Why Covarah, not someone else.
The problems are well documented. Here’s the evidence, and exactly how Covarah protects a building project differently, with anything we’re still building clearly marked.
The evidence, in full.
Homeowners and builders both lose when a project runs on trust alone. Every figure here has a named source, so you can check it.
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.
Owed to UK tradespeople in late payments at any one time, averaging £3,942 each and paid 35 days late on average. 71% have had a payment refused outright.
Homeowners pay twice to put things right. Builders wait for money they’ve already earned. Here’s what Covarah does differently.
Every stage funded before it starts.
Some payment protection only secures a deposit upfront. Every other stage is paid to the builder after the work is done, which still leaves the builder starting each stage on trust.
With Covarah, the homeowner pays the next agreed stage into escrow before it begins, every time. The builder starts knowing the money is already there. The homeowner only commits what’s needed for what’s happening next, never the whole project at once.
Paid after each stage
The builder starts every stage on trust.
Stage 1
£0paid after
Stage 2
£0paid after
Stage 3
£0paid after
Stage 4
£0paid after
Covarah
The next stage is held in escrow before it starts.
Stage 1
£3,600held first
Stage 2
£4,200held first
Stage 3
£6,800held first
Stage 4
£2,900held first
We don’t believe in gatekeeping.
Some payment protection schemes only cover builders who are already registered with a partner scheme. That’s real protection, but only if your builder happens to be on the list.
Most homeowners don’t choose their builder from a scheme. They choose them because a neighbour recommended them, because their work speaks for itself, or because they’ve used them before. Covarah protects that relationship too.
We’re not a directory or a ratings site. You brought your builder. We protect the agreement you already have.
Your builder doesn’t need
- Membership of any trade scheme
- A profile to fill in
- Reviews to chase
- Leads to compete for
- To pay a fee
They just need
- An invitation to your project
- To agree and sign the contract with you online
- To pass Transpact’s identity check, so they can be paid
A dispute over one thing shouldn’t stop everything else.
Today a stage is usually paid as one block, on Covarah too. If any part of it is disputed, the whole payment is held up, even the parts everyone agrees are finished, and the build can stop with it.
We’re building a way to split a stage into parts, such as materials, electrics, plumbing and labour, and pay each part straight to whoever is owed it. Your supplier is paid separately from your builder, rather than one lump sum passing through one person.
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
If the electrics are disputed, only the electrics are held. Everyone who’s finished their part is paid, and the build keeps moving.
Changing your mind shouldn’t cost your builder money.
Plans change. That’s normal. But on some platforms, adding work after the project has started means the builder pays an extra fee to record it properly. That’s a quiet incentive to leave changes undocumented, which is exactly how disputes start.
On Covarah, every change is a written variation: what’s changing, why, what it costs and how it affects the timeline. You approve it before the price changes, and it stays with the project. No extra charge to your builder.
A variation added as its own stage, funded into escrow like the rest of the project.
How it all fits together
Covarah isn’t just where the money is held. It’s where the project lives: the agreement, the conversations, the money and the evidence, all tied together.
- Scope, stages and prices go into a contract you both sign online before work starts. Every change is added as a written variation.
- Messages, calls and documents sent through Covarah stay on the project record, tied to the project they’re about.
- The next stage is paid into escrow with Transpact before work begins, and released once the homeowner approves it.
- Photos, documents, messages and approvals, dated and attributed to whoever added them, ready if you ever need them.
A common dispute looks like this:
“The builder said this was included when we spoke.”
“No, I said that would cost extra.”
If that conversation happened through Covarah, it’s already on the project record. Six weeks later, nobody has to rely on memory.
If something needs resolving, we’re not starting from scratch. The evidence is already there.
A clear path, and a clear end point.
No vague promises. If something’s disputed, here’s exactly what happens, and the money stays held in escrow until it’s settled.
Facilitation
Most disagreements don’t need a professional. They need someone keeping both sides talking. We step in, with the project record already in front of us, and help you reach an agreement.
Money held in escrow
Money held in escrow
An independent professional
If facilitation doesn’t settle it, you both agree a qualified, independent mediator, adjudicator or arbitrator, and choose the route that suits the disagreement.
Money held in escrow
A decision
A clear outcome: release the payment to the builder, set out the remaining work with a deadline to finish it, or return the money to the homeowner.
Money released or returned, as decided
Released or returned, as decided
Choosing and appointing your mediator, adjudicator or arbitrator in Covarah, ideally agreed at the start of the project.
If a builder walks off and the deadline passes, the stage’s money paid straight to a replacement tradesperson from escrow.
Your choice of insurer.
Some alternatives bundle you into a single insurer’s warranty, whether or not it suits your project. We’re building a way for you to choose the third-party cover that does.
Before you choose, you’ll see what’s covered, in plain terms and in one place:
- Cover during the works
- Cover after completion
- The maximum claim
- The excess
- The main exclusions
No small print you need a magnifying glass for. If it’s covered, it’ll be written there.
How Covarah compares
Straight answers to the questions people ask when they’re weighing up their options.
How is Covarah different from other payment protection schemes?
Some schemes secure only a deposit upfront and pay the builder after each stage is finished. Others ask you to put the whole project into escrow before work starts. And some only cover builders who are registered with a partner scheme.
Covarah secures each stage before it starts, never the whole project at once, and works with any builder you’ve already chosen.
Does my builder need to be registered with a scheme?
No. Covarah isn’t tied to any trade scheme or accreditation body. If you’ve chosen your builder, we’ll help protect the payments. Like everyone who pays or gets paid through Covarah, they’ll be identity-checked by Transpact.
How is this different from paying by bank transfer?
A bank transfer gives your builder the money straight away, with no protection if the work isn’t finished.
With Covarah you still pay by bank transfer, but to Transpact, an escrow provider authorised by the FCA (FRN 546279), not to your builder. The money is held until you’ve approved the stage, then released.
What if I already have Section 75 credit card protection?
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act can make your card provider jointly responsible if something goes wrong with a purchase between £100 and £30,000 that you paid for at least partly by credit card. It’s a claim you make after the money has gone, and larger projects can cost more than £30,000.
Covarah works before anything goes wrong: every stage is protected before work starts, held in escrow, and only released once you’ve approved the work.
What if the scope of work changes after the project starts?
Every change is a written variation: what’s changing, why, what it costs and how it affects the timeline. You approve it before the price changes, and it’s kept with the project. There’s no extra charge to your builder for recording it properly.
Coming soonA variation added as its own stage, funded into escrow like the rest of the project.
Can we choose our own mediator or adjudicator?
Yes. If facilitation doesn’t settle a dispute, you both agree a qualified, independent mediator, adjudicator or arbitrator. It helps to agree who you’d use early, before anything goes wrong.
Coming soonChoosing and appointing them in Covarah, including at the start of a project.
What is the Property Passport?
Coming soonA continuous record of the work done on your property, across every project: contracts, agreed variations, stage evidence and certificates. Useful at resale, for insurance, and for whoever works on the property next.
Can I choose my own insurance provider?
Coming soonNot yet. We’re building a way to choose the third-party cover that suits your project, rather than being bundled into a single insurer’s warranty.
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