It answers when you can’t, on either side of the border, says it’s your assistant and books the routine work. Emergencies get texted to you. We set it up by phone from Wagga Wagga.
OffsiteMate is an AI receptionist for tradies. In Albury and Wodonga it picks up when you’re on the tools, tells callers it’s your assistant, takes down the job and books routine work at a time you’re free. Emergencies get texted to you straight away, then it rings you. It works every public holiday on both sides of the border at the same price.
Albury is in NSW and Wodonga is in Victoria, so the border splits your holidays, your power company, your water authority and, from 2027, the rules on gas hot water. We set the assistant up for the side or sides you work, by phone from Wagga Wagga.
Sole traders pay A$299 a month, which covers 100 minutes and 150 texts, plus A$299 to set up.
Your assistant works through all of these at the usual price, and books jobs only on the days you’ve told us you work.
| Albury, NSW | Wodonga, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ||
| New Year’s Day | Thursday 1 January | Thursday 1 January |
| Australia Day | Monday 26 January | Monday 26 January |
| Labour Day | Monday 5 October | Monday 9 March |
| Albury Gold Cup | Friday 20 March, from midday | Not a holiday |
| Easter, Friday to Monday | Friday 3 to Monday 6 April | Friday 3 to Monday 6 April |
| Anzac Day | Saturday 25 April, plus Monday 27 April | Saturday 25 April, with no extra day |
| King’s Birthday | Monday 8 June | Monday 8 June |
| Friday before the AFL Grand Final | Not a holiday | Friday 25 September |
| Melbourne Cup | Not a holiday | Not a holiday in Wodonga. The council takes the Wodonga Gold Cup instead |
| Wodonga Gold Cup | Not a holiday | Friday 27 November |
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December | Friday 25 December |
| Boxing Day | Saturday 26 December, plus Monday 28 December | Saturday 26 December, plus Monday 28 December |
| 2027 | ||
| New Year’s Day | Friday 1 January | Friday 1 January |
| Australia Day | Tuesday 26 January | Tuesday 26 January |
| Labour Day | Monday 4 October | Monday 8 March |
| Albury Gold Cup | Friday 19 March, from midday | Not a holiday |
| Easter, Friday to Monday | Friday 26 to Monday 29 March | Friday 26 to Monday 29 March |
| Anzac Day | Sunday 25 April, plus Monday 26 April | Sunday 25 April, with no extra day |
| King’s Birthday | Monday 14 June | Monday 14 June |
| Friday before the AFL Grand Final | Not a holiday | The Friday before the 2027 Grand Final |
| Melbourne Cup | Not a holiday | Tuesday 2 November, unless the council swaps it for the Gold Cup again |
| Wodonga Gold Cup | Not a holiday | Set each year by the council |
| Christmas Day | Saturday 25 December, plus Monday 27 December | Saturday 25 December, plus Monday 27 December |
| Boxing Day | Sunday 26 December, plus Tuesday 28 December | Sunday 26 December, plus Tuesday 28 December |
From the NSW Government’s holiday pages and Business Victoria’s, read October 2026. The Albury Gold Cup holiday covers the City of Albury council area, from midday. Business Victoria lists Wodonga City Council’s full-day Wodonga Gold Cup holiday among its Melbourne Cup replacements for 2026. The 2027 list wasn’t out yet. We add the next dates as they’re announced.
Labour Day is in March on the Victorian side and October on the NSW side. Anzac Day falls on a weekend in both 2026 and 2027, and Albury gets the Monday off as well; Wodonga doesn’t. Each side has its own Gold Cup, eight months apart.
North East Water shut its contact centre for Grand Final Friday in 2026 and kept its faults line running. Your assistant keeps your line running the same way, on every holiday either side. Text us which side’s holidays you take and it won’t book work on them.
Energy Victoria says that from 1 March 2027, gas hot water systems can’t be installed in Victoria. When one breaks and can’t be repaired, or needs replacing for any other reason, the replacement has to be electric. Gas heating and cooktops already in place can stay.
From 1 January 2027, new homes and most new commercial buildings, full knock-down rebuilds included, must be built all-electric when the building permit is issued on or after that date. An existing building with no gas connection can’t be connected from then either.
Those are Victorian rules, so they apply in Wodonga and not in Albury. If you do hot water on both sides, your assistant can check which side the house is on before it books the job. Text us and we’ll set it up.
