Guides & Resources
Practical, no-nonsense guides on estimating, quoting and pricing for UK tradespeople — helping electricians, plumbers, builders, roofers, carpenters and plasterers win better work and protect their margins.
Preliminaries: The Site Costs That Eat Your Margin
Welfare, skips, permits and the final clean. One London borough charges £82 a day for a suspended parking bay, and most domestic quotes have no line for it.
Compliance & riskCompletion Certificates: What They Do to Your Final Payment
A completion certificate can take up to eight weeks after the final inspection — long enough for a client mid-sale to sit on the money you've already earned.
Compliance & riskThe 14-Day Cooling-Off Period on a Quote Signed at Home
A client can cancel within 14 days of signing at home, even after a deposit — and if you never told them, the window can stretch to 12 months.
Compliance & riskParty Wall Notices: What They Do to Your Price and Programme
Two months' notice for work on a shared wall, one month for a dig near the boundary — and the delay lands on your start date whether you served the notice or not.
Estimating & pricingMaterial Price Rises: How to Quote a Job Without Getting Burned
Steel up 17.7%, pipework up 12% in a year. Price validity dates, a short fluctuation clause, and locking suppliers in before you lock in the client.
Compliance & riskCDM Regulations 2015: What Small Builders Owe Domestic Clients
Client duties transfer to you the moment you're appointed — when that happens, when a job needs an F10, and what a proportionate construction phase plan looks like.
Estimating & pricingSubcontractor vs Direct Labour: Pricing a Job Either Way
What subcontracted labour actually costs against your own team — CIS deductions, insurance, markup and what changes on the quote.
Business & adminWhen to Walk Away From a Job (And How to Say No)
Red flags to spot before and during quoting, and how to decline a bad-fit client without burning the relationship.
Business & adminSnagging: How to Price the Last 5% of a Job
Snagging eats more time than its share of the job. How to build a stated allowance into your quote so the last 5% stops costing you for free.
Estimating & pricingProvisional Sums and PC Sums: How to Quote Them Without Losing Money
What each one actually covers, where your margin quietly leaks if you price them flat, and how to convert either one to a firm cost.
Business & adminRetentions in Construction: What They Are and How to Price For Them
The typical 5% split, why contractors hold it back, and how to price a job so a held-back retention doesn't wreck your cash flow.
Tax & VATThe VAT Reverse Charge for Construction, Explained
Who charges the VAT and who accounts for it, what your invoice has to say, and what it does to a subcontractor's cash flow.
Business & adminHow to Get Paid On Time as a UK Tradesperson
Deposits, stage payments and chasing late invoices — what belongs in the quote, when to invoice, and what the law actually lets you charge.
Estimating & pricingHow to Price Variations and Extras on a Building Job
“While you’re at it…” is where trade profit disappears. Spot a variation, price it properly, and get it agreed in writing before you start.
Estimating & pricingMargin vs Markup: How to Price a Job Properly
They’re not the same number — and confusing them quietly skims profit off every quote. The formulas, a conversion table and a worked example.
Estimating & pricingHow to Set Your Hourly Rate and Day Rate
Work out your true cost base, count your real billable hours, and price your work so every job actually pays you.
Estimating & pricingHow to Write a Construction Quote
Quote vs estimate, exactly what to include to protect your margin, and the mistakes that lose UK tradespeople work.
Estimating & pricingHow to Estimate a Construction Job
A UK step-by-step method: takeoffs, materials, labour, overheads, markup vs margin, contingency, VAT and presenting a professional quote.