The Hallmark Standard

Nine checks. No exceptions.

Every tradesperson on Ambatana clears all nine before they ever appear in search — and we re-run every one of them every year.

Why the Hallmark Standard exists

Naivasha is growing faster than the trust networks people used to rely on. New estates, new families, a workforce drawn in by the flower farms and the geothermal industry — for a lot of homeowners here now, there's no neighbour's recommendation or cousin who knows an electrician to fall back on.

A qualification can be borrowed. A review can be bought. On most platforms, “verified” means a phone number confirmed at sign-up. There was no independent standard we could point homeowners to and say, trust this — so the Hallmark Standard is the one we built: identity, qualifications, insurance, and legal history, each checked directly with the body that issued it, not taken on a tradesperson's word. What follows isn't a summary of it. It's the specification itself — what gets checked, how a mark is kept or lost, and what happens if something still goes wrong.

The nine checks

In the order we run them. A failure at any step stops the application — there's no partial listing.

01
Identity verified
Government-issued photo ID checked and matched against the applicant in person or via live video.
02
Proof of address confirmed
Current residential or business address checked against official records, not just a self-declared form field.
03
Trade qualification checked
Accreditation appropriate to the category, confirmed directly with the issuing body — not taken from a photo of a card. An EPRA licence for an electrician, professional body registration for a surveyor or architect, a KEBS food-handling certificate for a caterer or private chef.
04
Public liability insurance confirmed
Current policy checked with the insurer, including cover level. Lapsed or inadequate cover fails this check regardless of past history.
05
Civil case search
Court and civil case records checked against the individual and any companies they direct or have directed.
06
Company and director history reviewed
Past and present directorships cross-checked at the Business Registration Service (BRS) for dissolved companies, disqualifications, or red flags.
07
Insolvency check
Personal and company insolvency records checked, including historical bankruptcies and insolvency proceedings.
08
Duplicate and alias check
Cross-referenced against every other profile on Ambatana to catch traders re-applying under a different name after removal.
09
Reviews cross-checked against real job records
Every review is matched to a completed, dated job on the platform — reviews can't be posted, bought, or volunteered independently of a real booking.

What your score is measuring

The /10 you see on a profile isn't one blended impression — every review reflects three things, weighted into a single score.

Quality of work
Did the work itself hold up — materials used properly, the finish done right, nothing patched over rather than actually fixed.
Reliability
Did they turn up when they said they would, and finish within the timeframe they quoted — not just eventually.
Communication
Were you told what was happening and why, especially if something changed from the original quote.

A trader with a 9.8 across 127 reviews has been consistently good at all three — not just one. Every review also carries a job reference; see why that matters legally, not just for trust.

After the mark

Hallmarking isn't a one-time badge. Here's what happens after a trader is listed.

Day 1 — Listed
Profile goes live once all nine checks pass. Search visibility starts immediately.
Ongoing — Review monitoring
Every review is checked against a real job record before it's published. Unmatched or suspicious reviews are held for manual review.
Any time — Complaint response
A homeowner complaint triggers an immediate review of the relevant check. Insurance lapses and new civil cases are monitored on a rolling basis, not just at renewal.
Every 12 months — Full re-verification
All nine checks are re-run from scratch. Nothing is grandfathered in from the previous year.

What pulls a listing

Any one of these removes a trader from search immediately, not at the next renewal.

Automatic removal triggers:
  • Public liability insurance lapses or falls below the required cover level
  • A new civil case or judgment is recorded against the individual or a linked company
  • A trade qualification or accreditation is suspended or revoked by the issuing body
  • A pattern of reviews fails to match real job records
  • A duplicate or alias account is identified

If something goes wrong

A real complaint against a Hallmarked trader gets a real process, not a contact form that disappears.

1 — Tell us what happened
Contact Ambatana directly with the trader's name and what went wrong — through a quote-request thread, the review page, or by writing in.
2 — We open the relevant check
Whichever of the nine checks the complaint touches — usually insurance, qualification, or conduct — is re-run immediately, not at the next annual cycle.
3 — You hear back within 5 business days
Sooner for anything involving safety. We'll tell you what we found, even if the check comes back clean.
4 — Still unresolved?
The Consumer Protection Act, 2012 gives you the right to raise it with the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) directly — by phone, email, post, or in person. We'll tell you this option exists; it's not something we make you dig for.

Questions

Can a trader pay to skip a check?
No. All nine checks are required regardless of subscription tier, and none can be waived.
What if a homeowner disagrees with a review being published?
Reviews are matched to a completed job record before publication. If you believe a review is mistaken or unfair, you can flag it for manual review — but a matched review tied to a real job won't be removed simply because a trader disputes the rating.
How is this different from a "verified" badge on other platforms?
Many platforms verify identity and little else, or accept self-reported insurance and qualifications. Ambatana checks each of the nine independently with the issuing body or register, and re-runs all nine annually — not just at sign-up.

Now you know what the mark means.

See it in practice, or start earning one.

Browse Hallmarked traders →Start your application →