The Builder will need to create the project.

You can create a new project from your profile page. Click ‘create new project’, and then you will be asked to enter some information about your project. You’ll also be asked to invite your builder or customer to join the project. Once it’s created, you will be taken to the dashboard where you can see all the information about your project, make payments and manage your build.

When your project is created, it will be split into a number of staged payments - as defined in the agreement you have with your builder or customer. When each stage is ready to begin, the builder will request funds from the customer, who will then be able to make the payment. The money will be transferred to our secure FCA regulated escrow account. The funds will be held in this account until the stage of work is completed. Once the customer confirms that the work is finished, the remaining funds, less the retention, will be released to the builders bank account. This process is repeated for each stage of work, even if they overlap. At the end of the project, the total retention will also be released to the builder.

Here’s an example.

A roofing stage costs £5k. When the builder is ready to start work on it, the customer makes the payment through our platform using a bank transfer. This is held in our secure FCA regulated escrow account. Once both parties agree the stage of work is completed, the 5% retention of £250 remains in the escrow account until the end of the project, and the remaining £4,750 is released to the builder.

When the payment is ready to be made, you will be redirected to your chosen bank account to transfer the funds. Open banking now means that all you need to do is login and make the payment. Our system will connect to your bank so that the money is transferred to our FCA regulated escrow account until the work is completed.

When you make a payment, the funds are transferred into our FCA regulated secure escrow account.

We have partnered with Trustshare to provide a secure FCA regulated escrow account. This means that it is only used to hold funds temporarily, while a transaction is completed. Our escrow account holds the funds from each stage of your building project until that stage of work is completed. Only once both the customer and builder agree the stage of work is completed are the funds released from the escrow account.

The escrow account is only used for this purpose. Legally, the funds deposited in the account cannot be used for any other purpose. This means that we do not gain interest on the funds held in the account. We do not move the funds between this and other accounts, or touch the funds while they are held in escrow.

Each building project has its own secure account. This means that there is no other money moving into or out of your secure account.

The balanced fee allows us to give you peace of mind that your finances and footprint and being looked after, and provide the other services within the platform. We charge 1% of the total project cost, split evenly between the builder and customer so it’s fair.

The customer’s share of the fee is added to each stage payment they make. The builders fee is taken from each stage payment they receive.

If you need to change a stage cost, simply write to us as info@balanced.build, and following confirmation from both parties we will simply make the change and it will be reflected in your project dashboard.

If you need to change any project details, simply write to us as info@balanced.build, and following confirmation from both parties we will simply make the change and it will be reflected in your project dashboard.

You’ll need to get verified before withdrawing funds from the secure account.

First, follow the link in your email to get verified, which will take you to Passbase, a reliable GDPR compliant identity verification provider. You'll then be asked to enter your personal details, take a selfie and upload a picture of a valid photo ID. We may additionally ask you to upload a copy of your ID if this check doesn’t work first time.

If you have a dispute over whether a payment should be released from the project’s escrow account, or over the amount that should be paid, you should follow the steps set out in our dispute resolution policy. Funds will be held in escrow until the dispute is resolved - there is no time limit.

The party making a dispute should communicate their concerns with the evidence within seven days.

Should a resolution not be found within four weeks after evidence was first provided, the customer and builder should seek formal mediation or legal advice.

If no resolution can be found through mediation, it may be necessary to resolve through a court claim.

Please go to our dispute resolution policy, within our terms of use, which explain the process in detail.

We hope you won’t want to, but if you do, you can delete your account from your account settings page. You will not be able to delete your account if there are funds remaining in the escrow account.

You will not be able to close a project if there are funds remaining in the escrow account.

To close a project, go to the project information page within the project dashboard.