123done

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123done user guide

Everything you need, from your first job to getting paid and handing your records to the bookkeeper.

1. Getting started

  1. Go to Start free and enter your name, email address and a password of 8 to 128 characters. Add a trading name if you have one: it's shown at the top of your invoices.
  2. Open Business details and add your address and your bank details (name on the account, sort code and account number). They're printed on every invoice so your client knows how to pay. They're stored encrypted.
  3. Set your usual hourly rate there too, so new jobs fill it in for you.
  4. Under Your logo, upload your logo (JPEG or PNG). It's resized automatically to keep files small, and appears at the top right of your invoices, quotes and RAMS.

Tip: add 123done to your phone's home screen so it opens like an app on site.

2. Clients and jobs

A client is who you bill: a name and an email address (and optionally a contact name and address). A job is one piece of work for that client, such as redecorating a property, with its own hourly rate and the property address.

Everything starts from Clients: add a client, then a job for each piece of work (or use + New job and add the client in the same form). Open a client to see their jobs, quotes and invoices together. Your clients never need a 123done account.

3. Recording hours

  • Use the timer on the dashboard or the job page: start it when you begin and stop it when you finish.
  • Or add a day by hand on the job page with the date, start, finish and any break. A finish earlier than the start means you worked past midnight.
  • You can change or delete any day until it's on an invoice. Overlapping times and future days are refused.
  • Add a note to any day (for example "first coat, kitchen and hall"). The box grows as you type, and the note prints across the full width under that day on the invoice.
  • Hours are counted in whole minutes and shown in UK time.

4. Materials and receipts

On the job page, add things like paint, tape, screws or tool hire with a quantity and cost per item. Attach up to 5 photos or PDFs of the receipts. Photos are made smaller and their hidden location data is removed. The receipts go to your client with the invoice.

5. Invoices

  • On a job, press Create invoice, tick the days and materials to include, and create a draft. Tick as many days as you like: several days on the same job go on one invoice. Draft amounts still count as "not invoiced" on your dashboard until you send them.
  • Check the preview (and the PDF), then press Send invoice. It gets the next number (INV-0001, INV-0002…), your client is emailed the PDF with the receipts, and you can get a copy too. Those days and materials are then locked.
  • When the money arrives, press Mark as paid. If an invoice was wrong, void it with a reason; its items go back to not invoiced so you can send a corrected one. Invoice numbers are never reused.
  • VAT: if you're VAT-registered, tick it in Business details and add your VAT number. Enter hours and materials before VAT; each invoice adds VAT at the job's rate (20%, 5%, 0% or exempt) and shows your VAT number. For construction work billed to a VAT-registered contractor, tick Construction reverse charge on the job: the invoice shows the VAT and the HMRC wording, and your customer pays the VAT to HMRC.
  • Limited companies: add your registered company name, company number and registered office in Business details. They're printed at the foot of every invoice.
  • 123done doesn't file VAT returns or work out your income tax: the export gives your bookkeeper the figures.

6. Quotes and saved items

  • On a job, press + New quote (or use Quotes → Start quote). Add a title and a description of the work, then the prices: Labour lines (hours × your rate), Item lines for fixed prices, and Material lines. VAT is worked out as on invoices.
  • Saved items are your own price list (for example "Replace extractor fan – £180"). Choose Insert a saved item in a quote, then change the wording or price for that job. Tick Save on any quote line to add it to your list.
  • Optional: a deposit percentage, and proposed start and finish dates the customer agrees to when they accept. Quotes have a valid until date; your standard terms and validity are set in Business details → Quotes.
  • Press Send quote. It gets a number (QUO-0001), and your customer is emailed the PDF and a link where they can accept (by typing their name) or decline. You get an email either way. If they accept by phone, use Mark as accepted.
  • To change a sent quote, press Revise quote. It makes version 2 with the same number, and the customer's old link points them to the new one.
  • Once accepted: if you asked for a deposit, a draft deposit invoice is waiting for you. Later, Invoice the quoted amount makes the final invoice less the deposit, or you can invoice your actual hours and materials as usual.

7. Risk assessments and method statements (RAMS)

  • On a job, press + Add RAMS. Search the library by what the work is (for example "ladder", "oven cleaning" or "strimmer"), or pick a category. Choose Trades & maintenance or Hospitality & venues to see the ones for your kind of work.
  • Preview a template, then Use for this job. You get your own copy with your business details, logo, the customer and the property at the top. You can also reuse one of My earlier RAMS, or start from blank.
  • Check every hazard against the actual job and score it: likelihood × severity (each 1 to 5), before and after any further action. 1–4 is low, 5–9 medium, 10–15 high and 16–25 very high. Add anything specific to the site.
  • Add a method statement: the scope, the steps in order (one per line), equipment, PPE, permits and checks, competence, emergency arrangements and waste. Domestic trade templates come with one already started.
  • Download it as a PDF, or tick it on a quote. When the quote is sent, the RAMS go with it and the customer confirms they've read them when they accept.
  • The library is a starting point written to UK guidance. You're responsible for checking and adapting each assessment for the work you're doing.

