Newcastle NSW · Working Australia-wide
We take the administration behind your practice, get it working properly, and write it down so it keeps working. You book the hours you need. Nobody has to manage us.
What changes
Most small practices run their admin on memory. Someone knows which client hasn't been invoiced, which file is short a signature, which registration is due next month. It works until that person is flat out, on leave, or gone.
We write it down and build it properly, so the work happens because the system says so rather than because someone remembered. When a person is away, nothing stops.
You get documented processes your own team can follow, and a shorter list of things only you can do.
Services
Most clients start with a review or an administration retainer, then move up as the systems take hold.
A paid diagnostic, and the usual starting point. Two to three weeks going through how your practice runs.
The back-office work itself, in booked hours against defined processes. Scheduled in advance, never on call.
Building the thing that makes the administration smaller. Fixed fee, defined scope, staged payments.
A fractional operations manager for your practice. For firms that need the function owned rather than the tasks done.
Brought in when the work calls for it, rather than sold as standing services.
Bookkeeping
Petah Blanch, a qualified bookkeeper, keeps your accounts reconciled and current: coding, accounts payable and receivable, payroll processing, and trust account reconciliation for NSW legal practices. She prepares a clean, BAS-ready file for your accountant or registered agent to lodge.
Quoted on scope.
Custom software
Matthew Gulliver builds what a practice can't buy or configure: client portals, secure document exchange, systems that talk to each other, and internal tools that don't exist off the shelf. Scoped off the back of a review, never sold cold.
Quoted per project.
How it works
The aim is for you to need fewer hours from us over time, not more.
We start with what's costing you money right now: work that hasn't been billed, registrations that have slipped, the process that only half exists. You get a written picture of where things stand, and the leaks closed.
Then we rebuild it. The right tools set up properly, the repetitive steps automated, and the rest written down so it survives leave and staff changes. You get documented procedures your team can follow.
As the systems hold, the hours come down. Most practices keep us on a smaller maintenance retainer, some keep us running operations outright. Either way you stop paying for work the system now does by itself.
Pricing
Hours are booked, not on tap. Unused hours don't roll over, which keeps the scope honest on both sides.
| Tier | Hours / month | Monthly | Onboarding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 10 | $900 | $450 |
| Core | 20 | $1,700 | $750 |
| Extended | 40 | $3,200 | $1,200 |
Additional hours beyond your tier are $95 an hour. Retainers are invoiced on the 1st and payable within seven days. Projects are 50% on acceptance, with the balance on milestones agreed before work starts. All prices in AUD.
Questions
Including the awkward ones. If something isn't here, ask.
Most practices start with an Operations Review. We spend two to three weeks going through how your practice runs, then give you a written picture of what's costing you money and what we'd do about it. From there you decide whether to take on a retainer, commission a build, or do nothing.
We map your workflows, audit your systems and subscriptions, and find where time and money are going. You get a costed, prioritised roadmap you can act on with or without us.
It's paid because it's about sixteen hours of real work, and because a free audit is a sales pitch with a clipboard. If you go on to a retainer or a build within 60 days, the fee is credited in full.
Usually within a fortnight. Retainer work starts on the first of a month; reviews and builds can start sooner.
Administration retainers start at $900 a month for ten hours, with the full tiers set out in the pricing section above. An Operations Review is $2,400. Builds are quoted on scope and usually land between $3,500 and $12,000. Operations Management starts at $3,600 a month.
Administration retainers run month to month. Operations Management has a three-month minimum term. Builds finish when the project finishes. Notice periods are set out in your engagement letter, agreed before you sign anything.
No. Blanch Works isn't registered for GST, so our invoices don't include it. If that changes we'll tell you before it affects an invoice.
Retainers are invoiced in advance on the first of the month and payable within seven days. Projects are 50% on acceptance, with the balance on milestones agreed before work starts. One-off work is 14 days.
Sarah does the operations, systems and administration work. Petah Blanch, a qualified bookkeeper, handles bookkeeping. Matthew Gulliver builds custom software when a job needs it. Sarah scopes and coordinates the whole engagement and is your point of contact throughout.
Remotely, almost entirely, which is why we can work with practices anywhere in Australia. We're based in Newcastle and happy to meet in person if you're local, particularly at the start. We don't provide on-site cover or staffing.
Xero for accounting, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and whichever practice management system you already use. On the legal side that's usually LEAP, Actionstep, Smokeball or Clio; in allied health, Cliniko, Halaxy or Zanda. If you're on something else we'll learn it.
Petah can reconcile trust accounts and maintain trust records for NSW legal practices. Your practice remains responsible for its trust records. We don't act as a signatory on a trust account, and we don't perform the annual external examination, which has to be done by an appointed external examiner.
We work inside your systems under your own access controls, so your data stays where it is. Confidentiality terms are part of every engagement. Nothing is offshored: the work is done in Australia, by the people named on this page.
We don't answer phones, take messages, or provide reception or front-of-house cover. We don't handle mail or provide a business address, and we don't have meeting rooms or office space. We don't lodge BAS or tax returns. We're not a virtual assistant service, and we don't sell hours of availability. We take defined processes, fix them, and run them to a schedule you can plan around.
Everything we run for you is documented as we go, so the work can be picked up rather than reconstructed. You'll know a fortnight ahead of any planned leave, and we agree in advance what pauses and what gets covered. For retainer clients we don't take on more work than we can cover.
Professional indemnity and public liability cover will be in place before any client work begins. We'll provide a certificate of currency on request.
Who you're dealing with
You deal with Sarah. She scopes the work, brings in Petah or Matthew when the job needs them, and stays across the whole engagement.
Founder
Eight years managing the operations of a Newcastle serviced-office business: systems, process design, pricing, reporting and the administration behind all of it. Sarah runs Blanch Works and is your point of contact from the first enquiry onwards. Everything to do with your engagement comes through her.
Qualified bookkeeper
Petah has been keeping books for small businesses and professional practices for decades. She keeps your accounts reconciled and current, and prepares a clean, BAS-ready file for your accountant or registered agent to lodge.
Software
Most of what a practice needs is a matter of setting existing tools up properly, and that's Sarah's work. When a practice outgrows what can be configured, Matthew builds it: client portals, secure document exchange, systems that talk to each other. It means you can keep growing without going out to find an agency.
Get in touch
Fifteen minutes on what's slowing your practice down, and a straight answer on what we'd do about it.