How to get commercial contracts as a UK trade business

How do you get commercial work as a tradesman?

Commercial work comes from a small, identifiable group of repeat buyers rather than the general public: letting agents, managing agents, facilities managers, small landlords, and local chains like pubs and shops. Win one of these relationships and you get a steady flow of jobs instead of a single one-off. The way in is different from domestic work too. They care less about your best line and more about how quickly you respond, whether your paperwork is in order, and whether you invoice properly.

Where does commercial work actually come from?

It helps to know exactly who you are trying to reach, because it is a much smaller list than the domestic market:

• Letting agents. They manage repairs for landlords who do not want the hassle, and they need a short list of trades they can call without a second thought.
• Managing agents. These run blocks of flats or commercial units and deal with maintenance across many properties at once.
• Facilities managers. Larger sites, offices, retail units and industrial premises, often with a formal approved contractor list.
• Pubs, shops and small local chains. These need reliable trades for both routine maintenance and the occasional emergency, and they tend to stick with whoever does not let them down.
• Small landlords with a handful of properties. Not quite commercial in the formal sense, but they behave like it: repeat work, and they want one number to call.

None of these buyers are hard to find. They are usually a short list of local businesses you could identify in an afternoon.

What do commercial buyers need that domestic customers don't?

This is where most trades lose the opportunity without realising why. A domestic customer picks you largely on price, availability and how you come across. A commercial buyer is thinking about different things entirely:

• Response times. Can you commit to being on site within a set window for an emergency? They will ask this directly.
• Paperwork. Proof of insurance, relevant qualifications, and sometimes a method statement or risk assessment before you start.
• Invoicing to account. Many will not pay on the day. They expect an invoice against a purchase order, often on 30-day terms, sent to an accounts team rather than paid to your card machine.
• Reliable reporting. Photos before and after, a note of what was done, sometimes a formal job sheet. This is what lets a managing agent justify the spend to the landlord or the board.

None of this is complicated, but it is a different set of habits from turning up, doing the job, and taking payment on the door.

How do you approach them without being a nuisance?

Cold-calling a facilities manager rarely works and mostly wastes everyone's time. What tends to work better is a short, useful first contact:

1. Introduce yourself with the practical details up front. Trade, coverage area, response time you can commit to, and a copy of your insurance certificate. Skip the sales pitch.
2. Ask to be added to their approved contractor list, rather than asking for work directly. This is a smaller ask and an easier yes.
3. Follow up once, politely, a few weeks later. Not weekly. A short note asking if they need anything is enough.
4. Do the first job properly, even if it is small. The first job is rarely the profitable one. It is the audition for the second and third.

Word of mouth matters here too, just among a different crowd. Letting agents talk to other letting agents. One good relationship often leads to an introduction to another.

Why does being easy to book and easy to evidence win the second contract?

The first commercial job is usually won on price, availability or a personal recommendation. The second and third are won on something else entirely: whether you were easy to deal with. Did you turn up when you said you would? Did the invoice arrive promptly and match what was agreed? Was there a photo or note to show the work was done, in case the landlord or tenant ever asked?

This is the part that is easy to underestimate. A tradesperson who is average on price but excellent on paperwork and reliability will out-compete a cheaper one who is inconsistent, because the agent's real problem is not the cost of the job, it is the risk of it going wrong and landing back on their desk.

A worked example

A local letting agent needs someone for an emergency plumbing call on a rented flat. You are not the cheapest quote they have on file, but you respond within the hour, send a photo of the fix once it is done, and the invoice arrives two days later addressed correctly with the property reference on it. Three months later the agent has a leak at a different property and calls you directly rather than putting it out to their usual list. That is the entire mechanism. Nothing clever happened, you were just easy to deal with when it mattered.

Where OptiTech Automation fits

The habits that win commercial work, fast response, clean invoicing, a photo and note against every job, are exactly what booking and dispatch software is built to make automatic rather than something you remember to do under pressure. OptiTech Automation captures enquiries so nothing sits unanswered, dispatches jobs to the right person, and keeps a record against each job that you can hand to an agent or facilities manager without having to dig it out of a notebook. It replaces the spreadsheet and paper invoice book that most growing trade businesses are still running on.

We are new and still onboarding our first customers, so we are upfront about that. Payments land directly in your own Stripe account and we take no cut, only the standard card fee applies. If we cannot get you live within one working day of you sending complete details, the onboarding investment is free. The first ten businesses to sign up get that onboarding investment waived and their monthly rate locked for life at today's price: Standard at £599 a month for up to 15 workers, or Growth at £1,749 a month for up to 30.

If you are a sole trader happy with the domestic work you already have and have no ambition to take on repeat accounts, this is not the priority for you right now, the domestic-focused advice in our guide to getting more jobs will serve you better. See how it works if commercial growth is the direction you want.

FAQ

How long does it usually take to land a first commercial contract?
There is no fixed timeline and be wary of anyone who quotes you one. Getting on an approved list can happen within weeks; being called first for jobs usually takes a few completed jobs to prove reliability.

Do I need to be a limited company to get commercial work?
Not always, but insurance, proper invoicing and clear qualifications matter more than company structure. Some larger facilities contracts do prefer limited companies, so check requirements case by case.

What if I can't offer 30-day payment terms, will that rule me out?
It might for some larger clients, but many smaller letting agents and shops will pay faster if you ask directly. Do not assume terms are fixed before you have had the conversation.

Is it worth chasing facilities management contracts as a one-person business?
It can be, particularly for smaller sites, but be realistic about whether you can meet the response times you commit to. A missed emergency call-out damages the relationship faster than it was built.

Should I drop my domestic customers to focus on commercial work?
Not straight away. Commercial contracts take time to build. Most trades grow it alongside domestic work until it is reliable enough to lean on, covered further in our piece on getting repeat business from existing customers.