Tradify Review 2026: Is It Worth It for UK Plumbers?
Quick Verdict
Tradify is the most straightforward job management tool for UK plumbing businesses under 20 people. It won't win awards for compliance paperwork — no Gas Safe certificates, no CP12 landlord records, no Legionella templates — but it does the core job: quote, schedule, invoice, sync to Xero, without requiring a training course to get started. Most users are quoting real jobs through it within their first afternoon.
The catches are real. Every email Tradify sends on your behalf carries a branded footer. No Gas Safe records means you're running a second system for compliance documentation alongside this one. No offline mode. None of these are dealbreakers for domestic plumbing work without gas, but they matter significantly for any business doing boiler services, Gas Safety inspections, or commercial water system work.
What Tradify Actually Does
Tradify replaces the quote-on-paper, job-on-whiteboard, invoice-on-spreadsheet workflow that most small plumbing businesses run until the admin becomes unbearable. Everything lives in one place: customer records, quotes, active jobs, engineer schedules, timesheets, purchase orders, and invoices. The quoting system is what most users highlight first — build a quote from a saved price list or imported supplier catalogue, send it to the client directly from the app, and convert it to a live job in one tap when they approve it.
The mobile app is the same experience on Android and iOS — not a cut-down version — which matters for plumbing teams where not everyone is on the same phone. Engineers on-site can view job details, log time, add photos, record materials used, and update job status without calling the office. Job costing updates in real time as you quote, so you can see margin before you send anything.
Accounting sync is one of Tradify's genuine strengths. Connect to Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks and invoices push across automatically, customers and contacts stay in sync, and purchase orders flow through to bills. Tradify's Xero connection is considered the most reliable in this category — the sync runs quietly in the background without manual intervention.
Pricing: What You Actually Pay
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £34/mo per user | Quoting, jobs, invoicing, scheduling, timesheets, Xero/Sage/QBO sync, mobile app (Android + iOS) |
| Plus | £54/mo per user | Everything in Starter plus AI quoting assistant, supplier price list import, purchase order automation |
| Premium | £74/mo per user | Everything in Plus plus advanced reporting, custom branding, priority support |
14-day free trial, no credit card required. Cancellation is straightforward and you keep your data. No setup fee, no implementation cost. SMS reminder charges apply optionally.
The AI quoting assistant on the Plus plan is worth understanding for plumbers who price bathroom installations or heating upgrades. Upload your supplier price lists — Tradify supports imports from major UK plumbing and heating merchants — and it auto-populates materials when you build a quote. For anyone pricing multiple jobs a week against fluctuating parts costs, that alone can cover the difference between the Starter and Plus price.
How It Works on a Real Job
A letting agent calls about an annual Gas Safety inspection and boiler service on a three-bed flat in your area. Here's the Tradify workflow from that call to payment — and where it ends:
You create the customer record in Tradify on your phone while still on the call. You build a quote from your boiler service price template, add any materials, and send it within two minutes. The agent confirms; you tap "convert to job," assign it to the diary, and it appears in your engineer's schedule automatically.
On the day, the engineer opens the job on their Android or iPhone, sees the address and job notes, logs their start time, records any parts used. When the service is complete, they mark the job done. Back at base you raise the invoice from the completed job in about 90 seconds and it pushes to Xero.
That workflow is where Tradify earns its subscription. The gap is the Gas Safety Record itself. You still need a separate system — Powered Now, or a paper form — to produce the CP12 certificate that you're legally required to issue. Tradify doesn't produce Gas Safe compliance documents of any kind.
The Catch
No Gas Safe compliance certificates. Tradify cannot produce Gas Safety Records, CP12 landlord certificates, or any other Gas Safe compliance document. These are legal requirements after every gas appliance installation or service. If you're Gas Safe registered, you're running a second system alongside Tradify for every job that requires documentation. That's the central limitation for gas-registered plumbing businesses.
No Legionella risk assessment templates. If you carry out Legionella risk assessments for commercial clients or landlords, there's no native form or template in Tradify. Documentation has to be produced externally and filed separately.
The email footer. Every quote, invoice, and job confirmation sent from Tradify includes a "sent from Tradify" footer. Multiple users on Capterra have flagged this as unprofessional for commercial clients. Tradify's workaround is to download and send documents manually from your own email, which eliminates part of what you're paying for. This has been a complaint for several years and Tradify has not addressed it.
