Surprisingly enough this doesn't seem to have been asked. Or at least it was inundated with all the other garbage that Google returns (Google is fast becoming worthless as a search engine).
If I hire a repairman, would it be rude for me to ask to see his license and bonding documents if I am in doubt. Especially for something involving a roof or electrical? My neighbor is the king of hiring fly by night repair guys who wheel and deal with him, I seriously doubt any of them are bonded, but if I hired the same guy, I wouldn't know if he was dishonest or not. I don't hang out with plumbers and electricians or roofer so I have to take them at face value. So if I hire some guy would he get all pissy and irritated if I asked him for his info?
The license is public record in all of hte places I am familiar with and most places require the number be readily and publicly available. If you ask and some contractor gets all pissy, that would be reason enough to go running as fast as possible in the OPPOSITE direction.
Is it rude not to be a gullible idiot? I don't think so. If a contractor might get offended then you know he is somebody you want to steer clear of.
These things are public record. Often the issuer of licenses also requires insurances, bonds etc. and demands these things be kept up to date to maintain a valid license. Where I work, all this info is posted at a county website. Check with your local municipality
They could be licensed and bonded but you still wouldn't KNOW they are honest. :)
Ask him and see.
I'd want to not only see the papers but to make a photocopy. Although not if you can find it online. Then I'd just rpint it out.
If the records are not online where you are, I wouldn't go to the trouble of going to find them. He should show them to you, including a form that shows they were renewed less than a year earlier. (or whatever time period it says on the form.)
on 8/12/2007 9:07 PM Eigenvector said the following:
If he has one, he'll be glad to show it. If a jurisdiction requires a license, they often require that the license number be displayed prominently on their vehicles.
Not at all rude. Those who do things by the book despise those who do the same work without the licenses and permits, then undercut them in price. (And do shoddy work giving everyone in the trade a bad image.)
However documents can be faked. I would ask for their contractor number and the bonding company name/phone number. Then check with the state and the bonding company.
In my area the contractor number is on their vehicles, advertisements, and business cards. Some fly-by-night types have been known to use another contractor's number...
One of my lawyer sons advised that I get a paper proof of insurance. This happened after a chimney sweep almost fell off my roof while inspecting chimney while there was snow on the roof.
Why is that rude? Business is business, leave the emotion out of all your dealings with any contractor, be up front and open, give them a lot of info about what you want done and the results you expect, they cant read minds and will appreciate the clarity. Worrying about feelings will just cause mis-communication somewhere along the line, avoid that by frankness and bluntness. If they get pissy, then hire a true professional, the time to know about insurance liability is before they get on your roof.
When I deal with repairmen and contractors for things around our house, I always ask to see their current insurance and licenses. I also take notes when I'm talking to them, then write up what they say in a contract and make them sign it before doing the work.
99% of the time they don't want to sign it. When I remind them that there isn't anything in the contract that they didn't say themselves when we were talking they usually want to either add time or money to what they initially promised verbally. Usually adding the time or money isn't a big deal to me. I just want the TRUTH about how much time and money will REALLY be involved. Plus having the written contract keeps me at a higher priority on their list than people who don't have anything in writing, and also calls out EXACTLY when they will get their money. That eliminates them from constantly hounding us for more money. My wife doesn't do this with the people that she hires to do stuff, and her projects usually have big problems. She hired a landscaper last year. The guy got 30% of the money down, then kept asking her for more money every week (which she usually gave him). The guy is driving a Hummer and lives in a better house than we do, but told her that he couldn't pay his bills unless she gave him more money. As you can expect, the work has never been completed, but with nothing in writing to worry about and all of his money in hand, he's never going to come and finish the job. My wife is too ashamed and embarrassed to do anything about it, but if and when I run into the guy... Bottom line is that business is business. There's no room for emotions or fear of "insulting" someone by asking them for things that are required by law!
"willshak" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.supernews.com...
No, it's not rude. And if they take it that way, tell them to pack lead. Most states let you look up their license number and see if it's valid and if there are complaints, etc.
Would you rather them not have insurance, get hurt and sue you?
This conversation has devolved into a complex thing. Lots of work can and is done safely by people hiring unlicensed uninsured people all the time. It's just when something goes haywire that we hear about it. It's all up to you. You're the one at risk.
You might be scaring off good tradesmen by insisting on documentation. Yet not asking is courting disaster. It's a Catch-22 situation.
Most legit contractors have a level of pride in their work that makes them happy to show their professionalism by providing license and insurance documents. Around here they do it all the time.
In Washington State, there's often no need to ask. The state has a web site that verifies current license, bond, liability insurance, and worker's comp status, as well as the status of any past bond claims.
You can even sign up for worker's comp monitoring, the state will email you the day their worker's comp goes out of force and you can keep them off the site until things are current again.
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