Sector: joinery & carpentry
Workshop, site and materials for joiners
Joinery is the mirror image of the labour-only trades, and the mirror is worth money. A plasterer has nothing to take out of the CIS deduction base; a joiner supplying doors, ironmongery and second-fix timber has most of the invoice outside it, but only if the materials are recorded as materials. Estimark keeps them on purchase orders against the job with line-by-line goods receipt, holds workshop and site work on one job rather than two, and turns a site-measured change into a priced variation instead of a shrug.
What actually goes wrong
CIS deducted on the whole invoice
Materials that should be outside the deduction base are inside it, because the invoice did not separate them.
Workshop time nobody costed
Three days making up a staircase, booked nowhere, and a job that looks more profitable than it was.
A site measure that changed everything
The opening was 40mm out, the unit was remade, and nobody priced the remake.
Materials ordered against no job
A timber merchant statement at month end with no way to tell which job any of it went to.
Sector: how it works
How do materials stay out of the CIS deduction?
By being recorded as materials. Purchase orders sit against a job and a supplier with line-by-line goods receipt, and CIS is applied to subcontractor orders rather than to material ones.
- The deduction base is the payment less materials, VAT, plant hire and other allowable costs, and everything excluded is still paid in full.
- A PO approved by role limit stops the ordering happening off the record, which is where the material figure goes missing.
- Goods receipt line by line means a part-delivered order is a part-delivered order rather than an outstanding one.
- Purchase Orders is included from Core, and CIS Compliance from Solo.
Can one job cover the workshop and the site?
Yes, and it should. Timesheets book hours to the job with a rate and compute the labour cost per entry, whether those hours were spent at a bench or on site.
- Workshop time booked to the job is what makes a made-to-measure item costable at all.
- Job Costing carries a frozen budget baseline and a dated cost-to-complete forecast, so a fit that overran shows against the making that did not.
- Approval on a timesheet records the approver, which settles a disputed week without a conversation.
What happens when the site measure does not match?
A variation, raised against the job with photographs, priced, routed for approval and carried into the valuation as its own line.
- The photograph of the opening is the argument, and it is attached rather than described.
- An approved variation is a separate line, so a disputed remake does not hold up payment for the rest of the job.
- Variations are included from Solo.
NoteA variation can be priced and sent for approval in a minute. It still needs the customer to agree it, and a remake started before that is a remake at your risk.
Which plan does a joinery firm need?
Core at £129 a month +VAT for up to 5 users with no job limit, because Purchase Orders and Job Costing are both on it.
- Solo at £39 a month +VAT covers 2 users and 20 open jobs, with CIS and Variations included.
- Van Stock is £99 a month +VAT if second-fix materials live on the vehicles rather than in a workshop.
- Payment Applications is included from Pro for subcontract work to a main contractor.
Joinery, in numbers
- Materials
- Outside the CIS deduction base
- Purchase orders
- Per job and supplier, receipted by line
- Workshop hours
- Booked to the same job as site
- Core
- £129/month +VAT
- Purchase Orders
- Included from Core
- Variations
- Included from Solo
Core
£129 +VAT/month
Core covers up to 5 users with no job limit and brings Purchase Orders and Job Costing, which are the two the materials half of this trade depends on.
What you get
- Purchase orders per job and supplier with goods receipt
- Job costing across workshop and site hours
- Variations raised on site with photographs
- CIS with materials kept out of the deduction base
Solo is £39/month +VAT for 2 users and 20 open jobs, with CIS and Variations included. Van Stock is £99/month +VAT as a bolt-on.
Questions
Joiners & carpenters: frequently asked
How do I stop CIS being deducted on materials I supply?
By recording them as materials. The deduction base is the payment less materials, VAT, plant hire and other allowable costs, and everything excluded is still paid in full. Keeping materials on purchase orders against the job is what makes the figure available to state on the invoice in the first place.
Can workshop and site hours go on the same job?
Yes, and they should. Timesheets book hours to a job with a rate and compute the labour cost per entry regardless of where the work happened, which is the only way a made-to-measure item is costable at all.
What happens when a site measure does not match the drawing?
Raise a variation against the job with a photograph of the opening attached, priced and routed for approval. It carries into the valuation as its own line, so a disputed remake does not hold up payment for the rest of the job.
How much is Estimark for a joinery firm?
Core is £129 a month +VAT for up to 5 users with no job limit, and includes Purchase Orders and Job Costing. Solo is £39 a month +VAT for 2 users and 20 open jobs. Every plan has a 14-day free trial.
Related
For bricklayers
Price work by measured rate, gang hours booked to the job, and CIS on the gang.
CIS compliance
Labour-only deduction, 6th-to-5th tax months, HMRC verification, CIS300 recorded.
Job costing & CVR
Actual, committed and forecast cost per job, with a cost value reconciliation pack.
For sole traders
Solo at £39/month +VAT: 2 users, 20 open jobs, quote and invoice from the phone.
Try it on a real job.
14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.