- Hire a Licensed Contractor with Workers Compensation Insurance!!
- Ask to see the Contractors License Card and Worker’s Comp Certificate! If they can’t produce these items, send them on their way.
By Joe Ronstadt, Sr.
Hiring a legitimate licensed contractor gives you protection against the following:
INJURIES
- Power Saws: Using Power saws while standing on step ladders and precariously balancing on beams is extremely dangerous!
- Lifting Heavy Beams: Everyone knows lifting too much is hazardous. Most people do not realize how heavy these beams are. Back injuries are common.
- Ladders and power tools: The risk of falling is real but adding in the use of large saws and drills, etc. only compound’s the danger.
NO RECOURSE if they are not licensed.
What is your recourse if things don’t go as expected, like injury or poor workmanship? Who do you call?
- No Contractor’s State License Board can help you.
- No contractor’s Bond can help you.
- What if they don’t finish the job and won’t return your calls?
- Just because a friend or neighbor recommended an unlicensed individual posing as a contractor doesn’t mean that you’ll have the same experience.
COST
- Many times, unlicensed individuals are more expensive or equal to the legal licensed contractors. If you don’t compare, you don’t know.
For more info on our safety techniques and much more, see our website patiocoversoc.com.
HOW TO HIRE A LICENSED CONTRACTOR
The starting point is checking all the normal credentials like CSLB license, insurance and references. But equally important is determining whether they are a good craftsman or not. If they are merely following industry standards of which have many flaws, they are falling short.
Some of the red flags that I see in advertising are as follows:
- No License or Workers Compensation insurance.
- Advertising for a trade that they are not properly licensed for. See (cslb.ca.gov).
- False reviews.
- False or exaggerated claims, i.e. years in business.
- Using terms like: “combined years of experience.” The aggregate years of experience, of multiple individuals is irrelevant (example: when they say “Together, Smith & Jones have a combined experience of 50 years”).
- The most important credential is not how many years, but the quality of craftsmanship. If a contractor uses poor techniques, the quantity of years is irrelevant.
TIP 1: Don’t hire a drifter with no address!
Look for the following:
Make sure that you have enough information in case you need to sue.
- Contractor’s license, address, legitimate company name, reviews, etc…
TIP 2: Make sure they have workers compensation insurance!!!
- Injuries are common in the construction industry.
- Dangerous tools such as large saws are in use.
- The use of ladders and heavy lifting is required.
- With so many injury lawyers advertising on bill boards and such, injury fraud is a legitimate concern. A worker can fake an injury and an injury Attorney will sue the contractor and also the property owner.
TIP 3: The Lower the License Number, The Longer in Business.
- Our License, established in 1984, Check Our License #452151 at (cslb.ca.gov)
