Is TradeDraft right for you?
Most of this site tells you what TradeDraft does. This page is the other half: who it suits, who it doesn't, and what it deliberately doesn't do — so you can rule it out in two minutes if it isn't for you.
It probably is for you, if…
- You send written quotes, and you'd rather they read as a proper document than a price in an email.
- You want to know the price covers your costs and your time before it goes out, not after the job.
- CIS or the VAT domestic reverse charge apply to some of your work, and you'd rather not carry the rules in your head.
- You've absorbed extra work before because arguing about it wasn't worth the conversation.
- You want a customer to be able to accept, sign and pay a deposit without you chasing them.
- You want what was agreed to still be there, dated, if anybody asks about it in three years.
It probably isn't, if…
- You win your work without ever sending a written quote. There's nothing here for you to use.
- What you actually need is a diary, timesheets or somewhere to plan next week — it does none of those.
- You want one place for the quoting and the bookkeeping. This is not an accounting system and it never files anything with HMRC.
- You want the price worked out for you. It prices the job from the rates and materials you give it; the numbers stay yours.
What it doesn't do, stated plainly
It doesn't schedule work or run a diary. It doesn't track hours or timesheets. It doesn't manage stock or purchase orders. It doesn't keep your books, and it doesn't file your tax.
What it does cover is one stretch of the job, end to end: pricing it against your own rates, checking the price covers you, putting it in front of the customer as a complete quotation, recording what they agreed to and when, and raising the invoices from that agreement so nothing is typed twice.
The questions worth asking first
Do I need quoting software as a sole trader?
Not necessarily. If you win most of your work by word of mouth and a text message settles the price, a written quote is a formality and almost anything will do. It starts to earn its place when jobs are big enough that “what was included?” becomes a real question months later, or when VAT, CIS or the domestic reverse charge apply to your work and getting one of them wrong costs more than the software does.
Is it worth it if I only send a few quotes a month?
That depends on the size of them rather than the number. One large job priced without your overheads in it can cost more than a year of any software; a handful of small callouts probably cannot. The question worth asking is what the biggest quote you send this year is worth, not how many you send.
Do I need it if I'm not VAT registered?
It works the same either way. You answer the VAT question once and it treats your work as outside VAT altogether: no VAT line on the quote and nothing extra for the customer to pay. That's different from a zero rate, which is a VAT rate that applies to certain work. If you register later you change the answer once in settings and every new quote follows it. The VAT and CIS guide covers where the line falls.
Can I use it as a subcontractor working under CIS?
Yes — that's one of the cases it's built for. You say who the customer is and the CIS deduction is applied to labour only, with materials excluded at cost, which is the part most often got wrong. It also works out whether the reverse charge applies to that particular job rather than assuming it always does. There's a guide to CIS for subcontractors if you want the rules themselves.
Does it replace my accounting software?
No, and it doesn't try to. It doesn't keep your books and it won't file anything with HMRC. It ends at the invoice, raised from the job that was actually agreed, and your accounting system carries on from there.
What if I already have a quote template that works?
Then the template isn't your problem, and it's worth keeping until it is. A template stops being enough at the point where the arithmetic behind the price matters — your overheads actually recovered, your margin visible before you send rather than after the job, and the tax treatment following the customer rather than your memory. There's a longer look at where that line sits.
Do I have to pay to try it?
No. You can build a complete quote without an account and without paying anything. A subscription is what lets you send it, download it as a PDF or take the customer's acceptance online, and that starts with a 30-day free trial needing no card. Nothing is charged during the trial and nothing converts automatically, because no card is held. The pricing page has the figures.
Still not sure?
The honest test is your own job rather than anyone else's. You can open a finished sample quote and change the numbers, or send the last quote you actually sent a customer and have it rebuilt as a complete quotation — free, no account, and no call afterwards.