Home / Advice

Advice & research from the public record

Notes from the record.

Plain-English guides and original research on hiring traders well: how to read reviews, check credentials and spot trouble early, with the public evidence attached. No ads, no paid placement.

Advice18 entries · Updated JUL 2026

How to check a builder is legit: the free ten minute company check

You are about to hand a builder thousands of pounds. The public company register can tell you in ten minutes whether the company behind the quote legally exists, how long it has been registered, and whether anything is wrong. We matched 1.2 million listed UK trade businesses to the register. Here is how to run the check yourself.Read →

Is a young company a red flag? Not by itself. What company age really tells you about a tradesperson

We looked at the roughly 530,000 registered companies behind the construction-trade businesses we list. The median company has six years on the register, about a third have ten years or more, and some have been on it for over a century. In that context, a young company is normal, not a warning sign. The date still tells you something useful, just not what most people assume.Read →

How to check a tradesperson for free: the public-record checklist

Seven checks, all free, all public records, no signup: the company register, the date on their newest review, the certification schemes, the planning trail, the insurance certificate, the cross-site story and the paperwork. Ten minutes that catch what a glossy profile can hide.Read →

The top 10 UK architecture practices by Trust Score, 2026

We compared the public evidence behind 216 eligible UK architecture practices and published the result: the UK Architect Trust Score Leaders 2026. Ten practices made the list. Nobody paid and nobody applied, and one firm was kept off by a rule before the list ever went out. Here is who made it, and how the choosing actually worked.Read →

Why nearly every tradesperson has a five-star rating (and how to actually choose)

We analysed 944,548 review scores across four major UK review platforms. More than four in five are a perfect five, and about one in a hundred is a two or lower. That is not fraud. It is a rating system that has stopped being able to rank anyone, and it changes how you should pick. Here is a three-step way to choose when everyone looks the same.Read →

Do you need an architect to get planning permission in London?

We analysed 630,583 London planning applications. Where you live can swing a home extension's approval odds by 25.9 percentage points, typical decisions take six to eleven weeks, and the "do I need an architect?" question has a more honest answer than most guides will give you.Read →