How we assess guides and tools
This is how we assess what goes on the site: what each page is based on, how the free tools work, what happens to your answers and how to report a mistake, so you can decide how much weight to give what you read here.
Who these guides are for and what they cover
Systemise Your Trade publishes free guides and tools for UK trade and field-service businesses: plumbers, heating engineers, electricians, builders, roofers, joiners and property maintenance firms where the owner usually does the work and the office admin as well. The guides follow a job from first call to payment: calls, quotes, jobs, getting paid, and choosing software that fits.
Examples come from a mix of trades, including plumbing and heating, electrical, roofing and building, and each one is labelled as illustrative. New trades are added only where the work runs the same way: calls come in, quotes go out, the job happens on site and an invoice follows.
This is not a product review site. You will find routines you can copy, tools you run yourself, and a guide to the questions worth asking before you buy software.
How facts in the guides are checked
Legal, tax, safety and platform points are checked against official sources, such as GOV.UK, HMRC, HSE, the ICO, Ofcom and legislation.gov.uk, before a guide is published. Each guide lists those sources, and the official sources behind every guide are rechecked every month.
Every guide is read and approved by Paul before it goes live. Where a rule is changing, such as a bill going through Parliament, the guide says so, and the monthly check picks up the change when it happens.
Every page tells you what its advice is based on
We use four labels so you can see at a glance whether something is a suggested routine, your own figures, desk research or real testing.
Operational guidance
A suggested routine for you to adapt to your own business. It is not a measured claim that it will improve your results.
User-entered illustration
A calculation based only on the figures and assumptions you type in.
Documented product research
Any future note using this label must name its sources, what is uncertain and the type of business it applies to.
Hands-on testing
This label will only appear where the product tasks, setup and limitations of the test are recorded. No supplier has been hands-on tested for this site.
There are no affiliate links on this site
Having a disclosure policy does not mean an affiliate partnership exists. Today the site carries no affiliate links and no paid placements.
If commercial links are added later, the relationship will be disclosed before the first relevant link. Each one will sit alongside non-affiliate alternatives and a plain description of which businesses the product suits and which it does not. Commission will not decide what the guides recommend you do. The affiliate disclosure sets out the current position and how each future link would be labelled.
What the calculator and software checklist can and cannot tell you
The Missed call calculator multiplies the numbers you enter to show what your missed calls could be worth as bookings. It does not measure money you have lost, and it does not predict how much you would win back.
The Trade business software checklist runs your answers through rules printed on the same page and gives you three things to prioritise in software. It does not rate suppliers, and it does not produce a scientific score for your business.
What happens to the answers you type in
- The calculator and the software checklist run in your browser. Their code does not send or save your answers.
- Press Reset to clear the current answers. Your browser may still restore what you typed if you go back or forward through your history.
- Do not enter personal details, customer names or job details.
- Google Analytics is optional. It loads on this site only after you accept it, and your consent choice is stored separately.
- The hosting and email providers process technical access information, and emailing the site means sharing personal information such as your email address.
The privacy notice and the cookies and storage policy explain what these providers handle and the limits of what this site controls.
How to report a mistake
Email info@systemiseyourtrade.com with the page address, the section, what you think is wrong and any source that supports it. There is no contact form. Reported factual errors and material changes are checked against their sources, and the guide or disclosure concerned is corrected where needed.
These guides are not professional advice
The guides cover running the office side of a trade business. They are not technical safety, legal, tax, accounting or regulatory advice. Get professional advice where those apply.