Compare Builders never handles money for your project. You are never charged by us, and we never ask you to pay us or to pay anything through us. You pay your builder directly, on terms you agree with them.
Before you pay anything.
- Get the price, the specification and the payment schedule in writing, and agree them before work starts.
- Tie each payment to work that has been done. A deposit towards materials is normal. Paying for a whole project before work starts is not.
- Pay from an account in your own name, into an account in the name of the business you appointed. Do not pay in cash, and do not pay into a differently named account because you have been asked to.
- Keep the quotation, the schedule and every receipt.
Card payments. Paying more than £100 by credit card can give you a claim against your card provider under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 if the builder does not do the work. Debit card payments may be recoverable through your bank’s chargeback process. Your card provider decides those claims, not us. Impartial guidance is at moneyhelper.org.uk.