About Gridwork Systems

We build the spreadsheet systems we wish existed when we started running small businesses.

Gridwork started the way most useful tools start — with a mess. A side business, a shoebox of receipts, an invoice list in a notebook, and a bank balance that never matched either. The accounting software wanted $30 a month to solve problems we didn't have yet, and hid the numbers we actually needed behind menus. The free templates online were pretty screenshots with no system inside them.

So we built our own. First a cashflow forecaster that showed the tight months coming. Then an invoice register that told us who to call on Monday morning. Then job costing, then client profitability, then a quote calculator — each one added because a real week of real work demanded it.

What we believe

• You should see every number. At small scale, visibility beats automation. A spreadsheet you understand outperforms software you don't.
• You should own your tools. Your bookkeeping shouldn't be rented month-to-month, hostage to a price hike. Files on your machine, forever.
• Free should mean free. The 12-month forecaster lite is free with no signup — because we'd rather earn trust than harvest emails.
• Honesty compounds. Our guides tell you when to stop using spreadsheets and buy real accounting software. That honesty is the marketing.

How the systems are made

Every template ships only after it survives a real business month: quotes go out from it, invoices age in it, expenses land in it, and the forecast gets checked against the bank. If a sheet needs a manual to explain, it gets rebuilt. The Getting Started guide that comes with each system is written in plain English because we wrote it for ourselves first.

Where the name comes from

A grid — the spreadsheet. Work — the business. Gridwork: the quiet infrastructure under a business that runs well. That's what we sell, and it's what we practice.