What Mortaro Does
Everything around your building project, from appointing a checked contractor to administering the payments. Here is exactly what that includes.
The short version
We organise everything around your building project. Your contractor gets on with the building.
We take on everything a homeowner would otherwise end up doing themselves: appointing a contractor from our network, arranging the site visit, preparing the written quotation, handling the communication, organising start dates, administering the payments and chasing anything that stalls.
The construction itself is carried out by an independent main contractor, named in your quotation, who holds the insurance and provides the workmanship warranty.
It is an unusual arrangement, so the rest of this page sets out exactly how it works, including the parts most companies would leave out.
- 01 Homeowner communication · quotations · updates · payments
- 02 Mortaro Group coordination · appointment · escalation
- 03 Main Contractor site visit · technical expertise · trade pricing · the work · the warranty
Who you're dealing with
Three parties, three jobs
Most confusion about Mortaro comes from a fair assumption: that the company organising your work is the company doing it. Here it is not, and that distinction decides who holds your warranty and who your contract is with.
You deal with us. One point of contact for questions, timings, paperwork and updates, rather than chasing a builder who is up a ladder.
Mortaro Group appoints your contractor from its network, arranges the site visit, prepares your quotation, keeps communication moving and administers payments.
Your main contractor is an independent company, named in your quotation before you commit. They carry out the work, hold the insurance and provide the workmanship warranty. Your construction contract is with them.
What we handle
The work that normally lands on you
This is the part of a building project nobody warns you about.
Appointing your contractor
A contractor from our network suited to the job and your area, checked for insurance, reviews and references, warranties, trade experience and work history before being introduced to you.
Arranging the site visit
We book the site visit around your availability, confirm the contractor has accepted it, and tell you who is coming.
Preparing your quotation
Your contractor prices the job at trade rates after the site visit. We prepare it as a clear written quotation on our template, naming them. Valid for 30 days.
Handling the communication
You talk to us. We get answers from your contractor while they are on the tools and unable to respond, which is exactly when most homeowners find contact hardest.
Administering the payments
We receive the 25% deposit and the final balance as your contractor's payment administration agent, and pass them on without unnecessary delay.
Escalating problems
If something stalls or goes quiet we chase it. Contractors who fail to meet our standards are removed from the network.
Where the line sits
Who handles what, in full
This division is what makes everything else on this page credible.
Mortaro handles
- Appointing your contractor from the network
- Arranging the site visit
- Preparing your written quotation
- All communication throughout
- Organising start dates
- Administering deposits and payments
- Escalating issues on your behalf
Your contractor handles
- All construction work
- Surveying and technical scope
- Pricing the job at trade rates
- Their own public liability insurance
- The workmanship warranty
- The build programme on site
- Your construction contract
Worth being clear about
We are accountable for the process. Your contractor is accountable for the work.
We coordinate the quotation, the schedule, the communication and the payment administration. Your contractor carries out and runs the work on site, and your warranty and any claim for defective work sit with them. Payments pass through us to your contractor: we do not hold client funds and we are not an escrow service.
How it works
Enquiry to completion
Six stages. You deal with us at every one of them.
You tell us about the project
We take the details and work out which contractor in our network the job actually needs, which is not always the trade people assume.
We appoint a contractor and book the visit
Selected from our network for the type of work and your area, with the site visit arranged around you. You are told who is coming before they arrive.
You receive a written quotation
Your contractor prices the work; we prepare it as a clear written quotation that names them, valid for 30 days. No charge, no obligation.
Deposit and start date
On acceptance a 25% deposit secures the works. We administer that payment to your contractor and agree a start date that suits you.
We stay in the middle
While the work happens you talk to us. We get answers from your contractor when they are working and cannot respond.
Completion and final payment
The balance falls due on completion, waste is removed from site, and your contractor's workmanship warranty usually runs from that date.
What it costs you
Nothing on top of the work
There is no separate coordination fee, no membership, and no charge for a quotation. You are not paying a project manager on top of a builder.
The contractors in our network price at trade rates, because we bring them the work and take the customer administration off their hands. That arrangement is what lets us run the coordination and still put a competitive figure in front of you.
We will not claim to always be the cheapest. Anyone can be undercut. What you get is a checked contractor, a written quotation naming them, and somebody organised standing between you and the job.
If you need us to step in
How we escalate, and where the warranty sits
If something needs putting right, tell us and we chase it. We escalate on your behalf, push for attendance and a resolution, and keep at it until something happens. A contractor who does not put their work right does not stay in the network. That has happened, and it is the sanction we have.
Your contract for the work is with your contractor, so the workmanship warranty and any claim for defective work sit with them. We are clear about that because you should know where the warranty sits before you need it.
Checking contractors reduces the risk of ending up with the wrong one. It does not remove it entirely, which is exactly why escalation is part of what we do.
Straight answers
The questions people ask at this point
So you're a middleman?
In the sense that we sit between you and the contractor, yes. The difference from an introduction service is that we don't disappear after the introduction: we prepare and present the quotation, handle the communication, organise the schedule, administer the payments and chase problems. The enquiry is where we start, not what we sell.
Why not just find a builder myself?
You can, and plenty of people do. It means finding candidates, checking insurance, chasing references, comparing quotes, arranging the schedule and managing paperwork and payments yourself. We do that part, at no additional cost to you.
Who do I pay?
Payment is legally made to your main contractor. We process it as their payment administration agent and pass it on without unnecessary delay. We do not hold client funds and we are not an escrow service.
Who provides the warranty?
Your contractor. Every contractor in the network agrees to a minimum 12-month workmanship warranty, with larger works typically carrying considerably longer. The exact terms are confirmed in your quotation.
What if I can't get hold of my contractor?
Tell us. That is the single most common problem in construction and the main reason this company exists. Chasing contractors is our job, not yours.
Start here
Tell us about the work you have in mind
We will confirm we cover your postcode, arrange a site visit with a contractor from our network and send you a written quotation. No charge, no obligation.