https://tradeyoke.net/blog/author/tradeyoke-team Notes, guides and updates from the people building TradeYoke. en-gb https://tradeyoke.net/blog/invoices-and-texts-in-welsh https://tradeyoke.net/blog/invoices-and-texts-in-welsh Thu, 24 Sep 2026 02:33:16 GMT TradeYoke's message templates — every quote, invoice, receipt and text — now ship in English, Spanish, Welsh, German, Portuguese and French. Here's why that matters for a Welsh-speaking customer base, and exactly how the language your business posts in is chosen. TradeYoke team Messaging Product Guides https://tradeyoke.net/blog/automatic-invoicing-and-pay-now-links https://tradeyoke.net/blog/automatic-invoicing-and-pay-now-links Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:33:16 GMT TradeYoke can now raise and send a window cleaning, gardening or scaffolding invoice the moment the job's marked done, and every invoice carries a Pay now button — on the email, the PDF and the customer's own account page. 💷 Late payment costs UK small businesses real money in time and cash flow — HMRC's Making Tax Digital rules aside, an invoice that isn't raised on the day it's earned is an invoice that takes longer to collect. The fix that works, for every trade we've watched, is the same: shorten the gap between the job finishing and the ask to pay. ### What you can do about it today, TradeYoke or not Quick answer: raise the invoice the same day, put a way to pay by card on it, and stop sending an invoice that just states a total with no button to act on. ### Five habits that get you paid faster, whatever you use - ✓ Invoice same-day, not same-week — The longer the gap between the job and the invoice, the less the customer remembers why they're paying — and the easier it is for you to forget to send it at all. - ✓ Put a way to pay ON the invoice — A PDF with a bank sort code buried in the footer asks the customer to do the work of paying. A button that already knows the amount does not. - ✓ Make the link work more than once — A pay link that dies after a day just means a second, more awkward, message a week later. - ✓ Decide your default, and stick to it — Card payments by default with a manual option for the regulars who prefer bank transfer beats deciding case by case, tired, at 9pm. - ✓ Keep a debt book, even a rough one — Knowing who owes what and for how long is the difference between chasing early and chasing embarrassingly late. ### How TradeYoke does it: the job invoices itself Quick answer: turn on automatic invoicing for window cleaning, gardening or scaffolding and a job raises and emails its own invoice the moment it's marked done — off by default, with a per-customer override. TradeYoke's invoicing sits on an immutable ledger, so every invoice, payment and adjustment is a permanent entry rather than a field someone can quietly edit. On top of that ledger, a completed job can now raise its own invoice and send it — for window cleaning, gardening and scaffolding — the moment it's marked done. It's off by default for the whole business, so nothing changes until you decide it should, and it's off (or on) per customer too, for the accounts where a blanket rule is the wrong call — the regular who's always invoiced monthly, say, or the landlord who wants one statement for six properties. [Image: An invoice raised from a completed job, with the Pay now link already attached] ### Pay now, wherever the customer is looking Quick answer: a Pay now button now appears on the invoice email, on the PDF itself, and on the customer's own portal page — always for exactly what's still owed, and the link stays live. Getting the invoice out is only half of it; the other half is not making the customer hunt for a way to pay it. TradeYoke now puts a Pay now button in three places a customer is actually likely to be looking: the email the invoice arrives in, the PDF document itself (so it still works if they've saved or forwarded it), and their own portal page if you've set one up. Whichever one they tap, it charges exactly what's still owed — not the original total if part of it's already been paid — and a copied link keeps working, rather than quietly expiring after a day. You can turn Pay now off tenant-wide, or set an individual customer to always or never see it, for the accounts you'd rather handled by bank transfer. ### A Stripe set-up that doesn't need a technical co-founder Quick answer: Connect with Stripe now asks for one thing at a time and needs only your secret key to get going — no webhook key hunting required to start taking card payments. Card payments run through your own Stripe account — TradeYoke never holds your money — and the connection screen has been simplified so it shows only the next thing you actually need to do, with everything else ticked off or tucked away. If the connection ever gets into a stuck, technical-looking state, TradeYoke now clears it automatically and invites you to reconnect with a plain message instead of showing you a raw error. **Whose Stripe account is it?** Yours. You connect your own Stripe account in settings, and payouts go straight to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule — TradeYoke is never in the middle of your money. **Which jobs can invoice themselves?** Window cleaning, gardening and scaffolding today. It's off by default for the whole business and can be switched on — or overridden for one customer — in settings. **Does Pay now work without an online account?** Yes. Neither the pay link nor the customer portal need the customer to create a login or download anything. **Can I still take bank transfer or cash?** Yes — manual payments are recorded against the invoice the same way as card payments, and the ledger treats them the same for your reports. Related: Invoicing & payments · Customer portal · Getting paid · The who-owes-me morning report ### Stop chasing your own invoices 30 days of Essentials free, no card required. Import your customers and see the next invoice send itself. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Payments Guides Product https://tradeyoke.net/blog/document-library-that-finds-a-certificate-in-seconds https://tradeyoke.net/blog/document-library-that-finds-a-certificate-in-seconds Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:33:16 GMT "It's in here somewhere" is not a filing system. Here's what actually makes trade paperwork findable — and how TradeYoke searches inside the file, not just its name, to find the certificate that mentions a serial number or a customer's name. TradeYoke team Documents Compliance Guides https://tradeyoke.net/blog/getting-your-first-round-into-tradeyoke https://tradeyoke.net/blog/getting-your-first-round-into-tradeyoke Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:15:11 GMT A practical walkthrough: import customers, set frequencies, order the day, and send the first 'we're coming tomorrow' texts — without retyping a single address. TradeYoke team Guides Window cleaning https://tradeyoke.net/blog/paper-to-app-in-one-afternoon https://tradeyoke.net/blog/paper-to-app-in-one-afternoon Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:15:11 GMT The fear of moving is worse than the move. Import the spreadsheet, let the app find the duplicates and geocode the addresses, book next week, and keep the notebook in the glovebox for a fortnight. 💡 Add a column called Notes and put access instructions in it: gate codes, which dog, where the key is, "park on the road not the drive". Those notes show up on the job when you are stood at the door. [Image: One customer list across trades, with balance, next visit and location on the map.] ### Hour two: duplicates and addresses Every hand-kept list has the same customer twice: once as "Jones, 14 Elm Rd" and once as "Mr Jones, 14 Elm Road". The import flags likely duplicates on name and address and offers a merge that keeps both sets of notes and history, so you resolve them in one sitting rather than finding them in June. Addresses are geocoded as they come in, which is what makes the map, nearest-first routing and the mileage log work later. A handful will not resolve because the postcode is wrong or the house has a name rather than a number. Fix those now while you still remember where the house is; the customer record shows the pin and lets you drag it. ### Hour three: the round and next week Recurring work is where a notebook really lets you down, because the pattern lives in your head. Whether you clean windows every four weeks or cut a lawn fortnightly, set the recurrence once per customer and the diary fills itself. Each visit gets its own record, so "done", "skipped" and "carried over" mean something a year from now. Then book next week exactly as the notebook has it. This is the moment the app becomes real: tomorrow's list on your phone, in the order you would drive it. From here on, the round runs from the app and the notebook is a backup. Window cleaners can see how a round looks on the window cleaning trade page; gardeners will find the seasonal version on the gardening page. [Image: Booking the first visit in the job wizard: today, tomorrow, next Monday, in a week or a date you pick — the round takes it from there.] ### Money owed today Finally, record what is outstanding. For each customer who owes you, raise the invoice or record the balance so the app's "who owes me" view is right on day one. This is the step people skip and regret, because a reminder system that thinks everyone is paid up cannot chase anyone. Once it is in, the morning owed report and pay links do the chasing for you. Do not chase the money the same afternoon. Give customers a week with a polite note that you have moved to a new system and they will be able to pay by link from now on. The tone of that note is covered in chasing late payments the polite way. ### The afternoon, in order - ✓ One spreadsheet — Name, address, postcode, phone, price, frequency, notes. Typed as it is. - ✓ Import and merge — Let the app flag duplicates; merge them while you remember which is which. - ✓ Fix the unplaced pins — Drag the handful of addresses that would not geocode. - ✓ Set the recurrence — Once per customer. The diary fills itself. - ✓ Book next week — Exactly as the notebook has it. This is your first real day on the app. - ✓ Record what is owed — So the owed report and reminders are right from day one. - ✓ Keep the notebook for a fortnight — In the glovebox. You will not open it, but it helps to know it is there. ### What about the old records? HMRC expects you to keep business records for a set number of years after the relevant tax year, so keep the old notebooks and files exactly as they are. You do not need to type history into the app for it to be valid; you need it to be findable if asked. gov.uk sets out how long to keep what. [Business records if you're self-employed](https://www.gov.uk/self-employed-records): What records HMRC expects a self-employed person to keep, and for how long. > Move the customers, the pattern and the money. Everything else can stay in the drawer. