Blog>Trade>Growing your trade business>How to grow a kitchen fitting business
Last updated: 2 January 2025
How to grow a kitchen fitting business
When it comes to ideas for how to grow a kitchen fitting business in the UK, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together our top tips to help you boost your business and win more work installing kitchens.
In this article you'll find:
After the initial nerves and excitement of starting a kitchen fitting business, it’s time to grow your business and find more customers.
The best way to grow your kitchen fitting business depends on you and your business. In this guide, we’ll talk you through some effective methods for you to try.
What does growth mean for your business?
The first step in growing your kitchen fitting business is understanding exactly what ‘growth’ looks like for you and your business.
Yes, you probably want more leads for kitchen installation jobs. But it helps to think about how you’ll get them and what type of work you want.
And the best way to get there is to make a plan, which should ideally cover the following points:
How you're planning to scale up
How quickly you're planning to grow
A list of any new services or locations you want to cover
Any challenges you foresee and how you plan to overcome them
What marketing activities you're planning to carry out
How you plan to finance your growth
The key to growing any business is to grow at a sustainable rate.
That way you can win more kitchen fitting work and continue to provide a high-quality service – and maintain a strong business reputation.
At Checkatrade, we're offering all our members a FREE business development strategy template and a super useful article to explain what sort of information to include:
How to create a business development strategy - Free template included
What is a business development strategy? The business development process helps to identify, nurture, and acquire new customers and business opportunities to help grow your organisation and ensure its profitability. This may seem quite broad, but this is where your business development strategy
Ways to grow your kitchen fitting business
As we’ve mentioned, growing your business can take many forms depending on you and your business.
Below are some of the most common ways to grow a kitchen fitting business in the UK:
Grow your team
Although taking on workers might seem daunting, expanding your team can work wonders for growing your kitchen fitting business.
Here’s what to focus on when recruiting new team members for your team:
Hire good people by carrying out thorough interviews
Trialling potential candidates to see their skills in action
Consider subcontractors if you don’t think you’re ready for full-time employees
Look into hiring an apprentice you can train up
Knowing when and how to grow your team is important. You want to do it at the right time when you’re taking on more work and need more hands to do it.
How to make your first hire as a trade business owner
Going from sole trader to taking on new employees and having the responsibility of employing someone can be exciting. But it's nerve-racking in equal measure. With a growing business, you're keen to expand, but hiring new employees can raise many questions: How do you know when's the right time to
Offer specialist kitchen installation services
By specialising in more niche kitchen fitting services, you can quickly become the local go-to business for those services.
You might want to consider some of the following services:
Luxury worktop installation
Smart kitchen integration
Heritage and period kitchen restoration
Eco-friendly and sustainable kitchen fitting
Space-saving and compact kitchen solutions
As with any business, it’s crucial to do your homework first and understand which kitchen fitting services there’s a demand for in your area.
Then you can invest in specialist equipment, upskill with additional training, and start reaching out to local homeowners who might need your new services.
Grow your kitchen fitting business with ease
Boost the number of leads you get with your own Checkatrade listing
Cover a larger service area
One of the easiest ways to grow your business is to reach a wider audience by covering a larger geographical area:
Therefore, it’s worth considering if you can offer services in different locations:
Decide the area you want to cover and identify specific places to expand into
Let your customers know you’re expanding so they know the area you now cover
Update your online profiles to show your whole service area
Always consider the time of travelling further (plus the cost)
Expanding the local area that you cover is a simple approach. Just make sure you stay profitable by reviewing your pricing to include the impact of additional travel costs.
Marketing ideas to build your business
When it comes to growing your kitchen fitting business, effective marketing is essential. You need potential customers to know about you.
Some of the best results come from combining digital and traditional print marketing efforts…
Dedicate time to digital marketing
We live in a heavily digital world and your kitchen fitting business needs to make the most of that.
According to recent statistics, up to 95%* of people research a business online before buying a product or using a service.
Therefore, having a strong digital presence is important for your business and its growth.
With that in mind, here are some digital marketing ideas to grow a kitchen fitting:
Make sure you have a high-quality, user-friendly business website that's designed to boost your SEO performance
Create and carefully curate social media profiles for your business
Encourage online customer reviews on your website and independent review sites
Invest in a membership for an online directory – like Checkatrade!
