“The worktop's a week late, so the tiler, the sparky and the customer all need moving. Again.”
Kitchen fitter software that keeps each install in sequence. For bathroom fitters too.
Designs signed off, units tracked from order to delivery, trades booked in the right order and snags closed, so your evenings stop being the install's back office.
My name is Daniel Andrews. I'm Managing Partner of a law firm in East Sussex, and I built several of the systems it uses every day. Now I help kitchen and bathroom fitters from Lewes to Crowborough run each install as a project, with the admin handled by a system, not by you after tea.
A typical evening, between strip-out and handover
- 6pmConfirm the delivery windowTwenty-two units, arriving some time between 7am and 1pm
- 7pmRebook the tiler and the sparkyThe worktop template slipped, so second fix moves too
- 8pmPrice the customer's change of mindAn extra drawer unit and a boiling-water tap, agreed on site
- 9pmChase the second depositDue when the units landed, and still not paid
- 11pmBed, with the snag list still to typeA door out of line, a missing plinth clip, silicone to redo
Five trades, one kitchen, and every date hanging on you
Any of these ring a bell?
“She changed the door colour after I'd ordered. Now the whole job's back three weeks.”
“We finished the bathroom on Friday. I spent Saturday typing snags instead of watching my boy play.”
“I've paid for the units, the worktop and the sink. Their second payment still hasn't come.”
“They asked me to move a socket nearer the shower. I'm not sure whose sign-off that needs.”
Fitter, project manager and office, all at once
You went it alone to do installs your way and choose the work you take on. What arrived instead was a second role nobody pays for: project manager for every trade, delivery and change.
If an install only moves when you make the calls, and stalls when you're ill, you've built a job, not a business. I ran my own firm like that for years, working 60 to 70 hours a week and often until 2 in the morning. A system fixed it, not more hours, and the firm is now four to five times the size it was when I started.
On an install, the system works the same way: see where the time goes, put the repeat work on systems, and spend the hours you win back on the business. Sign-off, orders, trade bookings, stage payments and snagging each get a set route, written down so a second fitter could cover your fortnight away. It's the idea behind all my trade pages: building a business rather than a second shift.
What should kitchen fitter software do for a small installation business?
It should turn a survey and design into a signed-off quote, track each order and its lead time, and book the plumber, electrician, tiler and plasterer in the right order. It should also take deposits and stage payments, record changes the customer approves, and close the job with a signed snag list.
| Job | How it often works now | Set up properly |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries and surveys | Showroom leads, texts and calls, scattered everywhere. | One list, with room photos requested and a survey slot offered. |
| Design sign-off | Changes agreed by text, and the order placed from memory. | Final layout and spec signed by the customer before anything is ordered. |
| Orders and lead times | Delivery dates buried in supplier emails. | Each order and its expected date on the job, with a warning if one slips. |
| Booking the other trades | Plumber, electrician, tiler and plasterer juggled by text. | Each trade booked against a stage, and texted when that stage moves. |
| Deposits and stage payments | Asked for when you remember, then chased awkwardly. | Requests sent at each agreed stage, from deposit to completion. |
| Snagging and handover | Snags over WhatsApp, and the final payment waits. | A walk-round snag list with photos, signed off, then the final invoice. |
| Reviews and aftercare | Appliance manuals left in a drawer somewhere. | Manuals kept with the job, and a review request a week later. |
Which regulations affect a kitchen or bathroom install?
Electrics, gas, drainage and ventilation are the usual ones. Refitting with new units and fittings generally needs no building regulations approval, though drainage or electrical work may. Adding to or altering circuits near a bath or shower is notifiable under Part P, and anyone paid to work on gas appliances in a home must be Gas Safe registered.
Electrics: kitchens and bathrooms differ
Under Part P, three kinds of electrical work are notifiable: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and altering circuits in a special location. In a bathroom, that's the space within 0.6 metres of the edge of the bath or shower tray, from the floor up to 2.25 metres. A kitchen isn't one, and Approved Document P says fitting a built-in cooker isn't notifiable unless it needs a new cooker circuit.
Non-notifiable work should still be tested and certificated to BS 7671, and my page for electricians covers the certificates your sparky should hand over.
Gas, water and ventilation
HSE says anyone employed to work on gas appliances in a home must be Gas Safe registered and competent in that kind of work, with their competencies on the back of their ID card. So check the card covers cookers before connection day. For new pipework and drainage, my page for plumbers covers the water notification rules.
The Planning Portal says a kitchen or bathroom in a room that didn't have one before is likely to need approval, covering ventilation, drainage and more. On a refurbishment, it says any existing extract ventilation should be kept or replaced.
