CRM for trades: the UK guide for 2026 (with prices, features and what actually matters)
What to look for in a CRM for trades and contractors in the UK. Real prices, real features, the difference between a generic CRM and one built for construction. With a comparison of HubSpot, Pipedrive, Monday and Complys.
Every UK trades business hits the same wall around the third or fourth full-time member of staff. Quotes get sent twice or not at all. Customers slip through the gaps. The owner is doing admin past 9pm. The question of whether to bring in a CRM gets asked. The next question is which one. This guide answers both, with real prices, real features, and an honest take on why generic CRMs do not fit a trades business.
What a trades CRM actually needs to do
A CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) is software that holds every customer, every quote, every job, every email and every follow-up in one place. The name is misleading because CRMs are mostly about jobs and money, not relationships. For a UK trades business the must-have features are concrete and small in number.
It must hold every customer with notes, addresses, contacts and history. It must track every quote you send through stages (new, sent, accepted, lost) so you know what is in the pipeline. It must send those quotes professionally with your branding, ideally from your own email address. It must remind you to follow up before a quote goes cold. It must work on a phone because trades work happens on sites, in vans and at jobs, not at desks. And it must integrate with the rest of your tooling so accounting (Sage, Xero, QuickBooks) and compliance do not become separate worlds.
What a trades CRM does NOT need is the marketing automation, lead scoring, AI-powered customer journey, account-based marketing or revenue intelligence that 90% of CRM marketing copy goes on about. Those features exist for software companies selling to other software companies, not for a roofer in Plymouth quoting on a barn conversion.
Generic CRMs vs CRMs built for trades
HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Monday all sell CRM software. None of them was built for a UK trades business. Here is why that matters.
Generic CRMs charge per user
HubSpot Starter is £15 per user per month. Salesforce Starter is £20. Pipedrive Essential is £14. Multiply by every estimator, every site manager, every admin who needs access. A 30-employee scaffolding firm easily reaches £450 to £600 per month before they have sent a single quote. Trade-focused CRMs like Complys charge a single business rate (typically £30 to £99 per month) regardless of how many people in your business use it.
Generic CRMs ignore compliance
The thing that wins UK construction work is not a slick sales pitch, it is whether your insurance is in date, whether your workers have CSCS cards, whether your last RAMS document covered the activity. A generic CRM does not know any of this exists. A trades CRM puts insurance, accreditations, RAMS documents and worker training on the same record as the customer, so when a contractor asks for proof you can send it in two clicks.
Generic CRMs assume office work
HubSpot is built for sales reps in front of laptops. Trades work happens with one hand, on a phone, in bad light, possibly while standing on a roof. A trades CRM has to load fast on a phone, use big tap targets, work offline when signal drops, and put the actions a worker actually performs (log a call, sign off a job, upload a site photo) at the front. Most generic CRMs technically have a mobile app. Most of those mobile apps are unusable on site.
Generic CRMs do not understand the trade workflow
A trades job goes: enquiry, quote, quote accepted, RAMS prepared, workers assigned, job done, invoice sent, payment received, testimonial requested. Generic CRMs handle the first three steps. The rest are missing. A trades CRM treats the whole flow as one continuous record so the quote that was won on Tuesday becomes the job that gets RAMS on Wednesday and workers assigned for Friday.
Real costs in 2026
Honest current pricing for UK trades to use as benchmarks:
- HubSpot Starter: £15/user/month (CRM only). Marketing Hub Starter another £45/month. Quickly reaches £200+/month for a small business.
- Salesforce Starter Suite: £20/user/month. Real cost typically £50+/user once you add the modules anyone actually uses.
- Pipedrive Essential: £14/user/month. Advanced (most useful tier) is £29/user/month.
- Monday CRM: £9/user/month for the basic plan. Standard is £24, Pro is £36. Per user.
- Tradify: £15/user/month. Trade-focused, no compliance side.
- SimPRO: Quote-only pricing, typically £80 to £150/user/month. Heavy enterprise focus.
- Complys: £30/month for Pro (whole business, unlimited users), £99 for Growth Plus including the tender finder and AI bid writing. CRM included on every plan.
