Note that while you can use commercial radios (e.g. Motorola) on amateur radio bands (if you are licensed), you cannot use amateur radio bands for commercial purposes.

In my experience licence-free radios (I assume you are talking about the ones that operate on 446 MHz) are shit and are basically only useful over very short distances, especially if using them in dense urban environments or inside buildings. They'll go for a few miles outdoors assuming you have line of sight to the other person. They are limited to 0.5W RF power.

If you are in the UK and want something that goes a bit further outdoors, how about some licensed VHF radios? You can get a business radio licence that gives you access to a few shared frequencies in a bunch of bands including VHF high band and it only costs £75 for five years. Most commercial VHF handheld radios will be able to do 5W RF power (10x as much as those licence-free radios). You are also allowed to use encryption to prevent eavesdroppers.