Deposit, then the balance
You say: Ask the Morgans for 10% to book.
The deposit comes from the job when the quote’s accepted, and the final invoice takes it off. Each invoice is chased at 3, 7 and 14 days if it isn’t paid.
CIS invoice app for buildersCIS on the contractor’s invoice. Not on the homeowner’s.
Mark a customer as a CIS contractor once. From then on their invoices carry the CIS deduction on the labour and, if you’re both VAT registered, the reverse-charge wording. The homeowner’s invoice for the same week looks like a homeowner’s.
Coming soon to iPhone. First month free, no card.
Tools Down: Done. Harris pays £3,360 after CIS. Send it?
Invoice · INV-0412Ready to check
Jones extension
Harris Construction Ltd
- Labour
- £3,200
- Materials
- £800
- VAT (20%) — reverse charge, not charged
- CIS deduction (20% of labour)
- −£640
Amount due£3,360
- Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies
- CIS deduction of 20% is taken from the labour on this invoice.
- Due in 30 days
Heard on the forums
Getting the subbie work and doing the subbie work is the easiest bit. Getting paid is often the hardest part.
Same week, a householder
You don’t switch anything. The customer does.
Mrs Morgan is a householder, so her invoice carries VAT and no CIS, and it’s due on receipt. How you’ve marked each customer decides what their invoice carries.
Invoice · INV-0413Ready to check
Morgan extension
Mr and Mrs Morgan
- Extension, as quoted
- £6,000
- VAT (20%)
- £1,200
Amount due£7,200
- Due on receipt
- The CIS deduction follows your CIS status: 20% registered, 30% unregistered, none with gross payment status.
- The reverse charge applies only when you’re VAT registered and the customer is a VAT-registered CIS contractor.
- Business customers get 30 days to pay by default; householders are due on receipt.
What matters on your jobs
What it does on a build
Variations on the record the day they’re agreed
You say: Morgans want the doorway moved, £450, agreed today.
Saved on the job at that price, the day it’s agreed, and on the final invoice as an extra. When “you said it would be X” comes up, the record is there.
Photos before it’s covered up
You say: Show me the footings at the Morgans’.
Footings, the steel, the DPC, the cavity: filed on the job as you take them, for building control and for the conversation that comes later.
The numbers your accountant asks for
You say: Export everything.
A ZIP of CSV files, with the CIS deduction on each invoice, plus the PDFs, photos and chats. Expenses also export as a CSV in Xero’s or FreeAgent’s layout, or plain for QuickBooks and Sage.
An extension, start to finish
- The quote, accepted in one tap; the deposit invoiced from the job.
- Footings and steel: photos filed before they’re covered.
- The doorway moved: £450, agreed and saved.
- The final invoice, with the doorway on it and the deposit taken off, when it’s done.
- Not paid? Reminders at 3, 7 and 14 days, free.
The honest fit
What it doesn’t do
- It sets CIS and the reverse charge on your invoices. It doesn’t verify subcontractors, file CIS300 returns, issue deduction statements to your own subbies, or talk to HMRC.
- No estimating, take-offs, job costing or Gantt charts.
- No team accounts: a labourer or subbie isn’t a user.
- It never tells you whether the reverse charge applies or what your CIS status is; it applies what you’ve set for that customer.
- No live Xero sync, card payments or Android yet.
Price and the free plan
Made for builders working on their own.
Free to start. One price if you need more.
- Your first month is free, with no card.
- After that, 50 messages a month to Tools Down stay free for good.
- Every screen works on the free plan: quotes, invoices, chasing, reminders, the customer’s pay page, gas safety records and export.
- Tools Down Pro is £29.99 a month including VAT, through Apple. It lifts the message limit and nothing else, and the price you join at is the price you keep.
- Tools Down’s ceiling is 2,000 jobs a month on every plan, so there’s no allowance to watch. A weekly fair-use limit on messages applies on every plan.
Coming soon to iPhone.
Be first to hear when Tools Down is ready for your iPhone.
We’ll only email you about early access. No spam.
Straight answers
Questions builders ask
Can I send CIS invoices?
Yes. Mark a customer as a CIS contractor and their invoices carry the CIS deduction on the labour; a householder’s don’t, because householders are outside CIS (HMRC: CIS 340). Tools Down doesn’t file CIS returns or verify subbies.
What does CIS take off my invoice?
A registered subcontractor has 20% deducted, an unregistered one 30%, and gross status none; there’s no deduction on VAT or on materials you paid for directly (GOV.UK: what you must do as a CIS subcontractor).
When does the domestic reverse charge apply?
Between VAT-registered businesses for construction services reported under CIS, unless the customer is an end user; never to a private householder (GOV.UK: VAT domestic reverse charge).
Can I charge interest when a contractor pays late?
On business-to-business debts, statutory interest is 8% plus base rate, with a fixed £40 to £100 recovery charge (GOV.UK: late commercial payments). A homeowner only owes interest if your contract says so.
Can the main contractor pay me only when they get paid?
On a construction contract, “pay when paid” doesn’t work unless the payer’s payer is insolvent (s113). That doesn’t cover a contract with a homeowner who lives there (s106).
How do I get my CIS numbers to my accountant?
Export everything: your invoices come out as a CSV with the CIS deduction on each, alongside the PDFs. Expenses export as a CSV too.
Paperwork and rules
CIS, the reverse charge and the rest
Information, not advice. Open a rule to read it, with its source; check the source for your own job.
CIS for subcontractorsUK
A contractor must deduct 20% from a registered subcontractor’s payments, 30% if not registered, and nothing with gross payment status. There’s no deduction on VAT or on materials the subcontractor paid for.
Householders are outside CISUK
Private householders are not counted as contractors, so they aren’t covered by the scheme.
VAT domestic reverse chargeUK
Applies to most construction services between VAT-registered businesses that are reported under CIS. It doesn’t apply to a private domestic customer, or when the customer says in writing that it’s an end user.
Stage payments on longer contractsEngland, Wales and Scotland
On a construction contract lasting 45 days or more, a party is entitled to stage or periodic payments, and “pay when paid” clauses don’t work unless the payer’s payer is insolvent. None of this covers a contract with a homeowner who lives there.
Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, s109s113s106
Interest on late business paymentsUK
Statutory interest on a late business-to-business payment is 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery sum of £40, £70 or £100.
Building controlEngland and Wales
Full plans get a decision within 5 weeks, or 2 months with your consent; a building notice lets work start 2 days after it’s submitted.
Party wallsEngland and Wales
Notice to the neighbour between 2 months and a year before work on or near a shared boundary.
CDM on domestic jobsGreat Britain
For a domestic client, the client’s duties normally pass to the contractor on a single-contractor project, or to the principal contractor where there are more.
Your work
The jobs you price
- Single-storey and side-return extensions
- Knock-throughs with steels
- Garage conversions and remodelling
- Renovations, managing the other trades
- Brickwork, repointing, chimneys and lintels
- Garden walls, patios and paths
- Subbing for a main contractor, on day rate or price work
How the money comes in
- Homeowners: a deposit, stage payments, then a final invoice that gets queried.
- Main contractors: CIS deducted, paid on their pay run.
- Variations that start as “while you’re here”.
- Retentions held back at the end.
Keep looking