For builders

Will this customer actually pay you when the build's done? Check them before you lift a trowel.

You've been asked to price up an extension, a full renovation, maybe a new build. It's months of your time, your materials, your lads on the wages, all fronted before you see a penny of the final bill. And the customer or the main contractor above you is someone you barely know.

Free verdict / no card / they are never told you looked

Why it happens

Builders get burned in a few predictable ways. You carry the job on credit, do everything right, then the final invoice sits unpaid while they pick holes in snagging to knock the price down. Or you're a step down the chain and the main contractor folds owing you for two months of work, and you're just another name on a creditors list that never gets paid. Or the customer takes the deposit conversation nice and friendly, you order the materials, and then the money and the goodwill both dry up the moment cash gets tight. It's rarely a stranger off the street. It's the ones who looked fine on the surface, because nobody checked what was actually going on behind the company name.

How to check a customer before you start the job

Put the company name in and look at whether they're heading for trouble. Any insolvency, a winding-up notice in The Gazette, or a proposal to strike them off means walk away or get paid up front, no exceptions.
Check the accounts aren't overdue. A company that can't file its accounts on time is a company that's either badly run or hiding something, and both of those end with your invoice unpaid.
Look at the directors' track record. If the person hiring you has folded companies before and started fresh ones straight after, that's the phoenix pattern, and you do not want to be the creditor left behind next time.
Match the size of the company to the size of the job. A brand new company with no history asking you to front an eighty grand build is a risk you price for, or you stage the payments so you're never more than one instalment out of pocket.

Type in the customer's or main contractor's company name and get a free TRADE, CAUTION or AVOID verdict in seconds.

Check a company →

Questions builders ask

Can I check a customer before I even quote?

Yes, and you should. Run the name before you put hours into pricing a big job. If the verdict comes back AVOID, you've saved yourself the quote, the site visit and the heartache. If it's clean, you can price with confidence and maybe firmer terms.

What if they're a sole trader, not a limited company?

A lot of your domestic customers won't be a registered company, and there's less on the public record for a private individual. Where it really earns its keep is checking the main contractors, developers and limited-company clients you work under, because those are the ones who fold owing serious money. If there's a company behind the job, check it.

Will the customer know I've checked them?

No. The check is quiet and it's yours alone. You're only reading information that's already public on Companies House and The Gazette, so there's nothing that shows up on their end and no awkward conversation. It's just you doing your homework before you commit your time and money.

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