits a trades business?
Both models are widespread in the trades, and the choice depends above all on company size and customisation needs. Cloud solutions are gaining ground among smaller and mid-sized businesses because connecting field technicians via the internet is easier to operate and no in-house server infrastructure is required. On-premises remains the first choice when highly individual processes have to be mapped or an existing local IT landscape is to be reused. Many vendors now offer hybrid models with a local core and cloud apps for field staff; compare the details under Cloud vs on-premises.
How long does implementing a trades ERP take?
In the trades, mid-market ERP implementations typically take 3 to 9 months, while larger multi-site projects can run considerably longer. Mobile working-time recording and field-technician apps typically add a few weeks to the rollout for training and acceptance-building in the field. A substantial part of the project duration goes into design, customising and data migration, with the rest spent on testing, training and the productive rollout. A step-by-step guide is available under ERP implementation checklist.
Do trades businesses have to process e-invoices since 2025?
Yes, since 1 January 2025 every trades business must be able to receive, read and archive structured e-invoices in B2B transactions in an audit-proof manner — there is no transitional period for receiving. Staggered deadlines apply to sending: paper and simple PDF invoices remain permissible until the end of 2026, from 2027 companies with more than 800,000 euros in prior-year turnover must issue e-invoices, and from 2028 the sending obligation applies to all domestic B2B transactions. Invoices to private end customers (B2C) are exempt from the obligation, and a modern trades ERP covers the common formats ZUGFeRD and XRechnung under the European standard EN 16931; background in the glossary entry on e-invoicing.
Which interfaces and industry-specific functions matter in the trades?
A trades ERP differs from standard software above all through industry-typical interfaces and modules for on-site measurement, job sites and service. Via the DATANORM interface (usually version 4, version 5 for image data), businesses import item and price master data from their specialist wholesalers directly into their costing instead of maintaining it manually. For public-sector and commercial construction contracts, GAEB interfaces for exchanging bills of quantities as well as REB-compliant quantity determination and VOB-compliant progress and final invoicing are relevant. This is complemented by mobile field-technician apps with offline capability for times, materials, photos and signatures, plus a DATEV interface for accounting.
Why does a trades business need a mobile field-technician app with an offline mode?
Fitters and service technicians frequently work at changing job sites where no stable mobile network is available, which is why offline capability is standard in modern trades apps. Before the job, the relevant order data is synchronised to the device so that working times, material consumption, photos and notes can be recorded even without a connection and are transferred to the office automatically once the network is restored. This eliminates duplicate entry on paper, and site measurements and time confirmations are available promptly for post-costing and invoicing. Some apps can additionally be paired with laser measuring devices to capture measurements digitally directly on site.