Deposits and cancellations
Sign up a customer at their own kitchen table, and it's usually an off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, with a 14-day cancellation period. If you don't give the cancellation information, that period can run for up to 12 months longer. The customer may then owe nothing for work done within it.
- A sign-off step for the final design and spec, before any order goes in.
- A notifiable-work flag on jobs that touch bathroom circuits or need a new cooker circuit.
- Cancellation information sent with every quote accepted in the home, and the date logged.
Please note: this summarises GOV.UK, HMRC, HSE, the Planning Portal and legislation.gov.uk. It's general information, not legal advice. For a particular install, ask building control or a solicitor.
Is it the trades, the deliveries or the snag lists that take your evenings? We'll start with that one.
Book a free 30-minute callWhat I'd set up first for a kitchen or bathroom fitter
Installs go wrong at the hand-offs, so these four sit where one stage passes to the next.
Sign-off before ordering
The customer approves the layout, doors, worktop and appliances on their phone. Nothing is ordered until they have.
A lead time tracker
Every order has an expected date. If one slips, later trades are flagged before they turn up.
Trades booked by stage
First fix, boarding, second fix and tiling each get a slot, and each trade gets a text when their date moves.
A snag list that ends the job
Snags recorded with photos at handover, closed one by one, and the final invoice sent once the customer signs.
How do I choose kitchen or bathroom fitter software?
Pick software that treats each install as a project with stages, not a single job. It should hold designs and specs, track orders and lead times, book other trades, take staged payments and record snags with photos. Make sure it runs on a phone, sends figures to your accounts and lets you leave with your data.
- Stages for strip-out, first fix, fitting, second fix and snagging.
- Limited logins for subbies, so they see their dates but not your prices.
- Figures that reach your accounts. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts on 6 April 2027 for sole traders who had more than £30,000 of qualifying income in 2025 to 2026. Your accountant will know which year is yours.
- An export of every job and customer if you move on.
As examples, not recommendations: ProWorks and Tradify both have UK pages for kitchen and bathroom businesses, and Powered Now is a general app built in the UK for trades. None of them pays me for the mention.
Why a law firm Managing Partner?
A legal matter and a kitchen install have the same shape: several people, a set order, and a sign-off at the end. Around 30 people pass work along that way at my firm, through hand-offs I built with approval in one click. So what I'd set up for you already works in a busy office.
This consultancy is only just starting out, so I haven't yet worked with a kitchen or bathroom fitter. If this page reached you through BNI, that fits: I've been a member for 20 years, and an introduction is how I'd hope to meet you. Read how I got here.
Other trades I help
PlumbingPlumbers
Call-outs answered, quotes built from your price list, parts matched to jobs and notifications tracked, so the van isn't your evening office.
For plumbers
ElectricalElectricians
Certificates written up on site, EICR recalls sent to landlords, remedials quoted and invoices chased, so testing days don't become writing-up nights.
For electricians
BuildingBuilders
Quotes, variations, subbies and the monthly CIS return, set up so the office side of a building firm stops eating your evenings.
For builders
Gas and heatingGas and heating engineers
Every landlord check and boiler service on one due-date list, records sent from site, and boiler quotes followed up, so winter weekends stay yours.
For gas and heating engineers
LocksmithingLocksmiths
Lockouts caught while you're mid-job, key and job records kept straight, and the invoice sent before you've left the doorstep.
For locksmiths
GardeningLandscape gardeners
For gardeners and landscapers juggling a maintenance round, bigger landscaping quotes and green waste records through a long summer of late nights.
For landscape gardenersQuestions from kitchen and bathroom fitters
Do I need to register for CIS if I pay my plumber and electrician?
Possibly. HMRC's CIS 340 guide includes installing kitchens and bathrooms among construction operations. A business that pays subcontractors for it is a contractor under the Construction Industry Scheme, even when the customer is a homeowner. The contractor's monthly duties are on my page for builders. Check your own set-up with your accountant.
Can a customer cancel after I've ordered the units?
If the contract was agreed in their home, they usually have 14 days. The Regulations exclude goods made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalised. Whether that covers a particular order depends on the facts, so take advice. This isn't legal advice.
How do I stop design changes wrecking the schedule?
Agree a cut-off. After sign-off, any change is priced and approved in writing, showing its effect on lead times. A system can send it, collect the approval and move every trade's dates.
What should a handover pack include?
The signed snag list, appliance manuals and warranties, your trades' certificates, any building regulations paperwork and care notes for worktops. Kept digitally, it's there when the customer rings next year.
Hand over the kitchen, and keep the evening
A free 30-minute call. No jargon and no hard sell. Take me through your last install, from survey to snagging, and I'll name the hand-off I'd put on a system first.