Want more ideas for reaching more customers for your kitchen fitting services? Sign up for our free digital marketing guide below:
Don’t forget traditional marketing methods
As well as investing in your digital marketing, print marketing methods can be a great way to reach potential customers as a trade business in the UK.
Try some of these popular printed marketing activities:
Mailing brochures and leaflets
Creating signs and branding for your vans and workwear
Sponsoring local events or sports teams with your company name
Adverts in local magazines and newspapers
Exhibiting at trade shows
Using billboards or smaller temporary signage
But remember that many customers will start by looking online so always combine print marketing with thorough digital marketing.
The benefits of print marketing: why it isn’t dead for trade businesses
Types of print marketing Print marketing is a form of advertising that uses printed media. 'Printed media' includes: Newspapers and magazines Brochures, directories, and catalogues Flyers, leaflets, and postcards Posters and site boards The benefits of print marketing Broadly speaking
Other ideas for growing your business
You can never have too many ideas when it comes to growing your kitchen fitting business. And here are some of our favourites to help inspire you…
Build a strong professional network
Joining forces with local tradespeople, suppliers, and other professionals can be a great way to win more work:
Collaborate with complementary trades, such as plumbers and electricians to offer bundled services
Encourage cross-referrals to refer clients to each other for jobs
Partner with estate agents so they think of you for any kitchen installation work needed before they list properties (or after they sell them)
Reach out to local housing developers who can potentially offer you a constant supply of kitchen fitting work
By working together, you can generate new kitchen fitting leads and create a network of reliable tradespeople to work with.
Engage with local online groups and forums
Local communities are often very engaged on social media platforms like Facebook, making them a great place to find potential customers:
Promote your services in local community groups in your area
Engage with homeowners seeking professional kitchen fitting advice to build relationships with potential customers
Offer a discount for members of these groups to receive a discount on certain services (especially if they’re local)
Connecting with your local community helps raise your profile with homeowners in your area and can generate leads for your business.
Grow your kitchen fitting business with ease
Boost the number of leads you get with your own Checkatrade listing
Get involved with local community events
Similar to local online groups, getting involved in local events can boost your visibility in the community.
Keep an eye out for local fairs, home shows, or charity fundraisers in your area and speak to the organisers.
You could offer to sponsor an event, set up a stand, or offer a prize for a raffle – like a free consultation or a discount on a new kitchen fit.
Why are trade shows important for tradespeople?
Wondering why are trade shows important for your trade business? Whether you're a plumber, electrician, cleaner, gas engineer, or anything in between, they could be what you need. There’s nothing like a bustling trade show for feeling you’re at the centre of the action in your industry. But it can
Offer free consultations
A brilliant way to connect with homeowners looking for kitchen fitting services is to offer them a free, no-obligation consultation.
That way you don’t have to do the ‘hard sell’ and, instead, you can win them over in person by demonstrating your enthusiasm and expertise in person.
Make sure you take samples of materials or examples of past projects to show them the quality of your work.
Boost your kitchen fitting business with Checkatrade
Marketing a business costs time and money, so it’s important to focus on activity that’s going to help you build your business.
With our digital marketing strategy and strong online presence, becoming a Checkatrade member makes it easier for customers to find you.
Be seen by customers with a business profile on the UK’s leading trade directory
Get an online listing on Google
Access more leads – there were over 206,000 searches for kitchen fitting work on the Checkatrade website in 2024 alone**
The Checkatrade tick that homeowners trust can help you secure more work
Save money with exclusive access to offers and discounts from our partners
Already a member? Log in to our members' app now to see what offers are currently available!
Make your Checkatrade membership work for your business
Make your membership work for you Checkatrade is designed for customers to find quality tradespeople. So as a tradesperson yourself, you can rest assured that there is more to our membership than you might think. Need more leads? As a Checkatrade member, you have
Getting to grips with a Checkatrade membership
As a Checkatrade member, you and your business can benefit from features such as:
Display customer reviews, testimonials, and examples of your work on your profile page
Control your flow of leads by marking your availability in the Checkatrade app
Manage customer enquiries on-the-go, directly from the app – keeping everything in one handy place
With the Checkatrade tick by your name, it makes your marketing just that little bit easier.
We’ll also help you with free marketing materials and exclusive discounts on business essentials.
More than just a listing
Get support for your new business and save money with Checkatrade
* Data quoted January 2022 by Brand Rated on GlobalNewsWire (see here)
** Internal search data from users of the Checkatrade.com website in 2024