Win More Work and Get Paid on Time
Payment stages are agreed before you start, the customer signs off each one, and the money is released. Registration is free and the transaction fee is paid by the customer, not taken out of your money.
“The Department welcomes the development of this scheme and supports its wider adoption.”
Winning work
See all 21Get More Bathroom Fitting Work
The quality you are selling is the part nobody can see. How to compete on more than price when the customer has no way to judge the work itself.
Get More Boiler Installation Work
Online fixed-price boiler companies have changed what customers expect. Here's how an independent Gas Safe engineer competes on more than price.
Get More Building Work
Builders lose jobs in the gap between quoting and deciding. What the customer does in those two weeks, and how to still be in the running at the end.
Get More Carpentry and Joinery Work
Bespoke joinery competes with off-the-shelf units on price and wins on fit. Here's how to sell what a flat-pack cannot do, and where the work comes from.
Get More Damp Proofing Work
The honest operator's problem: diagnose correctly and you often talk yourself out of the job. Here's how diagnostic-led positioning wins more work overall.
Get More Decorating Work
The most price-competitive domestic trade, where the difference between two quotes is preparation nobody can see. Here's how to specify and sell it.
Pricing & quoting
See all 8Day Rate or Fixed Price?
Day rates protect you on unpredictable work but make customers anxious. Fixed prices win jobs and carry the risk. When to use each, and how to cap a day rate.
How to Handle Variations and Extras
Unpriced extras are the biggest cause of disputed final bills on domestic work. Here is the ten-second habit that prevents almost all of them happening.
How to Price a Job Properly
Pricing on gut feel is how trades end up busy and broke. Here is how to build a day rate that covers what you actually spend, then price jobs from it.
How to Price When Material Costs Are Rising
Quotes that sit for months while prices move can turn a profitable job into a loss. Here is how to protect yourself without inflating every price you give.
How to Say No to a Job
The jobs that cost trades money are usually the ones they knew to avoid. How to spot them at the quote and decline without damaging your reputation.
How to Write a Quote That Wins Work
On domestic jobs the quote does most of the selling. Here is what to include so the customer can actually compare the numbers, and choose you.
Accreditation & insurance
See all 13Approved Code vs TrustMark vs Checkatrade
Three different things that trades routinely confuse. Here is what each one does, what it costs you in effort, and which one is worth holding first.
How to Become NICEIC or NAPIT Registered
What electrical registration requires: qualifications, a qualified supervisor, calibrated test equipment, and an assessment of your work and paperwork.
How to Get MCS Certified
MCS certification is what lets your customers claim export payments and grants. Here is what certification requires and why it gates most renewables work.
How to Join Buy with Confidence
Buy with Confidence is run through Trading Standards. Here is what the vetting covers, how to apply locally, and why it carries weight with consumers.
How to Join FENSA or CERTASS
Both schemes let window installers self-certify against the Building Regulations. Here is what registration requires and how the two compare in practice.
How to Join the Gas Safe Register
Gas Safe registration is a legal requirement for gas work. Here is the ACS qualification route, how work categories operate, and what registration involves.
Getting paid
See all 10Getting Paid for the Final Stage
The last payment is the hardest to collect on a domestic job. Why that happens, how to close a job so it gets paid, and what to do when snagging stalls.
How to Avoid Payment Disputes Before They Start
Most payment arguments are set up at the quoting stage. What to write down, how to stage payments against work, and how to handle variations so they get paid.
How to Chase an Overdue Invoice
A chasing sequence for domestic customers that keeps the relationship intact where it can be, and builds a usable written record for the times when it cannot.
How Trusted Payments Works for Trades
Registration, vetting, setting up a project, when you get paid, what it costs and who actually pays it. The practical detail for trades doing domestic work.
Protecting Customer Deposits: What the Code Requires
Every approved code requires that customers' money is protected. Here is what that means in practice, and why it is the hardest requirement to evidence.
Should You Take a Deposit?
How much deposit to ask a domestic customer for, how to justify it in a sentence, and why a smaller amount tied to materials wins more work than a large one.