AI workflow assessment for UK trades - get your evenings back from quoting and chasing.
We sit down with you for 60 minutes, work out where the evening admin actually goes - quotes, invoices, chasing payments, ordering materials - and hand back a report built around how you run the job: named tools, step-by-step recipes, and a prioritised plan to get the time back. Not a template.
The admin you do after a ten-hour day on the tools.
You earn on the tools. Then eight hours of every week go on the work that waits for the evening: measuring up and typing a quote at the kitchen table, writing the invoice with the right VAT line, chasing the customer who said they'd settle up at the end, and phoning the merchant for materials.
Eight hours sounds like less than an office job. It is - but you do it after the day is done, and every hour spent quoting or chasing is an hour you are not earning. You know AI could take some of it off your plate. You just need someone to show you exactly what, and in what order, for a business that runs the way yours does.
That is what the assessment is for. Not a course, not a generic tool list - a 60-minute look at your actual week and a plan built around what will genuinely give you the evenings back.
UK trades lose around £13,800 a year per person to admin - mostly evenings.
The typical UK trades business loses 8 hours per person per week to admin. At a chargeable rate of £37.50 an hour across the 46-week UK working year, that is £13,800 of earning time every year - for each person on the tools.
£9,200
Labourer or junior rate - 8 hrs/week × £25 × 46 weeks
£13,800
Mid-range trade rate - 8 hrs/week × £37.50 × 46 weeks
£18,400
Specialist or gas-safe rate - 8 hrs/week × £50 × 46 weeks
The 8-hour benchmark is the median from HoursBack assessment data (n=20+) across UK trades - plumbers, electricians, builders and gas engineers, cross-checked against published UK SME productivity research. Your business will differ - run your own numbers in the admin cost calculator for trades, or read the full breakdown in where quoting time leaks for UK trades.
The assessment is £799 - one big quote's worth, worked out from your actual day, not a template.
Your six biggest time sinks - and what we do about each one.
We map your whole business in the 60-minute session, then work backwards to the drains worth fixing first. Here is how that lands on the specific admin tradespeople feel.
Quote writing
Measure up, then sit at the kitchen table on a Tuesday night pricing materials and listing assumptions - 45 to 90 minutes a quote, five quotes a week, half a working day gone. We show how AI drafts a tidy quote from a few bullet points so you edit and send instead of writing from scratch.
Invoicing
The right description, the right VAT line, the right reference, then sending it and remembering to chase it. We show you how to raise and send an invoice from the customer's driveway in under a minute, so it stops living on the laptop in the evening.
Chasing late payments
The job where they said 'settle up at the end' and it's been three weeks. The polite chase, the firmer chase, the phone call you keep putting off. We set you up with automatic reminders that go out without you, because most late payments were simply forgotten.
Materials ordering and supplier admin
Phoning the wholesaler, sending the parts list, sorting next-day delivery to the right address - 20 minutes a job you never bill. We look at where a saved list, a template, or a quick AI draft shaves the back-and-forth.
Customer follow-up and reviews
The 'all OK?' message a week later, the ask for a Google review, the six-month keeping-in-touch text - most trades never do it because there is no system, and repeat work walks. We give you a simple follow-up workflow that runs itself.
The jobs you turn down
Work you can't take because the evenings are already full of admin. Your report prioritises by hours reclaimed, so the time goes back into earning, not paperwork.
What this is - and what it isn’t.
The assessment is a diagnostic and a plan. Within two working days of your call you get a passcode-protected report: the AI and automation opportunities we have found for your business, named tools with costs and setup time, step-by-step recipes, a prompt library, an impact-versus-effort ranking, and ROI worked out on your real numbers. It is written in plain English so you can act on it - no technical background needed.
It is guidance, not us doing the work for you. If the report flags something worth building - a quote-drafting agent, say - the Custom AI Agent Build is a separate product from £2,500, scoped case by case. If you would rather implement the report’s quick wins yourself with someone beside you, the Implementation Kickstart (£349, 90 minutes) is there for that. The assessment always comes first.
Questions trades ask us.
I'm not a computer person. Is this going to be too technical?
I already use Xero or QuickBooks. Is there anything left to save?
Is there an AI tool actually built for trades?
Is £799 worth it for a one-man band?
One payment. A written plan,
a video walkthrough, and someone
checking in to make sure it happens.
A diagnostic session, personalised report, video walkthrough, and follow-up support. One payment, no ongoing costs.
Find out where your week's hours actually go.
Book a 60-minute call. Get a report built around your business within two working days, a video walkthrough, and follow-up support. Money back if it doesn't show at least 5 hours a week worth reclaiming.
Book your assessment →Not ready to book? Take the free 2-minute AI readiness quiz to see where your business stands.