Tradespeople stories

Company: KVM Services Ltd
Trade: General building and ground works

Can you give us a brief overview of your career?
I started out in farming. That crossed over into groundworks, which progressed into the building game, and I’m now proud to be running my own business.

How long have you been in business?
For four years as a limited company.

Give us a brief explanation of your role in the company
I’m the MD, but in reality I’m the estimator, accounts manager, project manager, trouble shooter and still on my tools – although I have a small team.

What features do you use most?
I really like time tracking and expenses tracking for all the materials I purchase for projects. I’ve just started to use quotes and invoices instead of an accounting app.

Have you used other apps or standard phone features?
I use reminders and notes on my iPhone, plus Invoice2go.

How easy was the app to use at the beginning?
I needed to play around and explore its features for a short while, but it is fairly intuitive and it wasn’t long before I was using time and expense tracking for every job. Now I’m trying more of the app’s features because I can see the benefits for my business.

How much time did you spend on a desktop PC or doing paperwork before?
I wasn’t really doing paperwork on a regular basis. If someone asked “How’s the bill looking?” I would spend hours looking through my calendar for labour and hunting out receipts and invoices for materials. Tracking everything as I go is so much easier and I now feel confident I haven’t missed anything.

Does Timter help you be more organised?
Definitely. You soon realise being mobile and doing things as you go is the future. Yes, you have to adopt good habits and be consistent with inputting, but you get quicker and quicker and the benefits are huge.

Would you recommend Timter?
I have and will definitely continue to do so.

Company: Securus & Tradecraft Tools
Trade: Electrician & developer of Timter

Can you give us a brief overview of your career?
I did my old school apprenticeship with a Gosport-based company 32 years ago. Since then, I’ve been lucky to have had a broad scope of electrical work which has given me great experience across all aspects of domestic, commercial and industrial situations, along with a comprehensive understanding of the electrical contracting industry.

How long have you been in business?
32 years as a sparky, the last 28 years self employed.

Would you recommend being self employed or running your own business?
Yes, its very rewarding … hard work but rewarding. If I have any advice to share, it would be to be organised! I’ve found myself being a busy fool on too many occasions. Being organised generally is key but having a financial understanding of every project on a day-by-day basis is a must! Having that crucial insight about your projects gives you so much knowledge and helps you make better decisions over whether you’re pricing work correctly, working efficiently, getting the materials right and invoicing for everything.

What features do you like most?
All the project tracking features are a must-have for tradespeople. And I really like the product features. I’d never been able to find a suitable stock control app, so that’s really cool. Ordering materials through the app, having a detailed product list and firing it as email over to my supplier is so much more organised for me and my supplier. I can even check off deliveries and mark any shortages.

Have you used other apps or standard phone features?
I am a bit of an app man and I can see the benefits of being mobile. I’ve tried most accounting apps just for invoicing, I have a test and certificating app, I use iPhone notes for capturing quick photos and notes about projects, and I’ve use my phone’s calendar to schedule in jobs.

How much time do you think the app could save users by using Timter?
Time saving and efficiency are big factors behind the app. Over my 32 years in business, I’ve made every mistake going and that’s cost me dearly in time and money –  losing materials lists to finish a project, not tracking my chargeable time and forgetting where I’ve been, forgetting to invoice job extras. The list goes on and on. I’m convinced that having a bad week can cost me 8 hours of wasted time. I hate to think about all the times I’ve been over busy and stressed and making these mistakes. I must have lost a small fortune.

Will Timter cure all the pain points that self-employed tradespeople face?
Every single feature of Timter is designed to improve the life of a tradesperson and it’s our team’s mission to be constantly improving the functionality of the app. The product database will constantly grow, providing every trade professional with their most popular, up-to-date products.

Company: Inspector Electrical
Trade: Electrician

Can you give us a brief overview of your career?
I originally studied as an electrical engineer before becoming an electrician. I enjoyed 15 fantastic years as an employee working for a small family business, before finally taking the leap of faith and setting up on my own 8 years ago.

How long have you been in the business?
23 years.

Would you recommend being self-employed or running your own business?
I love it, but you definitely need to finds ways of managing the stress.

What Timter features do you like most?
All the features are great and it’s amazing how simple and user-friendly it quickly becomes.

Have you used other apps or standard phone features?
Yes, I’ve previously used Invoice2go and Xero for my accounting and Easycert for my certification .

How much time do you think the app could save users?
This will vary from user to user depending on how they are currently operating. I carry out a lot of small jobs which not only create a lot of invoicing but require being organized and efficient. The app only needs to save me one trip a month to the wholesaler to pay for itself.

Will Timter cure all the pain points that self-employed tradespeople face?
For me, the biggest pain point prior to using the app was the stress of having to remember and organize so much. The app has not only given me back my time but my mind!