Taking a holiday when you run a trade business

You can take a week or two off a trade business if you plan it six weeks out: book the quiet weeks, fill the diary with work that doesn't need you, hand quotes, emergencies and money to named people, and set auto-replies that say when you're back. Decide in advance the one thing you'll check each day, and nothing else.

Why is a holiday so hard when you run the firm?

Because the business runs through your phone. Quotes, customer questions, supplier problems and the diary all wait for you, so a week away means a week of backlog or a week answering calls on a sunbed.

He and his wife run the office between them. Their problem wasn't the work on site, which the engineers handle. It was everything that happens around it when they're not there: customers ringing, quotes waiting, gas safety reminders, materials to order. The fix is to decide in advance who handles each of those, and to make most of it wait without harm.

When should you start planning?

Six weeks out. That's long enough to steer the diary and to give staff proper notice if you need them to work or not work certain days.

1. Six weeks out: book the dates.

   Choose your quietest weeks from last year's diary. Put them in the shared calendar and tell the team.

2. Five weeks out: shape the diary.

   Book repeat work, servicing, and jobs already priced and agreed into your weeks away. Hold surveys, new quotes and anything risky until you're back.

3. Four weeks out: tell regular customers and main contractors.

   A short message saying when you're away, who's covering and that work continues.

4. Three weeks out: clear the quote pile.

   Send everything outstanding. Quotes that land while you're away can wait; say so in the auto-reply.

5. Two weeks out: money.

   Send invoices, pay suppliers due in your absence, and check the bank balance will cover wages. See the six numbers to check every morning.

6. Last week: write the handover note.

   One page, below. Walk the covering person through it.

7. Last day: set auto-replies.

   Email, voicemail and WhatsApp Business away message.

What should go in the handover note?

Names and numbers, not explanations. The person covering needs to know who decides what, what can wait, and when to call you.

Away: date to date. Back on site date.

Emergencies on live jobs: name, mobile. They decide; tell me after.
Gas, water or electrics unsafe: name attends, or backup engineer / firm on number.
New enquiries: reply with the standard message, book a survey for first week back.
Quotes: nothing new goes out. Customers chasing a quote are told date.
Supplier problems: merchant account manager name, number.
Money in: name checks the bank on days and sends reminders on overdue invoices.
Money out: wages on date are set up. Only name can approve other payments, up to £limit.

Call me only if: someone is hurt, a client threatens to cancel a job over £amount, or other.
I check WhatsApp once a day at time.

What can you automate before you go?

Most of the routine replies. Set them once and they handle the first contact so customers aren't left wondering.

Gmail's out-of-office reply starts at midnight on the start date and ends at 11:59pm on the end date unless you turn it off sooner. It normally replies to each sender only the first time, and again if they write after four days. The WhatsApp Business app, free to download, has away messages and quick replies for the same job on WhatsApp. Our guide to inbox triage covers filters that keep the inbox tidy while you're away.

Thanks for your message. I'm away until date and the team is working as normal.

Existing jobs: call name on number.
Emergencies on a job we've done: number.
New quotes: I'll be in touch the week of date.

Business name

How much holiday does your team take, and what notice applies?

Every full-time worker is entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for a five-day week, and bank holidays can count towards it. The law also sets default notice periods for booking and refusing leave, unless your contracts say something different.

The 22-week figure is the useful one. Someone is off for nearly half the year, so plan your own break around theirs early. You can also require staff to take holiday at set times, such as the Christmas shutdown, if you give at least twice as much notice as the leave.

What about the jobs only you can do?

List them, then move them. For most owners it's pricing, surveys, the money and the difficult customer conversations.

If the list is long, that's the real problem, and a holiday is a good way to find it. The owner bottleneck guide covers moving those jobs off you for good, and staff and new software covers getting the team to take them on.

Common questions