Plumbline / how to check a contractor
Printed from Plumbline, free public-record contractor license checks. This page: https://contractors.agentlookups.ai/how-to-check-a-contractor/
"Legit" breaks into checks you can do yourself, free, in under an hour: is the license real and active, is there insurance behind the work, who pulls the permit, and does the money move safely. Here is the whole path, in order.
States that license contractors publish the roster. Check the license here by business name or license number; we show the state's own record and link its official source. Then confirm on the issuing board's live page: our copy is a dated snapshot, and the board is authoritative for today.
What an active license means: the state allows this contractor to do this kind of work. What it does not mean: that the work will be good. A license is not an endorsement, by the board or by us. And an expired, suspended, or missing license is worth a direct question before any money moves.
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary from the insurer: who is covered, for what, until when. Ask for it before signing. Check that it names the contractor you are hiring, the same name as on the license, not a different company. Check that the dates cover your job. To be sure, call the insurance agent listed on the certificate and ask whether the policy is still in force.
A permit is the city or county's sign-off that the work will be inspected. For work that needs one, the contractor should pull it, and it should be issued before work starts. Be wary if a contractor asks you to pull the permit yourself; call your local permit office and ask what that would make you responsible for.
Three names should be identical: the name on the license, the name on the contract, and the name you make payments to. Contractors do operate under trade names, but a mismatch is worth a plain question before you sign, and the answer should make sense.
Write the license number into the written contract itself. It ties the paper you can enforce to the license the state stands behind.
Keep the deposit small. Pay by check or card so there is a record; avoid cash. Tie the remaining payments to finished stages of the work, and hold the last payment until the job is done and, where a permit was pulled, the final inspection has passed. Never pay in full up front.
Deposit limits are state law and differ by state. One verified example: California's contractor board says, "The down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, for a home improvement job or swimming pool, excluding finance charges" (CSLB, checked 2026-08-05). For other states, ask the licensing board behind your state's official lookup; we do not guess at laws we have not checked.
Statuses change: licenses lapse, get suspended, get reinstated. Run the same lookup the day you sign, and once more before the final payment if the job runs long.
These checks confirm the paperwork, not the craftsmanship. We cannot check the quality of anyone's work, and neither can a license. Ask for two or three recent customers and call them; look at a finished job if you can. Our records have limits too: we do not yet index disciplinary actions, liens, or court records, so the absence of bad news here means nothing. What Plumbline is and is not.