How to check a contractor before you let them in the house

The licence number is two numbers

A Utah licence number comes in two parts, and the state's own lookup form shows the shape of it: a core number in one box, a four-digit identifier in another. Its example fields read 3072216 and 6184.

The state's own lookup form says so in its instructions: enter the core number to view all licences held by this licensee, or the core number plus the four-digit identifier to view one specific licence.

So the first part identifies the person or company. The four digits after the hyphen identify a single licence they hold. A contractor can hold one classification and not another, and a number on a van tells you only that one of them exists.

Which means the useful search is the core number on its own, without the suffix. That returns everything they hold, and the gap between what is on that list and what they are quoting you for is the thing worth looking at.

What to look at when the record comes up

• The name on the licence, character for character against the name on the quote and the name on the contract. A licence held by a different entity than the one billing you is not your contractor's licence.
• The status. Active is the only answer.
• The classification, and whether it covers the work. This is the part people skip.
• The date it was issued, which tells you nothing about quality but does tell you whether the licence is older than the company name.

What the classifications actually mean

Utah issues by trade, and the requirements behind each one are not the same. A few that matter for house work:

The specific dollar figures behind the bonds and the insurance minimums are not printed here on purpose. The ones we could find come from licensing-summary websites rather than from the Division itself, and this site does not publish a number it cannot trace. The structure is what matters to you anyway: each classification has a different bar behind it, and holding one is not holding another.

They have to tell you. That is in the rules.

Utah does not require a contractor to put the licence number in advertising. So its absence from a van, a website or a flyer means nothing at all, and you should not read anything into it either way.

What the rules do say is that failing to provide the licence and number on request by any person is unprofessional conduct. Not a courtesy. Conduct the state can act on.

So ask. And notice what happens when you do, because the answer to that question is itself information.

What Utah makes it unlawful for them to do

Section 58-55-501 of the Utah Code lists prohibited conduct. Five of them are worth a homeowner knowing, because each one describes something you might otherwise watch happen and assume was normal.

• Engaging in a construction trade, or representing that you do, without the licence for it.
• Acting beyond the scope of the licence held. Holding one classification is not holding all of them.
• Hiring an unlicensed person to work on a project, unless they are an employee for wages who is not required to be licensed.
• Applying for or obtaining a building permit, for yourself or for someone else, when not licensed for that work. If your contractor asks you to pull the permit in your own name, ask why, because this is the section that makes that question worth asking.
• Submitting a bid for work requiring a licence they do not hold. Read that one twice: quoting you a price is itself the violation, whether or not any work ever happens.

The provision that protects your money

Utah Code 58-55-604 bars an unlicensed contractor from suing in Utah courts for payment. There are four narrow exceptions — work for a party with expertise in the field, work supervised by licensed subcontractors, a trivial or technical deficiency in the licence, and certain performance-bond or detrimental-reliance situations — but the rule is the rule.

That is not permission to refuse to pay somebody who did the work. It is a description of where you stand if a job goes wrong and the person who did it turns out not to have held the licence for it. The four minutes at the start is cheaper than the position at the end.

The Division does enforce. It runs periodic enforcement sweeps with fines attached.

Insurance and the bond are two different things

General liability insurance covers damage they cause. A surety bond is money set aside against their failure to perform or to pay. They are not substitutes for each other and a company can carry one and not the other.

For the certificate of insurance, ask for it to come directly from the insurance agent rather than forwarded by the contractor, and check that the policy dates cover the days your job will actually run. A certificate is a snapshot; a policy can lapse the week after it is issued.

Workers' compensation is the one people forget, and it is the one that reaches you. If somebody is injured on your property working for an uninsured contractor, that becomes your problem in a way general liability does not cover. Failing to maintain workers' compensation coverage is itself listed as unlawful conduct.

On permits, and why they are on your side

A permit is not the contractor's paperwork, it is your protection. It puts a second person, who is not being paid by either of you, in the position of looking at the work.

Where a job crosses trades, each trade should pull its own permit under its own licence. When we install an EV charger the electrical permit is pulled by our licensed electrical partner, under their licence, not ours. That is not fussiness, it is section 58-55-501(4).

If a quote is cheaper because it skips the permit, the saving is the inspection.

The protection you lose by not checking

This is the part that turns the licence check from diligence into money, and almost nobody knows it exists.

In 1994 the Utah Legislature acted on a pattern: contractors taking a homeowner's money and not paying their own subcontractors and suppliers. The subcontractor, who has no contract with you and whom you may never have met, can put a lien on your house. Homeowners who had already paid in full were paying twice to avoid losing the house.

The Residence Lien Restriction and Lien Recovery Fund Act, Utah Code Title 38 Chapter 11, is the answer to that. If you qualify, a lien claimant has to release the lien, and they get paid out of a state fund instead of out of you.

You qualify only if all three of these are true.

• You contracted in writing with a licensed contractor, or one exempt from licensure under the Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act, or a factory built housing retailer, or a real estate developer.
• You paid the contract price in full, including any amendments to the contract.
• You occupy the residence as a primary or secondary residence within 180 days of completion, or rent it to somebody who does.

Read that first condition again

A written contract, with a licensed contractor. Not a handshake, and not somebody who turned out not to hold the classification for the work.

So hiring unlicensed is not only a risk to the quality of the work. It removes a statutory protection that would otherwise stop a stranger from attaching your house after you have already paid. That is the whole argument for the four minutes at the top of this page.

The property has to be a single-family or duplex residence. The requirement to pay in full is exactly as strict as it sounds: if you are in dispute and withholding money, the protection is not available to you, and that is worth knowing before you decide to withhold.

If a lien lands anyway, what to do and how long you have

You apply to the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing for a Certificate of Compliance. It takes three documents: the written contract, evidence the contractor was licensed or exempt, and proof you paid in full.

Notice that two of those three are things you either have from the beginning or never get. Keep the written contract and keep the proof of payment, and take a screenshot of the licence record on the day you sign.

There is a clock. Apply within 30 days of being served with the first summons and complaint in a lien foreclosure action.

Once you have the Certificate, mail a copy to the lien claimant by certified mail. They have to release the lien within 15 days, and the 15 days run from the postmark on your envelope, not from when they get round to opening it.

Ask us the same questions

Everything above applies to this company and we would rather you ran it than took our word.

Ask for the licence number and search the core number on its own, so you see everything held rather than the one we chose to give you. Ask which classification covers the work you are buying. Ask for the certificate of insurance from the agent. Ask who is pulling the permit and under whose licence.

If any answer to those is uncomfortable, that is the answer.

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