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **What if I get the prices wrong on import?** Prices live on the customer record, so you fix one and the next job picks it up. An import is not a commitment; it is a starting point you correct as you visit each customer. **Can I import from another app?** Yes, as long as it can export a spreadsheet or CSV. Map the columns, import, merge any duplicates and you are done. Our guide to choosing job management software suggests doing this on day one of a trial for exactly that reason. **Do my customers need to do anything?** No. They will notice a reminder text the day before, a tidier invoice and a link to pay, and that is all. Tell them once that you have moved to a new system so the first text is not a surprise. **How do I price the round once it is in the app?** The app will show you what the round is worth per week and per month. If that number is a shock, read how to price a window cleaning round in 2026 before you change anything. ### Bring the notebook, we'll do the rest Import the spreadsheet, merge the duplicates, book next week. Thirty days of Essentials free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Guides https://tradeyoke.net/blog/pricing-a-window-cleaning-round https://tradeyoke.net/blog/pricing-a-window-cleaning-round Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:15:11 GMT Price by time and access, not by the number of windows. The 2026 bands for UK homes, the rule for hard-access work, and how to raise prices without losing the street. 💡 Put the access notes on the customer record so the price and the reason for it live together. When you quote the house next door, you will remember why this one is £4 more. [Image: The customer record holds the price, the frequency and the access notes, so the next job and the next quote start from the same facts.] ### Density is the hidden multiplier The most profitable round in town is not the one with the highest prices; it is the one with the least driving. Nine houses in a row at £12 beat three scattered houses at £20 every day of the week, because you are paid for cleaning and not for the A31. Price lower to win a street, and hold the price on the outliers that cost you fifteen minutes each way. This is why we show the round's value and route in the app rather than just a list. The window cleaning trade page shows how a round is planned nearest-first, and the report tells you what each day is worth so you can see which day needs filling in. ### Raising prices without losing the street Every round drifts under-priced because you set the number years ago and added customers at the old rate. Raise little and often rather than a lot once. A £1 rise on a £12 clean is 8% and nobody cancels over it; a £4 rise after five years of silence loses the customers who were only ever staying for the price. Tell people in writing, a month ahead, with the new price and the reason in two sentences. Send it with the reminder text so they read it, not as a separate letter that gets binned. Then raise every price the same day so the round stays consistent; the app's message wizard sends the same note to the whole round at once. If you collect by Direct Debit the new amount simply applies from the next collection, which is one more reason to read why GoCardless changes the round. > You are paid for cleaning, not for driving. Price for the minutes on site and win the street with density. — TradeYoke ### What the round is worth Once your prices and frequencies are in the app, look at the round's value per week and per month. That number is your business. If it is short of what you need, the gap is filled with either more houses on existing streets or higher prices on the outliers, and the report shows which. It also makes the case for the software: a £19 plan is less than two cleans a month, and the pricing page shows what the higher tier adds if you want to collect online. [Image: The round: every customer with frequency, price and next due date, and the value of the round per week.] ### Questions people ask **Should I charge more for the first clean?** Yes. A first clean takes longer, uses more water and has no repeat to spread the travel over. Many rounds charge one and a half to two times the regular price for the first visit and say so on the quote. **Do I price by the window or by the house?** By the house, based on time and access. Counting windows looks precise but ignores gates, height and walking distance, which is where the minutes actually go. **How often should I raise prices?** Little and often. A small rise every year or two, announced a month ahead by text with the reminder, is easier on customers than a big rise every five years. Raise every house on the same day so the round stays consistent. **What about commercial work?** Price commercial on time and frequency too, but expect to invoice monthly rather than collect per visit. Reminder texts matter less; a tidy monthly invoice with a pay link matters more, which is where the day-before text gives way to the invoice email. ### Put the round in and see what it is worth Import your customers, set the prices and frequencies, and the app shows the value of every day. Thirty days free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Window cleaning Pricing https://tradeyoke.net/blog/direct-debit-for-window-cleaners https://tradeyoke.net/blog/direct-debit-for-window-cleaners Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:15:11 GMT Around 1% on a £12 clean, no Friday-evening collections, and money that arrives whether the customer was in or not. How Direct Debit changes a window cleaning round, and how to move customers onto it. ✅ Direct Debit is protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee, which customers know from their utilities. Say so when you offer it. It answers the "what if you take too much?" question before it is asked. ### What uptake looks like on a real round Do not expect everyone to switch. A realistic round ends up with a large majority on Direct Debit, a few on card pay links, and a handful of older customers who will always want to leave cash under the pot. That is fine. The point is not a perfect round; it is a round where collecting is the exception rather than the Friday. New customers are the easy win. Offer Direct Debit as the normal way to pay when you quote, with cash as the alternative rather than the default, and most say yes without a second thought. Existing customers move over in waves: when you raise prices, when you send the first tidy invoice, and when they miss a payment and get a polite reminder with a mandate link in it. [Image: Invoices on the phone: each clean becomes a numbered invoice, and a Direct Debit collection settles it automatically.] ### How it works inside the app In TradeYoke you connect GoCardless once from the Payments settings and it is switched on for the window cleaning module. When you mark a clean done, the invoice is generated and a payment is requested against the customer's mandate. When GoCardless confirms the collection, a webhook settles the invoice in the ledger. There is nothing to reconcile by hand and nothing to re-type into Xero, because the bookkeeping sync pushes both the invoice and the payment. Customers who do not want a mandate get a pay link by text or email, and a customer portal where they can see everything they owe and pay it. Taking payments online is a Premium feature and the customer portal comes with Ultimate on the pricing page; a round of 200 houses recovers the difference on the first Friday it does not spend collecting. There is a fuller picture of the payments side on the platform page. ### Moving a round across without a fight ### The switch, step by step - ✓ Connect GoCardless — Once, from Payments settings. Switch it on for window cleaning. - ✓ Offer it to every new customer — As the normal way to pay. Cash is the alternative, not the default. - ✓ Send one message to the round — Two sentences: you now offer Direct Debit, it is protected by the Guarantee, here is the link. - ✓ Add the link to reminders — The day-before text carries the mandate link for anyone not yet set up. - ✓ Ride the price rise — When you next raise prices, invite everyone to switch at the same time. - ✓ Let the reminders do the rest — Anyone who misses a payment gets a polite nudge with the link in it. Give it three months. By then the mandate link has been in front of every customer four or five times in the normal course of the round, and the ones who were going to switch have switched. The morning who owes me email shows you the ones who have not, and a personal word at the door usually does the rest. > Clean on Tuesday, paid by Friday, without driving back. That is what Direct Debit buys a round. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **Do customers have to pay a fixed monthly amount?** No. The mandate authorises you to collect; each collection is for that visit's price. If you skip a clean, nothing is collected. If you raise a price, the new amount applies from the next collection. **What if a Direct Debit fails?** The app records the failure against the invoice and the customer stays on the owed list, so a reminder goes out and you can try again or take a card payment by link. It is treated exactly like an unpaid invoice. **Is Direct Debit worth it on a £10 clean?** At around 1% the fee is 10p. The alternative is a return visit or an unpaid clean, so for regular work it pays for itself many times over. The maths is set out in how to price a window cleaning round. **Can I use both cards and Direct Debit?** Yes. Stripe handles cards for one-off work and pay links; GoCardless handles the regular round. Both settle against the same invoices in the same ledger. ### End the Friday collections Connect GoCardless, offer it to the round, and watch the owed list shrink. Start with 30 days of Essentials, no card; online payments unlock on Premium. