Guides
Practical know-how for spending less time on admin and more on the job.
Variations on site: agree them before the work starts
Extra work is normal on any job. What costs money is when it gets written down. How to record a variation, get it agreed and bill it without an argument.
What goes on a job sheet, and why the paper one costs you money
A job sheet is the record that turns a visit into an invoice. What has to be on it, what usually gets left off, and why a pad in the van is the expensive option.
Getting paid faster: the gap between the job and the money
Most late payment is not customers being difficult. It is invoices going out weeks after the work. Where the delay actually sits and what shortens it.
CIS for subcontractors: why your invoice and your bank do not match
Under the Construction Industry Scheme a contractor deducts tax before paying you. What that does to an invoice, and how to keep the labour and materials split straight.
The domestic reverse charge: who accounts for the VAT on construction work
On much construction work between VAT-registered businesses the customer accounts for the VAT instead of you. What that does to an invoice and to your cash flow.
VAT on energy-saving materials: zero rated until March 2027
Supply and installation of heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation in homes is zero rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, then 5%. What that means for a quote that outlives the date.
The grant depends on which nation the house is in
Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales, Home Energy Scotland north of the border, neither in Northern Ireland. The amounts, the conditions and the dates.
Quotes that get accepted: what to put in and what to leave out
A quote is a sales document and a contract at the same time. What decides whether it is accepted, and what decides whether the job runs without an argument.
Chasing quotes without being a pest
Most quotes are not rejected, they are forgotten. A simple follow-up pattern, and why the ones from four months ago are your warmest leads.
Working out your hourly rate: the hours you cannot charge for
Most rates are set by looking at what everyone else charges. The arithmetic that actually matters is how many of your hours are billable.
What the job actually cost: job costing without a finance department
Comparing what you priced with what it took, job by job. The one number that tells you which work is worth quoting for.
Recording time on site: why hours shrink on the way to the office
Hours are rarely lost on site. They are lost between the site and the invoice, and always in the same direction.
Choosing job management software: the questions that matter
Feature lists all look the same. What separates systems is pricing model, what happens on site without signal, and how hard it is to get your data back out.
Moving off spreadsheets without stopping work
The changeover is the risky part, not the software. What to move first, what to leave behind, and how to run a fortnight with both.
Service contracts that renew themselves
A service round is the steadiest income a trade business has, and the easiest to lose. Nobody complains about not being reminded.
Working for landlords and agents: one payer, forty addresses
Portfolio work breaks systems built around a customer being a person at an address. Why the history has to belong to the property.
Handover packs: the last hour of the job, and the next three years
What the customer keeps after an install decides how many phone calls you get, and whether the warranty claim in year three is your problem.
Taking on your first employee: what changes on the admin side
Going from one to two is the biggest jump a trade business makes. What stops working, and what has to exist before the first Monday.
Using subcontractors without losing the thread
Subcontractors let you take work you could not otherwise take. What has to be recorded, and where the money and the liability go quiet.
Materials ordered from site: the cost that never reaches the invoice
Parts bought for one job and used on another, delivery notes left in the van, materials absorbed into a labour line. Where material margin actually goes.
Planning a week that survives Monday
Every week is planned and every week falls apart. The point is not a plan that holds — it is seeing what moved, while there is still time to ring someone.
Getting more reviews without pestering anyone
Most happy customers never leave a review because nobody asked at the right moment. When to ask, how to ask, and what to do with a bad one.
Emergency callouts and out of hours work: pricing the interruption
Emergency work pays well and wrecks the week. What to charge, what to say on the phone, and how to stop it eating the jobs you already promised.
MCS and the consumer codes: what certification opens and what it costs
Without MCS your customer cannot have the heat pump grant. What certification and a consumer code actually require, and what they change about how you work.
Connecting solar and batteries: notify after, or ask first
Small generation can be notified to the network operator after the fact. Above 16 A per phase you need permission first — and that changes the job from a day to a wait.
Gas Safe and the records customers keep
Registration shows up on the paperwork the customer keeps, and that paperwork gets asked for at the worst moment. Where it should live.