UK renovation payment report 2025

This report sets out what 100 UK residential builders and trades said about late payment, changes to scope and payment terms, and how they agree stages. Renopay, a UK technology platform for milestone-based payment protection on home renovations, commissioned the survey, and Pollfish ran it from 12 June 2025. It is a small, self-selected sample: every figure describes those 100 respondents, not UK builders as a whole.

Key findings

From the Renopay builder survey, June 2025, 100 UK residential builders and trades (Pollfish):

• 63% of 100 respondents said clients pay them late or delay payment always, often or sometimes, and 31% said always or often.
• 78% of 100 respondents said clients try to change the scope or payment terms mid-project always, often or sometimes.
• 40% of 100 respondents said they agree project stages with clients only informally or not at all.
• 69% of 100 respondents chose being paid after each agreed stage as a feature that would make them want to use a "secure online payment platform", the most chosen of seven features (hypothetical).
• 61% of 100 respondents said they were worried about additional fees or costs, the most chosen of six concerns about using an "online payment platform" (hypothetical).
• 60% of 100 respondents said they would recommend the service to other builders if it works as promised (hypothetical intent).

Method

• Who ran it. Renopay commissioned the survey and has an interest in the topic. Pollfish ran it on its online panel and produced the report behind these figures. No question named Renopay.
• Sample. 100 people completed it. Asked which option best described their current work, 35 chose residential renovation or property improvement and 65 chose trades work, such as plumbing, electrics, carpentry and tiling. We call the group "residential builders and trades". All 100 were recorded as living in the UK.
• Recruitment. Respondents came from Pollfish's online panel and chose to take part, so the sample is self-selected, not random. The report does not say how the panel recruits, what respondents were paid or how many were screened out.
• Fieldwork. The survey opened on 12 June 2025, the date on the Pollfish report. The response export shows 40 completed that day, 62 by 14 June and the last on 16 July 2025.
• Raw counts, not weighted. Every figure is a raw count out of 100, so each percentage is also a number of respondents. We have not used Pollfish's stratified (weighted) figures: the report does not say what they adjust to, and for several answers they differ from the raw counts by more than three percentage points.
• No margin of error. A margin of error describes the sampling error of a random sample. This is a self-selected panel, so no margin of error applies and the results are not precise to within a set number of points. Treat each figure as a count of what these 100 people said. Gaps of a few points, such as 69% against 66%, mean little.
• Questions. This page reports 8 of the 19 questions in the Pollfish report, whose numbering it follows. Q1 to Q5 asked about respondents' own experience. Q6 to Q15 asked about a hypothetical platform: Q6 described it in favourable terms, including a promise that the client's money would be secured before work started, and later questions refer back to it. Those answers show intent, not behaviour. Pollfish's full report is available to journalists and researchers on request: hello@renopay.co.uk.
• The 69% option. The features question included the option "It ensures you get paid after each agreed stage of work". That wording is the survey's own, not a claim by Renopay. The findings call it "being paid after each agreed stage".

Late or delayed payment

63% of 100 respondents said clients pay them late or delay payment always, often or sometimes. 31% said always or often.

Asked (Q3): "How often do clients pay you late or delay payments on your renovation projects?"

Late or delayed payment was common among these respondents, but 37% said it rarely or never happens to them.

Changes to scope or payment terms

78% of 100 respondents said clients try to change the scope or payment terms mid-project always, often or sometimes. 43% said always or often.

Asked (Q2): "How often do clients try to change scope or payment terms mid-project?"

The question combines scope and payment terms, so it does not show how many changes were about payment. Changes of scope are normal in renovation work, and the survey did not ask whether any were reasonable.

How stages are agreed

40% of 100 respondents said they agree stages or milestones with clients only informally or not at all: 13% just agree a total price and 27% discuss rough stages informally.

Asked (Q1): "How do you currently agree on project stages or milestones with clients?"

59% said they use a written quote or contract (38%) or formal phases (21%). The survey did not ask whether a written quote sets out when each payment falls due.

Features respondents chose

69% of 100 respondents chose being paid after each agreed stage as a feature that would make them want to use a "secure online payment platform", the most chosen of seven features.

Asked (Q7): "What features would make you want to use a secure online payment platform like this? (Select all that apply)"

Respondents could choose several options, so shares do not add to 100%. The top two are three respondents apart, and Pollfish's stratified figures put ease of use first. This is hypothetical: respondents were reacting to a described platform, not reporting use of one.

Concerns about using an online payment platform

61% of 100 respondents said they were worried about additional fees or costs, the most chosen of six concerns.

Asked (Q12): "What concerns might you have about using an online payment platform like this? (Select all that apply)"

Respondents could choose more than one. Fees and clients' willingness to use a platform were each chosen by more than half; 32% were unsure about trusting a third party with the money. These concerns are about a described platform, not a named service.

Recommending a service, if it works as promised

60% of 100 respondents said yes when asked whether they would recommend the service to other builders if it works as promised. 36% said maybe and 4% said no.

Asked (Q14): "If this service works as promised, would you recommend it to other builders or contractors?"

This is hypothetical intent, not customer feedback. The survey was run before the Renopay platform was available, so no respondent had used it. A separate 0 to 10 slider (Q8) asked how likely respondents would be to use a payment platform on all future jobs if it helped them get paid faster and resolve disputes fairly: 66% scored 7 or more, also intent, not use.

What this does not tell us

• Not UK builders as a whole. 100 respondents from a self-selected panel cannot stand in for all UK builders or trades. We have not split results by type of work: groups of 35 and 65 are too small to compare.
• Who answered. Respondents were not checked for accreditation. The panel's profile data lists 42 of the 100 as self-employed full-time and 58 as employed full-time, and the survey did not ask who agrees payment terms with clients.
• Builders' side only. No homeowners were surveyed, so the report shows what respondents said about clients, not what clients would say about builders.
• Self-reported. Answers are opinions and recollections, and terms such as "late" were not defined.
• Hypothetical questions. Answers to Q6 to Q15 show stated intent about a described platform, not customer results.
• No cause shown. 26 of the 40 respondents who agree stages informally or not at all reported late payment at least sometimes, against 37 of the other 60, so the survey does not show that how stages are agreed affects late payment.
• One wave. Responses were collected between 12 June and 16 July 2025, so there is no trend. All 100 completed responses are included. Completion times in the export ran from 30 seconds to about 14 minutes.

How to cite this report

Figures may be quoted with the attribution: Renopay builder survey, June 2025, 100 UK residential builders and trades (Pollfish). Charts may be reproduced with a link to this report.

When quoting a figure, please give its base (100 respondents) and call the sample a self-selected panel, not UK builders.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of builders are paid late in the UK?

This survey cannot say: its figures describe only the 100 UK residential builders and trades in a self-selected panel who answered. Of them, 63% said clients pay them late or delay payment always, often or sometimes, and 31% said always or often. A national figure would need a larger, random sample.

How do builders agree payment stages with clients?

In this survey of 100 UK residential builders and trades, 59% said they use a written quote or contract (38%) or break the job into formal phases (21%). 40% said they agree stages only informally or not at all. The survey did not ask whether a written quote sets out the payment stages.

How reliable is the Renopay builder survey?

It is a small survey: 100 respondents from a self-selected panel, with unweighted results, commissioned by Renopay and run by Pollfish. It shows what those respondents said, not what UK builders as a whole experience. Read the Method section and “What this does not tell us” before quoting it.