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Window cleaning Payments https://tradeyoke.net/blog/we-are-coming-tomorrow-texts https://tradeyoke.net/blog/we-are-coming-tomorrow-texts Wed, 12 Aug 2026 07:15:11 GMT One text at 6 pm the day before, sent from tomorrow's plan, and the side gate is open, the car is off the drive and the money is ready. How reminder texts work and what to put in them. 💡 A version that works for most rounds: "Hi Sarah, it's Dan from Clearview. We'll be round to clean your windows tomorrow morning. Please leave the side gate unlocked. You can pay by the link below or leave it as usual. Thanks!" Then the pay link. ### What to do with the replies The reason to send from a real number rather than a no-reply service is that people answer. "We're away till Thursday", "the dog's out, can you do the back next time", "can you skip this month". Each reply is a decision that saves a wasted stop, so it needs to land somewhere you will see it in the morning rather than in a personal phone full of other messages. In the app replies land in the customer's own thread alongside the visit history, so when you open tomorrow's plan the reply is there against the job. A "we're away" reply becomes a skip and a carry-over in two taps, and the customer gets a receipt when the next clean is done. The same thread carries emails, so the story of that customer is in one place whichever way they wrote. ### Scheduled, not remembered The text has to go at the same time every evening or it does not work, and 6 pm on a Tuesday is when you are least likely to remember it. Schedule it. In the message wizard you choose email or SMS, write once, and pick "send now" or a time; the app sends it whether or not you are looking at your phone. If a plan changes after the message is scheduled, cancel and resend from the new plan in the same wizard. The same wizard sends the on-the-way text in the morning when the job before overruns, the receipt when a clean is paid, and the owing notice when it is not. One tool, four moments in the customer's day. It is part of Essentials and every plan above it on the pricing page and works for gardeners and every other trade on the trades page, not just window cleaners. [Image: Tomorrow on the phone: the plan the text was sent from, in the order you will drive it.] ### Keeping it on the right side of the rules A service message to an existing customer about a visit they are expecting is different from a marketing text, but the line blurs the moment you add an offer. Keep reminders as reminders, put marketing in a separate message people have agreed to receive, and honour a "please stop texting me" straight away. The ICO's guidance sets out the rules; if in doubt, keep the text about the visit and nothing else. See also: how to stop no-shows with the right reminder text [Direct marketing and privacy and electronic communications](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/): The ICO's guidance on the rules for marketing by text and email, and what counts as a service message. > Plan the day, then text the plan. Never text the round as you wish it were. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **What time should the reminder text go out?** Early evening the day before, around 6 pm, works for most rounds: late enough that the day's plan is final, early enough that people can move a car or unlock a gate before bed. **Should I send by text or email?** Text for the day-before reminder because it is read within minutes. Email for invoices, receipts and anything with an attachment. The wizard sends either, and both land in the same customer thread. **What if the customer replies and I miss it?** Replies land in the customer's thread in the app, against the job, so they are in front of you when you open tomorrow's plan. Nothing sits in a personal inbox. See on-the-way texts and live monitoring for the morning side of the same conversation. **Does it cost money to send texts?** SMS is charged per message by the network, pence at a time. Set it against one unlocked gate and it pays for the month. The mechanics of the pay link in the text are in Direct Debit for window cleaners. ### Send tomorrow's text from tomorrow's plan Plan the day, order it, and the reminders go out at 6 pm to the right customers. Thirty days free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Window cleaning Messaging https://tradeyoke.net/blog/rain-days-and-carried-over-work https://tradeyoke.net/blog/rain-days-and-carried-over-work Fri, 07 Aug 2026 09:15:11 GMT A wet Tuesday is not a lost day if every visit has its own record. Carry the undone stops forward in one go, replan Wednesday nearest-first, and the round is back on cycle by Friday. ⚠️ Do not let a carried-over stop change the customer's cycle. If they are on four-weekly, the next visit after the carry-over should still be four weeks from the original date, or the whole round drifts a week every wet month. ### Replan tomorrow nearest-first A day with Tuesday's leftovers dropped on top of Wednesday's round is a long day, and the way to make it a possible day is the order. Plan my day takes tomorrow's suggestions, the carried-over stops and anything overdue, lets you decide each one (today, another day, not now) and then orders the day nearest-first from the first stop, with the map alongside if you want it. Then it sends the plan to the phone. That is also the moment to send the reminder texts, because they go to the customers on the plan rather than the round as it was meant to be. If you tell tomorrow's people tonight, the gates are open and the extra ten stops fit. The reasoning is in the text that stops locked gates. [Image: Plan my day on the phone: decide each stop, order the day, go.] ### Watch the weather before it watches you The dashboard and the schedule show the forecast for the days ahead, so a wet Thursday shows up on Monday. Use it. Pull a couple of Thursday's outliers forward into Wednesday's route while the weather is dry, and Thursday becomes a short day that can absorb the rain. For the full forecast, the Met Office is the source most of us check anyway. [Met Office weather forecasts](https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/): The UK's national weather service, for the week-ahead forecast that decides which day takes the carry-over. ### Telling customers, and telling the truth When a clean is carried over, the customer needs one line. "Rained off today, we'll be round Thursday" is enough, and the app sends it to the carried-over stops as a group. When the clean is done, the record shows the date it actually happened, so the invoice, the receipt and the customer's history all agree. That matters if you collect by Direct Debit, because the collection is for the visit that happened, not the one that was planned. Long term, per-visit records tell you how much weather actually costs you. The report shows what the round earned each week, so a wet fortnight is a number rather than a feeling, which helps when you price the round or decide whether a Saturday catch-up is worth it. Per-visit records and the weather view are on every plan, Free included, on the pricing page. There is more on the money side of the round in how to price a window cleaning round. ### The wet-week routine - ✓ Check the forecast on Monday — Pull outliers off the wet day while it is dry. - ✓ Clean what you can — Drizzle is fine with pure water. Only stop when it is genuinely pouring. - ✓ Carry over in one go — Move every undone stop on the day to its new day, keeping the visit records. - ✓ Keep the cycle — The next visit stays four weeks from the original date. - ✓ Replan nearest-first — Plan my day orders the long day so it is a possible day. - ✓ Text tonight — One line to the carried-over stops and the reminder to tomorrow's plan. > A visit is a fact. A series is a wish. Keep a record of the facts and the weather cannot rewrite your round. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **Should I clean in the rain?** Light rain with pure water is fine and most customers accept it. Heavy rain is a carry-over. The judgement is yours, but the record per visit means either choice is recorded honestly. **What happens to the invoice for a carried-over clean?** Nothing until the clean happens. The invoice is generated from the visit when it is marked done, on the date it was done, so nothing is billed for a clean that has not taken place. **Does this work without signal?** Yes on the installed app. Marking stops done or carried over in a dead spot queues the change and syncs when you are back in range. The reasons are in why "works offline" is the feature you'll use most. **Do gardeners have the same problem?** Worse, because a wet lawn cannot be cut at all. The same carry-over and seasonal cadence apply; see fortnightly in summer, monthly in winter. ### Make the wet week a short one Carry over in one go, replan nearest-first, text the plan. Thirty days of Essentials free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Window cleaning https://tradeyoke.net/blog/gardening-maintenance-contracts-that-stick https://tradeyoke.net/blog/gardening-maintenance-contracts-that-stick Sun, 02 Aug 2026 11:15:11 GMT A fixed price against a written task list, month to month with 30 days' notice, and every extra quoted first. The contract structure that stops scope creep and keeps gardens on the books for years. ⚠️ Do the extras discipline every single time. The first free "while you're here" becomes the customer's expectation, and you cannot charge for it in June if you gave it away in May. ### Extras: quote first, always Extras are where a maintenance round makes or loses its margin. The rule is simple and it is the one that takes discipline: nothing outside the list is done until it is quoted and agreed. A quote can be a line on the phone in the app, sent by text, accepted with a tap. That takes a minute and turns "can you just" into paid work. It also makes the customer feel in control, which keeps them on the books. People do not resent paying for a hedge they asked for and agreed a price on. They resent a surprise on the invoice. The quotes board on the gardening trade page shows the extras waiting on a decision alongside the regular round, and an accepted extra becomes a job on the diary. ### 30 days' notice, and why it protects you Month to month with 30 days' notice either way sounds like it favours the customer, and it does, a little. But it also protects you. It means you can drop the garden that has become a problem, or raise the price with a month's warning, without breaking a fixed term. Long fixed terms sound secure and in practice lock you into under-priced work. Contracts agreed at the customer's home can carry cancellation rights under consumer law, so put the notice terms in writing and keep a copy on the customer record. The gov.uk guidance covers the basics; ask an adviser if your terms are unusual. [Online and distance selling for businesses](https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses): The rules for contracts agreed away from your premises, including customers' cancellation rights. ### Running it from the app Once the contract exists, the app runs it. The visit pattern becomes a recurring round with a record per visit. The task list is on the job. Extras are quoted, accepted and booked. The invoice is generated from the visit, emailed with the photos, and paid by link or Direct Debit. If a customer pays late, the reminders and the morning owed report deal with it; the tone is covered in chasing late payments the polite way. All of that is on the Essentials plan on the pricing page, with online payments on Premium. > The task list is the contract. Everything else is an extra, and every extra is quoted first. