Guides
Guides to checking a company and paying a deposit safely
Plain-English guides for the moment before you pay a deposit: how to check a company, what a normal deposit is for each trade, how to protect the money, and what the warning signs on the register mean. Every guide uses real examples from our reports and names its sources.
Enter a website address, e.g. aurelia-kitchens.co.uk
Check a company
Who is behind the website, and whether the register agrees with what it says.
Free company check: see who is behind any UK business website
What the free check shows, what the full report adds, three real examples and how it compares with Companies House and a credit check.
GuideHow to check if a company is legit in the UK (in 5 minutes)
Find the company number, read the record, compare it with the website, check the footprint, decide how to pay.
GuideFree Companies House check: what to look at and what it can’t tell you
The register for consumers: the five entries that matter, how to read small-company accounts, and the five gaps it cannot fill.
GuideCheck a company by its website address, not its name
Why the brand on the site is not the company on the invoice; the four signals a domain gives; how to match a site to a company.
GuideCheck a sole trader: what you can and can’t verify
No register, no accounts — what you can still check, what changes for your deposit, and how to pay.
Before you pay a deposit
What is normal for each trade, and a payment schedule to propose.
Kitchen deposit: how much is normal, and how to pay it safely
25–50% for a fitted kitchen, 10–25% from a retailer. A 25/25/40/10 schedule, Section 75, two real cases.
BuildersBuilder deposit: what’s normal, and what’s a warning sign
5–20% and stages against work done. When a bigger ask is fair, the warning signs ranked, and a schedule to propose.
StaircasesStaircase deposit: why 50% is normal and how to protect it
Made-to-measure means no refund on a change of mind — so pay in stages, £100 by card, to a checked company. Two real cases.
CarsHow to check a car dealer is legit before paying a deposit
Reservation fee vs deposit, the FCA register if finance is offered, MOT and finance history, and a cloned dealer from a real check.
Windows and doors deposit: FENSA, guarantees and staged payments
Frames made to size, 25–50% deposits, and how to verify the FENSA or CERTASS registration.
Loft conversion deposit and stage payments
A schedule for a 6–10 week build, and the two moments to re-check the company.
Paying safely
How the money is protected — or not — depending on how you pay.
Bank transfer to a company that went bust: will the bank refund it?
Scam rules cover fraud, not failure. Where a deposit stands in an insolvency, Section 75, chargeback, and what to do now.
GuideSection 75: how £100 on a credit card protects the whole job
The £100–£30,000 rule, why the amount on the card doesn’t matter, what breaks the protection, and how to claim.
Guide“Our bank details have changed”: the email that steals deposits
How invoice fraud works on a genuine job, the one phone call that stops it, and what banks must now refund under the APP rules.
Staged payments: a schedule to propose to any contractor
Stages tied to things you can see, for kitchens, joinery, windows and building work.
Red flags on the register
What each entry means, when it is harmless and when it is serious.
Strike-off notice in the Gazette: what it means for your deposit
About two months from dissolution — while the website still takes deposits. Voluntary vs compulsory, and how to object as a creditor.
GuideCloned website: how to spot a copied trade site in 60 seconds
Someone else’s photos, someone else’s text, new bank details. Four free lookups that catch it in a minute.
GuidePhoenix companies: same director, new company, old customers left behind
Legal in most forms, visible on Companies House in a minute. When one prior company means nothing and when two mean a lot.
“20 years’ experience” from a company formed last year
When the years are the founder’s, when they are the business’s, and when they are a story.
What a serviced-office registered address means (and doesn’t)
Thousands of companies at one address: legal, common, and sometimes the only address there is.
Reviews and badges
What each platform verifies, and how to check a logo against the scheme’s own register.
TrustMark, Gas Safe, NICEIC, FENSA: verify a badge in 2 minutes
Every scheme has a public register. What each one proves, what it doesn’t, where to search, and the badges that mean less than they look.
Checkatrade, Trustpilot, Google: what each review site does and doesn’t verify
Reviews describe the work; the register describes the money. How to read both.
Compare
What SafeToPay adds to the tools you already use — and where they are better.
SafeToPay vs Companies House: what we add to the free register
The register is the source and it is free. What a website-first check adds, honestly, and who should use which.
CompareSafeToPay vs Checkatrade: the register vs the reviews
Reviews tell you about the work; the register tells you about the company holding your deposit. Different questions — use both.
For businesses
What customers see when they check you, why deposits get refused, and the fixes that take ten minutes.
Show customers your record is real
The verified badge, embed code, correction rules and what we hold about your company.
Start hereWhat customers see on Companies House about your business
The register line by line, what each line signals to a buyer, and the ten-minute fixes that change the picture.
GuideHow to prove your business is legitimate to a new customer
The four things a customer can verify, what does not count as proof, and a ten-minute checklist.
DepositsCustomer refuses to pay a deposit? What they are really saying
Normal deposit bands by trade, the five objections and what answers each, and a payment schedule customers accept.
DepositsDeposit terms for a small business: what holds up and what sells
Which deposit and cancellation terms are enforceable, the 14-day right you must state, model wording and the quote checklist.
DepositsDeposit protection for tradesmen: what you can offer a customer
Card payment, deposit protection insurance, consumer codes and escrow — what each covers, what is available by trade, and how to offer it.
GuideTrust badge for a website: which ones a customer can check
Five badge types compared by what the click leads to, what no badge can do, and how a register-linked badge works.
New companiesNew business, no reviews: how to build trust from day one
The signals available from day one, what a check can show at 1, 6 and 12 months, and a first-30-days checklist.
Your recordRegistered office vs trading address: what customers read into it
What each address is for, how a serviced-office address is read, five situations and how a check scores them, and the fix.
Your recordConfirmation statement overdue: what happens, and what customers see
Statement vs accounts, the timeline from overdue to struck off, how a check treats each, and the 15-minute fix.
Your recordHow to correct Companies House information
Which form fixes which field, the four places an error can be, and how a correction at source flows into a check.
Your recordA dissolved company on your director record: what customers make of it
Five ways a company ends, the harmless-or-serious pattern test, how a check treats dissolutions, and how to explain the rest.
EmailSPF and DMARC for a small business: stop fake invoices in your name
What SPF, DKIM and DMARC do, the three DMARC policy stages, and the setup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Put your company number on your website — it’s the law, and it sells
Companies Act 2006 s.82, and why the firms that comply close more deposits.
Add a manufacturing SIC code: the 10-minute fix that changes your report
“Own workshop” on the site and installation-only on the register is the most common amber point we see.