Got a tradie quote? How to verify them in 5 minutes before you sign
You've got a quote from a tradie. The price looks reasonable, the reviews you've read are mostly positive, and you're about to say yes. Stop for five minutes. The reviews on any tradie marketplace only tell you what past clients chose to share — they don't show you what's in the public record about the company itself. The check below covers that gap, and it's the difference between a deposit you'll see again and one you won't.
Why marketplace reviews aren't the whole picture
Most NZ homeowners find tradies through a small handful of channels — a personal recommendation, a marketplace like Builderscrack, NoCowboys or Trade Me, or sometimes a Google search. All of these surface useful information, but they all share the same blind spot: they show you what past clients said, not what the public record says about the company.
Reviews don't show you complaints settled out of court. They don't show you the director's other companies, especially the ones that quietly went into liquidation. They don't show you NZBN status. They don't show you whether the company itself is on its way to insolvency. All of that is in the public record but isn't pulled into any marketplace profile. Verification is your job — and once you know where to look, it takes about five minutes.
Step 1 — Get the legal company name
Most tradies trade under a brand name ("Mike's Building Co") rather than the legal entity behind it ("Mike Smith Building Limited"). The legal entity is what matters for everything that follows — court records, insolvency, NZBN status are all tracked against the legal entity, not the trading name.
Ask the tradie directly: "What's the legal company name I'd be contracting with?" Any legitimate operator will give you this without hesitation. If they're cagey or vague — that's a real flag. Their quote, invoice and contract should all show the same legal name.
Step 2 — Look up the company on NZBN
Search the legal name on nzbn.govt.nz. You're looking for: status (must be "Registered", not "Removed" or "In Liquidation"), incorporation date, registered office, and listed directors.
Two things to flag here. First — if the company isn't on the register, they're trading without registration. That's illegal in NZ and you have no consumer protections. Second — if the company was incorporated less than 12 months ago even though the tradie claims years of experience, ask why. Sometimes legitimate (just renamed or restructured); sometimes the previous company was wound up to escape obligations.
Step 3 — Check the director(s) on the Companies Office
This is the step almost no homeowner does, and it's the single most predictive signal. Take the director name(s) from the NZBN page and search them on companiesoffice.govt.nz. It will show every other company that director has held an office in, and the status of each.
A clean track record is great. A pattern of failed previous companies — multiple liquidations, struck-off entities, repeated short-lived companies behind the same person — is the strongest leading indicator that the current job will end the same way. The pattern repeats more often than not.
Step 4 — Check the LBP register if it's restricted work
If your job involves restricted building work (anything affecting the structure or weather-tightness of your home), the person doing it must be a Licensed Building Practitioner. Search the tradie's name on lbp.govt.nz to confirm they hold a current licence in the right class — and that there are no recent disciplinary matters.
Restricted work without an LBP is illegal, won't pass council inspection, and gives you no protection if it fails. Don't take the tradie's word for it — verify on the public register.
Step 5 — Search for court / dispute history
Search the legal entity name on Stuff, NZ Herald and RNZ. NZ media regularly cover building disputes, and any company that's appeared in coverage usually has a history worth knowing about. Then check the District Court of New Zealand at districtcourts.govt.nz for any published judgments involving the company.
Most legitimate tradies have zero hits in any of these. A pattern of negative coverage or unfavourable judgments is a clear signal to walk away — even if their marketplace reviews look fine.
Or: skip the manual checks
Done thoroughly, the five steps above take 10-30 minutes per tradie. If you got three quotes, that's an hour or more of clicking through government websites and cross-referencing names. Worth it for the peace of mind, but tedious.
CheckMyBuilder runs all five checks (plus several others marketplaces don't surface — connected company history, AI risk score across 20+ public-record signals) and returns a single report with everything pulled together. $49.90 NZD per tradie. Less than a coffee a week, against a renovation that's likely costing tens of thousands.
Skip the manual checks.
CheckMyBuilder runs every check covered in this guide automatically — NZBN, LBP, court records, director history, news mentions and an AI risk score. One report, one fee, no afternoon spent on government websites.
Frequently asked questions
- Are tradies on marketplaces like Builderscrack or NoCowboys trustworthy?
- Most are. Tradie marketplaces are legitimate platforms with thousands of decent operators. But "most are" isn't "all are" — and you're not picking a tradie at random, you're picking a specific one to give a deposit to. The five-minute verification process catches the small percentage that the reviews don't surface.
- Can I trust the reviews on a tradie's marketplace profile?
- Reviews are useful but partial. They show what past clients chose to share publicly. They don't show: complaints settled out of court, the director's other companies, NZBN status, court judgments, or whether the company itself is on its way to insolvency. All of that is in the public record but isn't pulled into the profile.
- What if the tradie won't tell me their company name?
- Walk away. Every legitimate tradie operating as a registered business will give you the legal entity name without hesitation — it's on their invoice anyway. Reluctance to share it is one of the clearest red flags.
- Is there a free way to do this?
- Yes — every register mentioned (NZBN, Companies Office, LBP, District Court) is free to search. The tradeoff is your time: ~30 minutes per tradie if you do it carefully. CheckMyBuilder automates the same checks plus several others for $49.90.
Related guides
This guide is general information for NZ homeowners and is not legal or financial advice. Names of registers, associations and dispute bodies are accurate at time of publication. Always confirm critical details on the official source before acting.