OnlyTrade was born out of 16 years of frustration with admin, paperwork, and software built by people who’ve never held a pipe wrench. We’re fixing that — one trade at a time.
In 2010, Daniel Howells was finishing 10-hour days on the tools — boilers, bathrooms, emergency call-outs — and then going home to spend another 2 hours doing admin. Invoicing in Word. Tracking jobs in a notebook. A website that hadn’t been updated since 2008.
He tried every piece of software on the market. Jobber. Housecall Pro. ServiceTitan. Each one cost a fortune, charged per user, hid the best features behind “enterprise” plans, and felt like it was designed by someone who’d never actually been on a job.
So in 2024, after 16 years on the tools, Daniel did what any fed-up tradesperson with access to developers would do: he built his own.
OnlyTrade is a single app that replaces the six different tools most tradespeople juggle: your website, your invoicing, your job scheduler, your trade calculators, your certifications, and your customer CRM. All in one place. All on your phone. All built around the way UK tradespeople actually work.
Every feature is battle-tested by working tradespeople before it ships. Every calculator is compliant with BS standards. Every certificate matches what your insurer, your accreditation body, and HMRC actually expect to see. No American quirks. No feature-per-seat pricing. No dark patterns.
We’re building OnlyTrade because tradespeople deserve better than a spreadsheet, a Word doc, and a prayer.
Plumbers. Electricians. Gas engineers. Builders. Roofers. Tilers. Plasterers. Painters & decorators. Locksmiths. Landscapers. Any UK tradesperson — sole trader or small team — who’s tired of running a business on their phone at 10pm after a 12-hour shift.
If you’re brilliant at your trade but losing time to paperwork, we built this for you.
“I spent 16 years under kitchen sinks, crawling through lofts, and fixing boilers at 2am in January. I know what it’s like to finish a brutal day and then realise you’ve got 2 hours of invoicing left before you eat.
I built OnlyTrade because nothing on the market actually worked the way I worked. If it’s in this app, it’s because I needed it. If it’s not yet, tell us — we build to order.”
One invoice paid on time and the app pays for itself.
Get online in 10 minutes. No card needed to start.
Get Started FreeWe read every message. Typically reply within 2 working hours.