How Trusted Payments Works for Trades

Getting registered

Free. If you are with TrustMark, Book a Builder or Buy with Confidence, you have already been vetted by them and there is no further check.

Otherwise vetting takes up to three working days, provided you respond promptly to what is asked for.

Setting up a project

You and the customer agree the stages and what each is worth, before work starts. That is the part doing most of the work, it is the conversation that would otherwise happen halfway through, badly.

You work through the web app, email or WhatsApp. Your customer uses the app.

When you get paid

Each stage is signed off by the customer, then released. There is a short hold before funds reach you.

Interim milestones are clean gross amounts. Fees are deducted from the final payment only, so your cash flow through the job is not chipped away stage by stage.

What it costs, and who pays

Registration is free. A one-off £35 + VAT applies on your first project through the Book a Builder channel, and nothing after that.

The transaction fee is borne by the customer. Trusted Payments acts as the consumer's agent, so the fee is not taken out of your turnover. You build it into your quote, which means it sits inside the price the customer has already agreed.

You will see it shown on the final payment so you can reconcile what arrives against your invoice.

If something goes wrong

You and the customer have 45 days to sort it out directly. If you cannot, either of you can escalate to an independent ombudsman. No additional fee, and the decision binds both sides.

There is one exception: if a trade abandons the project or ceases trading, the customer can escalate earlier.

The warranty

Work is covered by an insurance-backed warranty, 3 months during construction and 24 months after completion. That is a selling point in your quote, not just protection for them.