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **Should I charge per visit or per month?** Per visit if your customers like to see the work on the invoice; per month if you want even cash flow through winter. If monthly, put the seasonal visit pattern in the contract so January is not a surprise. **What if the customer keeps asking for extras on the day?** Quote them on the spot from the phone and do them once accepted, or book them for the next visit. Never do them free. The habit is the whole margin. **Is a one-page contract legally enough?** For most domestic maintenance work a clear written agreement covering price, scope, extras and notice is what matters, and it is what stops disputes. If you take on commercial sites or unusual terms, get advice. **How do I handle winter when there is less to do?** Change the visit pattern with the season and say so in the contract. The detail is in fortnightly in summer, monthly in winter, and photos that prove the visit are in before-and-after photos that sell the next visit. ### Put the task list on every visit Fixed price, written list, extras quoted first, invoice from the visit. Thirty days of Essentials free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Gardening Pricing https://tradeyoke.net/blog/seasonal-garden-schedules https://tradeyoke.net/blog/seasonal-garden-schedules Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:15:11 GMT A garden does not grow at the same speed all year, so the visit pattern should not stay the same either. How to set a seasonal schedule per property and let the diary follow the seasons. 💡 When you put a garden on a seasonal pattern, write the pattern on the quote and the contract in one line: "Fortnightly April to October, monthly November to March, 18 visits a year." The number of visits is what the customer remembers. ### Changing gear at the change of season The awkward fortnight is the switch: the week in March when half the round goes fortnightly and the week in October when it goes back. Do it garden by garden as you visit, not all on one day. Each visit in March is a chance to look at the growth and decide whether this one goes to fortnightly now or next time, and the record per visit means the next due date moves from the day you decide. The diary shows the round by day, week and month, colour-coded, so you can see the coming weeks fill up as gardens switch and even out the load by nudging a few. The plan for each day is then ordered nearest-first from the properties actually due, which matters more in summer when the days are long and full. Weather is on the same screen; a wet week in April shifts the whole round in the same way as a window cleaner's, which is covered in how a round survives a wet week. [Image: The diary by week: gardens on fortnightly and monthly patterns sitting alongside each other, colour-coded by trade.] ### Winter is where the round is kept A monthly winter visit is not a formality. It is the visit that keeps the customer's garden looking cared for when the neighbours' are not, which is when the next customer on the street notices. Leaf clearing, winter pruning, gutters, a tidy of the beds and a check of the fences and the shed. Photograph it and send the photos with the invoice, because in January the customer has not looked out of the window; that habit is the subject of before-and-after photos that sell the next visit. Winter is also when you quote the spring extras: the hedge reduction, the new border, the turf. Those go on the quotes board and become jobs in March, when the diary has room for them before the fortnightly pattern fills it. If you also do landscaping, fencing or a second trade, the same customer list and diary carry it; see running two trades on one account and the platform overview. > Follow the growth, not the calendar. Set the pattern per garden and let the diary change gear for you. — TradeYoke ### Questions people ask **Should every garden go fortnightly in summer?** No. Small, low-maintenance gardens can stay monthly all year and some fast lawns need weekly in May and June. Set the pattern per property and adjust it as you see the growth. **How do I bill a seasonal pattern monthly?** Count the visits in a year, multiply by the visit price, divide by twelve, and put the visit pattern in the contract. The customer pays the same each month and knows what to expect in January. **What happens if I miss a fortnightly visit because of weather?** Carry it over rather than skip it. The visit record moves to the new date and the next visit stays on the original cycle, so the garden gets its visits and the round does not drift. **Do I have to re-book every visit when the season changes?** No. Change the property's pattern once and every future visit for that garden moves. The rest of the round is untouched. ### Let the diary follow the seasons Set each garden's pattern once and the round changes gear on its own. Thirty days of Essentials free, no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Gardening https://tradeyoke.net/blog/before-and-after-photos-that-sell-the-next-visit https://tradeyoke.net/blog/before-and-after-photos-that-sell-the-next-visit Thu, 23 Jul 2026 08:15:11 GMT Two photos taken on the visit do more for a garden maintenance business than any leaflet. Here is how to take them, file them and send them so the next visit sells itself. The customer never saw the lawn. Show them the lawn. — TradeYoke ### Take them on the visit, not at the end of the week The photo you take on the drive home is a photo of the wrong garden. Take the before shot as you unload, before the mower is even off the van. Take the after shot as the last thing before you pull away, from the same spot, facing the same way. Same spot matters more than a good camera. Stand by the gate post, the back door, the corner of the patio. A matching pair from one position reads as a transformation; two shots from different angles read as two gardens. #### The two shots that matter The wide one. The whole lawn or the whole border from the same standing point, before and after. This is the one the customer forwards to their partner. The detail. The edge you cut, the bed you cleared, the hedge line. This is the one that justifies the invoice line. Anything beyond those two is optional. A dozen photos per visit becomes a chore by Thursday, and a chore stops happening. > 💡 Take the after shot before you sweep up the van. Once the tools are packed, the temptation is to leave. The photo takes eight seconds; the rebooking it earns takes none. ### Attach them to the job, not your camera roll A photo on your phone is lost by the following Tuesday. A photo attached to the visit is there when the customer queries the bill in October, when you quote the same garden next spring, and when a new team member needs to see what "tidy the front" means at that address. In TradeYoke the phone app captures photos and video straight onto the job from the visit itself. They file into the document library against the job and the customer at the same time, so opening the customer record shows every visit's photos in order. Nothing is re-uploaded and nothing sits in a group chat. [Image: A gardening round on the schedule. Each visit has its own record, and photos attach to the visit rather than to the whole series.] ### Send them with the invoice The invoice email is the one message a customer always opens. Put the after photo in it. A bill that arrives with a picture of a clean, striped lawn is a bill that gets paid, and a bill with a pay link in it gets paid the same day. How UK tradespeople get paid the same day covers the pay-link side. For contract customers who pay monthly, the photos can go on the "we're done" text instead. TradeYoke's message wizard sends email or SMS from the customer's record, and any reply lands back in the same thread, so "could you do the side passage next time" is captured where the next visit will see it. ### Photos are the evidence for extras Extras are where garden businesses lose money. The customer mentions the overgrown corner, you do it, and the invoice becomes an argument. A photo of the corner before you touched it, sent with a one-line quote before you start, is the discipline that stops the argument happening. The rule from the contracts guide applies here too: extras are quoted separately and first. A photo attached to that quote means the customer says yes to something they can see. If you are already running seasonal schedules per property, the autumn clear-up is the extra most worth photographing. ### The customer's permission and the neighbour's hedge You are photographing someone's home. Most customers are delighted, but ask once, note it on the record, and keep the camera inside the boundary. A photo that includes the neighbour's windows, their car, or a child in the next garden should not be taken, let alone sent. Photos of a customer's property are personal data under UK GDPR when they identify a person or an address. Keep them on the job, do not post them publicly without asking, and delete them if a customer asks you to. The Information Commissioner's Office has plain guidance for small businesses. [UK GDPR guidance and resources](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/): The Information Commissioner's Office guidance for organisations, including small businesses handling customer data. [Lawn care business guides](https://gettinylawn.com/): Practical material on maintenance contracts, per-visit pricing and quoting extras separately, referenced in our editorial research. ### The photo routine that sticks - ✓ Before shot as you unload — Same spot every visit. Gate post, back door or patio corner. - ✓ After shot before you pack up — Same spot, same direction, last thing before you leave. - ✓ Attach to the visit — Capture from the job in the app so it files against the job and the customer. - ✓ Extras: photo first, quote second — Send the photo with the price before you start. - ✓ Send the after shot with the invoice — Or with the done text for monthly contract customers. - ✓ Stay inside the boundary — No neighbours, no cars, no people. ### Questions people ask **Do customers actually look at the photos?