Thanks Big Al for the welcome, however, browsing the board has left me a bit unsettled:

I'm a returning self-employed carpenter, having led a vocationally confused working life; bench joiner, ceramic artist, builders labourer, musician, kitchen fitter and marquee erecter. Anyway, before I ran for solace in my last 9-5 I dipped my toe in self employment and got stung by a 'mate' over a business venture.

It highlighted the importance of being conversant with rules and regs and the fickle nature of people when money is involved. The t&c's posted by Woodsmith are great, everyone on this forum should copy and paste and dish them out to everyone you do work for. Can anyone suggest though, how long should you guarantee your work for?

I know I'm in the company of many able tradesmen. I imagine many are from a time when word of mouth and ability were the only important things, but what are our legal minimum requisites for sole trading?:
Time served /or certified? How many years/ to what level?

Tax and insurance men can tell you what you owe them, but they're no help for owt else.
Can someone help, or tell me I'm worrying too much?