10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Contractor

Licensing requirements vary by state, by city, and by the type of work. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and structural work are commonly licensed. Smaller handyman jobs may fall under a dollar threshold where no license is required.

The point isn’t to memorize the rules — it’s to verify the answer instead of taking someone’s word for it. Ask for the license number and look it up with your state’s licensing authority. In California, the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) lets you confirm status, classification, and bonding in under a minute.

A license doesn’t guarantee good work. But an active license means there’s an accountable business behind the job, and it usually means you have somewhere to go if things go badly.

There are two kinds of coverage that matter to you, and they protect different things:

• General liability covers damage to your property — a cracked slab, a water line hit during a trench, a fire caused by faulty work.
• Workers’ compensation covers the crew if someone is hurt on your property.

If an uninsured worker is injured in your home, the claim can land on your homeowners policy — or on you. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the insurer or agent, not a photo of a card.

“Twenty years in business” is a good sign, but it isn’t the whole answer. A company can be two decades into service calls and still be doing its first whole-house repipe or its first tile shower pan.

Ask the narrower question: How many projects like mine have you completed in the last year or two? Experience with your specific job is what keeps surprises off your invoice.

Ask for two or three recent, comparable jobs — not just the showcase gallery. A portfolio shows a contractor’s best day. A recent reference tells you what a normal week with them looks like.

When you call a reference, the useful questions are:

• Did the project finish close to the estimated timeline and price?
• How were surprises and change orders handled?
• Was the crew easy to reach, and did they clean up?
• Would you hire them again?

The person who walks your project and writes the estimate is often not the person swinging the hammer. That isn’t a problem — it’s normal — but you should know before day one.

Ask whether the company uses employees, subcontractors, or both; whether subs are licensed and insured separately; and who supervises the job day to day. Then ask the simplest version of the question: Who do I call when something isn’t right?

These are people entering your home. Knowing who is responsible for the quality of the work — and who is responsible for the people on site — is reasonable, not rude.

A useful estimate does more than name a price. It should spell out:

• Scope of work — exactly what will be repaired, replaced, or installed
• Labor
• Materials, including brands, grades, and model numbers where relevant
• Permits and inspections, and who pulls them
• Disposal and cleanup fees
• Expected start date and duration
• Payment schedule
• Potential additional costs and what would trigger them
• Exclusions — what is not included

Be cautious with a one-line estimate like “Repair plumbing — $2,500.” It gives you nothing to compare and nothing to enforce. If you want help lining up multiple bids fairly, our guide on comparing contractor quotes walks through it line by line.

Four questions cover almost everything you need:

• When can you start?
• How long should the work take once it begins?
• What could realistically cause a delay — permits, material lead times, inspections, weather?
• How will you tell me if the schedule changes?

A contractor who says “probably three weeks, but the permit could add two” is being more honest than one who promises next Monday for everything. Realistic beats optimistic every time.

Ask this before the work starts, when you still have leverage and everyone is being agreeable.

• What workmanship guarantee do you offer, and for how long?
• Which manufacturer warranties apply to the equipment or materials?
• What is the process if something fails a few months later?
• What happens if a material turns out to be defective?
• What if something in my home is damaged during the work?
• How are disagreements handled?
• Who do I contact after the project is closed out?

A contractor’s responsibility doesn’t end at final payment. Knowing exactly where it does end — and who answers the phone — is one of the most valuable things you can learn during a bid walk.

Deposits are normal. Materials get ordered, equipment gets reserved, crews get scheduled. What you want is a structure that keeps payments roughly in step with completed work: a reasonable deposit, progress payments tied to milestones, and a final payment after the work passes inspection and your walkthrough.

Be careful when someone wants most of the money before anything happens. Some states limit how large a residential deposit can be, so it’s worth knowing the rule where you live — this is general information, not legal advice, and your local consumer-protection or licensing agency is the right source.

Paying by check or card also gives you a record. A cash-only demand removes your paper trail at the exact moment you might need one.

A change order is simply a written agreement that the job has changed: what the new work is, what it costs, and how it affects the schedule — signed by both of you before it happens.

Ask up front: how are changes documented, who approves them, and will work stop until I’ve signed off? Nearly every ugly contractor dispute starts with work that nobody agreed to in writing.