Guides
Guides
How to choose a trade, what to check before you hire, and the questions worth asking. Written and reviewed by people, not generated.
How to choose a tradesperson in the UK
The checks that actually reduce risk when hiring a trade: verifying registration, comparing quotes properly, your cancellation rights, and what to do when it goes wrong.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-09
What a trader must give you in writing before work starts in your home
The information a trader is legally required to hand you before you are bound by a contract agreed in your home, and what it means if they never do.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
Quote or estimate? What the difference means when the bill arrives
A quote you accept becomes a term of the contract; an estimate can move. What the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says you owe when the final bill is higher than expected.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
The 14-day right to cancel work agreed in your home
Work agreed in your home rather than at the trader’s premises normally carries a 14-day right to cancel — and that right lasts far longer if you were never told about it.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
How to check a UK trader is registered, trade by trade
There is no single UK trade licence. Some trades have a statutory register it is a criminal offence to work outside; most have none, and the useful checks are different.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
When work goes wrong: your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
Repeat performance first, price reduction second — the order of remedies the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you when a service is not done with reasonable care and skill.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
Section 75 and chargeback: how you pay a trader changes what you can recover
Paying by credit card makes the card company jointly liable with the trader under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Chargeback is a card scheme rule, not a legal right.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
Paying a deposit to a trader: what to check first
No UK law caps a trade deposit. What protects you is what you check before paying — the written scope, the Companies House record, and how you send the money.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
Building regulations: who signs the work off, and what you get
Either the installer is in a competent person scheme and self-certifies, or you notify local authority building control before work starts. Getting this wrong surfaces when you sell.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10
How to read trader reviews in the UK, now that fake ones are illegal
Fake reviews, hidden incentives and misleading review displays have been banned outright since April 2025. What that changes, and what to check instead.
Promote Your Business editorial · 2026-09-10