Quoting software for landscapers.
Groundwork is the trade where the biggest numbers are the ones that leave site. Muck away, plant hire, sub-base by the tonne. TradeDraft is built so those are priced as lines on the quote, not carried on your own account until the end.
The lorries and the plant, on the quote
Muck away by the grab load. Digger and dumper by the week. Skips, and the licence if the road is involved. These are the costs that make a garden job a real job, and they are all separate items in the rate book so they can be priced and seen.
Protecting and making good the access route has its own line too — because the neighbour’s drive is somebody’s, and putting it right is work.
Driveways, and what needs permission
A driveway is one of the few garden jobs where drainage can turn into somebody’s planning question. The rate book carries a permeable surface as its own priced option, and the quote can name permissions as an exclusion so it is clear before anyone digs who is arranging what.
TradeDraft does not check planning and does not give advice on it. What it does is put the point on the document while there is still time to raise it.
Long jobs get paid in stages
A full garden runs for weeks and you are buying materials the whole way through. Payment can be split into stages against the work — excavation complete, sub-base down, surfaces laid — so the money moves as the job does.
Where a contractor holds retention it is shown on the face of the document with a release date, and it is never switched on unless you choose it.
What you find when you dig
Old foundations, a soakaway nobody mentioned, services in the wrong place. The standard terms already cover what could not reasonably have been seen when you quoted: you stop, say what you have found, and price it for agreement before carrying on. It becomes an Additional Works sheet, signed before the work happens.
What it has nothing to do with
It does not design gardens, produce planting plans or drawings, and it does not check planning or drainage requirements. It prices the job, gets it accepted, prices the changes and invoices it.
Questions worth asking first
Can I price muck away and plant hire separately?
Yes, and the starter rate book already separates them — grab loads, digger and dumper hire, skips and the skip licence are their own items, so the biggest costs on a groundwork job are priced and visible rather than absorbed.
Does it deal with driveway drainage or planning?
No. TradeDraft does not check planning or drainage requirements and gives no advice on them. It lets you price a permeable surface as its own item and name permissions as an exclusion on the quote, so the question is on the document before work starts.
How much is it?
£45 a month or £450 a year, flat, with no per-user charge.
The 30-day trial needs no card. Sending, downloading and online acceptance are all included.