** The ones who are out at work do, because it is the only view of the garden they get. Send the after shot with the invoice or the done text and you will see the difference in how quickly it is paid and how rarely it is queried. **How many photos should I take per visit?** Two: a wide shot of the whole area and a detail of the work that justifies the price. Take the same two from the same position every time. More than that becomes a chore and stops happening. **Where should the photos be stored?** Against the visit, not on your phone. TradeYoke captures photos from the job on the phone app and files them into the document library against the job and the customer, so the whole history sits on the customer's record. **Can I use the photos on my website or social media?** Ask the customer first and note their answer on their record. Photos of a home can be personal data, so keep them inside the boundary and remove anything a customer asks you to take down. The ICO publishes small-business guidance on this. Gardening is live in TradeYoke today. See what the gardening module includes, or compare plans on the pricing page. Photos and the document library come with every plan; emailing and texting customers from the message wizard start on Essentials. See also: whether your round needs a website ### Photos on the visit, filed where you'll find them Start a 30-day free trial with your real round and take the first before-and-after pair tomorrow morning. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Gardening Documents https://tradeyoke.net/blog/chasing-late-payments-the-polite-way https://tradeyoke.net/blog/chasing-late-payments-the-polite-way Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:15:11 GMT A reminder ladder that keeps customers, the automation that gets you paid weeks sooner, and exactly what the Late Payment Act lets you charge when a business ignores you. Polite is not the same as soft. The ladder is polite every step and clear about the last one. — TradeYoke ### Automate the ladder and get paid weeks sooner The ladder only works if it actually runs, and on a busy week it will not run from memory. Automated reminders send each step on schedule, and Xero's research on UK late payments found that businesses using automated reminders get paid up to 54 days sooner than those chasing by hand. In TradeYoke the message wizard sends email or SMS now or at a scheduled time, and owing notices go to customers with an outstanding balance. Replies land in the customer's thread, so "I've paid this morning" and "the gate was locked so I disputed it" both arrive where you will see them. The morning who-owes-me email tells you each day which customers are on which rung. [Xero UK: late payments guidance](https://www.xero.com/uk/): Xero's UK small-business guides on late payment, including the finding that automated reminders get businesses paid up to 54 days sooner. [Image: The customer list shows owing and overdue balances at a glance, so the ladder starts from a list rather than a memory.] ### When polite fails: your rights against a business customer If the customer is a business, a letting agent, a landlord trading as a company, a main contractor, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 applies whether or not your terms mention it. Once a debt is late you are entitled to: Statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, calculated daily from the day after the due date. A fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 per invoice as compensation for recovery costs, depending on the size of the debt. Reasonable recovery costs beyond the fixed sum, if you can show them. If no payment date was agreed, the debt is late 30 days after the invoice or the delivery of the work, whichever is later. You do not have to charge interest, but knowing you can changes the final-notice conversation. ### Fixed compensation under the Late Payment Act | Size of the debt | Fixed sum you can claim | |---|---| | Up to £999.99 | £40 | | £1,000 to £9,999.99 | £70 | | £10,000 or more | £100 | [Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery](https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery): The official rules on statutory interest, fixed compensation and when a commercial debt becomes late. > ⚠️ The Act covers business-to-business debts only. A householder who has not paid for their window clean is a consumer, and statutory interest does not apply. This post is general information, not legal advice; check gov.uk or a solicitor before charging interest. ### When polite fails: a domestic customer For a householder the route is different. Send a letter before action: a plain letter stating the debt, the invoice, what you have already sent, and a date (usually 14 days) after which you will make a claim. Most domestic debts are paid at this point, because the letter makes it real. After that, small claims through the courts service online handles debts up to £10,000. The fees are modest and you do not need a solicitor. Whether it is worth it for a £15 clean is your call; it usually is not, and the better answer for regulars is Direct Debit, which we cover in Direct Debit for window cleaners. ### Keep the record, because the record wins Every step of the ladder should be visible on the customer's record: the invoice, the date it was sent, each reminder, each reply. If a dispute ever reaches a letter before action, the record is your case. If it never does, the record is what tells you which customers to move to Direct Debit and which to let go. TradeYoke keeps messages, invoices and payments on one customer record across every trade you run, and the ledger behind it cannot be edited after the fact. See the platform overview for how the pieces fit, and the pricing page for which plan includes owing notices and online payments. The same tools work for any of the trades TradeYoke supports. See also: how automatic invoicing and Pay now links cut the chasing further ### Questions people ask **How soon should I send the first reminder?** On the due date. A friendly note with the pay link on the day it is due catches most forgotten invoices before they become awkward. The first firmer message comes a week later. **Can I charge interest on a late invoice?** Against a business customer, yes: the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 allows 8% over the Bank of England base rate plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the debt. It does not apply to domestic customers. Check gov.uk before you rely on it. **Do automated reminders annoy customers?** Not when they are polite, spaced out and carry the link. What annoys customers is a sudden angry message after weeks of silence. A steady, predictable ladder reads as professional. **What if the customer disputes the work?** Stop the ladder and talk. A dispute is a service question, not a payment question. Photos and notes on the job record usually settle it; once it is resolved, the reminders resume from where they stopped. ### Let the ladder run itself Owing notices, scheduled reminders and pay links are on from day one of the free trial. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Payments https://tradeyoke.net/blog/who-owes-me-morning-report https://tradeyoke.net/blog/who-owes-me-morning-report Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:15:11 GMT One email before the first job: every customer who owes you, how overdue, and a link they can pay from. Why it works and what changes after a week of it. 💡 Send the owing notice to the three oldest balances first, not the three largest. Old debts get harder every week; a large invoice from last Friday will usually pay itself. [Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery](https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery): When a commercial debt becomes late and what you can charge a business customer once it is. [GoCardless pricing](https://gocardless.com/pricing/): Per-transaction Direct Debit pricing, the usual answer for a customer who is always a month behind. ### From report to reminder in one tap Reading the list is half the job. From the owed-money page in the app you send an owing notice to a customer by email or SMS with the portal link already in it, or schedule it for 6 pm when they are home. Replies come back into the customer's thread. If they pay from the portal, the balance drops and the next morning's email no longer lists them. For contract customers who are always a month behind, the report is also the nudge to move them onto Direct Debit. One conversation, and that name never appears in the email again. [Image: Reports answer how am I doing: earned, collected, expenses and profit for any period, alongside the round's value.] ### What changes after a week The first morning is uncomfortable, because the number is bigger than you thought. By day three you have sent six notices and four have paid. By the end of the week the list is shorter, the two names left on it are the two you already suspected, and you have stopped guessing. Over a month the second effect appears: invoices go out faster, because you know an invoice not sent is money not on the list. The report improves the habit upstream of it. ### The morning routine - ✓ Open the email — Total, then the oldest three balances. - ✓ Send three owing notices — Portal link included. Schedule for 6 pm if they are at work. - ✓ Check today's route against the list — Know who owes before you knock. - ✓ Move a repeat offender to Direct Debit — One a week is enough. - ✓ Send yesterday's invoices — If they are not sent, they are not on the list. ### Questions people ask **Is the who owes me report an email or a page?