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Going digital as a chimney sweep means moving the whole business off paper pads and notebooks into chimney sweep software: customers, certificates, the diary, reminders, booking and accounts. Start with the records you already have, try it on real jobs, then switch the rest once you trust it.
You do not have to digitise everything in one week. Import your customers, issue the next certificates on site, then turn on reminders so people rebook. Add booking and accounting sync when you are ready. Sweep Certificates is chimney sweep software for UK and Irish sweeps, from £18.50 a month, with a 30-day trial and no card. See what chimney sweep software includes if you want the product overview first.
If you only want to know why a PDF certificate is easier to keep than a pad sheet, read digital certificates or paper certificates. That article is about the document. This one is about moving the sweep business: customers, the diary, certificates and warning notices, reminders, online booking, and accounts.
Most sweeps still have a working paper routine. The risk is doing too much at once and going back to the pad. A safer order is:
Keep the paper pad in the van for a short overlap if that makes you less nervous. Stop using it once a week of real jobs has gone through without a hitch.
Your list is the asset. Names, addresses, phones, appliances and last-sweep dates should come with you. Send a spreadsheet or an export from an old system and we will import it free. You can also photograph paper certificates in the app so history is not lost. Messy lists are normal. We would rather tidy a real file than have you retype hundreds of rows. Straight answers on imports also sit on the FAQ.
The daily win is finishing the paperwork before you leave the house. Association and independently branded certificates, plus warning notices when an appliance or flue is unsafe, belong on the job record with photos and appliance notes. Email the document while you are still there so it does not vanish in a kitchen drawer. See chimney sweep certificates for how that works on site, including offline.
Rural jobs drop coverage. The Sweep Certificates mobile app works fully offline, so you can see the day’s appointments and finish certificates without signal. Everything syncs when you are back in coverage. Try that on a real job during the trial. If the job you care about is in a dead zone, that is the job to test.
Paper follow-up relies on memory and a quiet evening. Reminders to book, booking confirmations and appointment reminders go out on a schedule you set, by email, SMS or WhatsApp. That is how customers come back each year instead of drifting to whoever they find next autumn. You still do the sweep. The software does the chasing.
You do not need online booking on day one. When the phone keeps ringing while you are on a job, a £10 a month Premium add-on lets customers pick a slot from a reminder link or your website. Appointment length follows how many chimneys need sweeping, and slots stay inside the driving distance and diary rules you set. The first calendar month of the add-on is free. Read online booking for chimney sweeps when you are ready, not before.
Sole traders are being asked to keep digital records for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC’s published start date for keeping records in compatible software, for turnover above £50,000, is 6 April 2026. Check HMRC’s MTD for Income Tax dates for the timetable that applies to you.
Sweep Certificates is not a replacement for your accountant’s software. On Premium it syncs invoices to Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage so paid jobs land in the package you already use, without retyping every sweep. That is the practical step most sweeps need: tidy invoices next to the job, then a clean feed into accounts.
Your customer records belong to your business. Application data is hosted in the United Kingdom. We use Microsoft Azure for hosting and files, and we keep backups as part of running the service. People in your company only see what their role allows.
You should always be able to leave with your list. The account owner can export the customer list from the website. You can also export certificates and invoices for a date range. If you close the account, export what you need first, or email us and ask us to delete the company. Do not wait until the paid period has ended to think about this.
A 30-day trial with no credit card is there so you can run real work, not a demo job in the kitchen. Pick one busy day. Issue the certificates on site. Check a customer imported correctly. Send a reminder to yourself or a trusted customer. If you work somewhere with poor signal, finish that job offline and confirm it synced later.
Standard is £18.50 a month. Premium is £24 a month including three users. There are no setup fees. Free setup help covers branding and customer imports. See pricing for team sizes and the booking add-on. If something feels off in the first week, say so. We would rather fix the setup than have you quietly go back to the pad.
Import your existing customers, issue the next certificates on site, then turn on reminders so people rebook. Add online booking and accounting sync when you are ready. You do not have to switch the whole business in one week.
Yes. Send a spreadsheet or an old system export and we will import it free, including branding. You can also photograph paper certificates in the app so history is not lost.
The Sweep Certificates mobile app works fully offline. You can see the day’s appointments and finish certificates when coverage drops, then sync when you are back online.
Reminders to book, booking confirmations and appointment reminders go out on a schedule you set, by email, SMS or WhatsApp. Customers get a prompt to rebook instead of relying on you remembering every due date.
No. Turn it on when phone tag is the problem. Online booking is a £10 a month Premium add-on, with the first calendar month free, and slots follow your diary rules and travel distance.
HMRC is expanding Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders. For turnover above £50,000, the published start date for keeping records in compatible software is 6 April 2026. Sweep Certificates syncs invoices to Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage on Premium so you are not retyping every job into accounts.
Yes. The account owner can export the customer list from the website, and you can export certificates and invoices for a date range. Export what you need before you close the account, or ask us to delete the company.
Yes. Use the 30-day trial with no card on real jobs, including one with poor signal if that is your area. Keep the pad as a backup for a short overlap, then stop once the week has run cleanly.