How grades work
Published in full. Same rules for every firm.
1. Every finished project gets a penalty score (lower is better)
- Defect not fixed by the end: 10 points
- Each time a "fixed" is rejected by the homeowner: 2
- Slow to acknowledge (more than 3 days): 1
- Slow to fix (more than 14 days after acknowledging): 2
- Defect settled privately with the homeowner: 0
Each defect's points are multiplied by how hard that kind of work is to fix:
- Painting / touch-up ×0.5
- Tiling ×1
- Glass & aluminium ×1
- Plumbing ×1.2
- Electrical ×1.2
- Wet works ×1.2
- Hacking / masonry ×1
- Carpentry ×1.5
- Other ×1
2. We expect bigger, older, harder projects to have more defects
The homeowner tells us the contract size band, the property type and the kinds of work. From that we compute an expected score. A firm's result for the project is actual − expected.
3. Grade = average of the best 8 results from the last 20 projects
Like a golf handicap: one bad relationship doesn't sink you; a pattern does. Fewer than 3 finished projects → no grade yet ("–"). Projects with zero defects don't count (every real project has some).
| A | average result up to -2 |
| B | average result up to 4 |
| C | average result up to 12 |
| D | average result up to 25 |
| E | everything else |
Who can add a defect
Three people can add a defect to a project: the homeowner, the defect checker the homeowner appointed, and the firm itself. Adding is open. Judging is not — only the homeowner can send the list, accept a fix, settle a defect, delete anything, or sign off.
A defect a firm raises about its own work is scored against the firm, never for it:
- Leave it unfixed and it costs the firm the full 10 points, the same as one the homeowner found.
- Fix it and it does not count toward the firm's "defects fixed" figure. Self-raised work is taken out of both halves of that sum.
So self-reporting cannot lift a firm's numbers. What it does is get the item written down and get it fixed.
We show the split on every firm and designer page — how many defects homeowners raised, and how many the firm raised about itself — so self-reporting is visible rather than hidden. A defect your appointed checker raises counts as a homeowner defect, because they are checking on your behalf.
Who raised a defect is recorded once, when it is added, and can never be changed afterwards — not by the firm, not by us.
What we never do
No paid placement. No browsable list. No star ratings. Firms cannot edit or delete a homeowner's defects — ever.