From cash in hand to properly invoiced
What changes when a small trade starts invoicing properly: what it costs in time and tax, what it wins in bigger work, and the order to do things in.
Guides
Estimating, invoicing and getting paid, written for people who do the work rather than the paperwork.
When the laptop with your business on it dies
Where your quotes, invoices and customer records actually live, what happens to them when a device dies, and a backup routine you will still be doing in a year.
The admin that has to happen every week
A short Friday routine for a one person business: what to do weekly, what to leave for the month, and why the weekly version takes less time than the monthly one.
Purchase order, work order, job sheet
The vocabulary a first commercial client will use at you, what each document is actually for, who issues it, and which one has to match your invoice.
Charging interest on late payment
What statutory interest is worth on a commercial debt, how to work it out, and the more useful point: stating it on the invoice changes behaviour more than claiming it does.
How to quote for a job you have not seen
Provisional sums, the assumptions worth writing down, and the sentence that stops a figure given on the phone from becoming a price you are held to.
The client who is costing you money
How to recognise an unprofitable customer from your own records rather than from how they make you feel, what the extra visits actually cost, and how to let one go.
What records to keep, and for how long
What a one person business has to keep, in what form, and for how many years. The UK rules, the practical version, and the records people only miss once it matters.
Taking payment on site
Card reader, bank transfer or cash compared on fees, settlement time, and the thing that matters more than either: the odds of being paid before you drive away.
How long to give a client to pay
Net 7, 14 and 30 compared by what each does to your bank balance, what trades actually use, and why the terms you write matter less than the date you print.
What to say when a client asks for a discount
Reduce the scope, not the rate. What to say when a customer asks you to come down, why discounting the price is the worst of the available answers, and the wording that works.
When a quote becomes legally binding
A quote a customer has accepted is usually a contract. What that means in England and Wales, where estimates sit, and the wording that keeps a price from binding you too early.
Invoice numbering, and why a gap is a problem
Invoice numbers have to be unique and sequential. What that means in practice, when to assign one, and the mistake that produces two invoices numbered 0104.
Fixed price or day rate: which to quote
A decision rule rather than a list of pros and cons: who carries the risk of a job running long, when that is fairly yours, and what customers will pay for taking it.
What to do when a client will not pay
Where a debt goes after the reminders stop working: letter before action, money claim, what each costs, and the honest arithmetic on when to write it off instead.
Why quotes get ignored
Most quotes are not lost to a cheaper rival. They are lost to silence. Seven reasons a customer goes quiet, and what to change about the document.
How to charge for work that was not quoted
Variations are the most common way small jobs lose money. How to get one agreed before you do it, what to say, and why the email matters more than the paperwork.
How to price a job when you are starting out
The sum that gives you a floor price, worked through with real numbers, and why pricing off what the person down the road charges is how new trades go under.
How to chase a late invoice
A four step ladder for getting a late invoice paid, with the wording at each rung, how long to wait between them, and the point where it stops being a conversation.
How to work out your real hourly rate
Most self-employed trades earn about half their headline rate once unbillable hours and running costs come out. Here is the sum, worked through with real numbers.
Why your tools must work with no signal
Basements, plant rooms and lofts have no signal, and that is where the work is. What offline-first actually means, and the four tests to run before you trust it.
How to write an estimate that gets accepted
What separates the estimate that gets a yes from the one that gets silence: speed, scope, options, and the four questions every customer has but never asks out loud.
Deposits and staged payments on a long job
Why a job longer than a fortnight should be billed in stages, how to split it so the customer agrees, and the rounding mistake that quietly loses money on every split.
What actually has to be on an invoice
The parts an invoice needs to get you paid, the parts a tax authority needs, and why the second list will not save you if the first one is missing a reference number.
Estimate, quote or invoice: which is which
An estimate is a considered guess, a quote is a promise, and an invoice is a demand for money. Getting the label wrong is how tradespeople end up working for free.