** Both. The owed-money page in TradeYoke is always live, and a morning email summarises it so you see the list without opening the app. The email is part of the platform's background jobs and runs for every business with the feature switched on. **Does the customer need an account to use the portal link?** No. The portal link opens a page showing everything that customer owes, with a pay-now button for card or Direct Debit. Payments settle against the invoices automatically. **Does it include cash I have taken?** Yes, as long as you record the cash on the phone against the invoice. Cash settles in the ledger like any other payment, so the report reflects it the next morning. **Which plan includes the report and the portal?** The owed-money report and reminders are in Essentials. Online payments with Pay now on every invoice are in Premium, and the customer portal is in Ultimate. The free trial is 30 days of Essentials; online payments unlock when you choose a plan. The report works the same for every trade on the TradeYoke platform, from a window cleaning round to a gardening contract book. Plans are on the pricing page. See also: the full Getting paid guide ### Know the number every morning Start the free trial, send your invoices, and get the first who-owes-me email tomorrow. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Payments https://tradeyoke.net/blog/receipts-in-the-van https://tradeyoke.net/blog/receipts-in-the-van Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:15:11 GMT The receipt is only a problem if it reaches the glovebox. Photograph it on the forecourt, let the app read it, attach it to the job, and the accountant file writes itself. 💡 Materials you buy for a specific job go on that job before you leave the merchant's car park. The receipt is in your hand and the job is on the phone; it never gets easier than that moment. ### Mileage from the day's stops Mileage is the expense sole traders most often under-claim, because nobody keeps the log. TradeYoke builds the day's mileage from the stops you actually visited, so the log is a by-product of doing the round rather than a separate job. If you use HMRC's simplified expenses, the approved rate for a car or van is 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p a mile after that. Whether simplified expenses or actual vehicle costs suits you better is an accountant question; either way you need the miles. [Simplified expenses: vehicles](https://www.gov.uk/simpler-income-tax-simplified-expenses/vehicles): HMRC's flat rates per business mile for cars, vans and motorcycles. ### The accountant file At the end of the quarter or the year, the Reports page exports two CSV files: one for income and payments, one for expenses. Between them they are the whole year in two attachments, with each expense line linked to its receipt image. Your accountant gets a file they can work from instead of a bag. If you sync to Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent, invoices and payments arrive there directly. Which package suits a trade business covers the choice. Either way, the expenses side is what feeds boxes 4 and 7 on a VAT return, which MTD for VAT in plain English explains, and it is what a quarterly update will need once MTD for Income Tax reaches you. ### What HMRC expects you to keep You do not send receipts to HMRC with a return, but you must be able to produce them if asked. Digital copies are fine as long as they are legible and complete. Keep the record of what the expense was for, which is why the category and the job attachment matter as much as the image. None of this is tax advice. What counts as allowable, and whether you claim actual costs or flat rates, is for your accountant. What the routine does is make sure that whatever they decide, the evidence exists. ### The receipt routine - ✓ Photograph at the till — Supplier, total and VAT read for you. Check the total. - ✓ Pick the category — Materials, fuel, tools, PPE, subcontractor. - ✓ Attach to the job or the van — Materials to the job; tyres, fuel and servicing to the vehicle. - ✓ Let mileage build from the stops — Review it weekly rather than reconstruct it yearly. - ✓ Export the two CSVs — Income and payments, expenses. Send both to your accountant. ### Questions people ask **Does HMRC accept photographed receipts?** Yes. Digital copies are acceptable as long as they are legible and you keep them for the required period: at least five years after the 31 January deadline for the tax year for Self Assessment, and six years for VAT records. Check gov.uk for your own case. **How accurate is the receipt reading?** Good on a clean receipt, less so on a crumpled or faded one. The supplier, total and VAT are pre-filled for you to check before saving, and the original image stays attached to the expense so you can always look at it. **Can I claim mileage as well as fuel?** Not both for the same vehicle. HMRC's simplified expenses use a flat rate per business mile that covers fuel and running costs; the alternative is claiming actual costs. Your accountant will tell you which suits you. Either way you need a mileage record, which TradeYoke builds from the day's stops. **What does the accountant file contain?** Two CSV exports from the Reports page: income and payments, and expenses. Each expense line links to its receipt image and its job or vehicle, so your accountant gets the evidence with the numbers. Expenses, mileage and the accountant CSVs are in Essentials; see the pricing page. The platform overview shows how expenses connect to jobs, vehicles and reports. ### Thirty seconds on the forecourt Start the free trial and photograph the next receipt before it reaches the glovebox. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Accounting Guides https://tradeyoke.net/blog/landlord-gas-safety-record-every-12-months https://tradeyoke.net/blog/landlord-gas-safety-record-every-12-months Sun, 14 Jun 2026 11:15:11 GMT The landlord gas safety record is the most predictable repeat work in the gas trade. Here are the rules, the two-month window, and how to turn the date into a booking. 💡 Book the next landlord check in the window, not on the day. Ten to twelve months after the last check keeps the expiry date fixed and gives you eight weeks of flexibility to fill a route. ### Why the gas safety record is the best repeat work in the trade Three things make it valuable. It repeats on a known date. It comes in bundles, because agents manage dozens of properties and want one engineer they trust. And it puts you in front of every boiler in the portfolio once a year, which is where services, warning notices and replacements come from. The failure mode is equally simple. The date sits on a certificate in a folder, nobody looks at the folder, and the agent books whoever answers the phone first. The engineer who wins the renewal is the one who asked before anyone else did. > Reactive work finds you. Compliance work is waiting for you on a date you already know. — TradeYoke ### Turning 12 months into a calendar The Plumber and gas trade in TradeYoke is in pilot with real gas businesses. It produces the Landlord Gas Safety Record as a PDF, files it against the job and the customer with its expiry date, and shows a certificates page that filters what is due within 30, 60 or 90 days. Read about the pilot on the plumber and gas page. Because the record carries an expiry, the document library warns before it lapses, and the next visit can be booked as a recurring job the day the first one is done. A scheduled reminder to the agent, sent eight weeks out, lands at the start of the two-month window rather than on the day the record expires. The same visit becomes an invoice from the job, and if it is not paid on the day it appears in the morning 'who owes me' email until it is. [Image: The document library shows each certificate with its expiry, so a landlord record due next month is visible before the agent asks.] > ⚠️ Plumber and gas is a pilot trade in TradeYoke. The certificates described here are being used by pilot businesses now; pilot trades are priced with those businesses rather than from the pricing page. ### Sending the record to the agent, and proving you did Emailing a certificate from a personal inbox works until someone asks, six months later, whether it was ever sent. Sending from the record itself writes the send into the communications history with the date, the address and the file, so the question answers itself. Agents also like consistency. A branded email with the record attached and the next-due date in the body reads as a service, not a favour. The same message wizard that sends the 'we're coming tomorrow' text sends the certificate, and replies land in the customer's thread. Gas engineers who also do electrical work run both on one account; the trades page lists every trade, and the plans on the pricing page are per business rather than per trade. See also: the full Paperwork & compliance guide ### Who needs what, and when | Duty | Deadline | Who it falls on | |---|---|---| | Annual gas safety check | Every 12 months (early in the two-month window keeps the date) | Landlord, carried out by a Gas Safe engineer | | Copy to existing tenants | Within 28 days of the check | Landlord or agent | | Copy to new tenants | Before they move in | Landlord or agent | | Keep the record | Two years | Landlord | ### The annual landlord visit - ✓ Confirm the Gas Safe registration is current — Your ID card is the first thing a careful agent checks. - ✓ List every appliance and flue the landlord provides — Include the pipework; note tenant-owned appliances separately. - ✓ Record defects and what you did about them — A warning notice or a disconnection is part of the record, not a separate story. - ✓ Date the next check inside the two-month window — Ten to twelve months from this one keeps the expiry fixed. - ✓ Send the record from the job — So the send is on file with the certificate. ### Questions people ask **Does a gas safety record expire on an exact date?** Yes. The record shows the date of the check, and the next one is due within 12 months of it. A check done in the two months before that date can keep the original expiry; a check done earlier resets it. Confirm the current wording on HSE's landlord pages. **What if the tenant will not give access?