Builders help
What Beams is and how we work with builders
Beams is a renovation platform. We connect customers with vetted, independent builders. We don't manage projects ourselves; we power them. Our role is to make the structure around your work cleaner — so you can focus on the build.
How a Beams project runs
The flow from your perspective:
- Customer signs up and scopes their project with a Beams planner. We define scope and indicative cost.
- You choose your jobs. Every open job is listed in your dashboard; you quote the ones that fit your area, type, and capacity — within your limits.
- Assessment and quote. You book the visit (or assess remotely), and commit to your quote deadline when you mark the assessment complete — four days for jobs under £40k, seven days for jobs over £40k.
- Customer chooses. Up to three builders quote. Sixty per cent of customers don't choose the lowest price — quality and trust win as often as price.
- Contract signed. Beams generates the Home Improvement Contract (HIC) from the agreed scope and quote. You and the customer sign digitally.
- Construction fund into the Beams Account. The customer pre-funds the build. You can begin once cooling-off has cleared and Milestone 1 is funded.
- Build runs. You manage the day-to-day. Beams sits structurally around it — milestone payments, change orders, escalation support.
- Sign Off and warranty. Customer signs off; the 12-month workmanship warranty starts.
What Beams gives you
- Vetted leads. Customers who've done their planning, with scope, budget, and timeline already framed.
- A standard contract. No bespoke negotiation; same template every time.
- Funded projects. Construction fund is in the Beams Account before you break ground.
- Reliable payments. Once the customer approves a milestone, we send your payment to your Stripe account the same day. Stripe then pays it into your bank automatically, which can take up to 3 days. The article Faster payments: how builder payouts work covers the mechanics.
- A platform that handles the admin. Contracts, milestones, change orders, materials tracker, profile, reviews.
- Support when something goes wrong with a customer or supplier.
What Beams expects from you
- Quality work, on time. Milestones met, finishes good, snags cleared promptly.
- Clear communication with the customer and Beams.
- Use of the platform for everything formal — milestones and change orders.
- Compliance with the Builder Agreement, Code of Conduct, and the wider rules of the network.
What Beams isn't
We're not a project manager — your project management decisions are yours. We're not a designer for you — that work is between the customer, our designers (where used), and you. We're not a guarantor of customers — but we vet, we structure, and the customer funds each project up front while we hold the money until milestones are approved.