CityvettedThe universal 7-point vetting checklist for any contractor
License, insurance, references, and the four other checks that work in every category and every state.
Every home-service category has its own quirks, its own jargon, its own ways to get fleeced. But underneath all of it sits the same handful of questions, and they work whether you are hiring a plumber in Florida or a roofer in Oregon. If you do nothing else before signing a contract, run these seven checks. They take about an hour total, they cost nothing, and they screen out the overwhelming majority of contractors who will eventually cause you grief.
- Seven checks work in every category and every state. Run all of them before you sign.
- License and insurance are non-negotiable, and both must be verified, not just claimed.
- The references that matter are recent and local. Ask for jobs from the last six months.
- A written, itemized contract is the seventh check and the one that protects you when the rest fail.
Why one checklist works everywhere
People assume vetting a roofer is fundamentally different from vetting a house cleaner. It is not. The category changes what the work looks like, but the questions that predict whether a contractor will do you right are the same across the board: are they legitimate, are they covered if something goes wrong, do real customers vouch for them, and did they put the deal in writing? Get those answers and the category-specific details mostly take care of themselves.
Cityvetted analysis, 2026.
- Verify the license.
Most trades require a state or local license. Get the number and check it against your state licensing board's website yourself. A license printed on a business card proves nothing. The lookup takes two minutes and tells you if it is active, expired, or fake.
- Confirm insurance, and get the certificate.
They need general liability and, if they have employees, workers' compensation. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from their insurer or agent, not a photo of a document. Without workers' comp, an injury on your property can become your financial problem.
- Pull three recent, local references.
Not a glowing testimonial from two years ago. Ask for three jobs from the last six months in your area, then actually call them. Ask if the final price matched the quote and whether they would hire the contractor again.
- Read the online reviews for patterns, not stars.
A 4.6 average hides nothing useful. Read the one and two-star reviews and look for repeated complaints: no-shows, surprise charges, sloppy cleanup. One bad review is noise. The same complaint five times is a forecast.
- Get a written, itemized estimate.
Labor, materials, timeline, and what is excluded, all on paper. A lump sum scrawled on a notepad is not an estimate. Itemization lets you compare bids honestly and gives you something to hold them to.
- Ask how they handle changes and surprises.
Every real job hits something unexpected. The honest answer is a written change-order process with prices you approve before work proceeds. "We'll just sort it out" means you will sort it out at their price.
- Confirm the warranty and who stands behind it.
Separate the workmanship warranty (their labor) from any manufacturer warranty (the materials). Get the workmanship terms in writing. A contractor who guarantees their labor for a year or more is betting on their own quality. Take the bet with them.
The two checks people skip, and regret
Almost everyone glances at reviews. Almost nobody calls references or verifies the license, because both take effort and feel awkward. Those are exactly the two that catch the contractors a star rating misses. A scammer can buy reviews. They cannot easily fake an active state license or produce three real customers who will pick up the phone and praise them. The friction is the point. The checks that are slightly uncomfortable are the ones doing the real work.
"The contractor who happily hands over a license number and three phone numbers is rarely the one who burns you. The trouble starts with the ones who get cagey when you ask."
to Maya Hendricks, Home Services EditorWhat a contractor's reaction tells you
Run these checks out loud and watch how the contractor responds. A good one expects the questions and answers them without flinching, because they get asked all the time and have nothing to hide. A bad one gets impatient, vague, or insulted that you would dare verify them. That reaction is its own data point. You are not just collecting answers, you are watching whether someone treats your due diligence as reasonable or as an annoyance. The ones who respect the questions tend to respect the work and the bill too.
When to walk away
If a contractor cannot produce a license number you can verify, will not send an insurance certificate, refuses to give recent references, or balks at putting the estimate in writing, you are done. It does not matter how good the price is or how busy you are. Every one of those refusals is a contractor telling you, plainly, that they would rather you not look too closely. Believe them and move on. There is always another bid.
These seven checks are the backbone of how Cityvetted vets every business we rank, in every category. We verify licenses and insurance, we read review patterns rather than averages, and we weight whether a contractor's final bills match their estimates. When you use this checklist, you are running a small version of our process on your own kitchen table. That is exactly the point.