Questions from testers and developers

No, we're not a scheme. We don't audit, certify or police anyone, and we don't lodge for you. You lodge with your scheme exactly as you do now, then upload the certificate and lodgement reference against the plot so the assessor or developer can see it.

No. To sign up we ask for your name, email, business name, base postcode and which tests you do. No ID and no documents. If a marketplace job needs a scheme, such as an air test, you add your scheme membership number because the certificate and lodgement need it, and posters see it marked as self-declared. Calibration dates are optional and only there to remind you. Insurance details are optional too.

Only on their own jobs. The assessor or developer who booked a test sees its result, pass or fail, because they need it for building control. Results of your private jobs are never shared. Your pass rate is never shown to anyone choosing a tester, and testers are never ranked by it.

No. Feedback is about your service: turning up when agreed, communication, professionalism and report quality. It's never about the result. The forms don't ask how the test went, and comments about a fail are removed if reported. You can reply to any comment, and you rate sites too.

Self-employed air tightness, sound and ventilation testers and small testing firms, typically with one to ten testers, though any testing business can use it. You keep your own business, prices and clients; we take no commission, and we're not a scheme or an employer. Together, local independents give housebuilders and assessors one place to book a reliable local tester, so you can win work that would be hard to cover on your own.

Assessors and developers post tests. You see the ones in your area for the tests you do, each with the fee, town and postcode district, date window and the extra minutes and miles it adds to your day, such as "+12 min from your route". If it suits, accept with a tap. The address and site contacts appear once the job is yours.

No. It's there if you want it, and you can use TestConnect just for your own work. Nothing happens if you ignore or turn down a job.

Yes. Add your own clients and jobs, run your diary, record results and photos, and keep certificates against each plot. Free covers up to 15 of your own jobs a month; Pro is unlimited.

Yes. A tester can belong to their own sole-trader business and to a company they subcontract for. Each organisation pays for its own testers.

Jobs go first to testers already passing: those already working near your site that day get it, and an alert, straight away. An hour later it's offered to testers nearby with a free day, and after three hours to every tester whose working area covers the site. Tests within two working days go to everyone at once. If it still hasn't been taken after a day (or two days before the test, if that's sooner), you're told, with one tap to invite your usual testers, raise the fee, ask for prices, change the date or keep waiting. You can also invite testers yourself, give your preferred tester first refusal, or send the job to everyone at any time.

Yes. Invite your tester to a job, make them preferred for a site so they get first refusal, or have work allocated to them automatically when they're free. If they're not on TestConnect yet, it's free for one tester to join. Your assessor can keep booking your tests as now. The marketplace is there for when your usual people are busy.

Each booked test shows who is coming: the tester's first name and company, or, if your assessor sends testers under its own name, the tester's first name and the assessor's. Your site manager's link shows the arrival window, an "on the way" alert when the tester sets off (with a live arrival time if they share their location) and the arrival once they're on site. The tester's mobile is shared with the site by default, so your site manager can call or text them. For air tests, whoever posts the job sees the tester's scheme membership number, marked as self-declared, so it can be checked on the scheme's public register.

If a tester hands a job back, you're told straight away, with their reason, and the job reopens to other testers in the area, with fresh alerts to those nearby. If you'd only invited specific testers, it comes back to you to invite someone else. Turning up when agreed, or giving notice, is part of the code of conduct and of the service feedback testers receive.

Yes, for developers and assessors, always, with no contract. Posting jobs, sites and plots, site manager links, readiness checks, Results and performance and the carbon report cost nothing. You pay the tester, or your assessor, for the test as you do now. Testers pay £5 a month per tester if they want the business tools, and we take no commission on any job.

Your own team; the assessor and the tester working on each job; and site managers, for their own sites only and never prices. Testers see a site's full address and contacts only once they've accepted a job there. Each organisation's records are kept apart inside the database itself, our support staff can only look if you allow it, and every look is logged. You can download all your data at any time.

No. Your assessor can keep booking your tests, and you see progress, results and, by default, certificates for your developments in the same record, marked "Booked through" your assessor. Your assessor decides whether its testers attend under the assessor's name or their own, and you still see every result. You can also book some tests direct, and filter your tests and Results and performance by direct or through an assessor.

Yes, that's why we built it. TestConnect is made for self-employed testers and small local firms, working together as a network. A job is only shown to testers whose working area covers your site, and those already working nearby that day are alerted straight away. We take no commission, so the fee goes to the local business that did the test. Less driving also means a local tester can price fairly and still make it pay, and can come back quickly for a retest.