Starting, growing, insuring and eventually selling a plumbing, heating or electrical business in the UK.
The step nobody prepares you for is the one from working for yourself to running a business with people in it. On your own the sums fit in your head. The day you take on your first employee they stop fitting, and employers' liability insurance stops being optional.
Starting a plumbing or electrical business in the UK, and what you have to be registered for before you can sign your own work off: Gas Safe, Part P, a competent person scheme. Sole trader against limited company at your size. The insurance you are required to hold and the insurance everyone assumes is required. Growing with subcontractors instead of a fourth van, and what the business is worth if you ever sell it.
Peter Clifford was jailed for eight years, Construction Management reports. The excavation ran beside a conservatory on a house extension, with inadequate trench support and the home's foundations close by.
Smith & Nephew took over unloading from Nippon Express to cut numbers on site during COVID-19. A delivery worker suffered life-changing injuries. HSE found the lift was not properly assessed, planned or supervised.
Two men were replacing a leaking gasket when hot water splashed from the steam pipework. Nobody had proved the pipe was isolated, and HSE found failures in the safe system of work, in supervision, and in the work at height above the boiler.
AI can turn a house scan into a heat pump design and help code sewer footage. Further down the trades, the offering gets thin. The price often tells you less than the allowance beside it.
Paying subcontractors puts the CIS deduction, return and paper trail on your business. That applies to your subcontractor payments even on a job in someone's kitchen, and even when another contractor is making deductions from your own invoices.
Construction payments or CIS credits linked to a connected party's deliberate non-compliance can expose your business to a penalty if you knew or should have known of the link and HMRC has issued the relevant determination. Company officers can also be personally liable.
Registered installers can certify their own work. You still have an extension to manage, inspections to arrange and a declaration to sign. These are England's rules.
If you carry out external wall fire appraisals, or act on them, BSI has listed a publication date for the revised code. The same page labels it 'Current' and offers a download, so the release is not as settled as the date suggests.
HSE's cases include a fake Gas Safe logo and an unregistered installer sent by a contracted business. If you subcontract gas work, check the person, not just the advertising.
You can buy glasses with a built-in camera. Whether they can replace your existing PPE is a separate question, and some manufacturers' own pages leave it open.
Acas says prepare now for a stronger sexual harassment prevention duty and a separate change covering harassment by customers and other third parties. Both changes are announced for 30 October 2026.
Individual claims are arriving faster than the tribunals can finish them, and the open caseload is the highest the Ministry of Justice has recorded. If your business has a claim open, budget for a wait. The count cannot tell you how long yours will take.
Councils in England could charge for more functions and recover more of their costs. The plan still needs Parliamentary approval, and the letter sets no start date.
The maximum fine gets quoted in every article about cameras at work, and it is not going to happen to you. Staff complaints, an order to stop recording and an unpaid ICO fee are the nearer concerns.
UK Construction Week London returns 12-14 May 2026 with a first-time CITB collaboration and a dedicated ConTech & AI Stage. Inside the lineup that puts the skills crisis front and centre.
Master construction project management with comprehensive training covering planning, scheduling, cost control, and digital tools for project success.
Trade resources for tradespeople, straight to your inbox.
Occasionally we will send you a newsletter. Free, unsubscribe in one click.
We use one analytics cookie. Privacy policy
