How to Avoid Contractor Scams in South Africa (And Protect Your Deposit)

That's the scam pattern. Sometimes it's a criminal. Sometimes it's just a contractor who spent your geyser money on someone else's site. The result in your house is the same.

Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town — the jobs are ordinary: a R12,000 geyser, a rewire, a bathroom renovation, a R1,500 drain unblock. The loss is ordinary too. Blind deposit. Mid-job ghosting. No CoC. Cash under the table.

The structural answer is boring, which is why it works: don't pay for work that isn't done, and don't let the deposit live in the contractor's pocket. Money follows verified work. You stay in control.

The institution already said it

The National Home Builders Registration Council — the home-building regulator — puts it in plain English on its "Know Your Rights" page:

Never pay a builder in advance of work being done – only pay or authorise payment once work has been completed to your satisfaction.

That's institutional common sense, not a loophole. NHBRC is about home building (enrolment, inspections, warranty). Day-to-day plumbing and electrical still follow the same money-follows-work rule. A geyser is not an NHBRC house. The deposit logic is identical.

This is not legal advice. NHBRC rules, Housing Consumer Protection, Small Claims, and criminal complaints are real processes. This page is how not to hand over the leverage. If you need a contract read, get someone qualified.

Staged payment is the practical version — see how milestone payments work in South Africa.

How the scams actually look

Blind deposits

"50% to start" into a personal account. No written scope. No supplier invoice. Sometimes the full amount "because materials." You have funded hope. If they vanish, the money is already spent.

A 10–20% deposit is a normal band for most home services. 50%+ without invoiced special-order materials is a pause. Pay the merchant direct where you can. Or hold the materials slice in trust until goods land on site.

Mid-job ghosting

They start. You pay another chunk because "the tiler needs cash." Then load shedding, then a family funeral, then the ticks stay blue. Your bathroom is a shell. Their next client paid a deposit yesterday.

Ghosting is a payment-structure problem. If the remaining money is already in their account, you are a creditor. If it's still in trust, you still have a job to re-let.

Fake extras

The quote said "renovate bathroom." Every week a new invoice for work that "wasn't included." Waterproofing. Skip. The mixer. Making-good. That's not a surprise — that's a vague scope collecting interest.

Write the scope. Labour, materials, rubble, certificates. Extras get a written variation before the work — see questions to ask before hiring a contractor.

No CoC / fake paperwork

Electrical work without a registered person. A CoC from someone who isn't allowed to issue one. Transfer blocked. Insurance conversation. The cheap rewire is now the expensive one. Verify before they quote — see how to verify an electrician.

Cash under the table

"Cheaper if you pay cash." No invoice. No leverage. No comeback. When they ghost, you have a story, not a record.

"Materials" without an invoice

Second deposit wearing a costume. "I need R18,000 for the geyser / tiles / DB." Then no slip, no delivery note, no unit on site. Ask for the supplier invoice. Pay the supplier. Or don't release that slice.

Protect the deposit before you send it

1. 1.Written quote — scope, rands, dates, certificates, payment schedule. WhatsApp is not a file.
2. 2.Trade registration — electrician: DoEL letter + registered person for the CoC. Plumber: PIRB where it applies. Builder: NHBRC if it's a home. Association logos are optional extra, not the legal test.
3. 3.Sensible deposit — 10–20% unless special-order materials are invoiced.
4. 4.Who holds the money — not only the contractor.
5. 5.Milestones — release when you can check the work. Retention of 10–15% until snags and CoC / guarantees.
6. 6.No cash, no "I'll start when you EFT the rest."

If they won't do that list, they're telling you the outcome.

SafePay is the list, running in trust

You can police this yourself. Plenty of homeowners do — until they don't.

SafePay is Completo's escrow for home services. Not a slogan.

• You pay the quoted amount into SafePay
• Funds sit in a TradeSafe trust account, with Standard Bank as custodian
• Completo never holds or touches homeowner funds
• The contractor can see the money is secured — so they show up
• Work gets done. You inspect. 5-day inspection window after work is marked complete
• Happy? Approve. Release typically within 24 hours
• Not happy? Don't approve. Money stays in trust
• No action in the 5-day window = auto-accept, so look at the taps. Flick the breakers. Don't blue-tick your own house

On bigger jobs, you release milestone by milestone. Same logic as the NHBRC line — you authorise payment when that stage is done to your satisfaction — without you becoming the quantity surveyor.

If something goes wrong:

1. 1.TradeSafe freezes the disputed funds
2. 2.Completo facilitates — evidence, both sides, a non-binding recommendation. We advise. We don't sit as a court
3. 3.Both sides have 5 days to accept or reject
4. 4.If facilitation fails: under R20,000 → Small Claims Court; over R20,000 → AFSA for binding arbitration. TradeSafe releases on written agreement or a binding order

SafePay is free for homeowners. The 3.5% platform fee is built into the price you see. It covers a drain unblock and a six-figure renovation.

Contractors on Completo are verified before they can quote — trade qualifications where required, references, profile. Ongoing re-checks are rolling out. Until that's fully live, the hard bar is still verified-before-quote. Verification plus trust is the point — see what is Completo.

When you're ready: hire through Completo.

If they already took the deposit

Be honest: once the money is in their account, you are chasing, not holding keys. Completo cannot freeze cash that never went through SafePay.

Practical steps — not a legal clinic, not legal advice:

• Write it down. Dates, amounts, bank details, the quote (even if it was WhatsApp), photos of the site. Export the chat.
• Demand in writing. A short letter or email: amount, what was promised, a deadline to refund or complete. Keep proof of sending.
• SAPS, if it's fraud — they took money with no intention of doing the work, fake identity, fake invoices. Get a case number. Police don't collect civil debts, but a case number matters for banks and court.
• Small Claims Court for disputes under the Completo threshold we use on-platform (R20,000). Above that, you are in ordinary court or arbitration territory — on Completo jobs that path is AFSA; off-platform, speak to a qualified person.
• Your bank — an EFT to a person who already received it is rarely a simple "reverse." Ask. Don't assume.
• Don't pay a second deposit to the same person to "make it right" without a new written structure and someone else holding the money.

Prevention is cheaper than this paragraph. Next job: trust first, then work, then release.

Related reading

• What is Completo?
• SafePay — payment protection
• How milestone payments work in South Africa
• How to verify an electrician in South Africa (CoC, DoEL & ECB)
• Questions to ask before hiring a contractor
• Electrician costs in SA
• Plumbing services

Contractor scams — Frequently Asked Questions