Use case
Tradespeople & per-job numbers
A virtual business number for the van decals — and per-job numbers when a particular customer needs a clean line that closes when the work's done.
Best for
Plumbers, electricians, builders, decorators, and trades businesses who want a professional contact line and the option to retire numbers tied to specific jobs.
The workflow
How it runs end to end
- 01 Set up your main business number for the van, the website, the cards
- 02 Forward to whoever's on the tools today — you, an apprentice, the office
- 03 Spin up per-job numbers when a customer wants a direct line
- 04 Retire those numbers cleanly once the job is invoiced and signed off
- 05 Keep your personal mobile genuinely separate from the business line
Why trades businesses end up using their personal mobile
Most one-person and small trades operations start with the founder’s personal mobile printed on the van and the cards. It’s free, immediate, and works. Then five years later they’re a small team, the personal mobile rings constantly, half the calls are for jobs the founder no longer does personally, and quoting back to a customer from 2019 about a guarantee on work done by an apprentice who’s since left has become a recurring annoyance.
The fix everyone reaches for eventually is a separate business number. Incognifi just makes it cheap and flexible enough to do from day one.
The main number, and the job numbers
Two patterns work together for trades businesses:
- A main business number. Goes on the van, the cards, the website, the directory listings. Forwards to whoever’s actually taking calls today — the founder during early days, then an office manager, then a rota of the team. Voicemails arrive in the dashboard so nothing gets lost.
- Per-job numbers. For a specific customer or specific contract — particularly bigger jobs, or jobs where the customer is going to want to ring at all hours — give a dedicated number that’s just for them. When the job’s signed off and invoiced, you retire it. Nine months later you’re not getting “quick question about the boiler” calls from a customer who isn’t a customer anymore.
Email keeps pace
A custom domain alias (hello@yourplumbing.co.uk) on quotes, invoices, and the website does for email what the business number does for calls. Quotes and invoices look more credible. Customers reply to a stable address that doesn’t change when you switch your underlying mail provider.
For multi-person businesses, route the main email to whoever does the office side of things — partner, spouse, office manager, bookkeeper — without anyone having to share inbox passwords.