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Notes from the village

One experiment, written as it happens: can a village get its small jobs done by booking one tradesperson for a whole day? The numbers are in, including the ones that went wrong.

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An airing cupboard with its door open: an insulated hot water cylinder with copper pipes, and towels on wooden shelves
9 October 2026 · 4 min read

The immersion heater: ten minutes of work, £160

Two and a half hours on site, most of it waiting for a tank to drain. Where the money went, why no plumber can do it cheaper on their own, and what a village day does about the waiting.

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All notes

11 October 2026
5 min read

Why nobody will come out for a small job

One small job costs a tradesperson more than it pays. The drive, the visit to quote, the waiting and the gap in their day, and what you can do about it.

 9 October 2026
4 min read

The immersion heater: ten minutes of work, £160

Two and a half hours on site, most of it waiting for a tank to drain. Where the money went, and what a village day does about it.

Soaring Turtle started as an appointment logistics product for the NHS. That work is paused; its five notes stay at their old addresses and are not part of this journal.

Coming up

What we are trying in the first village, and how to get your job on the mapWeek 1
Who checks the tradesperson, and what Buy With Confidence actually checksWeek 2
What the first village sent: three weeks, by tradeWeek 3, with the numbers
Written by Soaring Turtle
A small UK software company.

We write up each step of the experiment with the numbers, including the ones that went wrong. Every note ends with a question; reply to the email and it reaches us.

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