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.
Guides
Estimating, invoicing and getting paid, written for people who do the work rather 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.