How Trades Lose Money Without Realising (And How to Stop It)
How Trades Lose Money Without Realising (And How to Stop It)
Most trades don’t realise how much money slips through their fingers every week.
Not because they’re bad at the job —
but because they're busy, always on the move, and trying to juggle:
- messages
- photos
- notes
- tools
- customers
- and a thousand little bits of information
The truth is simple:
Most trades lose money because of admin, not the work.
This post breaks down the most common ways sparkies, plumbers, handymen, roofers, and landscapers lose money — and the dead-simple ways to stop it happening.
No fluff.
No corporate jargon.
Just the real problems, with real fixes.
1. Forgotten jobs and missed messages
This is the biggest leak in most trade businesses.
A customer sends a message on WhatsApp:
“Can you come take a look at this leak when you’re next in the area?”
You read it…
Then get distracted…
Then the message gets buried under 40 other chats.
By the time you remember, the customer’s found someone else.
Money lost: £50–£300 per job
Cause: No proper job list
Happens: Daily
Fix:
The moment a message comes in → add it to your job list.
Not later. Not tonight. Now.
If a job isn’t written down, it’s gone.
In Clearwork:
1 tap → New Job → done.
2. Unbilled hours (the silent killer)
This one stings.
You did the work.
You showed up.
You fixed the problem.
You even wrote the invoice.
But you forgot to bill for:
- the extra 30 minutes you spent helping the customer
- the second visit
- the travel time
- the after-hours call-out
- the small follow-up job they asked for “while you’re here”
Trades undercharge constantly — not on purpose, but because they rely on memory.
Money lost: £200–£1,000+ per month
Cause: Guessing hours at the end of the day
Happens: To everyone
Fix:
Log your time as you do the job, not after.
In Clearwork:
Tap the job → Add Labour → done.
3. Materials that never get billed
It’s easy to forget materials when:
- They’re in your van
- You grabbed them from Screwfix
- You used them on “just a small fix”
- You meant to “add them later”
- You don’t write it down immediately
Suddenly you’ve paid for parts out of your own pocket.
Money lost: £50–£400 per week
Cause: Not tracking materials in the moment
Fix:
Every time you use something, write it down straight away.
In Clearwork:
Job → Add Part → it’s saved against the job.
4. Lost job photos (and doing work twice)
This happens far more than trades admit.
Photos get buried in your camera roll between:
- your kids
- your partner
- memes
- screenshots
- receipts
- random boiler pics from 6 months ago
When a customer asks for proof of work or wants an update —
you end up taking new photos, wasting time.
Or worse:
You send the wrong photo to the wrong customer.
Money lost: Wasted time = wasted money
Cause: Storing job photos in your personal camera roll
Fix:
Attach photos to the job the moment you take them.
In Clearwork:
Open job → Add Photo → sorted.
5. Invoices done late (or not at all)
Trades are notorious for this — and it’s not their fault.
After a long day, the last thing you want to do is sit down and invoice.
So invoices get:
- pushed to the weekend
- delayed
- forgotten
- or piled up until you can’t remember the details
And delayed invoices = delayed payment.
Delayed payment = cashflow problems.
Money lost: £500–£5,000+ stuck in “pending”
Cause: Invoices not linked to a job system
Fix:
Invoice as soon as the job is marked “done”.
In Clearwork:
Finish job → Create Invoice → done in seconds.
6. Quoting by memory (instead of history)
A lot of trades price work based on gut feeling.
“I think the last boiler job was £250… maybe?”
But if you don’t track:
- time
- materials
- past job costs
…you end up undercharging on new quotes without realising it.
Money lost: £100+ per quote
Cause: No job history to refer back to
Fix: Keep a history of every job — price, time, parts.
In Clearwork:
Every job is saved under the customer, including notes, photos, costs, and time.
7. Job details scattered across apps
Every trade business eventually ends up with:
- some jobs in WhatsApp
- some in Notes
- some on paper pads
- some in your head
- some half-written in your van
- some voice notes
- some written by your apprentice
This is the quickest way to lose money without noticing.
Money lost: Hard to measure — but huge
Cause: No single source of truth
Fix: One job list. One place. Always.
In Clearwork:
Everything goes in one central job list — simple.
Stop the leaks, make more money
You don’t need a perfect system.
You don’t need fancy software.
You just need one simple workflow:
- Add every job
- Attach photos straight away
- Record labour and parts on the go
- Invoice as soon as you finish
- Keep customer details tidy
Do this, and you’ll stop money leaking out of your business every day.
Clearwork just makes those steps faster and easier, without changing the way you work.
If you want to give it a go, great.
If not, this guide alone will already help you tighten up your workflow and make more money.
– Brandon