When you're looking at a quote for £4,000 worth of work and you've never heard of this company before, you deserve to know what's checkable and what isn't. Every entry in your report names the source. If we couldn't find something, we say that and tell you what to ask instead.
Companies House API · Free · Public
Companies House
For registered businesses, we pull the full public record — company status, how long they've been registered, director names, registered address, previous company names, and whether their accounts are filed on time. A company that dissolved twice before and reappeared last month looks very different from one that has filed consistently since 2017.
We check
Company statusIncorporation dateYears tradingAccounts filedDirector historyDisqualified directorsDissolved company historyAddress matchSIC code
Official registers · Trade-specific
Trade registers
For gas and electrical work, being unregistered is illegal — and the registers are public. We check them. For windows, solar, and general improvements, we check TrustMark, FENSA, and MCS. A Gas Safe certificate handed to you at the door proves nothing — only the live register does.
We check
Gas Safe RegisterNICEICNAPITFENSAMCSTrustMarkFederation of Master BuildersNFRC
For roofing, driveways, and general building work there is no mandatory register. That's not a gap in our product — it's the honest answer, and knowing it changes what you ask.
Quote analysis · LLM-powered
Your quote
Upload the quote you've been sent — PDF, photo, or paste the text. We scan it against the patterns that appear in real fraud prosecutions: missing company numbers, vague scope, large upfront deposits with no milestone schedule, cash-only payment terms, no completion date, no warranty. The things that feel normal until they aren't.
We flag
Deposit sizePayment termsScope vaguenessMissing company numberNo fixed datesNo warrantyCash onlyNo insurance mentionEstimate vs fixed
Public records · Reviews · News
Reputation & reviews
We check Google reviews (how many, how old, whether they cluster suspiciously) and Trustpilot. We also search for confirmed profiles on trade platforms — Checkatrade, TrustATrader, TrustMark and Which? Trusted Traders — and link to them directly if found. Separately, we scan news sources for the business name: Trading Standards releases, local press, court reports.
We search
Google rating & review historyTrustpilotCheckatradeTrustATraderWhich? Trusted TradersPublic news sourcesDomain registration date
No results doesn't mean no wrongdoing. It means no reported wrongdoing. We're pointing you in the right direction — not giving you a guarantee.
The honest limits
There are things we cannot check. Insurance is not on a public register — so we tell you exactly what to request and what it should say. Criminal records are inaccessible to everyone. For sole traders with no company registration, we check the Individual Insolvency Register and tell you what else to look for.
One thing we can tell you: pay by credit card, not bank transfer. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes your card provider jointly liable for the full amount if the trader disappears or the work isn't done. Bank transfer has no equivalent protection. Every report includes this.
Every report tells you what we checked, what we found, and what we couldn't reach.