Per-user pricing is a tax on growing your team. The bigger your trades business gets, the more you pay just to give your own staff access to the same data. A flat-rate trade CRM aligns with how trade businesses scale.
The features that genuinely matter
Skip the marketing pages and ask: does it do these six things well?
1. Customer database with searchable history
Every customer's full history (quotes, jobs, calls, emails) on one screen. Searchable by name, postcode, phone or company. If your CRM cannot show you "everything we have ever done with the Trent estate" in one click, it is not earning its keep.
2. Quote pipeline with stages
A kanban board where you can see at a glance how many quotes are out, how many were opened, how many are sitting waiting for a response, how many turned into jobs. Drag a card from one stage to another. The board is the reality of your business.
3. Email integration with your own address
Quotes and follow-ups should go from your own Gmail, Outlook or business address. Not from a generic noreply@ email address that gets junked. Recipients should see your name. Replies should arrive in your inbox. Open and click tracking should be built in so you know when to follow up.
4. Phone-first call logging
Most trade business is still done by phone. The CRM has to make logging a call (date, what was said, what to do next, who to follow up) a 10-second job. If logging takes a minute, nobody does it, and the phone-call paper trail vanishes.
5. Compliance attached to customer records
Insurance certificates, accreditations, RAMS, worker passports, training matrix - all live records you can share with a customer in two clicks. This is the differentiator a trade CRM has over a generic one. The trust signal that wins UK construction work is "we are compliant, here is the proof", and the CRM should make sending that proof effortless.
6. Mobile work that actually works on a phone
If you cannot send a quote, log a call and check a customer's history from a phone in 30 seconds, the CRM is not built for trades. It might be technically responsive. That is not the same as usable.
Why Complys is built for this
Complys is a CRM with compliance, RAMS, worker passports and quote sending all in one platform. It was built by a working scaffolder (DDC Scaffolding in Devon) who got tired of running his business on three spreadsheets and a paper diary. Every feature exists because a trades business actually uses it.
Customer database, quote pipeline, email integration with Gmail and Outlook, phone call logging, AI-drafted intro emails, compliance documents on every customer record, RAMS in 30 seconds, worker passports for every employee, GPS clock-in for time tracking, vehicle compliance tracking, training matrix - one platform, one flat business rate, no per-user pricing.
The 90-day free trial includes full feature access. No card needed. Most users have their first quote out within an hour and their first job won within a week. See the CRM features or start the free trial to try it on a real customer.
Common questions
Can I switch from HubSpot or Pipedrive easily?
Most CRMs export to CSV. Complys imports CSV customer data, so the switch is typically a 30-minute job. The harder part is getting your team to actually use the new system, which is mostly about choosing one that fits how trades actually work rather than retraining people on how to use generic CRM concepts.
Do I need a CRM if I have an accountant doing my Sage?
Sage tracks money. A CRM tracks the work that becomes the money. They do different jobs. The cleanest workflow is Sage for accounting and a CRM for everything before payment lands (quotes, jobs, customer relationships). The two should work together, not replace each other.
What about WhatsApp - that is my CRM today
WhatsApp is not a CRM. It is a chat tool. It cannot show you all your open quotes at once, cannot remind you to follow up, cannot track who has paid, cannot send a branded quote. Most trades businesses use WhatsApp for fast comms AND a CRM for record-keeping. The two complement each other rather than competing.
Can I trial it without a card?
Yes. Complys offers 90 days free with full features and no card required. After day 90 it drops to a free tier where you can keep the CRM working with reduced limits, or upgrade to a paid plan from £30/month.
Related guides
- Do you need a CRM for your construction business? - the original 9-minute guide to whether a CRM makes sense for a UK contractor
- CRM for trades: the UK guide for 2026 - prices, features and what actually matters when choosing a trades CRM
- Construction CRM software UK: a buyer's guide for 2026 - what to look for, what to avoid, and real prices for UK construction
- CRM vs spreadsheet for tradespeople: when to make the switch - honest comparison and the specific signs you have outgrown the spreadsheet
Complys is a CRM with compliance, RAMS, worker passports and quote sending built in. Works on mobile, made for site work, priced for trade businesses. 90-day free trial with full features.