The Fraser Coast went from 1,241 construction businesses to 1,538 in four years (ABS). Our AI assistant answers your phone when you can’t, books the routine work and texts you the urgent calls.
OffsiteMate’s AI receptionist picks up a Hervey Bay tradie’s phone when they’re on a job. It introduces itself as your assistant, finds out what’s wrong and where, books the routine work into your free time, and sends you the emergencies by text before it rings you.
For a sole trader that’s A$299 a month, covering 100 minutes and 150 texts, and A$299 to set up. Setup is a phone call with us in Wagga Wagga, NSW, and the number on your ute stays the same.
Two things about the Fraser Coast change how the phone works here: there are more tradies every year, and the population is a lot older than Queensland’s.
All from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The council area takes in Maryborough as well as Hervey Bay.
| Figure | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| People in the Hervey Bay urban area | 63,312 | 30 June 2025, estimate |
| Construction businesses, Fraser Coast council area | 1,241 | 30 June 2021 |
| Construction businesses, Fraser Coast council area | 1,538 | 30 June 2025 |
| Median age, Fraser Coast | 51.9 | 2024 |
| Median age, Queensland, for comparison | 38.5 | 2024 |
| Share of people aged 15 to 64, Fraser Coast | 54.6% | 2024 (Australia: 65.1%) |
ABS Data by Region (Local Government Area “Fraser Coast”, and Queensland), and the ABS estimate for the Hervey Bay Significant Urban Area. Read October 2026.
Close to 300 more construction businesses in four years means more numbers for a customer to try when yours rings out. Your assistant picks up instead. It gets their name, suburb and what’s wrong, and books routine work into ServiceM8, Fergus, Google Calendar or Outlook.
Not every caller wants to text or fill in a form, whatever their age. The assistant talks to them in an Australian voice and tells them up front it’s your assistant. If they’d rather speak to you, it takes their number and you ring back.
Rather answer yourself when you’re free? It can ring your phone first and only pick up when you don’t.
Your assistant answers on every one of these at the same price. It only books jobs on a holiday if your hours include it.
| 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday 1 January | Friday 1 January |
| Australia Day | Monday 26 January | Tuesday 26 January |
| Good Friday | Friday 3 April | Friday 26 March |
| The day after Good Friday | 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 | Monday 26 April |
| Labour Day | Monday 4 May | Monday 3 May |
| Fraser Coast Agricultural Show (show holiday) | Friday 22 May | Set each year by the Queensland Government |
| King’s Birthday | Monday 5 October | Monday 4 October |
| Christmas Eve, 6pm to midnight | Thursday 24 December | Friday 24 December |
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December | Saturday 25 December and Monday 27 December |
| Boxing Day | Saturday 26 December and Monday 28 December | Sunday 26 December and Tuesday 28 December |
State dates from the Queensland Government’s public holidays page, and the show holiday from its show holiday page, both read October 2026. The Royal Queensland Show day on the state list is for Brisbane only. We add the next dates as they’re announced.
The show holiday covers the whole Fraser Coast region, so Hervey Bay and Maryborough take the same day: Friday 22 May in 2026, and Friday 23 May the year before. Show holidays are appointed each year, and 2027’s weren’t on the Queensland Government’s page when we checked in October 2026.
The clock is simpler again. Queensland doesn’t use daylight saving (Fair Work Ombudsman), so your hours, your booking times and the rule that a late-night text waits until 9am never shift. Text us your days off and the assistant won’t book them.
Some calls belong to the network. Ergon Energy runs regional Queensland’s power network. Energex’s network stops at Gympie, so Hervey Bay is Ergon’s. If you’d like your assistant to mention one of these numbers, text us.
Ergon, 13 16 70, any hour, or triple zero if someone’s in danger. Ergon says to ring straight away after a shock or tingle from an appliance or even a tap.
Ergon, 13 22 96, any hour, for lost power or supply problems. Ergon sends a crew if it looks like its network.
Ergon wants the customer to ring 13 22 96 first. If it gives an approval number and the fault turns out to be its network, the electrician claims up to A$250, before GST, from Ergon. Without that number, the customer pays.
Fraser Coast Regional Council runs water and sewerage. Its main number, 1300 79 49 29, also takes its after-hours emergency calls.
Queensland’s gas safety page says the supplier’s emergency number is on the gas bill. If the smell stays after the gas is turned off, ring triple zero.
The Wide Bay gas pipeline runs between Maryborough and Rockhampton. For an emergency in its corridor, ring 1800 017 000.
From Ergon Energy’s contact, shocks and electrical contractor fee pages, Energex’s who we are page, Fraser Coast Regional Council’s disaster dashboard and website, the Queensland Government’s gas safety page and the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group’s emergency contacts page. Read October 2026.
That A$250 only gets paid if the customer rang Ergon before ringing you. Ergon says the cap covers after-hours and weekend call-outs too, with up to an hour of travel. It pays nothing for a plain loss of supply, because its own crews go first.
So it’s worth your assistant asking. Text us and it’ll ask every cold hot water caller whether they’ve rung Ergon and have an approval number, and note the answer with the job details.
In May 2026 the QBCC ran more than 130 licence checks at 50 building sites around Maryborough, the Fraser Coast’s other big town. It turned up two people suspected of unlicensed building work, and a licensee suspected of using someone unlicensed.
The QBCC’s advice to home owners in the same news item: check its licence register, get more than one quote and have a written contract before work starts. Electrical licences are searched through the Electrical Safety Office, and gas fitters are on the Resources Safety and Health Queensland portal, no account needed.
Expect the question, then. Once you’ve texted us your licence number, your assistant can read it out to any caller who asks.
A Hervey Bay sparky and a Hervey Bay gardener want different calls texted to them at night. Each trade page shows where we start.
Same price on the Fraser Coast as anywhere else. 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, so everything happens over the phone. Ring us on 0468 075 000 and a human answers.
Yes. It answers whatever number you forward to it, wherever the caller is. Tell us the area you cover and it books jobs in it.
Yes. It answers every day, public holidays included, at the same price, and only books jobs on a holiday if your hours include it.
Yes. 07 is the area code for Queensland landlines, and your number stays with your phone company. It forwards to the assistant’s own Australian mobile number. Landlines and phone systems forward differently to mobiles, so ring us and we’ll work it out with you and your provider.
It’s the AI kind. It answers in an Australian voice, tells callers it’s your assistant and books the work in. That covers the bulk of a virtual receptionist’s job. The humans who set it up and read what it says are us.
The same as anywhere: A$299 a month for a sole trader, A$449 for a crew of 2 to 4 and A$799 for 5 to 10. A sole trader’s setup is A$299, a team’s is A$499. Prices are in Australian dollars with no GST added, and it’s 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
