For roofers
Will this customer actually pay you, or leave you out of pocket on the roof?
You've quoted the re-roof, ordered the felt and battens, and you're up on the scaffold Monday morning. But you don't really know this customer, or the main contractor who put you on the job. If they fold or refuse to pay the final invoice, you're the one carrying the loss on materials and a fortnight's labour.
Free verdict / no card / they are never told you looked
Why it happens
Roofing is one of the easiest trades to get stung on, because so much of it runs on credit and trust. You front the cost of tiles, membrane, lead and scaffold hire before you've seen a penny, then wait for a final invoice that some customers suddenly find reasons to dispute. On commercial flat roofs it's worse: you're often a sub on a job where the main contractor holds all the money, and if they go under owing everyone, you join the queue of unsecured creditors and get pennies back, if anything. And it's not always bad luck. Some directors take a deposit, get the work started, then vanish or dissolve the company, only to pop up trading under a new name a month later. A quick check of the record tells you which sort you're dealing with before you climb the ladder.
How to check a customer before you start the job
- Search the company name and read the verdict. TRADE means the record looks clean, CAUTION means there are warning signs worth a second look, AVOID means walk away or get paid up front.
- Check whether they're heading for trouble: overdue accounts, active insolvency or a winding-up petition on The Gazette all say they may fold before your final invoice clears.
- Look at the director's history. If they've run companies that went bust before, especially ones that dissolved owing money, that phoenix pattern is your biggest red flag.
- Check for secured debt against the company. If a bank or lender is first in the queue, you're near the back of it if things go wrong.
Enter the company name and get your free trade-safety verdict in seconds, before you order a single tile.
Check a company →Questions roofers ask
Can I check a customer before I even quote?
Yes, and you should. Run the name before you spend an evening pricing up a re-roof. If it comes back AVOID, you've saved yourself the quote and the callout. If it's fine, you can quote with confidence, or ask for a deposit knowing they're good for it.
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 no filed record to pull on a private individual. The check comes into its own for the jobs that hurt most: commercial flat roofs, work for developers, and any main contractor putting you on as a sub. That's where a real company sits behind the money, and that's where you can see if they're about to go under.
Will the customer know I've checked them?
No. You're only reading public records that Companies House and The Gazette already publish. There's no request sent to them, nothing lands on their credit file, and they're never told. It's exactly the sort of homework a sensible business does before extending credit, and it stays between you and the screen.
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