7 Ways Tradespeople Lose Money Without Realising (And How to Stop It)

11 min read · Updated November 2025

Most tradespeople don’t go broke because they can't do the work. They go broke because money leaks out of the business in small, invisible ways.

A bit of free extra work here. A badly priced job there. A quote never followed up. A call-out that never gets invoiced. None of these feel dramatic on their own, but added together they can easily cost you thousands per year.

In this guide, we'll walk through 7 common ways trades and service businesses lose money without realising — and what you can do to stop each one, using clearer pricing, stronger boundaries and simple systems (including tools like GoTaskhub).

1. Underpricing the “small” jobs

Everyone has that customer who says, “It's just a quick thing while you're here.” A loose socket, a leaking tap, a door that needs adjusting.

The problem is, those “quick jobs” usually involve travel, tools, thinking time, and sometimes a bit of problem solving. If you only charge for the 10–15 minutes you're physically touching the work, you're massively underpricing your time.

Over a month, this looks like:

• Lots of driving for very little money
• Days that feel busy but don't pay well
• Less time available for higher-value work

How to stop it

Introduce a minimum charge or call-out fee for smaller jobs.

• Decide your minimum paid time per visit (often 1 hour)
• Be transparent: “Our minimum charge for a visit is £X, which covers up to one hour on site.”
• Include this in your quotes and confirmations so there are no surprises

In GoTaskhub, you can create a pricing template with a minimum charge item and reuse it, so you're not rethinking the price every time.

2. Doing “little extras” for free

You're on site doing one job and you notice something else that needs attention. Or the customer asks, “While you're here, could you just…”

Being helpful is good. But if you regularly throw in 20–30 minutes of extra work for free, you're silently cutting into your daily earning potential.

Over time this can cause:

• Days that run behind schedule
• Lost income you never even think about
• Customers who expect more and more “free extras” next time

How to stop it

You don't need to become cold or transactional. The fix is to name and value the extra work.

• “I can certainly look at that while I'm here. It's probably an extra 25–30 minutes, so I'll add it to the quote / invoice.”
• If it really is a tiny thing you're happy to give away, say so: “I've adjusted that for you at no charge this time.” (This makes the freebie visible and sets a boundary.)

In GoTaskhub, add extra line items as you go so the final invoice reflects the reality of what you did on site.

3. Not charging properly for travel and downtime

Travel is one of the most common hidden costs in a trades business. If your day is full of 30–40 minute drives between small jobs, your “paid hours” might be much lower than your working hours.

This impacts profit in two ways:

• You complete fewer jobs per day
• Your effective hourly rate drops significantly

How to stop it

There are two levers you can pull:

• Charge appropriately by baking travel time into your rates or call-out fee.
• Schedule smarter by grouping jobs by area to reduce driving.

In GoTaskhub, you can see your day in one view, group jobs by postcode, and make sure you're not zig-zagging all over town for tiny amounts of money.

4. Quoting based on hope, not reality

Many trades fall into the trap of quoting based on the best-case scenario:

• “If everything goes smoothly, this should only take a day.”
• “The materials shouldn't be more than £X.”

Real jobs rarely go like that. Access issues, hidden problems, customer questions and variations all add time and cost. If your quote doesn't include any buffer, those overages come straight out of your pocket.

How to stop it

Start quoting based on real data and experience:

• Track how long jobs actually take, not how long you think they should
• Add contingency for unknowns (e.g. 10–20% time or cost buffer)
• Be clear about what's included and what counts as extra work

GoTaskhub helps by linking jobs, quotes and invoices so you can see patterns over time and refine your pricing based on reality, not guesswork.

5. Forgetting to follow up on quotes

One of the biggest invisible money leaks is simple: quotes that never get followed up.

You've already done the hard work — the site visit, the thinking, the pricing. But if you don't follow up, many customers will:

• Forget to reply
• Get distracted by life
• Go with whoever chases them politely

How to stop it

Build a simple follow-up rhythm into your process:

• First follow-up: 2–3 days after sending the quote
• Second follow-up: 7–10 days later
• Final nudge: “Just checking in before I close this quote.”

In GoTaskhub, you can create tasks and reminders linked to each quote so you never forget to follow up. Even a small increase in conversion rate makes a big difference to your yearly revenue.

6. Letting invoices go out late (or not at all)

You'd be surprised how many established businesses admit to this: “We finished the job but I never actually sent the invoice.”

Common reasons:

• Paperwork done “when I get a minute”
• Invoices scattered across different apps and templates
• No clear process for what happens after a job is completed

Every delayed invoice hurts your cashflow. Every forgotten invoice is pure profit lost.

How to stop it

Make invoicing a same-day habit and remove friction:

• Turn jobs into invoices with one click instead of starting from scratch
• Use templates so you're not rebuilding layout and wording every time
• Set a daily or end-of-job routine: “Before I leave, I log the job and schedule/send the invoice.”

GoTaskhub lets you create an invoice directly from a job or quote, then send it by email or via the client portal so you get paid faster and nothing slips through the cracks.

7. Not protecting yourself against cancellations and no-shows

Empty time slots are one of the most expensive problems in a trades business. If a customer cancels last minute or simply doesn't show, you lose:

• The time you blocked out in your diary
• The opportunity to book someone else in that slot
• Travel and prep time you've already spent

How to stop it

The goal isn't to punish customers — it's to protect your time.

• Introduce a simple cancellation policy (e.g. “Less than 24 hours' notice may incur a charge”)
• Take deposits for larger jobs or first-time customers
• Send automatic confirmations and reminders so customers don't forget

With GoTaskhub, you can send confirmations when a job is booked, remind customers 24 hours before, and clearly track which visits are confirmed or pending. Pair that with deposits and your no-show risk drops fast.

Final thoughts: plug the leaks, then grow

None of these seven leaks feel huge on their own. But together, they can be the difference between a business that works you hard for not much money and one that pays you properly for your skill.

To recap, the main leaks are:

• Underpricing small jobs and call-outs
• Doing “little extras” for free
• Ignoring travel time and inefficient routes
• Quoting based on hope, not history
• Forgetting to follow up on quotes
• Sending invoices late (or not at all)
• Not protecting your time from cancellations and no-shows

You don't have to fix everything overnight. Start by picking one or two of these areas, tighten them up, then move on to the next.

GoTaskhub is built to help with exactly this: smarter pricing, clearer jobs, faster invoicing, and fewer leaks.

• Quotes that turn into jobs and invoices in one click
• Job templates with minimum charges and travel built in
• Automatic reminders for quotes, visits and payments
• A client portal that makes it easy for customers to say yes and pay

Once the leaks are plugged, every extra job, every new customer, and every price increase drops more cleanly to your bottom line. That's when the business really starts to feel worth all the effort you put into it.