** The landlord must take all reasonable steps to get the check done. That means recorded attempts: letters, calls and messages with dates. Keep the evidence with the property record, and tell the agent in writing when access was refused so the file shows it was not the engineer who slipped. **Is a boiler service the same as a gas safety check?** No. The safety check covers safe operation of each appliance and flue; a service is maintenance recommended by the manufacturer. Many landlords book both together because the engineer is already there, and that is the upsell the annual visit was made for. **Do I need a record for a tenant's own appliance?** The landlord's duty covers appliances and flues they provide, plus the installation pipework. A tenant's own appliance is not the landlord's to certify, though a flue serving it may be. When in doubt, check HSE's guidance or Gas Safe Register. ### Put the next landlord check on the calendar today TradeYoke's plumber and gas pilot files the record with its expiry, reminds the agent in the window and books the next visit from this one. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Plumbing Compliance https://tradeyoke.net/blog/eicr-every-five-years https://tradeyoke.net/blog/eicr-every-five-years Wed, 10 Jun 2026 07:15:11 GMT Private landlords in England must have an EICR at least every five years. That is a rebooking you can date on the day you issue the certificate. ✅ Send the landlord or agent a reminder three months before the EICR expires. It lands while they still have time to book you, not while they are searching for anyone who can come this week. ### Remedials are the second job An unsatisfactory report is not bad news for the electrician who wrote it; it is a quote. The C1 and C2 observations become the lines of that quote, the quote becomes a job, and the job becomes an invoice. The landlord gets the written confirmation the regulations ask for, and the file shows the whole chain. The quotes board in the platform keeps that chain visible: waiting on the customer, accepted, ready to book, booked. When the remedial invoice goes unpaid it turns up in the polite chasing sequence rather than in a spreadsheet you forgot to open. > An unsatisfactory EICR is the only certificate that arrives with its own quote attached. — TradeYoke ### Running the five-year cycle in practice ### The five-year EICR rhythm - ✓ Issue the report with the next-inspection date on it — Five years at most for a rental; shorter if the condition warrants. - ✓ File it with an expiry against the property and the landlord — Where it will surface, not where it will be forgotten. - ✓ Quote the C1 and C2 observations the same day — The remedial clock is 28 days; the quote should not use ten of them. - ✓ Remind the agent three months before expiry — By email or text, from the record so the send is on file. - ✓ Book the next inspection inside the window — Then the cycle runs itself. Landlords with gas appliances have a parallel duty every 12 months, covered in the landlord gas safety record post. Agents managing both like one supplier who reminds them about both, which is one reason compatible trades share an account on TradeYoke. The plans on the pricing page are per business, not per trade or per user. See also: the document library that finds a certificate in seconds ### Questions people ask **Is an EICR the same as an EIC?** No. An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) is issued for new work, a new installation or a major alteration, and confirms it was designed, built and tested to BS 7671. An EICR is a periodic condition report on an existing installation. A brand-new installation with an EIC still needs an EICR within five years of it if the property is let. **Do HMOs need an EICR more often?** Houses in multiple occupation fall under the same five-year maximum, and licensing conditions may add requirements. The licence is set by the local council, so check the conditions on it rather than assuming the standard cycle is enough. **Does a homeowner need an EICR every five years?** There is no legal requirement for an owner-occupier, though one is widely recommended every ten years, when buying a property, or before major work. The five-year rule is specifically for private rented homes. **Who counts as a qualified and competent person?** The regulations do not name a register. Government guidance points landlords to competent-person schemes and to electricians who can demonstrate qualification and experience for inspection and testing. Membership of a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT is the simplest way to show it. ### Make the next EICR the easiest booking you win TradeYoke's electrician pilot files every certificate with its expiry, quotes the remedials and reminds the agent before the five years is up. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Electrical Compliance https://tradeyoke.net/blog/scaffold-inspections-every-7-days https://tradeyoke.net/blog/scaffold-inspections-every-7-days Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:15:11 GMT The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require a scaffold to be inspected after it goes up, at intervals not exceeding seven days, and after anything that could affect it. The record is the proof. ⚠️ The seven days are calendar days, not working days. A scaffold inspected on a Monday is due again by the following Monday, whether or not anyone worked on it in between. ### Handover: the day the scaffold becomes someone else's Handover is where the inspection clock starts. The scaffold is erected to its design, or to the relevant TG20 compliance sheet where no bespoke design is needed, inspected, tagged and handed to the client with a handover certificate. From that point the user of the scaffold is responsible for making sure the seven-day inspections happen, and the HSE's guidance puts that duty on the user or hirer, not automatically on the scaffolder. Most scaffold companies contract to do the weekly inspections anyway, because their competent people are the ones who know the structure. That is a service line as well as a duty, and it needs the same discipline as the erection: a named inspector, a date, a record. ### What the inspection record needs to show Schedule 7 of the regulations lists what a report must contain. Ticking a box on a tag is not enough on its own. ### Schedule 7: the written inspection report - ✓ Who it was carried out for — The name and address of the person on whose behalf the inspection was done. - ✓ Where the scaffold is — The location of the work equipment inspected. - ✓ What was inspected — A description of the equipment. - ✓ When — The date and time of the inspection. - ✓ What was found — Details of any matter that could give rise to a risk to the health or safety of any person. - ✓ What was done about it — Details of any action taken as a result. - ✓ What still needs doing — Any further action considered necessary. - ✓ Who inspected it — The name and position of the person making the report. ### Where TradeYoke is with scaffolding Scaffolding is a pilot trade in TradeYoke, being used by real scaffold businesses now. The pilot runs projects with a customer, site, status and the trades involved; erect and dismantle visits on the diary; documents with expiry dates; team and vehicle registers; and quotes and invoices raised from the project. The scaffolding page describes what is in use today. The scaffold register, the seven-day inspection records and the handover certificates are in development with the pilot businesses. They are not finished, and this post will not pretend otherwise. The design intent is the one described above: a project holds its scaffolds, each scaffold holds its inspections, an inspection that is due surfaces on the dashboard, and the report carries the Schedule 7 particulars so it stands up on its own. [Image: Inspections in TradeYoke: checklist-based, pass or fail each item, evidence for every fail, signed off on the pad] > 💡 Until the inspection records ship, pilot businesses file their inspection reports as documents on the project with a seven-day expiry, so the document library warns when the next one is due. Two things already in the platform help now. The document library takes a photo from the phone and files it against the project with an expiry, which is how a wind-damage inspection gets evidenced on the day. And live monitoring shows which of the team is nearest a site when a client rings about a strike; that is covered in the post on tracking without hardware. Scaffold work is also where projects earn their keep, because a site often carries more than one trade. Running two trades on one account explains how a project holds them together. Pilot trades are priced with the pilot businesses rather than from the pricing page. See also: the full Paperwork & compliance guide ### When a scaffold must be inspected | Trigger | Timing | Record | |---|---|---| | After installation or assembly | Before first use, in position | Written report within the working period | | While it stands | At intervals not exceeding 7 days | Written report each time | | After an event affecting strength or stability | Before use again | Written report stating the reason | | After alteration | Before use again | Written report | ### Questions people ask **Who is responsible for the seven-day inspections: the scaffolder or the site?** The regulations place the duty on the employer or person in control of the work, which in practice is the user or hirer of the scaffold. Scaffold companies are usually contracted to carry the inspections out because they have the competent people, but the contract should say so in writing. **Do the seven days include weekends?** Yes. The regulation says intervals not exceeding seven days, which means calendar days. If the last inspection was on a Monday, the next is due by the following Monday. **What if the scaffold is not used for a fortnight?** It still needs an inspection before it is used again, and a period out of use is itself a reason to inspect. Most contractors keep the weekly rhythm going regardless because it is simpler to prove than an exception. **Does a mobile tower need the same inspections?