How Construction Contractors Can Check New Customers

Know exactly who your counterparty is

Construction contracts are often signed with special-purpose vehicles or group subsidiaries, not the name on the tender documents. Get the exact legal entity and company number, and check that entity on the register — its own filings, not its parent group's reputation.

Read the accounts for construction-specific signals

• Margin trend — construction margins are thin; erosion leaves no room for a problem job
• Turnover growth versus equity — rapid growth on a thin balance sheet is the classic overtrading pattern
• Net current assets — can they fund work in progress and debtors without stretching?
• Filing punctuality — late accounts from a company holding your retention is a red flag

The SPV problem

A single-project SPV may have no meaningful filing history at all. That is itself information: the financial covenant behind your contract may be an empty box. Ask where the strength sits — a parent guarantee, escrow arrangement or funder — and check that entity too.

Layer your protections

A filed-accounts check is the foundation, not the whole structure. Combine it with sensible payment terms, retention limits, parent company guarantees where available, and prompt invoicing discipline. The goal is not to avoid all risk — it is to take risk knowingly, at a price that reflects it.

Keep checking through the job

Your exposure peaks mid-contract, not at signing. Monitoring the companies you are working for means new filings and status changes reach you while you still have money on the table — when there is still time to act.