The safest way to pay for a renovation is in stages, with each payment tied to work you can see has been completed – and, on bigger projects, with the money held by a neutral, regulated third party rather than paid straight to the builder. That way the money only moves when the work does. It's the opposite of the arrangement that goes wrong: handing over a large sum up front and hoping the person you've just met finishes the job.
Below is how the common ways to pay compare when something goes wrong, and how to set up the safest option.
Why is paying for a renovation risky?
Because on most renovations money moves before work does – and once it has moved, most payment methods give you no way to get it back if the builder goes bust, disappears, or leaves the work unfinished. Citizens Advice's guidance is blunt: don't agree to pay everything up front, in case something goes wrong or the trader doesn't turn up [1]. Renovations are also a target for bank transfer fraud – a criminal poses as your builder, says the bank details have changed, and the invoice you faithfully pay goes to the fraudster. UK Finance reported £576.4 million lost to this kind of authorised push payment fraud in 2025 [2].
How do the ways to pay compare?
Each payment method protects you against something different – and most protect less than you'd think:
| How you pay | What protects you | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Nothing. | No record, no recourse. If the work goes wrong or the trader vanishes, the money is gone. |
| Bank transfer | A record that you paid – useful evidence in a dispute. | Harder to recover and offers less built-in protection. It's the method targeted by "changed bank details" fraud – contact your bank immediately if you suspect it. |
| Debit card | You may be able to use the chargeback scheme to reverse a payment. | Chargeback is a voluntary scheme with time limits, not a legal right. |
| Credit card | Section 75 makes the card provider jointly liable for payments over £100 and up to £30,000. | Card only, capped, and you claim after things have gone wrong. Many builders don't take cards on large sums. |
| Deposit protection insurance | Insures the deposit if the trader goes bust. | Covers only the deposit – commonly capped at 25% of the job or £7,500 – and only for a limited period. |
| Escrow | The whole project value is held by a neutral, FCA-authorised provider and released stage by stage as work is verified. | The tradesperson has to offer it, and it suits staged projects better than small one-day jobs. |
The card protections are real but capped and after-the-fact: Section 75 makes your credit card provider jointly liable for payments over £100 and up to £30,000 [3], chargeback may recover a debit card payment [4], and deposit insurance typically covers 25% of the price or £7,500, whichever is lower [5]. A £60,000 renovation sits mostly outside all three. Only one approach protects every pound of the project and works before anything goes wrong: holding the money with a neutral third party until the work is verifiably done.
What is escrow and how does it protect a renovation?
Escrow means the money sits in a neutral account with a regulated third party – not with you, and not with the builder – and is paid out in agreed stages as the work completes. Citizens Advice describes exactly this arrangement: the money is held in a neutral account belonging to the escrow company, and the trader is paid at agreed times [1].
On Renofy, that stage-by-stage release is backed by evidence rather than goodwill. The job is broken into milestones you both agree before work starts. When the tradesperson finishes a milestone, they submit it with photos and notes showing what's been done, and you have a 7-day window to check the work and either approve it – releasing that milestone's payment – or request changes, which pauses it until the work is put right. The money never reaches the tradesperson ahead of work you've verified, and the photo record means "is this stage actually done?" is a question with evidence attached, not a matter of memory.
Is the money actually safe while it's held?
Yes – and it's worth being precise about how. On Renofy, escrow funds are held by OPP (Online Payment Platform Ltd), an electronic money institution authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Renofy never holds, receives or controls the money at any point – it provides the agreement, the milestones and the evidence record, and OPP holds and releases the funds.
Money held this way is safeguarded under the FCA's rules: an authorised e-money institution must keep customer funds separate from its own money, in a dedicated safeguarding account [6]. To be equally clear about what it is not: escrow funds are not bank deposits, so they are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme [6]. Safeguarding is the regime designed for exactly this kind of held money, and Citizens Advice advises checking any escrow provider is FCA-registered [1] – a check you can run on the FCA register before you pay a penny.
What happens if something goes wrong mid-project?
The money for unfinished work stays put: if a milestone hasn't been approved, its payment hasn't been released, so a builder who stops turning up doesn't cost you the remaining project value the way an up-front payment would.
If you and the tradesperson disagree about whether a milestone is done, you request changes and say what's wrong. If it can't be resolved between you, an independent reviewer with relevant experience can be appointed to look at the milestone – the agreed scope, the photos, both sides' accounts – with the cost split equally between the two sides, and the held funds are released or refunded based on that review. A dispute can't drift either: the funds stay held while it's open, and each step has a set period with reminders before it runs out. The outcome decides the escrow payment only – your legal rights against the builder are unaffected.
How do you set this up?
You ask your tradesperson to run the job through Renofy with escrow – it's the tradesperson who sets it up, by sending their quote with escrow as the payment method. It costs you nothing: the platform is free for homeowners, and the tradesperson pays a small fee only on work they've completed and you've approved.
A tradesperson who agrees readily is telling you something useful; one who refuses to have payments tied to verified work is telling you something too. For what to put in writing before work starts, see our guides on whether you need a contract with a builder and how much deposit to pay a tradesperson – and for the mechanism itself, what is payment escrow?
This is general guidance, not legal or financial advice – for your own situation, Citizens Advice and the FCA's consumer pages are the places to check.
Renofy gives you and your tradesperson a shared digital agreement with payments held in escrow by an FCA-authorised provider and released on photo-backed milestones – so the money only moves when the work does. Ask your tradesperson to send their next quote through Renofy.
References
- Citizens Advice – Before you get work done on your home (don't pay everything up front; escrow money held in a neutral account; check the provider is FCA-registered). https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/before-you-get-building-work-done/
- UK Finance – Annual Fraud Report 2026 press release (£576.4 million lost to authorised push payment fraud in 2025). https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/press-release/fraud-report-2026-press-release
- Section 75, Consumer Credit Act 1974 – for credit card payments over £100 and up to £30,000, the card provider is jointly liable with the trader. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consumer-credit-act
- MoneyHelper – How you're protected when you pay by card (Section 75 and chargeback; bank transfers and cash are covered by neither). https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/credit/how-youre-protected-when-you-pay-by-card
- Consumer Protection Association – Deposit protection scheme (insures a deposit of up to 25% of the price or £7,500, whichever is lower, for a limited period). https://www.thecpa.co.uk/trade/trade-deposit-protection/
- Financial Conduct Authority – Using payment service providers (e-money institutions must safeguard customer funds in a separate account; not protected by the FSCS). https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/using-payment-service-providers