Trade guides

Flooring guides, written for the trade

Measuring, wastage, roll widths and quoting — the practical stuff, at the depth a fitter or shop owner actually needs. Not a homeowner's guide to choosing a carpet.

Owning the business

Value, succession and what happens without you

The questions that decide what the business is worth on the day you're not standing in it.

What is your flooring business worth without you?

A founder's view on why independent flooring firms hold their value in people's heads — plus a 20-question business health check with a scoring guide.

Ownership 10 min read

Measuring & wastage

Getting the quantities right before they cost you

Where flooring estimates leak money: the gap between what a job needs and what you end up ordering.

How to measure stairs and landings for carpet

The tread-plus-riser method, winders measured individually, bullnose steps, pile direction, and the pattern allowance. With the formula and a worked example.

Measuring 9 min read

Carpet wastage: typical percentages and how to reduce them

What waste is normal and what isn't, why 4m and 5m roll widths drive it, and how a whole-job cutting plan turns wastage into a pricing advantage.

Wastage 8 min read

4m vs 5m carpet rolls: which width to order and when

The roll width is a per-job decision, not a habit. The dimension arithmetic, seams versus waste, why the stairs usually decide it, and where vinyl differs.

Wastage 7 min read

Quoting & margin

Pricing the job so the profit survives it

Materials, labour and the margin that actually makes it to the end of the job.

How to price carpet fitting: rates, costs and margin

Build the price up from the cutting plan and your real day rate instead of down from a guess — the five lines of every fitting price, with a worked 3-bed example.

Pricing 9 min read

Flooring quote template: what a professional UK quote includes

Every section a professional quote should carry, the six terms that prevent the common disputes, deposits, and why itemised quotes win against a single mystery number.

Quoting 8 min read

Choosing software

What to run the business on

Best flooring software UK: estimating, takeoff and EPOS compared

An honest comparison of the main options for UK retailers and fitters — PlanIt, MasterPiece, MeasureSquare, Buildxact, Carpet Price and more — organised by the job you're hiring software for.

Software 10 min read

Running the shop

Stock, tills, deposits and the day's takings

Choosing an EPOS for a flooring shop: what a carpet retailer actually needs

Why generic retail tills fail on rolls, cut lengths, deposits and trade accounts — the feature checklist, the one-question demo test, and the UK options compared.

EPOS 9 min read

In the works

  • Cash up and Z reports explained
  • Managing cut lengths and roll ends
  • Taking deposits on flooring orders

Or let the software do the maths

PlanIt plans every cut across the roll, keeps your margin in view, and turns the quote around before the shop down the road does. From £19 per user a month, with unlimited quotes on every plan.

See pricing