These terms govern your use of Compare Builders (the “Platform”), operated by Compare Data Group Ltd (“we”, “us”). By using the Platform you agree to these terms.
1. What we do
Compare Builders is a curated marketplace that matches UK homeowners with verified tradespeople. Homeowners choose which matched tradespeople quote their project and appoint at most one.
We facilitate introductions. The contract for the work is between the homeowner and the tradesperson they appoint (the “Appointed Trade”), and that contract is the “Works Contract”. We are not a party to the Works Contract, we are not the agent of either party, and we give no guarantee, warranty or undertaking in respect of the work carried out under it.
We may separately offer optional services of our own. Where you take one of those services it forms a separate contract between you and us, on the terms of that service. Taking such a service does not make us a party to the Works Contract and does not change who is responsible for the work.
2. Homeowners
- Use of the funnel and matching service is free.
- Information you provide must be accurate. Misrepresenting your project may invalidate the match.
- We’ll match your project with verified tradespeople. Interested tradespeople are shown to you with their trust record; you select who may quote (typically up to three) and appoint at most one. Only the Appointed Trade receives your contact details.
- Any contract for the work itself is between you and the Appointed Trade directly. We are not party to it.
- You can request deletion of your data at any time, subject to our retention obligations under the privacy policy.
3. For Builders
- Accreditation is by application. We reserve the right to decline any application without giving reasons.
- Access to matched projects is by monthly membership. Current tiers and pricing are shown at /for-builders; verification is included at every tier.
- Winning work carries a Project Fee. The fee for each project is shown to you before you register interest and is based on the project’s estimated value. When a homeowner selects you to quote, the fee is reserved from your credit balance; it is charged only if the homeowner appoints you. If you are not appointed, the reservation is released in full. If your accepted quote implies a lower fee than the estimate did, you are charged the lower amount. The fee is never adjusted upwards.
- You contractually agree not to bypass the platform: every homeowner introduction must originate from an appointment made on the Platform, and quotes for matched projects must be submitted through the Platform. Contacting a homeowner off the platform to avoid the Project Fee is a material breach. Lead documents are watermarked.
- You will respond to appointments within 48 hours and accurately capture the outcome. Persistent low responsiveness or unfair customer outcomes will result in suspension or accreditation revocation.
- Annual re-verification is included in your membership. Failure to provide refreshed evidence will result in temporary suspension.
Payments from homeowners
You must not request or accept any payment from a homeowner before you have given them a written quotation or contract setting out the price, the specification and the payment schedule, and they have accepted it. You must not ask a homeowner to pay into an account held in a name other than the business verified on your Compare Builders record. You must not ask a homeowner to pay you outside the terms you have agreed with them.
Failing to start or complete work you have been paid for, or a pattern of upheld complaints about payments taken, is grounds for immediate suspension and removal from the platform. Your public verification page will show the change of status and the date.
4. Acceptable use
You will not:
- Submit projects you have no intention of pursuing, or impersonate another homeowner.
- Submit accreditation applications you have no intention of completing.
- Reverse-engineer, scrape, or automate access to the Platform beyond ordinary individual use.
- Use the Platform for any unlawful purpose or in any manner that could damage, disable, or impair its operation.
5. What verification is, and what it is not
5.1 Compare Builders is an introduction service. We match your project to verified tradespeople, present their quotations, and record the appointment you make. We do not carry out the work, supervise it or price it. We do not receive, hold or handle any money payable under the Works Contract; you pay the Appointed Trade directly, on the terms you agree with them.
5.2 Verification is a documentary check carried out on the information and records available to us at the date shown on that tradesperson’s verification record. It confirms identity, company registration, insurance, trade credentials and financial standing as at that date. It is not a prediction of how a tradesperson will perform, it is not an assurance that a tradesperson will remain solvent, and it is not a financial guarantee of any kind.
5.3 Home improvement work carries risk. We encourage homeowners to agree a written contract and payment schedule with the tradesperson they appoint, to commission their own surveys, and to read the full verification record before entering into a contract.
6. Responsibility and liability
6.1 The Works Contract is between you and the Appointed Trade. Its terms, including the price, the specification, the programme and the payment schedule, are agreed between you and them. We are not a party to that contract, we are not your agent or their agent, and we give no guarantee, warranty or undertaking in respect of the work.
6.2 We are not responsible for money you pay to the Appointed Trade, or for loss you suffer, where they fail to start the work, fail to complete it, abandon it, perform it defectively, become insolvent, or fail to pay their own suppliers or subcontractors. Any claim in respect of those matters is a claim against the Appointed Trade.
6.3 We remain responsible for providing our own service with reasonable care and skill. Clauses 6.6 to 6.8 limit the amount we can be required to pay if we fail to do so; they do not remove that responsibility.
6.4 Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
6.5 Our matching and introduction service is free to homeowners. We do not charge you for it at any stage, and we are paid instead by the Appointed Trade. The limits below are therefore set by reference to what we actually receive in connection with your project, rather than to anything you have paid us, because you pay us nothing.
6.6 Subject to 6.4, and however a claim is made, whether in contract, in negligence, for misrepresentation or on any other basis, our total liability to a homeowner in connection with a project is limited to the greater of:
- (a) the total of the Project Fee we received in connection with that project and any amount you have paid us for an optional service in connection with it; and
- (b) £1,000.
6.7 Subject to 6.4, our total liability to all homeowners taken together, for all claims arising out of events occurring in any period of twelve months, is limited to £50,000.
6.8 Subject to 6.4, we are not liable for loss of profit, loss of business, loss of contracts, loss of anticipated savings or loss of business opportunity, however arising. This clause does not limit any claim you have for loss suffered in your personal capacity as a consumer.
6.9 Subject to 6.4, our total liability to a tradesperson in connection with a project is limited to the Project Fee and subscription payments we received from that tradesperson in the twelve months before the claim arose.
7. Termination
Either party may terminate this agreement at any time. We may suspend or terminate access immediately if we reasonably believe you are in material breach of these terms.
8. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
9. Contact
Compare Data Group Ltd, registered in England and Wales (Companies House No. 16954162). Questions: hello@comparebuilders.com.