Comparison: Powered Now
Estimark and Powered Now, compared for UK trades
Powered Now is a UK product aimed at micro trade businesses, built around getting the paperwork out from a phone: quotes, invoices, certificates and the forms a small firm has to produce. Estimark starts at the same end, with Solo at £39 a month +VAT covering 2 users and 20 open jobs, and carries the same firm through the work it grows into: subcontracting under CIS, job costing, payment applications and the site safety records a principal contractor asks for.
What a growing trade firm stops being able to do on paper
Costing a job rather than pricing it
Quoting tells you what you charged. Job costing tells you what it cost, what is committed and what it will finish at, which is the number that decides whether the firm made money.
Applying for payment
Commercial work is applied for on dates the Construction Act fixes, with retention held back. That is a different document from an invoice and a different clock.
Paperwork a site will accept
A principal contractor wants a versioned RAMS, an induction record and a muster roll. Producing them is a workflow rather than a form.
Where the second system starts
Read both price pages against the work you will be doing in two years, not the work you are doing this month.
Comparison: how it works
Who is Powered Now built for?
Micro trade businesses in the UK, with the paperwork a small firm produces at the centre of its positioning.
- Its story is the sole trader or small team getting documents out from a phone.
- That is the same reader Estimark’s Solo plan is written for.
NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.
Who is Estimark built for?
UK trades from a sole trader upward, on one record that does not have to be left behind when the firm grows.
- Quote and invoice from the phone, with CIS and the reverse charge applied to the document.
- Job costing with actual, committed and forecast cost, included from Core.
- Payment applications and retention, included from Pro.
- Versioned RAMS with operative sign-off, inductions, permits and a live muster roll.
NoteEstimark records the CIS300 and locks it to its tax period. It does not file the return to HMRC on your behalf, and it does not submit MTD VAT returns.
What does Estimark do about UK statutory construction work?
It handles the four obligations a UK contractor is judged on: CIS deduction, the VAT domestic reverse charge, Construction Act payment timing, and the safety records that go with them.
- CIS deducted on labour only, excluding materials, VAT and plant hire, on 6th-to-5th tax months, with HMRC verification when connected and the CIS300 recorded with both statutory declarations.
- VAT domestic reverse charge under section 55A: the statutory wording on the invoice, nil VAT, controlled per client.
- Payment applications with Construction Act dates, the pay less deadline calculated, and retention tracked to release.
- RAMS with operative sign-off, inductions, permits and a live muster roll, plus EIC, EICR, Minor Works, PAT and CP12 certificates with typed test results.
NoteEstimark records the CIS300 and locks it to its tax period. It does not file the return to HMRC on your behalf.
When would Powered Now be the better answer?
When the firm is one or two people, the work is domestic, and the requirement really is the paperwork rather than the job behind it.
- A firm that will not subcontract and will not apply for payment is buying capability it has no use for.
- A firm that needs its VAT return filed from the same product should check each vendor’s own site on MTD filing, because Estimark does not do it.
NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.
Estimark, in numbers
- CIS base
- Labour only
- CIS tax month
- 6th to 5th
- Reverse charge
- Section 55A
- Payment terms
- Construction Act
- Damp and mould
- Awaab’s Law timescales
- Certificates
- EIC, EICR, CP12, PAT
- Built for
- United Kingdom
- Field app
- Works offline
Solo
£39 a month +VAT
Solo covers 2 users and 20 open jobs. CIS Compliance is included from Solo, Job Costing from Core and Payment Applications from Pro.
What you get
- Quote and invoice from the phone
- CIS deduction and the section 55A reverse charge
- Certificates with typed test results
- Offline field app on iPhone and Android
- Xero, QuickBooks and Sage integration
Questions
Estimark vs Powered Now: frequently asked
Is Estimark a Powered Now alternative?
For a UK trade, yes. Both are UK products that get the paperwork out from a phone. Estimark also carries job costing, payment applications, retention and the site safety records a firm meets when it starts working for main contractors.
Does Estimark file my VAT return?
No. Estimark applies the VAT domestic reverse charge under section 55A to the invoice and pushes invoices to Xero, QuickBooks and Sage. It does not submit MTD VAT returns and does not post journals.
Is Estimark too big for a sole trader?
No. Solo at £39 a month +VAT covers 2 users and 20 open jobs, and CIS is included from Solo so it is on that plan.
Which is cheaper?
Estimark publishes every plan and module price at /pricing. Compare it against the other vendor’s own current pricing rather than a figure quoted on a third-party site.
Related
For sole traders
Quote and invoice from the phone, with CIS and the reverse charge handled.
VAT domestic reverse charge
Section 55A wording on the invoice, nil VAT, per-client control.
CIS compliance
Labour-only deduction, 6th-to-5th tax months, HMRC verification, CIS300 recorded.
Pricing
Every plan and every module, with the current price against each one.
Try it on a real job.
14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.
Moving from another system? What comes across, what we do with you in the first fortnight, and how long it takes.