How to Vet a Tradesperson Before You Let Them Through the Door

You've got a leak under the kitchen sink, a circuit breaker that keeps tripping, or a water heater making sounds it shouldn't. You need someone fast. So you search, find a name, and they're available today.

But before you hand over access to your home, there are four things every homeowner should verify — and most people check zero of them.

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1. Ask for the License Number and Look It Up

Every state requires plumbers and electricians to hold a current license. This isn't a formality — it's the primary mechanism that confirms someone has passed trade exams, completed supervised hours, and carries the legal right to do regulated work in your jurisdiction.

The process takes two minutes:

• Ask the tradesperson for their license number before they arrive, or when they show up.
• Go to your state's contractor licensing board website (most have a public lookup tool).
• Confirm the license is active, not expired or suspended.
• Check that the license category matches the work you need — a plumbing license does not cover electrical work.

If they hesitate to provide a number, that hesitation is itself useful information.

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2. Verify General Liability Insurance

A license tells you they're qualified. Insurance tells you you're protected if something goes wrong.

Ask for a Certificate of Insurance (COI) showing:

• General liability coverage — covers property damage or injury that occurs during the job.
• A coverage amount appropriate to the scope of work (most residential jobs warrant at least $1 million per occurrence).
• An expiration date that hasn't passed.

You can call the insurance provider listed on the certificate directly to confirm the policy is active. Legitimate tradespeople carry this documentation routinely and won't be surprised by the request.

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3. Confirm Identity Matches the License

A license number is only useful if the person presenting it is the person it was issued to. For jobs that involve access to your home — especially when you're alone — basic identity verification matters.

Before work begins:

• Ask to see a government-issued ID.
• Cross-reference the name on the ID with the name on the license.
• If they're working under a company name, confirm the company is registered and that the individual is listed as a licensed qualifier for that company.

This step feels awkward to many homeowners, but it's a standard expectation in professional contracting relationships. Any tradesperson operating legitimately will understand.

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4. Check for a Background Verification Process

Licensing and insurance cover professional qualifications and financial risk. They don't cover criminal history.

When hiring through a platform or agency, ask directly: Do you run background checks on your tradespeople, and what does that process include?

A credible answer will specify: - What database or service is used (national criminal databases, sex offender registry, etc.) - How frequently checks are renewed (annual re-verification is a higher standard than one-time onboarding) - Whether the check was run on the specific individual arriving, not just the company they work for

If you're hiring directly from a search result or referral, you can run a basic background check yourself through several consumer-facing services, though these vary in depth.

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Why Most People Skip This

The honest reason is urgency. When something is broken and water is on the floor, the instinct is to find someone available, not to open a browser and start cross-referencing license databases.

The problem is that the moments when you're most likely to skip vetting are the exact moments when the stakes are highest. Emergency repairs often involve the most vulnerable access points in a home — main water shutoffs, electrical panels, crawl spaces — and the most financial pressure to accept the first price offered.

Building the habit before an emergency means you're not making those decisions under stress.

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What This Looks Like in Practice

Save this checklist to your phone now, before you need it:

1. License number — requested before arrival, verified on state licensing board site
2. Certificate of Insurance — general liability, active, appropriate coverage amount
3. Photo ID — name matches the license
4. Background check confirmation — ask the platform or ask the individual

Four checks. The whole process takes under ten minutes and applies to every plumber, electrician, or HVAC technician you let into your home.

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Fixly runs a human-reviewed credential verification pipeline on every tradesperson in its network before they accept their first job. License status, insurance, and background verification are confirmed at onboarding and subject to periodic re-review. Pricing estimates generated through the Fixly app are AI-generated ranges based on photo analysis and job description; final price is confirmed by the tradesperson upon in-person assessment.