Help & How-To Guides for UK Tradespeople

Your first 90 seconds after signup

The fastest path from a fresh account to a real job card.

1. Tap Customers, then Add. Use the mic to dictate name, phone and address. It fills the form for you.
2. Tap Jobs, then Add. Pick the customer you just added.
3. Open the AI Assistant (the home tab) and say what you did. For example: "Add 5 hours labour and 50 metres of 2.5mm cable to the Patel job."
4. Tap Invoices. Hit Send. Done.

• Voice works on every form. Look for the mic icon next to fields.
• The AI takes you straight to whatever it just made, so you can see and tweak it.

Voice fill: using the mic on any form

Speak in plain English; the form fills itself.

Trade PA's voice fill works on any form in the app. Tap the mic, speak what you'd normally write, and it sorts the fields out automatically. You don't have to say things in any particular order.

• Check the fields after. Voice gets numbers right around 99% of the time but accents on names sometimes need a tap.
• If a field's wrong, just tap it and retype. The app remembers your corrections.

Install Trade PA on your phone

No app-store install required. Works straight from the web.

Trade PA runs as a Progressive Web App (PWA). That means you can install it to your home screen and use it like a native app, without going through the App Store or Google Play first.

1. On iPhone (Safari): tap the share button, scroll down, tap Add to Home Screen.
2. On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu, tap Add to Home Screen or Install app.
3. Tap the new icon on your home screen. That's the app.

Native versions for App Store and Google Play are also available. Search "Trade PA" on either store.

Send your first invoice

From "the job's done" to "invoice sent" in under a minute.

1. Open the job card. The materials and labour you logged are already there.
2. Tap Create Invoice. The app pulls the lines, customer details and your brand straight in.
3. Check the total. Add a covering note if you want.
4. Tap Send. Your customer gets a branded PDF in their inbox with a "Pay Now" link.

Take a payment

Card, bank transfer, cash. Log it all in the right place.

Every invoice has a "Pay Now" link that takes your customer to a secure Stripe checkout. Card payments land in your bank account within 2 working days and the invoice is marked paid automatically.

For bank transfers or cash, just say "mark invoice 28 as paid" or tap the invoice and use the mark-paid button. The app updates your ledger and tells your accounting integration (Xero or QuickBooks) if connected.

• Stripe's fee is 1.4% + 20p on UK cards (lower than most card-machine providers for small jobs).
• You can disable the Pay Now link per-invoice if a customer's paying offline.

Chase overdue invoices

Your PA does the awkward "where's my money" follow-ups so you don't have to.

Trade PA tracks every invoice's due date. When one goes overdue, the app drafts a polite chase message (email or SMS) and shows it to you for one-tap sending.

Auto-chase is opt-in per customer. Say "chase Khan automatically if she doesn't pay in 7 days" and the PA will handle that one without prompting you again. By default though, you stay in the driver's seat: PA drafts the chase message, you tap to send.

Set up a CIS subcontractor

One toggle, and the app handles the maths from then on.

1. Go to People → Subcontractors, add or open the subbie's record.
2. Toggle the CIS switch on. Pick the right deduction rate (20% standard, 30% unverified, 0% gross).
3. Save. From now on, every payment to this subbie has the CIS deduction applied automatically.

• You need to mark each subbie individually. The app doesn't auto-detect CIS status. That's a deliberate safety call, since you're legally responsible for the deductions.
• If you're not sure whether HMRC has verified a subbie, use 30%. You can adjust later.

Generate a CIS statement

Monthly CIS300 returns and individual subbie statements in two taps.

At the end of each tax month, Trade PA generates two things for you:

1. A monthly CIS return summary. The figures you (or your accountant) need for the CIS300.
2. An individual statement for each subbie, showing the gross payment, the deduction, and the net amount paid. PDF, branded, ready to send.

What can my PA actually do?

Real examples of what to say. Your PA gets intent. You don't have to phrase it word-for-word.

