Where your money sits
Ecoterra never holds
your money.
An independent, regulated organisation holds it — the escrow provider you choose from the list below, not one we assign to you. It moves out of their account only against a stage's acceptance, and we cannot release it on our own.
The organisations you can choose from
You pick one — not Ecoterra, and not a firm we assign. Each is approved per service, so a firm's card names exactly what it may do, and only a firm approved for escrow can hold your money.
No organisation is currently able to take on new clients.
The five services a firm can be approved for
A firm applies per service and Ecoterra approves it per service. Only escrow involves your money — the other four are independent expertise on your case, and a firm approved for them never holds a naira of yours.
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Escrow
Holds your moneyEvery project needs one
Holding your money and releasing it against work that has been done. They confirm every deposit and must counter-authorise every release — Ecoterra cannot move a naira on its own.
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Title verification
Every project needs one
Establishing that the title is what it is said to be — the registry search, the survey charting, the physical inspection — and reporting on it. In Nigeria title is a legal status rather than a document, so this is searches and a written opinion, not a look at the deeds.
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Project management
Only if you want it
Running the build on your behalf — the programme, the contractors and the phase-by-phase account of what has actually been done.
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Site inspection
Only if you want it
Attending site and reporting what is actually built, independently of whoever is building it. It informs your own acceptance of a phase and never replaces it.
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Survey
Only if you want it
Perimeter survey and beacons — the coordinates a charting search is run against.
How this works, briefly
- You choose who holds it. Not Ecoterra, and not a firm we pick for you.
- We cannot pay ourselves. We ask your escrow provider to release a stage; they check the request is properly made and can refuse. Two organisations must agree before a naira moves.
- You accept the work, stage by stage. Nothing is released because time passed or because we say so — you see the photographs and the certificates first.
- You can change your mind. An engagement can be ended, unless the firm is holding money for you, in which case the balance reaches zero first. That rule exists so money can never end up belonging to nobody.
The whole arrangement, in detail — what each party can and cannot do, and why.
The questions people actually ask
What if Ecoterra goes under?
Your money is not ours and is not in our account. It is held by the escrow provider you chose, under their own regulator, against your project.
What if my escrow provider and Ecoterra disagree?
Then the money does not move. That is the arrangement working, not failing — a firm that could not refuse us would not be independent of us.
Do I have to use the same firm for everything?
No, and usually you would not. You engage a firm per service — a bank for escrow, a law firm for the title search, a surveyor for the survey. One firm may be approved for several and you may use it for several, but that is your choice and never a condition of anything.
Can I see where my money is?
Every payment shows what it is for, which stage it pays, whether you accepted that stage, and every step it has been through. Your escrow provider sees exactly the same record — neither of you has a view the other lacks.
You choose a firm for each service on the project itself, once you have one. Start a build or browse what is available.