Step 1: Ask for the license number in writing before you meet — not a photo of a card, the actual number. A legitimate contractor will send it without hesitation. Anyone who stalls, sends a blurry image, or says "I'll bring it to the walkthrough" has just handed you your first data point.
The license was real. That's what fooled the last three homeowners who called us. The number checked out on the state board site. The problem was the name attached to it belonged to a man who'd retired two years earlier and had never met the guy quoting their roof. Here's how to catch that in under ten minutes.
The 10-Minute Match Check
Do these in order. Don't skip to pricing until all three lines up.
1. Look up the license number on your state's licensing board. Search "[your state] contractor license lookup" — it's a .gov site, free, and public. Type in the number they gave you.
2. Read the name on the record out loud. Does it match the name of the person or company you've been texting? Not "close enough." Exact. If the license reads "Martinez Construction LLC" and the guy introduced himself as running "Mike's Home Repair," stop and ask why.
3. Check the license status and expiration date. "Active" is what you want. "Expired," "suspended," "revoked," or "inactive" ends the conversation.
4. Request a copy of their current liability insurance certificate — and call the insurer's number on it, not the contractor's. Confirm the policy is active and the named insured matches the license name.
5. Ask them to confirm, in a text or email, the legal business name exactly as it appears on the license. Now you have all three in writing: license, insurance, and business name — from the person's own hand.
The number was legit. It just wasn't his. He was borrowing a licensed friend's credential to land jobs he had no coverage for.— homeowner, after a $9,000 dispute with no insurance to claim against
Match the Human, Not Just the Paperwork
6. When they arrive, ask to see a driver's license or ID and check the name against the license record. This sounds aggressive. It isn't — it's standard for anyone working inside your home, and honest contractors expect it.
7. Search the exact business name plus your city and the word "reviews." Then search the name plus "complaint" and plus "lawsuit." You're not looking for zero results — you're looking for a pattern. One bad review is life. Ten identical ones about disappearing mid-job is a warning.
8. Verify the business address is real. Paste it into a map. A residential lot is fine for a solo operator; a vacant field or a UPS Store mailbox is not.
9. Ask for two references from jobs completed in the last six months, and actually call one. Ask the reference a single question: "Did the same person who quoted you do the work?"
The One Red Flag That Shows Up in Almost Every Bad Hire
They ask for a large cash deposit up front — before materials are ordered, before a contract is signed, sometimes before the license check is even done.
Every version of the borrowed-license story, the disappeared-crew story, the never-came-back story starts the same way: money changed hands early, in cash, with nothing holding the contractor accountable to finish. Once your deposit is gone and there's no escrow, no signed scope, and no verified name behind the license, you have nothing to enforce and no one to enforce it against.
The fix is simple. Don't let your deposit sit in a stranger's pocket. Pay into escrow, where the money releases only as the work gets done — and the contractor's name has already been matched to the license before a dollar moves.