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Features

How It Works

Trades

Pricing

Guides

About

Features

How It Works

Trades

Pricing

Guides

About

Glossary

Trade business terms, explained

Plain definitions of the pricing, quoting, invoicing and site terms UK trades meet every week. One term per page, with the calculator or tool that puts it to work.

All terms

Call-out charge

A call-out charge is a fixed fee a tradesperson adds to a job to cover the cost of attending site, separate from the labour and materials once they are there.

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Charge-out rate

A charge-out rate is the hourly amount a business bills a customer for an employee's time.

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Day rate

A day rate is the fixed amount a tradesperson charges for one day's work, whatever hours that day happens to take.

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Delivery note

A delivery note is the document that travels with goods and lists what is in the load, so whoever receives it can check the delivery against the order before signing for it.

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Job costing

Job costing is tracking what a single job actually cost to deliver, in labour, materials, subcontractors and a share of overhead, so the real profit on that job can be compared with the price quoted.

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Job sheet

A job sheet is the record of what was actually done on a job: the work carried out, the materials used, the hours worked, and the customer's signature confirming it.

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Preliminaries

Preliminaries, usually shortened to prelims, are the project-wide costs of running a job that cannot be attached to any single item of work.

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Prime cost sum

A prime cost sum, usually shortened to PC sum, is an allowance in a quote for supplying a specific item the customer has not chosen yet.

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Proforma invoice

A proforma invoice is a request for payment issued before the goods or work are supplied.

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Provisional sum

A provisional sum is an allowance included in a quote or contract for work that cannot be priced accurately when the quote is issued.

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Purchase order

A purchase order, usually shortened to PO, is the document a buyer issues to a supplier to order goods or services at an agreed price, before anything is supplied or invoiced.

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Quote vs estimate

A quote is a fixed price for defined work that the customer can hold you to once they accept it.

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Site diary

A site diary is a dated daily record of what happened on a job: who was on site, what was done, the weather, deliveries, instructions received and anything that caused a delay.

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Snagging

Snagging is the process of inspecting completed work, listing the defects and unfinished items found, and putting them right before the job is signed off.

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Work order

A work order is a written instruction to carry out a defined piece of work at an agreed price, authorised before the work starts.

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© 2025 Fieldhive Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Company Registration No: 16741717

Management software built by trade professionals, for trade professionals.

QUICK LINKS

Compare FieldHive

WHO WE SERVE

Plumbers

HVAC

Builders

Maintenance

Landscaping

© 2025 Fieldhive Ltd. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Cookie Policy

Company Registration No: 16741717

Management software built by trade professionals, for trade professionals.

QUICK LINKS

Compare FieldHive

WHO WE SERVE

Plumbers

HVAC

Builders

Maintenance

Landscaping

Company Registration No: 16741717

© 2025 Fieldhive Ltd. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Cookie Policy

Management software built by trade professionals, for trade professionals.

WHO WE SERVE

Plumbers

HVAC

Builders

Maintenance

Landscaping

QUICK LINKS

Compare FieldHive

© 2025 Fieldhive Ltd. All rights reserved.

Terms of Service

Company Registration No: 16741717