It answers on Bendigo Cup Day like any other day, tells callers it’s your assistant and books the routine work. Emergencies come straight to your phone.
OffsiteMate is an AI receptionist that picks up for Bendigo tradies while they’re on the tools, any hour and on both Cup Days, at the same price. It tells callers it’s your assistant, finds out what the job is and puts routine work in your calendar when you’re free. Emergencies are texted to you straight away, then it rings you.
It’s A$299 a month for a sole trader, 100 minutes and 150 texts included, and A$299 once for setup. We’re in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and do the setting up by phone.
Bendigo had 106,493 people at 30 June 2025 (ABS estimate), and the ABS counted 1,974 construction businesses in the Greater Bendigo council area that day. The council has two different Cup Days, depending on which side of the Campaspe River your customer lives.
The City of Greater Bendigo swaps Melbourne Cup Day for a local holiday, but only on one side of the river.
| 2026 | From 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| West of the Campaspe River | Bendigo Cup holiday, Wednesday 28 October, in place of Melbourne Cup | The council voted on 21 September 2026 to keep Bendigo Cup and is applying to the Victorian Government to gazette it for five years |
| East of the Campaspe, including Heathcote | Melbourne Cup holiday, Tuesday 3 November | Stays with Melbourne Cup: Tuesday 2 November in 2027 |
From the City of Greater Bendigo’s media releases of 6 July and 22 September 2026. The Bendigo Cup holiday usually falls on the Wednesday before Melbourne Cup. Coliban Water’s customer counter in Bridge Street, Bendigo, is closed for it on Wednesday 28 October 2026.
A customer in Bendigo can have Wednesday 28 October off while one in Heathcote is at work, and the next Tuesday it’s the other way round.
Your assistant picks up on both, at no extra cost, and only books the days your hours include. Text us which Cup you take off. Or both. We won’t ask.
The 2027 date waits on the Victorian Government. Text us your days off once it’s gazetted and we’ll change your hours.
These hold on both sides of the river, and the phone gets answered on every one at the normal price.
| 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday 1 January | Friday 1 January |
| Australia Day | Monday 26 January | Tuesday 26 January |
| Labour Day | Monday 9 March | Monday 8 March |
| Good Friday | Friday 3 April | Friday 26 March |
| Saturday before Easter Sunday | Saturday 4 April | Saturday 27 March |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday 5 April | Sunday 28 March |
| Easter Monday | Monday 6 April | Monday 29 March |
| Anzac Day | Saturday 25 April | Sunday 25 April |
| King’s Birthday | Monday 8 June | Monday 14 June |
| Friday before the AFL Grand Final | Friday 25 September | The Friday before the 2027 Grand Final |
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December | Saturday 25 December, plus Monday 27 December |
| Boxing Day | Saturday 26 December, plus Monday 28 December | Sunday 26 December, plus Tuesday 28 December |
Business Victoria’s holiday pages for 2026 and 2027. Melbourne Cup is in the table above. Daylight saving runs from Sunday 4 October 2026 to Sunday 4 April 2027, and your assistant keeps to your local clock. We add the next dates as they’re announced.
Coliban Water maintains the water service to the meter, up to 2 metres inside the property boundary, and the sewer mains and house connection branches up to 1 metre inside it. Internal plumbing, septic tanks and the other pipes within the boundary are the owner’s.
It keeps a register of plumbers and drain cleaners who’ve done its induction and can identify and clear a blockage in the house connection branch. Customers don’t have to use one. A plumber who isn’t on it and finds the problem in the house connection branch has to ring Coliban to ask whether the work can be charged to it.
Cold snaps get their own advice. Coliban tells customers to cover the meter with an upturned bucket or a box and to thaw frozen pipes with lukewarm water, never boiling. If a pipe bursts, they turn off the stop tap and ring Coliban. Digital meters come with their own cover, and Coliban asks that nothing else goes over them.
In 2025 Solstice Energy announced it would decommission the compressed natural gas networks in Heathcote and Marong. Households had to choose electric or LPG for their appliances. The City of Greater Bendigo lists appliance conversions in Marong from 16 March to 2 August 2026, and in Heathcote from 30 March to 16 August 2026. Each network is decommissioned after its date.
A study the council commissioned found a four-bedroom home in Marong costs at least 2.5 times more a year to run on LPG than partly or fully electric. The council says the estimates use data from November 2025 and may change.
So a caller from either town asking about a gas heater or hot water system could be on LPG bottles now, or newly electric. Text us and your assistant will ask which, and send the answer with the job.
If the fault is on the network side, these are the numbers your customer rings. If you’d like your assistant to give out one of these numbers, text us what it should say.
Outages and faults on the poles and wires, 24 hours. The City of Greater Bendigo says Powercor maintains the street lights in the road reserve too, and Powercor runs its customer contact centre out of Bendigo.
Gas leaks, faults and hazards, 24 hours. Energy Safe Victoria says AusNet covers central and western Victoria. LPG bottles and tanks usually show their own supplier’s emergency number.
Faults and emergencies any time, seven days a week, across 49 towns in north central Victoria. Coliban says its system has supplied most of Bendigo with water since 1877.
From Powercor’s help and about pages, the City of Greater Bendigo’s road and street maintenance page, AusNet’s contact page, Energy Safe Victoria’s gas emergencies page, and Coliban Water’s contact and region pages.
Energy Safe Victoria licenses electricians. Its public registers include a Registered Electrical Contractor register and a licensed electrical worker search.
The Building and Plumbing Commission licenses plumbers, gasfitters and builders. Its search takes a name, business, licence number, location or type of work.
Give us your licence number and it’s one more thing the assistant can tell a caller, along with your hours and the suburbs you cover.
Pick your trade to see what we’d treat as an emergency and what we’d book in for later.
One price list for the whole country, Heathcote included. Pick by 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 work from Wagga Wagga, NSW, and set up Bendigo tradies the same way as everyone else, by phone. Ring us on 0468 075 000 and a human answers.
Yes. Bendigo Cup, Melbourne Cup and every other holiday, at the normal price. Whether it books jobs on those days is up to your hours.
Yes, it stays with your phone company. The national numbering plan gives local numbers starting 34, 44 and 54 to the Bendigo charging district, which shares them with Charlton, Echuca, Kerang and Maryborough. You forward it to your assistant’s own Australian mobile number, and we’ll sort out the forwarding with you and your provider.
That’s the job it does, as an AI assistant with an Australian voice. It tells callers it’s your assistant and that the call may be recorded.
A$299 a month for a sole trader covers 100 minutes and 150 texts, and setup is A$299 once. Crews of 2 to 4 are A$449 a month and 5 to 10 are A$799. No GST, and no lock-in.
Ring us on the number below, or email. Either way, a human gets back to you.
0468 075 000Or email hello@offsitemate.com.au
