There are plenty of great brands to choose from to create your perfect tool kit. But it’s not just tradespeople who should be investing their money wisely. Whether you’re working on-site or undertaking DIY, having the right tools that stand the test of time will save you time, money and effort in the long run. Your tool selection will vary depending on your trade, but these are some of our favourite tool brands that you can’t go
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12 Tradeswomen To Follow On Social Media Social media is a great place to head to if you want inspiration, support, or to network with your community. But, it’s also beneficial if you want to grow your business and show off your skills – and these tradeswomen are doing just that. While tradeswomen only make up a small percentage of the industry, that number is gradually increasing, and it’s women like these that are helping to break
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We’re proud to be founding members of Trade-Up – a not-for-profit campaign run by HomeServe and Checkatrade to train an extra 10,000 skilled workers annually. The UK faces an ongoing shortage of workers across numerous industries, and the trades industry is no different. With an ageing workforce and many workers leaving the UK between 2019-2020, the demand for skilled workers is higher than ever. And with just 32,000 new workers entering the industry each year, a significant
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The UK government has announced plans to make tax administration as simple as possible in recent years. The goal is to simplify tax administration and make it more efficient. What does Making Tax Digital mean for your business? Ben Dyer, CEO at Powered Now, explains everything you need to know and how to get started to comply with this new legislation. What does MTD mean for businesses? Every UK business will be affected by MTD in the
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In the trades, most of your time is spent on the tools, but there is also admin, marketing, ordering and more to think about and get done. These aspects can be time-consuming and lead to late nights buried under paperwork. Thankfully, that can now be a thing of the past! Numerous apps for tradespeople are available for download to streamline your bookkeeping, improve your marketing efforts and cut down time spent searching for materials in merchants. Bookkeeping
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10 Tradespeople To Check Out On Social Media Social media is a great place to network and find inspiration, but it’s also an effective tool to help grow your business and profile. Growing in popularity over the years, more and more people are utilising social media, and we’ve seen a particular increase in tradespeople using it. Whether they’re documenting their progress, creating a portfolio or networking with others in the industry, they’re proving just how beneficial it can
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What is the new Part L Update, and how will it impact existing and new heating engineers across England? Building Regulations Part L covers the conservation of fuel and power in the building of new homes in England. It establishes how energy-efficient new and existing homes should be. Based on the Part L update, new homes must produce 31% fewer carbon emissions than what was previously acceptable. Approved Document Part L1A: Covers the requirements for new homes
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The sun has finally appeared in the UK – and while a heatwave is a joy for some, it’s a nightmare for others. We’re set to have one of the hottest weeks of the year so far, with the met office issuing a warning with temperatures set to hit up to 40°C in some areas of the UK. (Source: Met Office) All of which means it’ll take more than an ice cream or two to keep safe.
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At Options Skills, we’re always looking for new and exciting ways to help our students launch their careers in the trades industry, excel in their roles, go self-employed, and set up businesses. To help them do that, we’ve partnered with Powered Now – the UK’s leading app for invoicing, quoting and scheduling. This partnership means that not only do Options Skills trainees get a Powered Now subscription free for twelve months, but Powered Now users also claim
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As a tradesperson, there’s a lot you’ll need to juggle – from being on the tools and travelling to jobs to completing admin and marketing yourself. It may seem like an impossible task to tick everything off our daily to-do lists, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are plenty of steps you can take to improve your time management and increase your work output without overworking and overwhelming yourself. 1. Review Your Current Time
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