Practical guides for running a trade business.
Late payments, tool theft, callouts, apprentices and quiet months. Straightforward advice on the business side of working in the trades.
Nothing matched that. .
Pricing trade work properly without guessing.
A busy diary does not prove your prices are right. What matters is what remains after each job has paid its share of running the business.
5 min readRead itWriting quotes that win good jobs.
A good quote does more than name a price. It makes clear what the customer is buying, what is excluded and what happens next.
5 min readRead itUsing deposits and stage payments on bigger jobs.
A profitable job can still cause a cash problem when you pay for materials and labour long before the customer pays you.
5 min readRead itGetting paid on time without damaging the relationship.
Payment chasing gets harder when the first proper conversation about when and how to pay happens after the invoice is already overdue.
5 min readRead itTaking on your first employee without losing control.
Your first employee does not simply add another pair of hands. They change how work is planned, communicated and paid for.
5 min readRead itUsing subcontractors without creating a muddle.
A subcontractor can add capacity quickly, but unclear scope and poor records can leave you responsible for a job nobody properly owns.
5 min readRead it
Pricing trade work properly without guessing.
A busy diary does not prove your prices are right. What matters is what remains after each job has paid its share of running the business.
5 min readRead itWriting quotes that win good jobs.
A good quote does more than name a price. It makes clear what the customer is buying, what is excluded and what happens next.
5 min readRead itUsing deposits and stage payments on bigger jobs.
A profitable job can still cause a cash problem when you pay for materials and labour long before the customer pays you.
5 min readRead itGetting paid on time without damaging the relationship.
Payment chasing gets harder when the first proper conversation about when and how to pay happens after the invoice is already overdue.
5 min readRead itTaking on your first employee without losing control.
Your first employee does not simply add another pair of hands. They change how work is planned, communicated and paid for.
5 min readRead itUsing subcontractors without creating a muddle.
A subcontractor can add capacity quickly, but unclear scope and poor records can leave you responsible for a job nobody properly owns.
5 min readRead itKnowing when to turn work down.
Not every enquiry deserves a space in the diary. Some jobs cost more in disruption and risk than their quoted value suggests.
5 min readRead itGetting found locally without buying every lead.
The strongest local marketing often comes from work you already completed: a visible business, a useful website and customers willing to recommend you.
5 min readRead itKeeping records your accountant can actually use.
Good records are not about making your business look tidy. They stop you reconstructing months of work from bank statements and memory.
5 min readRead itDealing with a complaint before it becomes a bigger problem.
The first complaint is often about the work. The bigger dispute can start when nobody can agree what was promised or what happened next.
5 min readRead itProtecting your tools and keeping work moving after a theft.
The cost of stolen tools is only part of the damage. Lost working days, cancelled jobs and missing records can hurt just as much.
5 min readRead itMaking the quiet months less painful.
A quiet month is much easier to manage when you see it coming. The difficult version is discovering the gap only when the diary is already empty.
5 min readRead itGet started
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