You're halfway through a job. Hands dirty, up a ladder, or gripping a pipe wrench.
Your phone buzzes. You feel it, but you're not stopping now.
By the time you get a moment — maybe twenty minutes later, maybe an hour — there's a missed call from a number you don't recognise.
This isn't a failure. It's just how the work goes.
Missed calls are part of life for most self-employed tradespeople. But the knock-on effects aren't always obvious in the moment.
Why missed calls happen
Trade work means your hands are rarely free when the phone rings. You might be under a sink, in a ceiling cavity, or focused on something that can't wait.
Even between jobs, you're often driving, loading the van, or grabbing lunch.
Most tradespeople work alone. There's no receptionist. No one to pick up when you're busy.
The phone rings, and either you answer it or you don't.
Most of the time, you don't.
What happens next
Later, you check your phone. Maybe there's a voicemail. Maybe not — plenty of people hang up rather than leave one.
Then comes the decision: call back now, or wait until you've got more time?
If you're busy, "more time" might mean this evening. Or tomorrow. Or it slips entirely. Not because you don't care, but because the list keeps growing.
Some people try calling back, get no answer, and the cycle starts again. Others send a text. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't.
And sometimes, by the time you do get through, they've already found someone else.
What gets lost
It's hard to measure work that never started. But most tradespeople can think of enquiries that slipped away because the timing didn't work.
A customer who needed something urgently. They rang three people. You were second, but the third one picked up. They got the job.
Or someone passed on your number. The person called while you were mid-job. You couldn't answer. They moved on.
It's rarely dramatic. More often it's a slow, quiet leak. A handful of jobs a month. A £120 call-out here. A £300 repair there.
Hard to spot day to day. Real when you add it up.
There's the reputation side too. Customers don't always understand why they couldn't reach you. They might assume you're too busy or not that reliable. Neither is fair, but impressions form quickly.
When admin spills into evenings
For many sole traders, the day doesn't end when the last job finishes. There's quoting, invoicing, messages, and calls to return.
This often happens on the sofa after dinner. Phone in hand. Half-watching TV.
It's not the worst thing in the world, but it blurs the line between work and rest.
Some people set aside time for admin. Others batch their calls. These systems help, up to a point. But when the day's been long, things slide.
And when you're tired, you're not at your best on the phone. Conversations feel like chores. The customer gets a flatter version of you.
Why this gets harder when you're busy
There's an uncomfortable tension here.
When you're quiet, you've got time to answer every call. But there aren't many of them.
When you're busy, the calls keep coming — and you're least able to manage them. You're doing the work, which is the whole point. But the phone doesn't stop.
This is where many sole traders feel stuck. Growth brings more admin. More admin eats into the time you'd otherwise spend earning.
Some people hit a ceiling here. Others push through by working longer hours. Neither feels ideal.
A pattern worth noticing
None of this is anyone's fault. It's what happens when one person does skilled work and runs a business at the same time.
Calls come in at the wrong moment. Some get missed. Some get delayed. A few go cold. Evenings fill up with admin.
If this sounds familiar, you're not doing anything wrong. You're just experiencing what thousands of other tradespeople deal with every week.
It can be useful to simply notice the pattern. Not to fix it yet. Just to understand it.