How to find a contractor you can trust: the seven checks to do before the first meeting

Why checking a contractor is not about distrust

Hiring a contractor is one of the largest financial decisions most homeowners make outside of buying a home. The discomfort you may feel in "checking" someone is normal and is not a sign of distrust. It is a sign that the decision matters. Good contractors expect to be checked and make it easy. They tend to volunteer their company details, their references, and their insurance documents before you have to ask.

The seven checks below are ordered by how quickly they tell you something. The first three take under 15 minutes combined and resolve most of the "is this person legitimate?" question. The remaining four are about fit: whether this contractor is right for this job.

1. Company registration (two minutes)

Start with the registry. In the United Kingdom, search the contractor's company name or number on Companies House. In the Netherlands, search the Kamer van Koophandel (KvK). Both are free, take under two minutes, and tell you three useful things at a glance.

• How long the company has been trading. A company registered in the last 30 days is worth a second conversation. It is not a red flag by itself: many legitimate builders have recently set up a new limited company. But it is worth knowing.
• Whether the company is in good standing. A company marked as "active" on Companies House or as "ingeschreven" in the KvK is in good standing. A company with overdue accounts or marked as being struck off warrants a pause.
• Whether there are related dissolved companies. Some contractors set up and dissolve companies in cycles. Companies House and the KvK both show this pattern. It is not illegal. It is sometimes a sign of aggressive restructuring.

2. Three recent, local references (15 minutes)

A builder's portfolio is evidence. The strongest version is three references that are recent (last 12 months), local (your region, ideally within 10 miles), and contactable. Brochure photos from four years ago do less work.

When you get references, two questions do most of the job:

• "What surprised you during the project, good and bad?" Surprises tell you how the contractor handles unexpected events, which is where most projects either build or lose trust.
• "Would you use them again, and why?" The why matters more than the yes. If the reason is specific ("they were honest about a delay and replanned the week") it is a real answer. If it is vague ("yeah they were fine"), it is not saying nothing, but it is saying less.

3. Trade accreditations that matter (five minutes)

Accreditations vary by country and trade. The ones below are the ones that genuinely signal a higher bar in 2026.

Accreditation is not a guarantee. It is a signal that the company is willing to operate under an external quality standard. A contractor with none of these can still do excellent work; one with a full wall of logos can still disappoint. What you are looking for is whether the claim is real: a quick search on the awarding body's site shows active members.

4. Insurance you should see evidence of

A domestic renovation should have three policies in place before work starts. Ask the contractor to send the certificates of insurance; a good contractor has these ready.

• Public liability. Covers damage to property or injury to people that are not the contractor's employees. A minimum of £2m (UK) or €1.25m (NL) is standard for domestic work; larger works need more.
• Employer's liability (where applicable). Legally required in the UK if the contractor has crew. Similar provisions in NL under the Arbowet.
• Contractor's all-risk (CAR) / werkrisico. Covers the works themselves while in progress. Not legally required in all cases but the standard expectation on domestic renovation in both markets.

5. Payment structure as a trust signal

The way a contractor talks about payment before they are paid tells you a lot about how the job will run.

• A contractor who proposes a deposit and three or four staged releases is describing a job they expect to run cleanly from start to finish. That structure benefits both sides: your money is matched to delivered work, theirs is matched to their costs.
• A contractor who asks for 50% upfront with no stage structure afterwards is either undercapitalised or inexperienced at quoting. Both are worth a pause and a conversation.
• A contractor who says "pay me as you feel comfortable" sounds friendly and is often a sign of a job that will end in an uncomfortable conversation, because the lack of structure is rarely neutral.

What a good deposit looks like, and how to pay it safely, is the subject of a companion guide.

6. How they handle change orders on their other jobs

Renovations change as they go. Walls look different when the plaster comes off. Materials go out of stock. Clients have new ideas. A good contractor does not fear this. They handle it with a simple protocol.

Ask the contractor: "when something changes on a job (a wall looks different than expected, or I change my mind about a finish), how do you normally handle that with clients?"

The answer you are looking for has two elements: written and priced before the work starts. Anything else means the conversation about the variation will happen after the work, when the only thing still held is the balance.

7. What a good first visit should feel like

A good first site visit is a conversation, not a sales meeting. The contractor walks the space, asks about what you are trying to achieve, talks through what is feasible, and gives you a rough indication of time and cost before leaving. They take notes. They do not pressure you to commit. They offer to send a written quote within a defined window.

A less-good first visit has a few reliable markers: the contractor is offering discounted pricing before they have seen the job, is pushing to book a start date before quoting, is reluctant to talk about payment structure, or is trying to close a verbal agreement at the door. None of these automatically mean a bad contractor. All of them mean it is worth getting a second quote.

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