How to verify a contractor in Los Angeles before you sign

Every project depends on the licensed parties, written scope, insurance, approvals, and recordkeeping. Basic verification can be completed before signing.

Here is the entire list, in the order it should happen.

1. Verify the license, do not just receive the number

A license number printed on a truck is not verification. Take the number from the written proposal and look it up on the Contractors State License Board website. Confirm four things:

• Status is active, not expired, suspended or inactive.
• The business name matches the entity you would be contracting with. A number belonging to a different company is a serious signal.
• The classification authorizes the written scope. California licenses are classified by trade. A B contractor may perform qualifying general-building projects involving at least two unrelated trades; standalone specialty work generally requires the appropriate specialty classification. Confirm the proposed scope against the current CSLB record.
• Bond, workers compensation and disciplinary history. All of it is on the same record.

Our own record is public for exactly this reason: Fency Builders Inc, CSLB License #1104099, and we encourage clients to look it up before signing anything — with us or anyone else.

2. Confirm insurance independently

Ask for verification of workers compensation, where employees are involved, and general liability. The meaningful version comes from the insurer or agent, or a certificate issued naming you — not a photocopy from a folder, which proves only that a policy existed on the day it was printed.

The reason this matters is simple: if an uninsured worker is injured on your property, the exposure can land on you.

3. Read the contract for the six things that matter

1. Scope, specifically. "Install fence" is not a scope. Materials, dimensions, heights, finishes, quantities and what happens to the old material all belong in writing.
2. Payment schedule tied to milestones. Payments should follow completed work, never run ahead of it. California limits the down payment on home improvement contracts; a demand for a large percentage up front is a warning, not a negotiation.
3. Allowances, with amounts. Where a selection has not been made, the allowance figure decides whether the final price resembles the contract price.
4. Exclusions, explicitly. This is where the surprise line items on the final invoice come from. Ask directly: what is not included.
5. Change orders in writing. Projects can have changes. What matters is that price and schedule impact are agreed in writing before the work happens.
6. Warranty terms, labor and material stated separately, with a duration.

4. Confirm permit responsibility in writing

The written agreement should identify the proper permit applicant and responsible licensee for the approved scope. If an owner is asked to act as owner-builder, review CSLB's official explanation of the legal and financial responsibilities before accepting that role.

The corollary: a contractor who tells you no permit is needed without checking your parcel is guessing. Which requirements apply depends on your jurisdiction, your zone and your grade — the process is set out in fence and wall permits in Los Angeles.

5. Judge the bid, not the number

Two bids far apart are rarely the same work at different prices. They are usually different work. The gaps are almost always in the parts you cannot see afterwards:

• Footing depth and diameter on fences, gates and walls — see how to budget a new fence.
• Base depth and compaction under hardscape — see concrete and paver hardscape.
• Drainage behind a retaining wall — see retaining wall vs. block wall.
• Flashing replaced rather than reused on a roof — see when to replace a roof.
• Preparation hours on an exterior repaint — see exterior painting and stucco.

Ask each bidder to state those items. The answers tell you what you are actually comparing.

6. The warning signs, collected

• Pressure to sign today, or a discount that expires this afternoon.
• A large cash deposit, or a request to pay a person rather than a company.
• No written contract, or a contract that fits on one line.
• A license number that does not match the business name — or no number offered at all.
• Refusal to provide insurance verification.
• An offer to skip the permit "to save you money."
• Door-to-door solicitation offering to use material left over from another job.
• No physical address, no verifiable reviews, no completed work you can look at.

What good looks like

A contractor who welcomes the license lookup, provides insurance verification without hesitation, writes a scope you can read and understand, prices the invisible work openly, identifies the proper permit applicant and responsible licensee, and puts changes in writing.

None of that is dramatic. It simply removes the ways a project goes wrong. Our reviews and completed projects are published for the same purpose the license record is — so the claims can be checked rather than taken on trust.