The person behind Trade Forge Network.
I'm Lex Clarke, founder of Trade Forge Network. I'm based in Bracknell, Berkshire, and I work with trades businesses across the UK.
I didn't come from trades. But I've spent most of the last fifteen years either building operational systems for service businesses, or watching closely while people close to me navigated the reality of running one. My partner is multi-trade. A lot of my closest friends work across different trades. I kept seeing the same pattern: good work, happy customers, and then nothing. No follow-up. No system. Revenue walking out the door that nobody was chasing.
That's what Trade Forge Network is built to fix.
Why I know this works.
Before Trade Forge Network, I spent over 7 years at Alexander Mann Solutions - one of the world's leading recruitment and workforce management firms - working on process improvement, systems optimisation, and operational compliance across global programmes. That work taught me how to take complex operations, strip them back to what actually matters, and build processes that people can follow consistently without it feeling like extra work.
I then spent seven years running the full operations of a domestic and commercial cleaning business - bookings, scheduling, client communication, invoicing, team coordination, customer retention. That's where the repeat revenue insight came from. Not from a course or a book. From watching, first hand, what happens when you build a simple follow-up system versus when you don't. The difference in revenue was significant. The effort required was not.
After that I spent three years working directly with trades and service business owners, building automated systems, follow-up pipelines, and customer re-engagement processes for their specific businesses. By the time I launched Trade Forge Network, I had a very clear picture of what works and what doesn't for this type of business.
7+ years corporate process improvement
7+ years running a service business
3+ years trades and service business systems
Practical and process-first.
I'm not here to sell you software you don't need or build systems you'll never use. Everything starts with understanding your business - how you work, who your customers are, what you're already doing. Then we build around that. Simple, repeatable, and built for days where you're flat-out on the tools and don't have time to manage a complicated system.
I work with Google Sheets and SMS - tools that work on any phone, don't need a subscription, and don't require any technical knowledge. If you can send a text message, you can use what I build.
Right now I'm focused on five trades.
Gas engineers and heating engineers. Electricians. Plumbers. HVAC and air conditioning engineers. Fire safety engineers. These trades have something in common - annual or near-annual services and certificates that create a natural repeat revenue opportunity. Most of the businesses doing this work are small operators who are good at their trade and not particularly interested in running a customer follow-up system. That's where I come in.
I'll expand to other trades over time. But for now I'm keeping the focus narrow and the work specific. A system built for a gas engineer is not the same as one built for a fire safety engineer - and that specificity is what makes it actually work in practice.
Ready to make things easier?
If you want to find out how much repeat revenue your business is leaving on the table, start with the Revenue Leak Report.
It takes 15 minutes and costs £99. Most people find the number bigger than they expected.
Or get in touch directly with your questions - email lex@tradeforgenet.com or message me on WhatsApp.
Sign-up
Get the free Repeat Revenue Calculator - find out how much repeat revenue your business is missing
Repeat Revenue Systems for UK trades Businesses. © 2026 Trade Forge Network. All Rights Reserved.
View our Privacy & Cookie Policy and Website Usage & Disclaimer Policy.