9. Expenses and your tax return

  • Add what you spend running the business in Expenses: fuel, insurance, phone, tools, workwear. Choose the category, and a business share if you also use it privately. A receipt photo is optional. Regular costs can repeat by themselves.
  • Materials you add to a job are counted automatically, so don’t add them again.
  • Tax summary shows each tax year (6 April to 5 April) laid out like HMRC’s self-employment pages: turnover, expenses by box, and profit, plus the four Making Tax Digital quarters.
  • 123done doesn’t send anything to HMRC. Check the figures, or ask your accountant, before you file.

10. Calendar

  • The Calendar add-on books visits, each linked to a client and a job, with the address, a phone number and notes. Directions opens the address in Google Maps. Leave the time blank if it’s still to be arranged.
  • Return visits: choose Every year (or every 6 months, 3 months and so on) and the next visit goes in the calendar straight away. On a client’s page, + Yearly service does it in one go.
  • Client reminders: 123done can email your client before a visit, in your business name, so they know their service is due.
  • Copy your private calendar address into your iPhone, Google or Outlook calendar and appointments appear there too. You can also get an email each morning listing the day’s visits.

11. Your website

  • Website sets up your own website in a minute: choose your trade, your town, a web address, a layout and colours. The wording is written for your trade; pick a ready-written version of each part or write your own.
  • Give each main service (or course) its own page with an introduction and a list. Each one can turn up on Google for that service.
  • Your name, phone, address, logo and social media links come from Business details. With Website Plus, upload your own main photo, an “about” photo and gallery photos, each with a caption. Hidden camera details, including location, are removed.
  • Use Preview, then Send for checking. We check every website before it goes live, usually within 48 hours, and email you. Later changes are checked the same way while your live website stays as it is.
  • Quote requests from your website are emailed to you and listed under Enquiries. They’re deleted after 12 months.

12. Getting found on Google

  • On your Website page, open Get found. The To-do list gives you a score out of 100 and your next three jobs, each with a button that takes you straight to the fix. Select Check again when you’ve done one.
  • Your headline on Google shows a preview of how your website looks in Google as you type. Leave it empty and 123done writes it for you.
  • Google & directories has numbered steps for Google Business Profile, Google Search Console, Bing, Yell, Facebook and trade directories, with your details ready to copy so they match everywhere. Mark each one done.
  • Visitors shows visits, where people came from (Google, Facebook, a directory…), the pages they looked at, and how many tapped to call or sent an enquiry. It’s counted without cookies, so your website doesn’t need a cookie banner. Use the link there so your own visits aren’t counted.
  • Google usually takes a few weeks to start sending visitors after your Business Profile and Search Console are set up.

13. Domain and email

  • Open Domain & email to give your website its own address, like yourname.co.uk. Search for a name, see which endings are free and the price a year, and select Buy. We register it in your name, connect it and renew it each year. Or connect a domain you already own by changing two settings at the company you bought it from.
  • A domain bought through 123done comes with email accounts at no extra cost (2 of them). Once it’s connected, choose a name (info, hello, your name…) and a password. We don’t keep a copy of the password: if you forget it, set a new one on the same page.
  • Open my email opens Webmail already signed in. The page also has step-by-step set-up for iPhone, Android and Outlook, with the server names to copy.
  • Use them for your own business email, not mailing lists. Accounts that suddenly send a lot of email are looked at, and sending may be paused until the password is changed.
  • If you stop renewing a domain, it and its email accounts end at the close of the year you’ve paid for, and the emails in them are deleted, so keep copies of anything important.

14. Exports and your bookkeeper

  • Open Export & bookkeeper and pick This tax year, Last tax year, a month or your own dates.
  • Download ZIP gives you every invoice PDF exactly as sent, the receipts named by invoice number, and invoice-list.csv, which opens in Excel with a total.
  • Save your bookkeeper's name and email in Business details, then Send to bookkeeper emails them the same ZIP.

15. Free trial, packages and subscription

  • Your first 5 invoices and 3 quotes are free, with RAMS included. During the trial each invoice can hold up to 5 items (each day of hours and each material is one item), and you can have up to 2 clients and 2 jobs.
  • Then choose a package: Invoicing (£50 a year), Invoicing + Quotes (£85 a year), Invoicing, Quotes + RAMS (£125 a year), All-in (£250 a year). Open Subscription and pay on Stripe's secure page by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Packages renew once a year and Stripe emails you a receipt.
  • Your Subscription page shows your package, when the next payment is due and every payment you've made, with receipts. You can change package there any time: moving up only costs the difference for the rest of your year.
  • When your free invoices run out you can't send new ones, but for 7 days you can still record hours, make drafts and download everything. After that your account is paused until you subscribe. Nothing is deleted.
  • To cancel, change your card or download receipts, open Subscription → Manage subscription. Cancelling stops the next renewal; you keep full use until the end of the year you've paid for.

16. Passwords and your account

  • Forgotten your password? Select Forgot password? on the sign-in page and enter your email address. If it matches an account, you'll get a link that works once and expires after an hour.
  • Changing your password signs you out on every device. You're also signed out automatically after a period of inactivity.
  • Use the sun/moon button to switch between light, dark and automatic themes.
  • To close your account, email admin@ubique-apps.co.uk. Download your export first if you want a copy of your invoices.