Our method
How the Trust Portfolio works.
Every tradesperson we show you is verified by Compare Builders. When several put themselves forward for your project, their Trust Portfolio sets the order you see them in: a score out of 100 from our checks, proof of their work, their reviews on other websites and their record with homeowners on Compare Builders. Every number on this page is the one the score uses today.
The score
A tradesperson’s Trust Portfolio score is the points they have earned, divided by the points available to them, times 100, rounded to a whole number.
score = points earned ÷ points available × 100
Points come from four parts: Checks (30 points), Proof of work (30), Other websites (20) and Our homeowners (up to 30). Points available run from 80, before any review from a Compare Builders homeowner, to 110 with 10 or more.
1. Checks (30 points)
| What earns it | Points |
|---|---|
| Every verification check that applies to them passed | 20 |
| Public liability cover of £5m or more | 3 |
| A financial standing check with no adverse markers | 3 |
| No suspension or insurance lapse in the last 12 months | 4 |
Only the checks that apply to a tradesperson count towards the 20 points: the ones we need before we verify anyone (Companies House, public liability insurance, photo ID and financial standing for a company; HMRC trading evidence, public liability insurance and photo ID for a sole trader), the VAT check when they are registered for VAT, and the trade body check when they tell us they belong to one. A check that does not apply to them never costs them these points. One that applies and has not passed does.
A sole trader has no company financial check, so the HMRC trading evidence we hold from verification stands in for it. Until that evidence is held, those 3 points are left out of the points available to them, so they neither gain nor lose by it. The checks themselves are set out on how we verify builders.
2. Proof of work (30 points)
| What earns it | Points |
|---|---|
| A project with at least 3 photos that passed our check | 2 each, up to 12 |
| A video of finished work that passed our check | 2 each, up to 4 |
| A trade body membership checked against the body's register | 4 each, up to 8 |
| Years trading: 2 to 4 years | 2 |
| Years trading: 5 to 9 years | 3 |
| Years trading: 10 or more years | 4 |
| A complete profile: about, services and areas covered | 2 |
Only photos and videos that pass our check count. Years trading comes from the Companies House or HMRC evidence we hold from verification.
3. Other websites (20 points)
Two parts: the rating, and how many reviews there are. The rating is the smoothed rating described under Ratings below, across all of the tradesperson’s reviews. The count is the reviews on the other sites we read.
| Smoothed rating, out of 10 | Points |
|---|---|
| 9.6 or above | 12 |
| 9.0 to 9.59 | 10 |
| 8.0 to 8.99 | 7 |
| 7.0 to 7.99 | 4 |
| Below 7.0 | 0 |
| Reviews on other sites | Points |
|---|---|
| 50 or more | 8 |
| 25 to 49 | 6 |
| 10 to 24 | 4 |
| 3 to 9 | 2 |
| Fewer than 3 | 0 |
4. Our homeowners (up to 30 points)
3 points become available with each published review from a Compare Builders homeowner, up to 30 at 10 reviews. None are available before the first review, so a tradesperson new to Compare Builders is not marked down for it. Each part below is a share of the points available here at the time.
| What earns it | Share |
|---|---|
| The Compare Builders rating, on the same rating bands as other websites | 60% |
| An outcome reported on every appointed project | 15% |
| Answered 80% or more of project invitations within 48 hours | 15% |
| No upheld complaint in the last 12 months | 10% |
Ratings
Every rating is out of 10. Ratings out of 5 are doubled; Checkatrade’s is already out of 10. Homeowners rate a tradesperson they appointed from 1 to 10.
What you see: the real average across every review on every source, and how many there are. Below 3 reviews we show “New to reviews” instead of a rating. Before you appoint a tradesperson, counts are shown in bands (3+, 10+, 25+, 50+, 100+) and Compare Builders reviews as an average; the exact counts, each review with what was said, and links to their profiles show once you appoint them.
What the score uses: a smoothed rating, so a handful of reviews cannot swing it.
smoothed = (C × m + Σ w × r) ÷ (C + Σ w)
- m = 8, the starting rating out of 10.
- C = 5, how many reviews’ weight the starting rating carries.
- r = each rating, out of 10.
- w = 2 for a review from a Compare Builders homeowner and 1 for any other review, times an age weight: 1 under 12 months old, 0.85 from 12 to 24 months, and 0.7 older. The age weight applies only where a review has a date.
- A site that gives only a headline rating and a count counts as that many reviews at that rating, with no age weight.
Levels
Each score falls in one of four levels, shown as four shields.
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Outstanding · Level 4 of 4 | 80 or more out of 100 |
| Proven · Level 3 of 4 | 60 to 79 out of 100 |
| Established · Level 2 of 4 | 40 to 59 out of 100 |
| Getting started · Level 1 of 4 | Below 40 out of 100 |
Where reviews come from
A tradesperson can link their profile on Google, Checkatrade, Trustpilot, MyBuilder, Rated People, TrustATrader and Bark. We read Google, Checkatrade, Trustpilot, MyBuilder, Rated People, TrustATrader and Bark today. A rating from another site counts once we read that site, and each site has its own switch. We name every site in plain text, never with its logo, and show when we last checked it.
Ratings as published on each site. Compare Builders is not affiliated with these sites.
Reviews from Compare Builders homeowners: only the homeowner on an appointed project can leave one, once per project. It opens when the tradesperson reports how the job went, or 30 days after they were appointed if they have not, unless their fee for the job was returned in full or they have a claim about the appointment that we have not yet decided. Each is screened for contact details before it is published. The tradesperson can reply once and cannot remove a review; we remove one only for a breach of our review rules.
How the evidence is checked
- Photos and videos: each is checked before it counts. Only items that pass count towards the score or are shown to homeowners as vetted work, and a project counts once it has at least 3 photos that passed.
- Trade bodies: each membership is checked against the body’s own register. Only a membership our automatic check found on the register earns points and shows as “Register checked”. One the tradesperson has declared that our automatic check has not confirmed shows as “Declared”.
- Review profiles: a profile the tradesperson links counts only once we have matched it to their verification record or our team has confirmed it is theirs.
How the order is used
When tradespeople put themselves forward for your project, you see them in Trust Portfolio order, highest score first. A tie goes to the higher Checks points, then a fixed order. Membership tier never affects the order, not even to break a tie.
The score does not decide who is invited to your project: invitations go out on fit, meaning trade, area and availability. Scores are worked out again whenever something behind them changes, and every night.