Built by Enthusiasts, for Workshop Owners

We're Just Getting Started (And We're Pretty Excited About It)

Hoist didn't start as Hoist. Back in 2023, we were Netspace - a small web design and hosting operation helping local businesses get online. Nothing fancy, just good honest work. But something interesting started happening: more and more of our clients were automotive workshops. And the more we talked to them, the more we heard the same frustrations about their workshop management software.

So we did what any curious bunch would do - we had a look around at what was available. What we found honestly shocked us. An industry with hardly any competition, charging absolutely ridiculous prices for software that felt like it was stuck in 2005. It didn't make sense. These are businesses running on tight margins, and they're being gouged just to manage their day-to-day operations.

We knew we could do better. Not because we're geniuses or anything - just because we actually cared about solving the problem rather than extracting maximum profit. So we started building.

From Side Project to Full Throttle

Through late 2023 and into 2024, Hoist slowly came together between client projects. By mid-2025, we'd gone all-in. The software really started clicking into place, and we began building relationships with vendors and integration partners who shared our vision. It was one of those moments where everything just starts to feel right.

As 2025 winds down, we've opened our closed beta pilot program, and the response has been incredible. Workshops are genuinely excited about what we're building, which honestly means everything to us. It's validation that we're onto something real.

Who We Actually Are

We're a small team based in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. We're young, we move fast, and we're not interested in corporate nonsense or playing it safe. We love cars, we love building software, and we're here to challenge the industry with some real competition and give workshops the breath of fresh air they deserve.

This isn't about building an empire or cashing out to some massive corporation. We just want to make genuinely good software, get feedback from real people doing real work, meet workshop owners, make friends in the industry, and prove that you don't need to charge an arm and a leg to deliver exceptional value.

We're incredibly open to feedback - good or bad. Actually, especially the bad stuff, because that's how we get better. And we're confident enough in what we're building to say this loud and clear: we're going to be the best automotive workshop management software on the market. Not "one of the best" or "pretty good." The best. Hands down.

What Drives Us

At the end of the day, we're just passionate about two things: great software and the automotive industry. We're not here to nickel-and-dime workshops or lock them into predatory contracts. We're here because we saw a problem, knew we could fix it, and couldn't not do something about it.

If that sounds like the kind of team you want in your corner, we'd love to hear from you.