Written for general builders, groundworkers, carpenters and joiners, roofers, plasterers, bricklayers and kitchen and bathroom fitters in the UK, from one-van firms to small main contractors.
The short version
- Match your proof to the client.Homeowners check reviews and trust marks. Main contractors check accreditation and health and safety. Public buyers check registration.
- Ask every client for a review at handover.Send a direct link. Never offer a hidden reward for stars, or hide genuine bad reviews.
- Claim only what you actually hold.Use scheme logos only under their rules. 'Fully insured', 'guaranteed' and 'approved' must all be true.
Homeowner work comes first from repeat clients and referrals, then a Google Business Profile with recent reviews and photos, then the trade directories (Checkatrade, MyBuilder, TrustATrader, Rated People) and local social media groups. Judge each channel by what it costs per job you actually win, not per lead. Beyond that, what moves you up is proof, and each kind of client wants different proof.
Homeowners
What wins the quote: speed of response, a clear written quote with exclusions, photos of similar finished work, your insurance and scheme details, and a believable programme and payment plan.
TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality scheme and is required for some funded energy-efficiency work. The Federation of Master Builders vets members and offers a warranty option, and each specialism has its own trade body. Use a logo only under the scheme's own rules. "Fully insured", "guaranteed" and "approved" must be true.
Reviews
Fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews are banned, and so is publishing reviews misleadingly, including suppressing genuine negative reviews so the overall picture misleads. The CMA can impose a penalty of up to the higher of £300,000 or 10% of worldwide turnover. As of Oct 2026.
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 Part 4 Chapter 1 and Sch 20
Concealed incentives and suppressing genuine negative reviews are both banned, and the CMA can fine for it.
Main contractors
Main contractors buy from approved-supplier lists. Where they ask, get assessed under the Common Assessment Standard through an approved assessment body, and get an SSIP health and safety assessment where the buyer requires one. PAS 91 was withdrawn by BSI on 21 April 2023, so refer to it only where an older tender expressly asks for it.
Public work
Public tenders and payment terms
The Procurement Act 2023 governs procurements started from 24 February 2025. Register on the Central Digital Platform, where new above-threshold notices go, and watch Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Most public contracts imply payment of valid, undisputed invoices within 30 days after receipt, or by a later due date stated in the invoice, and those terms pass into public subcontracts. Concession contracts, utilities contracts awarded by private utilities, school contracts and the matching subcontracts are excluded. As of Oct 2026.
Procurement Act 2023 ss.68 and 73
Since 24 February 2025 new above-threshold notices go on the Central Digital Platform, and BSI withdrew PAS 91 on 21 April 2023.
Copy that wins is short: one line on the problem you solved, before and after photos, the guarantee you actually give, and a price range only where the job type is truly standard.
Asked in Greymill
£50 off for five stars, without telling readers, is a concealed incentivised review: a hidden reward for stars.
Showing only the good ones, so the overall picture misleads, is suppressing genuine negative reviews.
The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) can fine up to the higher of £300,000 or 10% of worldwide turnover (As of Oct 2026).
Do this instead:
Ask every client at handover, with a direct link to your Google profile.
Answer the bad one once, factually, with none of the client's personal details.
Homeowners also weigh up how fast you reply, a clear written quote with exclusions, photos of similar finished work, and your insurance and scheme details.
I can write a two-line handover text with your review link. Want it?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run a construction or building business in the UK. I mostly do [type of work] for [homeowners, main contractors or public bodies] and want more work from [type of client]. My work comes from [channels, with the cost and the jobs won from each]. I hold [insurance, trade body and scheme memberships, accreditations]. Tell me which channels to keep, which accreditations or registrations I need for the clients I want, and what to change in my quotes and online profile.
More for construction and building in the UK
- Setting a day rate that still pays after holidays, rain days and the vanWork out what an hour of labour really costs you, then price for the margin you want, not a markup that looks like it.Read the lesson
- Busy on three jobs and still short for Friday's wagesWhy builders run out of cash while making a profit, and the weekly forecast, applications and retention ledger that close the gap.Read the lesson
- Quoting the wrong VAT rate on a building job and paying it out of my marginAs of Oct 2026, building work can be 0%, 5% or 20% VAT depending on what is being built, and the rate has to be settled before you quote.Read the lesson
- Starting a job before building control, party wall notices and the phase plan are sortedNo general licence is needed to trade as a builder in the UK, but building control, party walls, CDM and asbestos all have to be dealt with before the first day on site.Read the lesson
- Homeowner or main contractor: the paperwork that decides whether I get paidA homeowner job runs on consumer law and a job for a business runs on the Construction Act, so the paperwork you need and the clauses to strike are different.Read the lesson
- My regular labour-only subbie looks more like an employee every yearCIS registration does not make someone self-employed. How to tell, what it costs if HMRC disagrees, and the checks builders skip when they take people on.Read the lesson
- The main contractor has knocked thousands off my application without a proper noticeOn a construction contract a deduction needs a valid pay less notice served in time. Without one, the notified sum is due in full, and you have suspension, interest and adjudication behind you.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every construction and building lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- About TrustMark (Winning work: channels, reviews and tenders)
- DMCC Act 2024 Sch 20 para 13 (Winning work: channels, reviews and tenders)
- PAS 91:2013+A1:2017 status: withdrawn 21 April 2023 (Winning work: channels, reviews and tenders)
- Procurement Act 2023 ss.68(1) to (3) and 73(1) to (6) (Winning work: channels, reviews and tenders)
- reg 5 (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- regs 10, 13; Schs 2, 3 (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- reg 30(3) (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- reg 31 (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- reg 19 (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- reg 6(1)(c) (Domestic clients: consumer contracts, deposits and reviews)
- regs 2 and 12; Sch 7 para 2 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- s.106(1)(a) (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- s.61 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Commencement and the Central Digital Platform (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- Autoclenz v Belcher [2011] UKSC 41; Ready Mixed Concrete [1968] 2 QB 497 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)
- [2018] EWCA Civ 2448 (Pitfalls that embarrass the product)