Ask before you sign

We have sat at a lot of kitchen tables, and the homeowners who ask good questions before signing almost always get a better job. Not because they are tough. Because the questions force both sides to be specific. Run this list with any contractor, including us.

Are you licensed, bonded, and insured for this work

Ask for the license number and look it up yourself on the state board site. Confirm it is active, in the company name, and covers the work you are hiring for. Confirm workers compensation and general liability. This is the floor, it takes two minutes online, and a contractor who hesitates here is the wrong contractor.

What exactly is and is not in this price

Make them walk the scope line by line. What materials, what grade, what is excluded, what would trigger a change order. The goal is to remove the gray area where surprise costs live. When two bids look far apart, the difference is almost always in what one of them left out.

What is the payment schedule

A modest deposit and payments tied to progress, not to the calendar. In California the down payment is capped by law, and a contractor asking for a third or half up front is a problem. You should always be paying for work that is done, because the money is the only hold you have to get the job finished.

Who is actually doing the work

Their own crew or subcontractors, and if subs, who. Nothing wrong with subs, but you deserve to know who will be on your property and that they are insured too. Ask who your point of contact is once the job starts, because the salesman who signs you up is often not the person who shows up to build.

What is the timeline and what happens if it slips

Get a real start and finish window in writing, and ask what could push it: weather, materials, permits, hidden conditions. A contractor who promises an unrealistic date is either inexperienced or telling you what you want to hear. The honest answer about delays is worth more than the optimistic one.

What warranty do I get, in writing

What is covered, for how long, and what voids it. On paper. A verbal warranty is worth nothing the day there is a problem, and the clarity of the warranty tells you how confident the contractor is in their own work.

Can I see recent, local work

Not the highlight reel from years ago. Jobs finished recently, near you. Talk to those owners: did the number hold, did the timeline hold, and how did the contractor handle the things that went wrong. Something always does, and the measure of a good contractor is what they do next.

The short version

• License, bond, and insurance, verified by you.
• A scope that says exactly what is and is not included.
• A payment schedule tied to progress, with a legal deposit.
• A clear answer on who does the work.
• A written timeline and an honest answer about delays.
• A written warranty.
• Recent local references you actually check.

We built our work onto a record that cannot be quietly deleted so the answers to these questions are checkable instead of just promised. Ask the questions, then hire the contractor whose answers you can verify.