Tips, guides and news for tradespeople running their business smarter with Gaffer.
You're lying on your back under a bath fitting a new waste trap and your phone rings. Your hands are covered in silicone. By the time you've wiped ...
Picture this: a homeowner searches "electrician near me" and two businesses come up. One has 47 reviews averaging 4.8 stars. The other has 3 review...
You've done a full day's graft. Fitted a bathroom, wired in some downlights, whatever it is. You get home knackered, have your tea, watch something...
You did the job. You sent the invoice. It's been twelve days and nothing. You're staring at your phone wondering whether to send a message, but you...
You're halfway through fitting a radiator in Chorlton and Mrs Patel rings asking if you can come look at her boiler tomorrow. You say yes because y...
It's 9:47pm on a Tuesday. Karen's just noticed a damp patch on her bedroom ceiling. She grabs her phone, Googles "plasterer near me", and messages ...
You don't need an office. You don't need a receptionist. You don't even need a laptop. Plenty of plumbers are running profitable businesses with no...
Your customers are already on WhatsApp. Not some of them — nearly all of them. 75% of UK adults use it daily. When they want to message a plumber...
Hand-written invoices on a scrap of paper. An amount texted with no breakdown. A WhatsApp message saying "that'll be £350 cheers." If you've done ...
The alarm goes off at 6:15. You check your phone, scroll through some messages, grab a coffee, throw your boots on, and you're out the door by quar...
You finish a bathroom refit. Three days of graft, materials out of your own pocket, two trips to the merchant. You send the invoice and the custome...
You're good at what you do. Your work is solid, your customers are happy, and you always leave the place tidy. But the phone isn't ringing as much ...
You've done your time. Apprenticeship, a few years working for someone else, maybe a stint subcontracting. Now you're thinking about going out on y...
There are hundreds of apps out there claiming to make your life easier as a tradesperson. Most of them are bloated, overpriced, or designed for off...
Most of your customers are sound. They tell you what they need, you do the work, they pay, everyone's happy. But every now and then you get one who...
Most tradespeople have a personal Facebook account they scroll through on their lunch break. Fewer have a proper business page. Even fewer use it t...
You've blocked out the morning for a quote in Stockport. Driven twenty minutes to get there. Knocked on the door. No answer. Texted them — nothin...
Your van is your office, your workshop, and your warehouse all rolled into one. If it's off the road, you're not earning. And yet loads of tradespe...
Ask ten tradespeople whether they need a website and you'll get ten different answers. Some swear by theirs. Others have run a successful business ...
Reviews are the new word of mouth. When someone needs a tradesperson, the very first thing they do is check Google. Not your website, not your Face...
You've just finished a two-hour callout — replaced a ball valve, sorted a dripping tap while you were there. The customer asks what they owe and ...
You're paying for leads and you're not sure if it's worth it. Maybe you signed up to Checkatrade a year ago and you've had a handful of decent jobs...
Your accountant keeps telling you to go limited. Your mate who's a spark says he saves a fortune on tax through his limited company. Meanwhile you'...
You've been round to look at the job. You know what it needs. You've worked out your price in your head on the drive home. Now you need to get a qu...
You finished the job on Friday. It's now Wednesday and the customer still hasn't paid. You've sent a polite text. You've sent a slightly less polit...
Nobody becomes a plumber or an electrician because they love tax paperwork. But ignore it and HMRC will eventually come knocking — and they're no...
When you're starting out, you take every job going. Doesn't matter if it's twenty miles away, the customer sounds difficult, or the budget is laugh...
Nobody wants to feel like they're being sold to. Especially not when they're already paying someone to fix a problem. But there's a world of differ...
A customer asks how they can pay. You say "bank transfer or cash." They look slightly awkward, fumble for their phone, promise to transfer it when ...
"Can you do anything on the price?" Six words that make every tradesperson's heart sink. You've driven to the job, spent time quoting it properly, ...
You're turning away two or three jobs a week. You're working six days, sometimes seven. Your partner barely sees you. The money's decent but you're...
Monday morning. You're sitting in the van trying to remember what you quoted that woman in Stretford. There's a message from a customer you forgot ...
Going self-employed as a tradesperson is one of the best career moves you can make. But the first year or two is littered with avoidable mistakes t...
Getting a new customer costs time, effort, and often money. Keeping an existing one costs almost nothing. Yet most tradespeople spend all their ene...
You're a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter — whatever your trade. But you're also an accountant, a receptionist, a project manager, a debt col...