Before you sign or pay a deposit, one question deserves two minutes: does the company on the quote actually exist, is it active, and does the register show anything you should know? The reality check on the paperwork, straight from Companies House. Workmanship it cannot judge; warnings it can.
A clean register is step one of three. Judge the quote itself with the quote check and why quotes differ, and nail the agreement down with the contract checklist before you sign. Deposits small, payments per completed stage, and the final instalment after snagging; that discipline protects you more than any register can.
A company check against the Companies House register: search the builder from your quote, pick the right company, and read a traffic-light report on the register facts before any money moves.
What you enter: The company name from the quote. What you get: A traffic-light report on the Companies House register facts, with the register as named source. A register check, not a review site.
Five things from the public register: whether the company exists and is active, how long it has been registered, whether the legally required accounts are filed on time, whether there is insolvency history under this company number, and whether the registered activities are construction. Each comes back as good, ask-about-this, or warning, with what it means in plain words.
Whether the work will be good. Companies House knows the paperwork, not the plastering. A clean record is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one: combine it with references you actually call, photos of previous jobs, and quotes judged against an independent range.
Not automatically. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships do not register at Companies House, and many excellent tradespeople work that way. What changes is your protection: there is no register to check and no company shield, so references and a written agreement matter even more, and the name on the quote should match the name you pay.
The exact legal name on the quote, ideally with the company number, which any limited company must show on its paperwork. The name on the van is often a trading name; if the quote shows no legal name or number at all, that is itself a fair question to ask before anything else.
Free, with a fair daily limit against abuse. Your search goes to the public Companies House register and nowhere else; it is not stored, not linked to you, and there is no account and no email.