Illustrative example. Today: The phone shows [n] missed calls from numbers it doesn’t know. A website enquiry from [day] is still unread. After the fix: “[Name], [job] in [area]. Texted back at [time]. Survey booked for [date].” “[Name] wants a quote for [job]. Looks like good work. Flagged to you.” “[Name] hasn’t replied. Follow-up sent [date].”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE CALL
You miss calls and enquiries, and the work goes elsewhere.
‘I’m up a ladder when the phone rings, and by the time I ring back they’ve booked someone else.’
What It Costs You
What Missed Calls Cost You
An estimate. The diagnostic replaces it with your real numbers.
Illustrative example. Today: A text: “About £[x] all in.” An extra agreed on site on [day], written down nowhere. The invoice says £[x]. After the fix: “Quote [n] for [job]: [lines], £[x]. Approved by [Customer] on [date] at [time].” “Change [n]: [extra work], £[x]. Approved [date].” “Invoice £[x]: quote plus approved changes.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE PRICE
Customers dispute what was agreed and what it cost.
‘We agree the price on site, and the argument starts when the bill goes out.’
What It Costs You
Only 41% of home-repair customers got a written quote, and those who ended up paying extra lost a median £750.
Source: Citizens Advice, Built to fail, July 2026
Illustrative example. Today: The customer’s thread: “Hi, any update on the [job]?” ([day]). “Hello?” ([day]). “Are you still coming on [day]?” No replies. After the fix: “Survey done. Your [materials] are ordered, due [date].” “Fitting booked for [date], [time slot].” “We’ve had to move you to [date] because [reason]. Sorry for the change.” “[Fitter] is on the way, about [n] minutes.” “All done. If anything’s not right, reply here.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE WAIT
Customers keep chasing you for updates.
‘Customers ring all day asking when we’re coming.’
What It Costs You
Among home-repair customers who had a problem, 21% faced substantial delays, and 16% of those who complained said the trader ignored them.
Source: Citizens Advice, Built to fail, July 2026
Illustrative example. Today: “Where’s my order [n]? It’s been [n] days.” Staff check the courier’s site by hand. After the fix: “Order [n] dispatched with [courier], due [date].” “Your delivery is delayed. [Courier] now says [date]. [Wait] [Refund]” “Return started. Label attached. Your refund of £[x] goes through when it arrives back.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE DELIVERY
Online orders go wrong: deliveries, returns and refunds.
‘Half our emails are ‘where’s my order’, and returns take forever.’
What It Costs You
Citizens Advice took 17,744 clothing and footwear complaints in 2025, 82% about online orders; delivery made up 13% and returns 12%.
Source: Citizens Advice
Illustrative example. Today: [Customer] is back with [Reg]. The job card from [date] is in a box somewhere. After the fix: “[Reg] is back with [fault], [n] days after job [n] on [date]. Same fault: yes. Booked [date], priority.” “Check-in sent [n] weeks after the repair.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
AFTERWARDS
Jobs keep coming back.
‘The car comes back with the same fault, and the customer’s angrier than the first time.’
What It Costs You
The Motor Ombudsman names repeat attempts that did not fix the fault among the causes of its 4,847 service and repair cases in the first nine months of 2024.
Source: The Motor Ombudsman
Illustrative example. Today: A one-star review: “[Complaint]. Nobody called me back.” Posted [date]. No reply. After the fix: “Open complaints: [n]. [Customer], [Reg]: logged from a review on [date], acknowledged [date], response due [date]. Draft ready. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
A COMPLAINT
Small complaints turn into big ones.
‘One unhappy customer turns into a one-star review and an ombudsman case.’
What It Costs You
The Motor Ombudsman received 1,586 new service and repair cases in Q3 2024, 18% more than a year earlier and its highest quarter on record.
Source: The Motor Ombudsman
Illustrative example. Today: The accounts screen shows [n] invoices overdue, £[x] in total. A note on the phone: “Rang [Customer] [date]? Said end of month?” Nothing else is written down. After the fix: “Morning, [Name]. Owed: £[x] across [n] customers. Promised: [Customer], £[x] by [date]. Gone quiet: [Customer], [n] days, second reminder sent [date]. Needs you: [Customer] says the snagging on [job] isn’t finished. Reply drafted. [Approve]”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE BILL
Customers pay late, and you spend hours chasing.
‘The job’s finished and signed off. Then I spend weeks chasing the money.’
What It Costs You
Late payment is a major obstacle for 36% of construction firms, and a business it hits spends 86 hours a year chasing.
Source: DBT LSBS 2024; London Economics for DBT/OSBC 2025
Illustrative example. Today: AML supervision renewal: “in [Name]’s calendar?” Gas safety certificates for [n] properties in a spreadsheet with [n] blank rows. After the fix: “This month: AML supervision renewal due [date], owner [Name], evidence ready. Gas safety at [property] expires [date], engineer booked [date]. Overdue: none.”.
Illustrative. Your business carries your own details.
THE RENEWAL
A missed deadline or registration lands you with a fine.
‘A renewal slips past, and the first we know is the penalty letter.’
What It Costs You
194 estate and letting agents were penalised over £1m in six months, mostly for registering late for anti-money-laundering supervision.
Source: HMRC data via Propertymark
HOW WE WORK
Look.
A short paid diagnostic against your own numbers. One report: the gaps, what they cost, the fix, and what it costs to build, put in and run.
Fix.
We build it and put it in, in a number of days agreed at the start.
Check.
We measure it against the number in the report, from your own records.
Your Problem Isn’t Here?
The problems on this page are the ones we see most often in businesses that sell to the public. Yours may be different, and that’s fine. Most fixes are found when an owner and someone who builds them sit down and go through how the work actually gets done. Tell us what’s costing you, and we’ll tell you straight whether we can fix it.
Many businesses sell to both. If you also sell to other firms, see Businesses.
Read next
- What a missed call costs a small businessNobody publishes a reliable UK figure for missed calls. Here is how to count yours in a week, and work out what they cost you in a year.
- Online returns: the deadlines the law setsThe cancellation, return and refund deadlines for UK online sales, and the rules for faulty goods, with a clock that works out your dates.
- When a complaint reaches the ombudsmanWhat the property, motor and dental complaint schemes decided last year, what they cost a business and the deadlines for answering a complaint.
- Late payment: what you can claim and how to work it outIf another business pays you late, the law lets you add interest at 11.75% a year and a fixed sum of up to £100. Here is how to work it out.
- What a missed deadline costsThe penalties for late accounts, tax returns, VAT and payroll reports, in one place, with a ladder that shows what a late filing costs day by day.
Pick One Problem
Tell us which one. We’ll tell you whether it’s worth looking at, and what finding out would take.