When the fault is on the network’s side, your customer rings these. Want your assistant to point callers to one of them? Text us and we’ll add it.
| Albury, NSW | Wodonga, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| Power | ||
| Network | Essential Energy, which covers NSW outside the Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy areas | AusNet, which runs the network across eastern and north-eastern Victoria |
| Faults and emergencies | 13 20 80, any hour | 13 17 99, any hour |
| Gas | ||
| Network | Australian Gas Networks | Australian Gas Networks |
| Smell gas | 1800 427 532 (1800 GAS LEAK) | 1800 427 532 (1800 GAS LEAK) |
| Water and sewer | ||
| Who runs it | AlburyCity, with water from the Murray River below Hume Dam | North East Water, which serves 39 towns across north-east Victoria |
| Who to ring | 02 6023 8111 in business hours. Urgent matters after hours, 1300 133 391 | 1300 361 644 for faults and emergencies, any hour, any day of the year |
| Blockage in their pipes | AlburyCity may pay an NSW licensed plumber’s reasonable costs for a single visit: A$150 per business hour, A$220 after hours, under its claim terms | Work out whose blockage it is within the first hour and ring 1300 361 622. North East Water attends or authorises you to carry on. It pays reasonable costs for up to an hour of work, and only when you’ve rung first |
From the NSW Government, Essential Energy, AusNet, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group, AlburyCity and North East Water, each on its own pages, read October 2026.
North East Water says it’s typically responsible for the meter and the pipes from the street to the meter. From the meter to the house, garden tap included, belongs to the owner.
Meters that sit above the ground can freeze and split on a sub-zero morning. North East Water replaces a broken meter if you ring 1300 361 644. A split pipe on the house side is a job for a licensed plumber, and that’s the call your assistant books in for you.
Sparkies have it easiest. Energy Safe Victoria says an electrician living in NSW can work in Victoria under automatic mutual recognition once they’ve notified Energy Safe. All electrical installation work in Victoria needs a Certificate of Electrical Safety. Heading north, the NSW Government says Victorian electricians are recognised in NSW under the East Coast Electrician’s scheme without notifying anyone.
Plumbers have more to check. Consumer Affairs Victoria says building and plumbing practitioners must notify the Building and Plumbing Commission before working in Victoria under automatic mutual recognition. The Commission says some interstate plumbing occupations are exempt from that scheme and go through ordinary mutual recognition instead.
Customers can check a Wodonga tradie on Energy Safe Victoria’s public registers or the Commission’s practitioner search, and an Albury one on Service NSW’s Verify.licence. Your assistant gives out the licence numbers you’ve sent us, for whichever side you hold them.
The ABS counted 1,017 construction businesses in Albury and 788 in Wodonga at 30 June 2025, more than any other industry in either council area (ABS Data by Region, read October 2026). Albury and Wodonga together had 102,435 people at 30 June 2025 (ABS estimate). A customer whose call rings out has plenty of other numbers to try.
Even the safety inspectors come in pairs. In March 2022 SafeWork NSW and WorkSafe Victoria visited 52 construction sites across Albury and Wodonga in one week, as part of the Cross Border Construction Program.
An Albury plumber and a Wodonga painter count different things as urgent. Each trade page shows where we start.
Same price on both sides of the border. Pick the one for how many people work in the business.
Sole traders on the tools
A$299a month
About A$9.83 a day. Plus A$299 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansA small crew
A$449a month
Plus A$499 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansA bigger team with more phones ringing
A$799a month
Plus A$499 setup, once. Month to month.
Talk to the humansGo over your minutes or texts and it keeps answering: A$0.49 a minute and A$0.25 a text. It’s month to month, because 12 months is a big commitment to make to a robot. That’s the whole price. Nothing gets added on top. Questions? Ring us on 0468 075 000 or email hello@offsitemate.com.au.
No. We’re in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and we set up tradies all over Australia by phone, both sides of this border included. Ring us on 0468 075 000 and a human picks up.
Yours. It answers every day at the same price and only books jobs on the days your hours include. A Wodonga business might take Grand Final Friday and the Wodonga Gold Cup off, and an Albury one the Gold Cup afternoon in March. Text us your days off.
Yes. It asks every caller for their suburb. We set it up with the area you cover on each side, your licence numbers and anything that changes by state, like hot water jobs in Wodonga from March 2027.
No. The Numbering Plan gives (02) 60 numbers to the Albury and Corryong charging districts, and Wodonga Council’s own number starts (02) 60. Keep it. It stays with your phone company, and you forward it to your assistant’s own Australian mobile number. A landline forwards differently to a mobile, so give us a ring and we’ll work it out with you and your provider.
A$299 a month for a sole trader, with 100 minutes and 150 texts, plus A$299 once to set up. It’s A$449 a month for 2 to 4 people and A$799 for 5 to 10. No GST added, month to month.
Ring us on the number below, or email. Either way, a human gets back to you.
0468 075 000Or email hello@offsitemate.com.au