** The regulation covers any working platform used for construction work from which a person could fall two metres or more, so towers are in scope: inspect after assembly and at intervals not exceeding seven days. HSE publishes separate tower guidance; check it for the detail on re-inspection after moving one. ### Run every site on one calendar TradeYoke's scaffolding pilot holds projects, visits, documents and the team in one place, with inspection records on the way. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Scaffolding Compliance https://tradeyoke.net/blog/mcs-certificate-explained-for-installers https://tradeyoke.net/blog/mcs-certificate-explained-for-installers Sun, 31 May 2026 11:15:11 GMT The MCS certificate is what proves a solar install was done to the scheme's standards, and it is what unlocks the Smart Export Guarantee for your customer. Here is what it is, what MCS needs from you, and what goes in the handover pack. ⚠️ Solar installer is a pilot trade in TradeYoke. The documents described here are in use by pilot businesses; pilot trades are priced with those businesses rather than from the pricing page. ### The handover pack The handover pack is what the customer keeps, shows their supplier, and hands to the buyer when the house is sold. A thin pack costs you phone calls for years. A full one costs you twenty minutes. ### What belongs in the handover pack - ✓ MCS certificate — The scheme certificate for the installation. - ✓ Commissioning certificate — System tests and readings on the day it went live. - ✓ DNO paperwork — The G98 notification or the G99 approval, whichever applied. - ✓ Electrical certificate — The EIC or Minor Works certificate for the electrical work, to BS 7671. - ✓ Performance estimate — The annual generation estimate from the MCS method, with the assumptions. - ✓ Single-line diagram and layout — So the next engineer can see what was installed and where. - ✓ Warranties and manuals — Panels, inverter, battery, mounting, and the workmanship warranty. - ✓ Building control notification — Where the work was notifiable under Part P. The pilot produces the customer handover pack from the job, pulling in the certificate, the commissioning record, the single-line diagram and the DNO application, and emails it from the record so the send is on file. The DNO side, and the difference between notifying and applying, is covered in G98 vs G99: DNO applications without the wait. The electrical certificate follows the same rules as any other electrical work; the EICR post explains how certificates with an expiry become future work. > The handover pack is the last thing the customer sees from you and the first thing they show everyone else. — TradeYoke ### Where the certificate lives afterwards Filing matters more for solar than for most trades, because the documents outlive the phone they were made on. A certificate filed in the document library against the customer and the job is there when the customer moves house, when the inverter fails in year eight, and when the supplier changes its SEG rules. Search inside PDFs finds it by the inverter serial number, which is usually what the customer has to hand. Plans on the pricing page are per business. Solar firms that also do the electrical work run both trades on one account, which is what the two-trades post is about. See also: the full Paperwork & compliance guide ### Questions people ask **Can a customer get the Smart Export Guarantee without an MCS certificate?** Suppliers must offer SEG to installations with an MCS certificate or an equivalent they recognise. In practice most suppliers ask for MCS, so an install by a non-certified installer usually cannot claim it. Check the individual supplier's terms. **Does MCS cover batteries as well as panels?** Yes. MCS publishes a standard for electrical energy storage, and battery installers can be certified against it. Note that SEG pays for electricity generated and exported; a battery on its own does not qualify, and export from a battery charged from the grid is treated differently by suppliers. **Is the 0% VAT rate on solar tied to MCS?** No. The VAT relief on energy-saving materials installed in residential property is a tax rule with its own conditions, not an MCS requirement. Confirm how it applies to a specific job with your accountant or HMRC's guidance. **How long should the customer keep the certificate?** For the life of the system. It is needed for SEG, for warranty claims, for some finance and insurance products, and for the buyer when the property is sold. That is why a filed copy on your side is worth keeping too. ### Issue the certificate and the pack from the job TradeYoke's solar installer pilot produces the MCS data sheet, commissioning certificate and handover pack from the job and files them with the customer. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Solar Compliance https://tradeyoke.net/blog/g98-vs-g99-dno-applications https://tradeyoke.net/blog/g98-vs-g99-dno-applications Tue, 26 May 2026 13:15:11 GMT G98 means install then notify the DNO within 28 days. G99 means apply and get approval before you commission. Here is the threshold, the paperwork, and how to stop the wait stalling the job. 💡 Send the G98 notification from the commissioning visit, not from the office a fortnight later. It takes ten minutes while the inverter serial number is in front of you, and it is the document the SEG application will ask for. ### G99: apply first, then wait Above the threshold the DNO has to assess whether the network can take the export before anything is connected. That means an application with a single-line diagram, a site plan, the inverter's type-test evidence, the proposed capacity and the export arrangement. The DNO responds with an approval, sometimes with conditions such as an export limit, or with a connection offer if network work is needed. How long it takes depends on the DNO and the size of the job. A straightforward domestic G99 application is usually answered within the DNO's published timescale, often up to 45 working days; anything needing a network study takes longer. Your DNO publishes its own timescales, and they are the ones to plan against. > ⚠️ Do not commission a G99 system before the approval is in writing. Energising a generator the DNO has not approved can put the customer's connection agreement, and your relationship with the DNO, at risk. ### The wait that stalls the job, and how to shorten it The wait itself is not the problem. The problem is starting it too late: surveying in March, quoting in April, applying in June and then putting the install on hold. Three habits keep the job moving. Apply the day the survey confirms the size. Whether the customer has signed yet or not, an application costs little and the clock starts. Use type-tested inverters. Equipment on the ENA's type-test register needs no separate compliance evidence, which is the most common reason an application bounces. Design to the threshold when it is honest to. Where the customer's use fits a 3.68 kW export, a G98 design with export limitation avoids the wait entirely. Where it does not, say so and apply. ### Tracking the application on the job The application is a task with a status, a date and a document, and it belongs on the job, not in someone's inbox. The Solar installer trade in TradeYoke is in pilot with real installers and treats it that way: a G98 or G99 connection assessment on the job, DNO contacts by region so the right operator is a click away, the type-test documents and single-line diagram attached, and a boundary map of the site. The solar installer page covers the pilot. When the approval arrives it is filed with the job, and it goes into the handover pack described in the MCS certificate post. The customer sees the status without ringing, which is most of what they wanted. [Image: The jobs list filtered to one trade: every solar job in one place, with its priority, place and date — and the DNO application tracked on the job record.] ### The G99 application pack - ✓ Single-line diagram — Generator, inverter, protection, isolation and the point of connection. - ✓ Site plan and boundary — Where the equipment sits and where the supply enters. - ✓ Inverter type-test evidence — The ENA register reference, or full compliance evidence if not registered. - ✓ Capacity and export arrangement — kW output, phases, and any export limitation scheme. - ✓ Customer and MPAN details — The supply number from the electricity bill. - ✓ Installer details — Including who to contact with questions. Jobs that wait on paperwork are also jobs that wait to be paid. A deposit at booking and a pay link on commissioning, as described in how tradespeople get paid the same day, keep the cash moving while the DNO does its work. Pay links are part of the Premium plan and the customer portal is part of Ultimate on the pricing page; pilot trades are priced with the pilot businesses. Installers who also do the electrical certification will find the electrician page useful too. ### Questions people ask **Can I commission a G99 system before the approval comes back?** No. G99 requires the DNO's agreement before the generator is connected. If the customer needs the system live sooner, the honest options are a G98-sized design with export limitation or a conversation with the DNO about timescales, not an early switch-on. **Does adding a battery change the application?** Often. A battery with its own inverter adds generating capacity in the DNO's terms, and the total on the premises is what counts against the 16 A per phase limit. A hybrid inverter can keep the total within G98; a separate battery inverter may not. Work it out at design time. **How do I find out which DNO covers a site?** The Energy Networks Association runs a postcode lookup for the network operator, and the customer's electricity bill shows the MPAN, whose distributor ID identifies the DNO. Regional DNO contacts are stored in the TradeYoke solar pilot so the right one is on the job. **What if I forgot to send a G98 notification?** Send it now. The DNO would rather have a late notification than none, and the customer's Smart Export Guarantee application will need the paperwork. Then move the notification into the commissioning visit so it cannot be forgotten again. ### Keep the DNO application on the job, not in an inbox TradeYoke's solar installer pilot tracks G98 and G99 applications with the diagram, the type-test evidence and the DNO contact on every job. Start a 30-day trial of Essentials with no card. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> TradeYoke team Solar Compliance