• Add stuff: customers, jobs, materials, suppliers, subbies, enquiries, reminders, mileage, expenses.
• Get paid: quotes, invoices, mark-paid, chase overdue, stage payments.
• Find: jobs, customers, quotes, invoices by name, number, address or what they're for.
• Plan: book jobs into the diary, see this week, reschedule, set reminders.
• Communicate: call a customer, text an update, email a supplier order, triage the Inbox.
• Compliance: generate RAMS, log certificates, store worker documents.

Hands-free mode (driving, on site, hands full)

Just talk. The app listens, transcribes, and confirms back to you.

Tap and hold the mic for hands-free mode. The app keeps listening, you keep talking, and your PA confirms what it's doing by voice. Great when you're driving between jobs or your hands are covered in compound.

• The PA says everything back so you know it heard you right. No need to look at the screen.
• Hands-free has its own monthly time limit per plan (1h / 3h / 4h / 8h depending on tier).
• Works through your car's Bluetooth if your phone's connected. Like a hands-free call.

When the AI misunderstands

Mishears happen. Here's how to correct without losing your place.

If the PA gets something wrong, wrong customer, wrong amount, wrong material, just say so. "No, that's the Khan job, not Patel" or "change that to £45" works. The app remembers corrections so the same misread is less likely next time.

For anything mission-critical (invoice amounts, CIS deductions, signed RAMS), always check the final value on screen before you save or send. Voice is fast; trust but verify.

Create a job card

Customer + address + type of work. That's all you need to start.

1. Tap Jobs → Add. Or just say "create a job for Patel" to the PA.
2. Pick (or add) the customer. The address is pulled in automatically if they already have one.
3. Add the materials, labour and any photos as you go. Each job has its own RAMS, certificates and document store.
4. Mark the job complete when it's done. Convert to an invoice in one tap.

Send a quote (and convert it to an invoice later)

Branded PDF in your customer's inbox in under a minute.

Tap Quotes → New or say "quote Khan £2,400 for the kitchen rewire". The PA drafts the quote with your branding, materials and labour breakdown.

When the customer accepts, just say "mark quote 18 as accepted". When the job's done, say "convert quote 18 to an invoice" and the app does it. No rekeying.

Generate a RAMS for any job

Five-step wizard your PA walks through with you. Site-ready PDF at the end.

1. Open the job card. Tap RAMS → Start, or say "Generate RAMS for the dormer roof job".
2. Your PA walks you through each step. Describe the work and it suggests relevant hazards and controls based on the job scope (working at height, hot works, confined spaces, etc.).
3. Tweak or add anything specific to your site. PA asks the questions; you confirm or change.
4. Add operatives and PPE. Sign and date.
5. Save. The PDF lives on the job card. Printable, emailable, ready for the site agent.

Store trade certificates and worker docs

NICEIC, Gas Safe, CSCS, public liability, PAT testing. All in one place.

Upload PDFs or photos of your certificates once and they're always available. On the job card if relevant, or in Documents for everything else.

Worker-specific docs (CSCS cards, induction certs) go on each subbie's profile, so when you're sending someone to site you can pull their docs in two taps.

Trade PA sends you a reminder 30 days before any document expires.

Log mileage by voice

One sentence, end-of-year ready.

You don't need a separate app. As you finish a job, just say what you did:

The app links every trip to the relevant job, calculates the 45p-per-mile claim, and has it ready for your accountant at year-end.

You can also auto-calculate mileage between two postcodes. The PA looks up the distance and logs it for you.

Scan a receipt

Camera + AI = no more shoebox.

1. Open the AI Assistant, tap the camera icon (or say "scan receipt").
2. Snap the receipt. The PA pulls out the supplier, total, VAT and items.
3. Tell it which job it's for (or which category, like fuel or tools).
4. Save. It's logged as an expense, attached to the job, and ready for Xero / QuickBooks.

• Works on faded thermal receipts most of the time. Snap in good light if you can.
• If the AI misreads a number, just tap the field and correct.