Fair to both sides, built for neither.
Each stage of your building project is paid into regulated escrow before work starts, and released only when the work is approved. Homeowners don’t pay for unfinished work. Builders know the money is there.
Kitchen extension
Stage 2 of 5: first fix
Funded
You pay this stage into escrow with Transpact
Work in progress
Your builder starts, knowing the money is there
Approved
You check the evidence and approve the stage
Released
The payment is released to your builder
Protected payments
Each stage is held in regulated escrow until it’s approved.
Identity-checked
Everyone who pays or gets paid is checked by Transpact.
On the record
Messages, calls and documents stay with the project.
Fair disputes
A clear process, with the money held throughout.
The evidence is clear.
UK homeowners overcharged or forced to pay again to fix earlier work in the past year, losing £750 each on average. For 1 in 10, it topped £5,000.
UK homeowners have had a bad experience with a builder or tradesperson.
The average construction dispute takes more than a year to resolve.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re what happens when an industry runs on trust alone.
Why Covarah exists
Home improvement is one of the most complained-about sectors in the UK. Projects run over budget. Builders walk off site mid-job. Homeowners hold back payment out of fear, not bad faith. Everyone loses, and there’s rarely a clear way to put it right.
Covarah brings structure, clarity and protection to both sides, from the very start.
Payments are held by Transpact, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 546279). Covarah never holds your money. How your money is protected
Built for both sides
Homeowners and builders want the same thing: a project that’s agreed, paid for and finished properly.
Your money is protected
Each stage’s payment is held in escrow and only released once you’ve approved the work.
Pay per stage, not upfront
Fund each stage as it comes. No large deposits, no paying ahead for work you haven’t seen.
Clear progress, no surprises
Follow the project as it happens, with updates, photos and approvals all on record.
Not on your own if it goes wrong
A clear dispute process steps in, with everything already documented.
- More for homeowners
Your builder shouldn’t have to work on trust alone.
Some protection only secures a small deposit, and pays the builder after each stage. Some makes the homeowner fund the whole project upfront. Covarah secures the next stage before it begins, every time.
Pay after each stage
The builder starts every stage hoping payment follows.
Fund the whole project upfront
The homeowner commits everything before anyone lifts a tool.
Covarah
Only the next stage is secured, before it starts. Every time.
When the money is secured A stage of work
Works with any builder you’ve chosen.
Some protection schemes only cover builders who belong to their network. But most people find their builder through a neighbour or word of mouth, and that builder isn’t registered with any scheme.
Covarah protects you and your builder, whoever they are. We’re not a directory or a ratings site: no profiles, no reviews, no competing for leads. You brought your builder. We protect the agreement you already have.
- Scheme-based protection
- Only builders registered with a partner scheme
- Covarah
- Any builder you’ve already chosen
If something’s disputed, here’s what happens.
No vague promises. A clear path, and the money stays held in escrow until it’s settled.
Facilitation
Most disagreements just need someone keeping both sides talking. We step in, with the project record already in front of us.
An independent professional
If that doesn’t settle it, you both agree a qualified mediator, adjudicator or arbitrator.
A decision
Release the payment, set a deadline for the remaining work, or return the money to the homeowner.
A check-in from our team if you haven’t responded to an approval within three days. Nothing is released without your approval in the meantime.
If a builder walks off, the stage’s money paid straight to a replacement tradesperson from escrow.
How it works
Agree the project
Scope, stages and prices go into a contract you both sign online.
Fund the next stage
The homeowner pays that stage into escrow with Transpact before work starts.
Build, with everything on record
Updates, photos, messages and calls are kept with the project.
Approve, then release
The homeowner checks the work, approves it, and releases the payment.
Three ways to run a building project
Most people use one of the first two. Here’s how they compare, honestly.
A verbal agreement and a bank transfer
Quick to start, but nothing’s really agreed.
- No written record of scope or price
- Nothing to show what you actually paid for
- Relying on goodwill if anything’s disputed
- No protection if the builder walks off
A formal contract on its own
Protective on paper, painful in practice.
- Time-consuming and costly to draft properly
- No guarantee the money is there when it’s needed
- Enforcing it usually means going to court
- Gives you somewhere to go after a dispute, but doesn’t prevent one
Covarah
Agreed, funded and protected from day one.
- Scope, price and stages agreed and signed online
- The next stage funded before work begins, never the whole project at once
- A clear dispute process, with the money held throughout
- Every message, photo and approval kept on record
What we’re building next
These are on the way. They’re marked clearly so you always know what Covarah does today.
Split a stage into parts
Coming soonBreak a stage into materials, electrics, plumbing and labour, pay each to whoever is owed it, and hold back only the part in dispute.
Property Passport
Coming soonA lasting record of the work done on your home, across every project, to hand to buyers, surveyors and insurers.
About the Property PassportYour choice of insurer
Coming soonPick the cover that suits your project, with what’s covered set out plainly.
Payment check
Coming soonEnter a project value and see how it would be staged and protected, before you sign up.
How a split stage will work:
Stage 4: £24,000
£20,000 released, £4,000 on hold
Materials £6,000
Paid to the supplier
Electrical £4,000
On hold: disputed
Plumbing £4,000
Paid to the plumber
Building labour £10,000
Paid to your builder
A dispute over the electrics holds back only the £4,000 in question. Everyone else who has finished their part is paid, and the build keeps moving.
Pricing and security
One clear fee.
Your fee covers protected stage payments, the contract, the project record and the dispute process.
of the project value plus VAT, paid by the homeowner. Free for builders. No subscriptions or setup fees.
Your money, properly protected.
Held by a regulated provider
Transpact, authorised by the FCA (FRN 546279), holds every payment. Covarah never does.
Know who you’re dealing with
Everyone who pays or gets paid is identity-checked by Transpact.
Your data stays yours
Handled under UK GDPR, and yours to export or delete.
Ready to protect your project?
Create your account in minutes. Setting up your first project is free.