On this page
1. What most platforms do
The uncomfortable truth about contractor directories in Spain.
Habitissimo, Houzz, CronoShare, Hogami — anyone can register. You submit an email, pick a trade category, and you’re listed. The platform takes a subscription fee. Nobody checks who you are.
Reviews can be written by friends. Profile photos can be stolen. A contractor who defrauded three homeowners in Valencia can start fresh in Barcelona with a new account tomorrow morning. There is nothing stopping this.
| Check | Habitissimo | Houzz | CronoShare | Leo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government ID verified | No | No | No | Yes — biometric |
| Autónomo registration confirmed | No | No | No | Yes — vs AEAT |
| RC civil liability insurance | No | No | No | Yes — policy on file |
| Criminal record certificate | No | No | No | Yes — Ministry of Justice |
| AML & watchlist screening | No | No | No | Yes — 1,300+ databases |
| Contractor can fake identity | Easy | Easy | Easy | Biometric face match prevents this |
The OCU data: Spanish consumer association OCU reports that 30–40% of homeowners experience significant problems with renovations — incomplete work, disappeared contractors, disputes over what was agreed. The platforms that list these contractors carry zero liability. Leo does.
2. The four mandatory checks
Every contractor on Leo completes all four before they can accept a job.
The contractor photographs their DNI or NIE. The system compares the photo on the document to a live selfie taken during onboarding using passive liveness detection — the same technology banks use.
This is not “upload a photo of your ID.” That can be faked. This is a three-step biometric check: document authenticity, face match, and liveness confirmation.
The contractor’s NIF is validated directly against the AEAT (Hacienda) database. This confirms they are actively registered as self-employed in Spain and that their declared trade (IAE epígrafe) matches what they’re listed as on Leo.
For licensed trades, we go further. Electricians must provide their REBT habilitación number, verified against the CCAA Registro Industrial. Aparejadores and architects must have an active COAAT or COA colegio registration, verified against the professional college registry. A plumber cannot list as an electrician. An unlicensed person cannot list as a licensed trade at all.
Every Leo contractor must upload a current RC insurance policy — minimum €300,000 coverage, with an expiry date we track. This policy covers physical damage they cause on your property.
If a plumber floods your living room or an electrician causes a fire, their insurer pays — not you, and not Leo. This is mandatory. Without it, they are not listed.
The contractor uploads their Certificado de Antecedentes Penales from the Spanish Ministry of Justice. This is an official document issued directly to the individual — it cannot be forged without forging a government certificate.
Certificates must be less than 90 days old at the time of submission and renewed annually. Leo stores the upload date, not the raw data (GDPR compliance).
Plus: AML & watchlist screening. Every contractor is also screened against 1,300+ global databases via Didit’s AML check: OFAC sanctions, EU watchlists, Interpol, and adverse media from 50,000+ news sources. This catches organised crime and sanctioned entities that a criminal certificate alone would miss.
The background sweep — what the contractor doesn’t see
Alongside the four mandatory checks, Leo runs a parallel background sweep during onboarding. This is not disclosed to the contractor and has no effect on their profile unless something significant is found. It covers:
- Social platform scan — Facebook neighbourhood and renovation groups (Vecinos de [ciudad], Reformas [ciudad], Denuncia pública), Google Reviews, Habitissimo, Houzz, Hogami, and Forocoches/Mediavida forums searched for their name, phone number, and NIF
- Keyword filtering — Spanish fraud and quality warning terms: estafa, estafador, chapuza, cobró y se fue, desapareció con el dinero — and equivalents in English
- CCAA labour sanction registries — NIF crosschecked against public labour violation records in the 5 major autonomous communities (Cataluña DOGC, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Madrid, Andalucía)
- Duplicate identity detection — face search across all previously verified Leo contractors to catch re-registrations by banned individuals
What happens with a hit: Two or more matches in the direct fraud/crime category → the application is flagged for manual review before approval. Matches in quality/complaint categories → noted in the internal profile, the contractor is shown their own flag and invited to respond. No matches → the sweep is complete and does not appear on the public profile. The full sweep result is included in the case file issued if a dispute escalates.
