Protecting yourself from a bad renovation
Renovation is a one-time purchase, so a contractor can afford to disappoint you in a way your barber cannot. Here is what we check before listing a company, what belongs in the contract before you sign it, and where to go if it goes wrong.
We check the trade licence
A company only carries a verified badge here after someone at the company has claimed the page and we have matched its trade licence — either the document they send us, or the company's entry in Dubai's public register, whichever we could check. Everything else is listed from public records and labelled as such, including licences issued this year, which we mark as new and keep out of the rankings until there is a record to rank.
We show the complaints, not just the stars
We read 2,583 Google reviews across the companies we list and sorted every complaint in them. What they actually complain about, in order: finish quality, work abandoned midway, delays, the company going quiet, and extra charges. Price is fifth. The rating on a profile is public Google data, shown with the review count behind it so you can see how thin it is.
Your details stay with you
When you send a brief, your name, phone and email go to nobody until you have chosen who should have them. Briefs posted to the open board carry the project and the area, never you. If the contractors you picked go quiet, we ask you before sending it to anyone else.
And what we don't do
Plenty of platforms leave this vague. We would rather you knew now than found out during a dispute.
- We do not supervise, inspect or guarantee anyone's work. We have never been on your site and cannot tell you whether the tiling is sound.
- We do not recommend one contractor over another. We put licences, review records and quotes side by side; the choice is yours.
- We are not a party to your contract. It is between you and the company you hire, and so is any dispute about it.
- We hold no money. We will never ask you to pay a deposit to us or through us, and nobody at OnePass Interior is authorised to take one.
What belongs in the contract before you sign
Dubai has no government-issued renovation contract for homeowners — the commercial market runs on FIDIC-style forms and consumers negotiate alone. These are the terms that matter most, drawn from what actually went wrong in the reviews we read. Ask for them. A contractor who refuses all of them has told you something useful, and that refusal costs you nothing to find out.
Itemised scope
Every line of the quote written out — what is included, and the brand and grade of the materials. Ambiguity in the scope is where extra charges come from later.
Staged payments
Tie each payment to a completed, photographed stage. A large share of the value asked for before work starts is the clearest warning sign in the reviews we read.
Written variation orders
Agree that no extra is payable unless it was put in writing before the work was done. Verbal extras are the second commonest dispute.
An agreed programme
Dates in writing, and what happens if they slip. Delays were the third most common complaint.
Retention
A percentage held back until every item on the handover snag list is fixed — the only leverage left after the last payment.
Defects period
How long after handover the contractor returns to fix faults, in writing. A warranty promised in conversation and absent from the contract does not exist.
General information, not legal advice. For a contract of any size, have a UAE-qualified lawyer look at it.
Official channels — you can always go direct
These services are free and you do not need us to use them. Keep your contract, payment receipts, dated photographs and your messages with the contractor — that record is what any of these channels will ask for first, which is reason enough to keep it from day one.
Having a problem right now?
Tell us what happened. A person reads every report, and it goes on the record we hold about that company. If you want us to put it to them, say so and we will — though we cannot compel anyone, and the official channels above carry weight we do not.