What Beams is and how it works

Beams is a renovation platform. We connect you with vetted builders, generate a standardised contract, hold your funds securely, and stay close enough to help when something needs attention. We don't manage the build day-to-day — your builder does that. We make the structure around it work.

How a Beams project runs

A Beams project moves through five stages.

You start by telling us what you want to do. We give you an indicative cost range, then introduce you to up to three vetted builders. They visit your home, take measurements, and send you their quotes through your dashboard.

You compare them side by side and choose. You pay a £1,000 build deposit to secure your builder's time, and we generate the Home Improvement Contract (HIC) that sits between you and them. You sign it digitally.

Two weeks before break ground, you fund the project into the Beams Account. The build starts. Your builder marks each milestone complete, you approve, and we release the corresponding payment. There are four milestones in total. The 12-month workmanship warranty starts at the fourth one.

If you'd like design help, our designers can step in for selected stages or all the way through. If you'd like extra hands-on support during the build, our optional Project Management Support is the upgrade.

What Beams does

We do four things on every project:

Match you with builders. We vet every builder in the network — insurance, business credentials, references, and a craftsmanship review on a recent site. We connect you with up to three who fit your project type, location, and timeline.
Generate the contract. Every Beams project uses a standardised Home Improvement Contract. You and your builder sign it; we're not a party to it, but we structure the project around it.
Hold the money securely. Construction funds sit in the Beams Account and release as you approve each milestone. You're never paying for work that hasn't been done.
Step in when it matters. If a product is faulty, a delivery is wrong, a milestone is disputed, or a builder leaves the network, we have ways to help. The article When Beams covers costs describes when we step in financially.

What Beams doesn't do day-to-day

Your builder runs the build. They're on site, making decisions, coordinating trades, and dealing with what comes up. We don't run that day-to-day work — and trying to would slow it down. The article What Beams does and what it doesn't do draws the line in detail.

Tools we provide

Alongside the contracts, payment structure, and builder network, Beams provides a set of digital tools that help you and your builder run the project more predictably:

AI cost estimator — produces an indicative cost range from a short project description.
Appointment scheduling — for builder site visits and design calls.
Quote comparison tool — lays all your quotes out in one place, line by line.
Product catalogue — partner supplier products with discounts applied.
Materials tracker — the shared view of what's on order, in transit, and delivered.
Project dashboard — milestones, payments, contracts, and messages in one place.

You don't have to learn any of this up front; your planner walks you through whichever tools matter at each stage.

Why we do it this way

Renovation is full of avoidable risk: missed deliveries, ambiguous scopes, money moving before work is done, builders disappearing mid-project. The structure around a build matters as much as the build itself. We exist to make that structure clear and predictable, so you can spend your attention on the choices that actually shape your home.

What Beams does and what it doesn't do
How Beams is paid
How we vet builders
Who you'll work with from start to finish