Website compliance reviews for builders and trades

Who it is for

This is for builders and trades whose website does the first part of the selling: builders, roofers, electricians, plumbers and heating engineers, window, kitchen and bathroom fitters, landscapers and garden room firms. A homeowner reads your site before they let you through the door, and many of the things that reassure them are claims a rule covers: the Gas Safe logo, the row of trade scheme badges in the footer, 'fully insured', a 10-year guarantee, a gallery of finished jobs, a Checkatrade score, a guide price. Those claims go stale quietly. A membership lapses, the Gas Safe number belongs to an engineer who has left, the firm became a limited company and the footer still shows the old name, or the terms page came from a template written for business customers.

It is also for firms about to put money behind the site, before an ad campaign sends homeowners to it or before a relaunch, and for new firms with no reviews yet, which have to win trust with details instead. Many jobs are agreed at the kitchen table, so the review reads your terms and any quote and contract templates you send us alongside the website. The site can be one we built, one somebody else built or one you put together yourself. A review can cover everything on this page or only the part you are worried about, and the cookie banner and the privacy notice behind your quote form can be added if you want them checked too.

What a review checks

1. 01Gas Safe registration
2. 02Trade scheme logos and memberships
3. 03The right to cancel a job agreed at home
4. 04Insurance and guarantee claims
5. 05Planning and building regulations claims
6. 06Prices, VAT and 'from' prices
7. 07Photos of your work and reviews
8. 08Company and contact details

• 01

  Gas Safe registration

  A business that carries out gas work must be on the Gas Safe Register, and Gas Safe's own rules let only registered businesses use its logo or a registration number. If your site offers boiler, gas fire, cooker or LPG work, or shows the logo, we check the logo is the official one, that your registration number sits with it as Gas Safe asks, and that the name and number match your entry on the public register on the day we check. Gas work listed with no registration shown is flagged for you to explain, since a firm that subcontracts it to a registered business may not need its own.

  Source: Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and the Northern Ireland 2004 Regulations; Gas Safe Register brand rules

  Applies to: Any business doing gas work, whatever its size, in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

• 02

  Trade scheme logos and memberships

  Every logo, badge and claim of membership, registration, listing or approval on the site, whether NICEIC, NAPIT, TrustMark, the Federation of Master Builders or Checkatrade, is checked against that scheme's public register on the day we check: the business name matches, the membership is current, and the wording and tier match what the scheme says. Showing a trust mark without authorisation, or claiming an approval you do not hold, is a banned practice. Where a scheme has no public register, we ask for your evidence and mark anything we cannot confirm.

  Source: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20; each scheme's public register

  Applies to: Every trader dealing with consumers, all of the UK, any size.

• 03

  The right to cancel a job agreed at home

  When a homeowner who will pay more than £42 agrees a job in their own home, during or straight after your visit, they normally have 14 days to cancel, and must be given the cancellation information and a cancellation form, on paper or by email if they agree, before they are bound. We check that your terms, online quote acceptance and any templates you send us explain the right and how to cancel, and that any request to start inside the 14 days is the customer's own choice, made on paper or by email, saying they pay for work done if they then cancel. 'Non-refundable deposit' wording and claimed exceptions, such as urgent repairs, are flagged for a legal view.

  Source: Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013

  Applies to: Consumer customers, not business ones, all of the UK, any size of business, since June 2014.

• 04

  Insurance and guarantee claims

  'Fully insured', a public liability figure, a 10-year or insurance-backed guarantee and deposit protection are claims you must be able to prove with documents before they go on the site, and what you say about your service can become part of the contract. We ask for the current policy schedule or scheme certificate behind each one and check the cover and dates match, that each guarantee says who provides it, how long it lasts, what it covers and its main conditions, and that the full terms can be read before a customer signs. Lines that present rights the law already gives, such as the 14-day right to cancel, as a special extra are flagged.

  Source: CAP Code (ASA); Consumer Rights Act 2015; DMCC Act 2024

  Applies to: All of the UK, any size of business.

• 05

  Planning and building regulations claims

  'No planning permission needed', 'permitted development', 'building regs approved' and 'we self-certify' must be true for the customers they are aimed at and backed by evidence, and planning and building rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We flag absolute claims and check whether each is qualified, says which nation it covers and rests on something you can show, and that 'we self-certify' matches a competent person scheme you are registered with for that type of work. The review never decides whether a project needs planning permission or building regulations approval.

  Source: CAP Code (ASA); DMCC Act 2024

  Applies to: The advertising rules behind this check: all of the UK, any size of firm.

• 06

  Prices, VAT and 'from' prices

  Prices shown to homeowners must include any VAT you charge and any fee that all or most customers cannot avoid, or explain how the price is worked out where it cannot reasonably be calculated in advance. We list every guide price, day rate, 'from' price and calculator result, and check that each one aimed at homeowners includes VAT if you are VAT registered and says so, that any call-out or survey fee every customer pays is shown up front rather than added at quote stage, that a 'from' price is for a real job you do at that price, and that no 'price valid today only' message is untrue. Survey-based estimates near the line are flagged, not ruled on.

  Source: DMCC Act 2024 and CMA price transparency guidance; CAP Code (ASA)

  Applies to: Every trader selling to consumers, all of the UK, any size. Prices aimed only at trade customers are treated differently.

• 07

  Photos of your work and reviews

  Gallery and before-and-after images are checked for stock photos, manufacturer shots and other firms' jobs shown as your own: a reverse image search shows where a picture also appears online, and you confirm the rest. Every star rating, review count and widget, from Checkatrade to Google, is checked against its source on the day, with quotes word for word and the source named. Since 6 April 2025, fake reviews, hidden incentives and misleading selections of reviews have been banned. Google's own policy also bans offering anything for a review or asking only happy customers, so we read how you ask for reviews too.

  Source: DMCC Act 2024 and CMA fake reviews guidance; CAP Code (ASA); Google's review policy

  Applies to: The law: every UK trader, any size. Google's review policy is Google's rule, not law.

• 08

  Company and contact details

  A limited company must show its registered name, company number, the part of the UK it is registered in and its registered office on its website, though not on every page. We check those against Companies House, that a trading name is tied to the company behind it ('X Roofing is a trading name of X Building Services Ltd'), that the details were updated when a sole trader became a limited company, and that nothing calls a sole trader 'Ltd'. We also check the site against the E-Commerce Regulations' list: the business name, a real address, an email address as well as any contact form, and the VAT number if you are VAT registered.

  Source: Companies Act 2006 and the 2015 Trading Disclosures Regulations; E-Commerce Regulations 2002

  Applies to: All of the UK, any size of firm. The company details apply to limited companies.

What it does not cover

This review looks at what your website, and any quote or contract templates you send us, tell a customer. It does not decide whether a project needs planning permission or building regulations approval, which is for the local planning authority and building control, or whether the work is safe and meets the Building Regulations, wiring or gas safety standards, which is for building control, your competent person scheme and the Gas Safe Register. It does not cover what is said or handed over in a customer's home, whether a deposit or cancellation clause can be enforced, whether your insurance is adequate or legally required, which is for your broker, health and safety on site, waste carrier registration, party wall matters, grant scheme eligibility, or VAT rates and the Construction Industry Scheme, which are for your accountant. This is not legal advice: I am not a solicitor, and where a point needs a legal view, such as whether a job counts as agreed in the home, the report marks it for one. And the review cannot promise what Trading Standards, the ASA, the Gas Safe Register, a trade scheme or Google will decide.

Fair questions