Business toolkits
Construction & Contractor Business Toolkit
Site paperwork without the clipboard pile. Write job sheets and work orders, keep a daily site diary, log hours and materials, track certificate renewal dates and keep an index of your own RAMS documents. Built for trades and small contractors who would rather be on the tools.
- Records saved to your account, private to you
- Print or save any list as a PDF
- Email reminders before renewal dates
- Free to use, no account needed
- One free Excel or Word download a month, then £1.49 a file or £4.99 a month for unlimited
Free to use. No account needed. Create a free account when you want to save your records, and to get your free monthly download.
Create a free accountTools in this toolkit
Job Sheet Generator
Record what was done on each job, the materials used and the hours, then print it for the client.
Open toolWork Order Generator
Raise and track work orders with a reference, target date and status.
Open toolSite Diary
Keep a daily record of work, weather, people on site, visitors and deliveries.
Open toolContractor Timesheet
Log hours by person, date and site or job, then print for payroll or invoicing.
Open toolMaterials Tracker
Track materials ordered and used by job, with supplier and cost.
Open toolConstruction Insurance & Certificate Expiry Tracker
Keep a contractor's insurance policies and trade certificates in one list with renewal dates.
Open toolRAMS Document Organiser
Keep a tidy index of your own RAMS documents by project, version and date.
Storage and organisation only. This tool does not produce, certify, approve or check RAMS and does not provide health and safety advice.
Open toolPurchase Order Generator
Create a clear purchase order with supplier, delivery, line item and total details.
Storage and organisation only. This tool does not produce, certify, approve or check RAMS and does not provide health and safety advice.
Open toolFree construction templates
Paid as a subcontractor? The CIS tax calculator shows the deduction on the labour part of your invoice at 20%, 30% or gross payment status, and what should reach your bank.
Find construction contracts too
Councils, housing associations, schools and NHS trusts put building, refurbishment and maintenance work out to tender all year round, and plenty of it sits within reach of a small contractor. See what is live right now.
How to start a construction company
Most small contractors start with tools they already own and a couple of jobs booked in. The bit people trip over is CIS and insurance, so get those straight early.
Register the business
Sole trader through HMRC, or a limited company through Companies House. Limited tends to make sense once you are subcontracting to bigger firms, because plenty of them prefer it.
Register for CIS with HMRC
If you subcontract to others, or others subcontract to you, the Construction Industry Scheme applies. Register and 20% is deducted at source. Do not register and it is 30%, which is money you wait a year to see again.
Arrange public liability insurance
Standard on almost every site and almost every domestic job of any size. Have the certificate to hand, because you will be asked for it more often than you expect.
Add employers' liability when you hire
A legal requirement as soon as you have employees, including most labour you pay directly. Sort it before the first day on site.
Cover the work itself
Contract works insurance covers materials and work in progress. Fire, theft or storm damage to a half finished job is the sort of thing that closes small firms.
Set up the money side
Business bank account, a way of raising quotes and invoices, and a habit of logging materials and hours as you go rather than at midnight on a Sunday.
Keep an eye on VAT
Registration is compulsory above £90,000 turnover. Under that it is optional, and worth a proper conversation with an accountant given how the reverse charge works in construction.
What it actually costs to start
For a solo trader or a small crew, budget roughly £500 to £5,000 to cover tools, transport, insurance and some basic branding.
Once the work is coming in, this toolkit takes on the paperwork: timesheets, job sheets and work orders, a site diary, materials records, RAMS document storage and expiry reminders for insurance and certificates. It organises and stores, it does not approve anything or give health and safety advice.
For public sector work, councils, housing associations and schools tender building, refurbishment and maintenance jobs constantly, and plenty of it is small firm sized. Live matches sit on our construction tenders page.
Which package makes sense at this stage
If you are still setting the construction business up, start on the free Starter plan. It costs nothing, it lets you search and read live contract notices, and it is enough to work out whether public sector work is realistic for you yet.
The admin toolkit itself is free to use and needs no account, so you can build the rotas, checklists and renewal lists from day one. Create a free account if you want those records saved and waiting for you next time, which also gives you one free Excel or Word download each month across all the toolkits.
Move up to Pro at £89 a month when you are genuinely ready to bid, meaning insurance in place, references you can name and the capacity to take the work on. Pro is where the matching, scoring and drafting live. Business is built for teams running several bids at once, so most people setting up do not need it, and there is no reason to pay for it early. Full detail is on the pricing page.
No work is guaranteed
Using this toolkit, or finding tenders through 123 Tenders, does not mean you will get work. Whether you win a tender depends on your bid, on who else is bidding and on plenty of things none of us control. We help you find opportunities and prepare for them properly. We do not promise you will win them, and we do not promise work will follow once you are set up.
Not sure this is the right sector for you?
Answer five questions about your budget, vehicle, qualifications, insurance and area, and the free Sector Finder will tell you which public sector work is realistic for you, with live notices to match. It is guidance based on your answers, not a promise of work.
These tools are provided for general business administration, organisation and record-keeping purposes. They do not constitute legal, medical, clinical, safeguarding, health and safety or regulatory advice and do not guarantee compliance with any applicable requirement. Businesses remain responsible for ensuring their own policies, procedures and records are appropriate for their circumstances.