Free forum for UK tradespeople. What a job should be priced at, which reg applies, which tool is worth it, and how to get an invoice paid without chasing it four times.
Proper racking is expensive and heavy. Crates are cheap and become chaos by Wednesday. What have you got, what did it cost, and would you do it the same way again? Photos welcome if you are proud of…
Mileage, age, what has gone wrong, what it costs to keep on the road, and whether you would buy another one. Especially interested in anyone running something with serious miles on it, and anyone who…
Four years of investment walks out the door for an extra pound an hour somewhere else. What has actually worked — pay, progression, giving them their own jobs, a van, a share of the work they bring i…
Wide range on this and the published minimums are not what most decent employers actually pay. What are you paying, what year are they in, what trade, and roughly where? And does it step up on a sche…
The jump from working alone to being responsible for someone else is the one most people get wrong at least once. Which way did you go first, and what would you do differently? Interested in the prac…
Not the one you enjoy owning. The one that shortened jobs or won you work you would otherwise have turned down. What was it, roughly what did it cost, and how long before it had paid for itself? Bonu…
Renewal quotes seem to be arriving with numbers that bear no relation to last year. What are you paying, for what van, with what cover, and did shopping around actually help? Also whether tools-in-tr…
Once you have eight batteries and a charger in the van, the platform has you, and everybody knows it. Which are you on, how did you end up there, and if you were starting again tomorrow would you pic…
Two ways to do it and the right answer depends on the van, the mileage and whether you use it privately. Which did you choose, and did your accountant agree? Interested in anyone who has switched, an…
Software, spreadsheet plus bridging, or the accountant deals with it and you send a shoebox. What are you using, what does it cost, and is it actually less work than what you did before? Straight opi…
Materials on your card for three weeks is your money funding their kitchen. What percentage are you taking up front, does it change with the size of the job, and how often does someone refuse? Also i…
Deductions, verification, gross payment status, getting the statements out of a contractor who does not answer emails. What has caught you out, and what do you check now that you did not before? Usef…
Everyone gets told "once you earn X, go limited", and the real answer seems to be a lot more personal than that. What made the decision for you — tax, liability, a contract that required it, or an ac…
It is in most people's terms. Almost nobody applies it. Have you ever actually invoiced for it, and what happened? Did it get you paid, get you paid faster, or get you an argument and a lost customer…
The bit nobody warns you about is that going over does not just mean paperwork, it means either your prices go up for domestic customers or your margin goes down. For anyone who has been through it:…
Wildly different answers depending on who you ask, and it is rarely clear what is included until something extra gets billed. What are you paying, monthly or annual, and what is actually in it — acco…
Deposit, first fix, second fix, completion. Or thirds. Or weekly. How do you split it, and does the customer ever push back on the structure? Particularly interested in how people handle the final pa…
Self-certify where you can, notify where you must, and there is a grey band in the middle where people seem to do completely different things. Where do you draw the line, and has building control eve…
Scheme fees, per-notification charges and the annual assessment all add up, and the answer seems to depend entirely on who you signed up with. Which scheme are you with, what does it cost you a year,…
Not the headline changes everyone talks about — the small one that changed quietly and turned up on an inspection eighteen months later. What did you get pulled up on, and how did you find out? Usefu…
An hour each way eats a day and you cannot pop back if something needs finishing. Do you have a hard radius, or do you load the price and let the customer choose? And has taking a job too far out eve…
Pay per lead, four other trades get the same lead, half of them are not real. Has anyone here actually run the numbers properly — what you paid in, what came out, over a decent period? Both direction…
A full wrap is not cheap and the payback is hard to measure — nobody says "I called you because of the van". If yours is signwritten, do you ask new customers where they found you, and does the van e…
Not where you think your work comes from. Where the last five actually came from. Word of mouth, a repeat customer, Google, a lead site, the van, a builder you sub for, Facebook group, a neighbour wh…
There seems to be a point where a profile goes from ignored to ringing, and nobody agrees where it is. How many have you got, how long did it take, and was there a point where you noticed a differenc…