3. What each check proves — and what it doesn’t
Precise claims only. We don’t round up.
What verification proves
- This is a real person whose face matches a real government-issued ID
- They are actively registered with Hacienda as a self-employed worker in the trade they claim, under the correct IAE epígrafe
- For licensed trades (electricians, aparejadores), their professional licence or habilitación has been confirmed against the relevant registry
- They have a current RC insurance policy that covers physical damage they cause
- They had no Spanish criminal convictions at the time of their certificate (within the last 90 days)
- They do not appear on major international sanctions, watchlists, or adverse media databases
- Their name, phone number, and NIF returned no significant fraud or scam complaints in a background sweep of public Spanish renovation forums, review platforms, and regional labour sanction registries at the time of onboarding
What verification does not prove
- That they are good at their trade — quality comes from reviews and completed jobs
- That they have never been complained about — only that they have no criminal record
- That they will complete your specific job without issues — that is what the scope, escrow, and dispute process is for
- That they have never defrauded anyone abroad — the Spanish criminal certificate only covers Spanish convictions
Why be this honest? Angi (formerly HomeAdvisor) was sued in the US for claiming contractor verification it didn’t consistently enforce. We will not make claims we can’t back up. What Leo has done is listed above. What it covers is listed above. The combination is more than any other platform in Spain offers — and it’s specific enough to be meaningful.
4. Why verification works even when it’s not perfect
The mechanism is deterrence, not guarantee.
Most renovation fraud in Spain is opportunistic, not organised. It is committed by people who know their victims have no real recourse: no contract, no identity record, no trail, nothing to take to the police.
The contractor who wants to take a deposit and disappear thinks through their options:
“If I take this person’s money, they have a photo of my face matching my DNI, my NIF linked to my Hacienda record, my home address, my phone number, and a timestamped record of everything I agreed to deliver. The platform will automatically generate a police report and an arbitration submission for them. My NIF will be flagged. Every other homeowner on this platform who looks me up will see a dispute on my record.”
That thought is enough. Opportunistic fraudsters target victims with no recourse. Leo’s verified pool is not that. The bad ones don’t join. That is why verification matters even for the 99% of contractors who are honest: it filters the pool before the job starts.
For the organised fraud crews (the Guardia Civil issued a national alert in August 2025 about door-to-door renovation scam operations) — these are a different problem. They use fake IDs and front companies. Leo’s verification reduces this risk but does not eliminate it. State your situation clearly to your contractor before any money moves.
5. The honest disclaimer
Leo has completed the checks listed on this page as of the dates shown on each contractor’s profile. Leo cannot guarantee contractor behaviour after verification. Verification reduces risk but does not eliminate it.
If anything goes wrong, Leo provides a complete case file — signed scope, variation orders, payment records, milestone photos, message and voice note transcripts, materials receipts, contractor identity documents (legal name, NIF, face-matched ID, AML result, insurance certificate, criminal record upload date), and the OSINT background sweep summary — pre-formatted for police submission, consumer arbitration, and civil court, at no cost to the homeowner.
Verification is the deterrent. Documentation is the safety net.
6. If something still goes wrong
You are never starting from nothing. Leo builds the case file from day one.
Every Leo job creates a running evidence file: the signed scope, every variation order, every milestone photo, every payment record, and the full conversation history. If a dispute arises, this file already exists — you don’t scramble to find evidence after the fact.
- Leo mediates automatically via the platform dispute process
- An independent aparejador (qualified technical expert) can review photos and documents remotely — at no cost to the homeowner
- Leo prepares a pre-filled submission for the Junta Arbitral de Consumo (free, binding under RD 713/2024)
- The contractor’s verified identity — legal name from government ID, NIF, home address, AML result, and OSINT sweep summary — is documented and ready for police if needed
- Leo exports a structured case file: scope, variation orders, payment history, milestone photos, message transcripts, materials receipts, and the aparejador report — pre-formatted for police submission, consumer arbitration, and civil court
See the full process: How disputes work on Leo →