Needs signal. Tradify is cloud-dependent. No offline mode. In basements, plant rooms, and commercial sites with poor coverage — common for plumbers — engineers are working blind until they're back in connectivity. Powered Now's offline capability is a meaningful differentiator for this type of work.
How It Compares
Against Powered Now: Tradify has the better Xero integration and the cleaner quoting UI. Powered Now wins on Gas Safe certificates, Legionella templates, offline working, and CIS handling. If your work involves regular Gas Safety Records or commercial water system documentation, Powered Now is the more complete solution. If your bottleneck is quoting speed and getting invoices out faster — and you don't do gas work — Tradify is simpler to learn and use daily.
Against ServiceM8: Tradify is the right choice for any team with Android users — full stop. ServiceM8's Android app excludes time tracking and other core features. Beyond that, Tradify charges a flat per-user monthly rate while ServiceM8 charges per job completed. ServiceM8's client communication automations are more powerful, but only relevant if you're on iOS across the board.
The Tradesman's Math
Tradify Starter costs £34/mo. At a £50/hr labour rate — reasonable for a qualified plumber in 2026 — you need to save roughly 41 minutes of admin per week to break even. One avoided invoice re-send, one quote built from a template instead of from scratch, one payment chased automatically rather than by phone — that's your month covered. Most Tradify users report saving significantly more than that, particularly in the first month when the reduction in double-entry is most noticeable.
For a two-person team at the Starter tier: £68/mo combined. That requires closer to 82 minutes of combined admin saved per week. Achievable if both people were previously managing jobs across paper and spreadsheets. Less convincing if you're running one or two simple domestic jobs a day with no scheduling complexity.
Who This Is NOT For
Gas Safe registered plumbers needing CP12 or Gas Safety Records. Tradify cannot produce these documents. You'll need a separate system — Powered Now or paper forms — for every job requiring compliance documentation. If that's a significant part of your workflow, Powered Now integrates it into the same system.
Anyone who regularly carries out Legionella risk assessments. No native templates. All documentation has to be produced externally and filed separately, which defeats the efficiency purpose of job management software.
Sole traders doing one or two simple domestic jobs a day. If your admin genuinely takes less than 30 minutes a day, a free tool like Invoice Ninja handles the invoicing without the monthly cost.
Teams working in areas with unreliable signal. If you're regularly in commercial plant rooms, basements, or rural properties, Tradify's cloud dependency is a real operational problem. Powered Now is the answer.
Businesses at 20+ field staff. The scheduler becomes hard to manage at scale. Commusoft and SimPRO are built for larger operations, though both are considerably more expensive.
14-day free trial — no card required. Most users are quoting through it within the first afternoon.
Try Tradify free →Frequently Asked Questions
Does Tradify work for plumbers in the UK?
Yes. Tradify is widely used by UK plumbers, heating engineers, and multi-trade contractors. It supports VAT, integrates with UK accounting software (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks), and is priced in GBP. It's a New Zealand product but well-established in the UK trades market.
Can Tradify produce Gas Safe certificates or CP12 records?
No. Tradify cannot produce Gas Safety Records, CP12 landlord certificates, or any other Gas Safe compliance documentation. If you're Gas Safe registered, you'll need a separate tool for this — Powered Now is the only job management software in this category that produces these natively.
Does Tradify handle CIS for plumbing subcontractors?
Tradify handles CIS through its Xero integration rather than natively. Create a CIS-format invoice in Tradify, push it to Xero, and Xero manages the deduction recording. This works but requires Xero to be configured with the correct domestic reverse charge VAT codes first — confirm this with your accountant before relying on it.
Can I cancel Tradify easily?
Yes. Tradify has no minimum contract on monthly billing. Cancel at any time and retain access until the end of your paid period. Data export is available on cancellation.
How does Tradify compare to Powered Now for plumbers?
Tradify has faster quoting and cleaner Xero integration. Powered Now wins on UK compliance — Gas Safe certificates, CP12 records, Legionella templates, CIS, and offline working are all native. If compliance paperwork is a regular part of your workflow, Powered Now is the stronger choice. See the full comparison.