Guides for solo tradespeople
Practical answers to the business side of the trade: quoting, invoicing and chasing money, written for one person with a van, not a firm with an office.
Getting paid
A series on the money you are owed, start to finish. The overview is on the getting paid page.
What to Do When a Customer Doesn't Pay Your Invoice
A reminder rhythm that works, wording that stays polite, and when to escalate: a practical unpaid-invoice playbook for self-employed tradespeople.
Read the guide →Letter Before Action Template for an Unpaid Invoice (UK)
A free letter before action template for UK tradespeople owed money, what the pre-action rules require you to enclose, and how long to give them to pay.
Read the guide →Small Claims Court for an Unpaid Invoice: What It Costs (UK)
Claiming an unpaid invoice through the county court: the fees, how long it takes, and the part nobody mentions, that winning is not the same as being paid.
Read the guide →Can I Charge Interest on a Late Invoice? UK Rules Explained
UK statutory interest is the Bank of England base rate plus 8% on business debts, plus a fixed sum per invoice. When you can charge it and how to work it out.
Read the guide →Invoice Payment Terms: What to Put on Your Quote
What payment terms to use as a UK sole trader, why they belong on the quote rather than the invoice, and the home-visit cancellation rule most miss.
Read the guide →How to Chase an Invoice Politely and Keep the Customer
The wording and timing that get an overdue invoice paid without damaging a customer relationship, plus what to do when the invoice is stuck inside a company.
Read the guide →Main Contractor Not Paying? UK Subcontractor Rights
The Construction Act gives subcontractors payment notices, a right to suspend work and adjudication in 28 days. What it covers and how to use it.
Read the guide →Retention in Construction: How to Get Your Money Back
What retention is, the usual 3% to 5% and when each half is released, why subcontractors lose it, and the practical steps that get it paid back to you.
Read the guide →How to Check a Customer Will Pay Before You Start the Job
The free Companies House checks that take five minutes, the red flags worth walking away from, and how to protect yourself on domestic work.
Read the guide →Stage Payments for Tradespeople: How to Structure Them
How to split a job into stage payments a customer will agree to, what makes a milestone enforceable, and why the money should stay ahead of the work.
Read the guide →Should a Sole Trader Use a Debt Collection Agency?
What debt collection agencies charge, when a third-party letter works better than yours, and when a free letter before action does the same job for nothing.
Read the guide →Writing Off an Unpaid Invoice: Tax and VAT for Sole Traders
Whether you can claim tax relief on a bad debt depends on your accounting basis, and most sole traders are now on the one with nothing to claim.
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Pricing and rates
A series on the money you are owed, start to finish. The overview is on the pricing and rates page.
How to Write a Quote That Wins the Job
What a trade quote needs, why itemising parts and labour wins more work, and how fast you have to send it. A practical guide for sole traders.
Read the guide →How to Price an End-of-Tenancy Clean
A pricing method for end-of-tenancy cleaning: base rate by property size, condition multiplier, itemised add-ons, and how to quote agents professionally.
Read the guide →How to Work Out Your Hourly Rate When Self-Employed
A simple method to set your hourly or day rate: start from what you need to earn, count only the hours you can actually bill, and add the hidden costs.
Read the guide →How Much Deposit Should You Take on a Job?
When to ask for a deposit, how much to take so it covers your materials rather than your profit, and how to put it in writing without scaring the customer off.
Read the guide →How to Price Materials: Markup vs Margin Explained
Why you mark up materials, the costly difference between markup and margin, and what to add so parts don't quietly eat the profit on every job you do.
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