AroFlo

AroFlo is a cloud-based job management platform designed for trade businesses and field service companies. It covers the full job lifecycle: quoting, scheduling, job management, timesheets, inventory tracking, invoicing, and reporting. The platform targets electricians, plumbers, HVAC contractors, solar installers, facilities maintenance operators, and similar trade businesses.

Key capabilities include compliance form management, Gantt chart project views, a mobile field app, GPS tracking (as an add-on), and integration with over 600 Australian wholesaler catalogues for real-time pricing. AroFlo also includes a Trade CRM module for managing leads and customer relationships, and supports multi-business unit operations for larger organisations.

AroFlo uses per-user annual pricing in AUD (excluding GST). Plans start with a minimum monthly spend of $335 and scale based on user count: Starter requires 5+ users, Medium requires 10+, Large requires 30+, and Enterprise (50+) is quoted on request. Exact per-user rates aren't published publicly.

There are also specialised user types at lower price points: Contractor users at $19/month get limited job visibility, Passive users at $15/month receive SMS notifications only, and Timesheet-only users at $24/month. Add-ons include GPS tracking from $15/device/month and an AI Bill Scanner at $35/month.

Professional onboarding starts at $2,900 as a one-off cost, which covers implementation consulting and accounting integration setup. This is a significant upfront investment, particularly for smaller businesses.

Vendor lock-in risk is moderate. You can export most data through reports (CSV, Excel) and the API provides read access to core entities. However, there's no bulk export tool that gives you everything in one go, so extracting your full dataset requires effort. Compliance forms, custom workflows, and job history would be the hardest to migrate. The $2,900+ onboarding investment also creates a sunk-cost factor that discourages switching. If you're evaluating AroFlo, it's worth planning your data extraction strategy upfront, just in case.

AroFlo was founded in 2001 by Guy Arrowsmith, an Australian electrician who turned a university business project into a commercial job management platform. The company is headquartered in Ringwood, Victoria, and has been operating for over 24 years, making it one of the longer-running players in the Australian trade software space.

In November 2021, AroFlo was acquired by the simPRO Group as part of a $350 million USD investment deal backed by K1 Investment Management. The simPRO Group also owns simPRO, BigChange, and ClockShark. AroFlo continues to operate independently with its own brand and product team. The company has around 91 staff and serves over 2,800 businesses and 28,000 trade professionals across Australia and New Zealand.

AroFlo provides a REST API that returns data in XML or JSON format (XML by default). The API covers core entities like clients, tasks, invoices, and inventory. Authentication uses a custom process documented through a Postman pre-requisite script, which isn't the most intuitive setup.

The main limitation is the daily rate limit of 2,000 API calls. For small businesses doing light integrations, this is adequate. But if you're trying to sync large datasets or build real-time integrations, you'll hit that ceiling quickly. There's no published information about higher rate limits on premium plans.

AroFlo also has an Extended API platform with additional documentation, and they maintain a GitHub presence. API access isn't enabled by default; you need to submit a support request to get it turned on, which adds friction to getting started.

Webhooks are available through AroFlo's Event Messages system. You can configure automatic notifications for events like task updates, checklist completions, and compliance form changes. The webhook setup is done through Site Administration rather than programmatically via the API. It works with Zapier for broader automation workflows.

AroFlo supports both import and export of data. You can import clients, locations, suppliers, assets, tasks, inventory items, and quote line items from CSV, XLS, or tab-delimited files. The bulk import tool includes field mapping so your column headers don't need to match AroFlo's field names exactly.

For exports, you can pull data out in Excel, CSV, PDF, HTML, or XML formats through the reporting system. The API also provides read access to most data entities. While you can get your data out, there's no one-click full export; you'd need to run multiple reports or API calls to extract everything. It's workable but not effortless.

The developer experience is functional but not polished. API documentation is maintained at apidocs.aroflo.com and includes a Postman collection, which is the primary way to understand the authentication process. The docs lean heavily on Postman examples rather than comprehensive written guides.

There's no dedicated sandbox or testing environment mentioned in the documentation, which means developers need to work carefully against production data. The 2,000 daily call limit also makes iterative development and testing more frustrating than it needs to be.

Community resources are limited. There's a community forum at forums.aroflo.com, but it's not particularly active. Most support comes through AroFlo's direct support channels (phone, email, live chat during business hours). If you're an integrator, expect to be somewhat on your own once you get past the basics.