10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Contractor in California

The most expensive home-repair mistakes don't happen during the work — they happen before it, in the 15 minutes when you decide who to trust. A confident handshake and a friendly quote tell you almost nothing. What separates a pro from a problem is how they answer a handful of direct questions about license, insurance, paperwork, and money.

Below are the 10 questions worth asking every contractor before you sign anything or hand over a deposit. For each one, you'll see why it matters and what a good answer sounds like versus a bad one. None of these are rude or unusual — a true professional has heard them all and will answer without flinching. The ones who get defensive are telling you something too.

1. Are you licensed, and what's your CSLB license number?

In California, any home-improvement job where labor and materials total $1,000 or more must be done by a contractor licensed through the Contractors State License Board (CSLB). Hiring unlicensed for work above that threshold puts you on the hook if something goes wrong — and an unlicensed contractor can't legally place a mechanic's lien or sue you for payment, but you also lose key protections.

Don't just take their word for it. Ask for the number and verify it yourself at the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov), where you can confirm the license is active, in the right classification for your job, and has no major disciplinary history.

• Good answer: "License 1XXXXXX, classification C-10 for electrical. Look me up on the CSLB site — I'll wait."
• Bad answer: "I've been doing this 20 years, I don't need a license for something this small." (Maybe true under $1,000 — but verify the dollar math, and never assume.)

2. Do you carry liability insurance and workers' comp?

Two separate coverages protect you. General liability covers damage the contractor causes to your property. Workers' compensation covers their crew if someone is injured on your job — without it, an injured worker's medical bills can land on your homeowner's policy or on you directly. In California, contractors with employees are required to carry workers' comp.

Ask for a certificate of insurance (COI) and confirm it's current. A real pro can produce one in minutes.

• Good answer: "I'll email you my COI today. My carrier can confirm coverage if you call."
• Bad answer: "My guys are all subcontractors, so I don't carry comp." (Worth a careful look — misclassification is a real risk to you.)

3. Can I see a detailed written estimate?

A verbal price is not a contract. Insist on a written estimate that breaks out labor, materials, and any allowances — not a single lump-sum number scrawled on the back of a card. The detail protects both sides: it defines exactly what you're paying for and makes it obvious when something is an extra versus part of the original scope.

• Good answer: An itemized estimate listing tasks, material grades, quantities, and a clear total.
• Bad answer: "It'll run you about five grand, give or take." Vague numbers are how budgets quietly double.

4. What's the payment schedule?

How a contractor structures payment is one of the clearest signals of how they run their business. California law caps the down payment on most home-improvement contracts at 10% of the contract price or $1,000, whichever is less. After that, payments should be tied to progress — milestones completed, not calendar dates.

Be wary of anyone who wants most or all of the money up front. That's the single most common pattern in contractor-fraud complaints.

• Good answer: "10% to start, then draws as we hit milestones, final payment when you've inspected and you're happy."
• Bad answer: "I need 60% up front to order materials." Legitimate suppliers extend credit to established contractors.

5. Who pulls the permits — you or me?

For most structural, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and re-roofing work, your city or county requires a permit and inspection. The licensed contractor doing the work should pull the permit in their name. If a contractor asks you to pull it as the homeowner, treat that as a warning sign — it often means they want to avoid putting their license on the record, and it shifts liability to you.

Unpermitted work can also haunt you years later when you sell, because it can fail to appear on record or surface as a problem during inspection.

• Good answer: "I pull the permits under my license and schedule the inspections."
• Bad answer: "Permits just slow things down and cost extra — let's skip it."

6. What warranty do you offer on labor and materials?

Materials usually carry a manufacturer's warranty, but the contractor's workmanship warranty is separate — and it's the one that matters when a fix fails three months in. Get the length and the terms in writing. "We stand behind our work" means nothing without a number attached.

• Good answer: "One-year workmanship warranty in writing, plus the manufacturer's warranty on the parts."
• Bad answer: "Don't worry, just call me if anything goes wrong." Promises that aren't written down tend to evaporate.

7. Who will actually do the work?

The person who shows up to quote isn't always the person swinging the hammer. Ask whether the work is done by the contractor's own employees or by subcontractors, who supervises day to day, and whether those subs are licensed and insured too. You're not being difficult — you're confirming that the people in your home are accountable and covered.

• Good answer: "My two-person crew does the install; I'm on site daily and personally handle the final walkthrough."
• Bad answer: "I'll send some guys, not totally sure who's free that week."

8. Can you share references and recent local jobs?

A contractor with a real track record can point you to recent customers and, ideally, jobs similar to yours nearby. Actually call a reference or two and ask specific questions: Did the project finish on time and on budget? Were there surprise charges? Would you hire them again? Photos of completed work are useful, but a real conversation tells you more.

• Good answer: "Here are three customers from the last few months — call any of them."
• Bad answer: "All my reviews are online, I don't give out references."

9. What's the timeline, and what could delay it?

Good contractors are realistic, not optimistic. Ask for a start date, an estimated completion window, and — just as important — what could push it: material lead times, inspection scheduling, weather, or discovering hidden problems once walls are open. A pro who names the risks up front is far more trustworthy than one who promises a tidy timeline they can't control.

• Good answer: "Two to three weeks once we start, assuming the inspection slots line up and we don't find rot behind the tile."
• Bad answer: "Done by the weekend, easy." Overpromising on time often means cutting corners.

10. What happens if something goes wrong or we disagree?

Even good projects hit snags. Before work starts, understand how the contractor handles change orders (any change to scope or price should be a written, signed addendum — never a verbal "we'll sort it out later"), how they handle damage or mistakes, and how disputes get resolved. A clear, calm answer here tells you they've run a real business through real problems.

• Good answer: "Every change is a written change order you approve before I proceed. If there's a problem, we talk it through and I make it right."
• Bad answer: Annoyance at the question itself. How they react to "what if" is a preview of how they'll handle the actual "what if."

A quick pre-hire checklist

Before you commit, make sure you can check every box:

1. Verified an active, correctly-classified CSLB license number yourself
2. Received a current certificate of insurance (liability + workers' comp)
3. Got a detailed, itemized written estimate
4. Confirmed a milestone-based payment schedule with a small deposit (10% / $1,000 cap)
5. Agreed who pulls permits — the contractor, under their license
6. Got the workmanship warranty in writing
7. Know who's actually on site and that they're covered
8. Called at least one reference
9. Heard a realistic timeline with named risks
10. Understand the change-order and dispute process

Skip the guesswork — start with a vetted pro

Asking the right questions is far easier when you start from a short list of pros who've already been checked. That's exactly what LocalFixx is built for. Post your request once and you're matched 1:1 with a single vetted local pro — not thrown into an auction where a dozen strangers blow up your phone. Every pro on LocalFixx has their license and insurance verified before they can take your job, with background checks run through Checkr, and you handle quotes, messaging, and secure payment right in the app. Post your request today and get matched with a vetted local pro near you — then use these 10 questions to confirm you've found the right one.

Related guides

How to Find and Vet the Right Local Pro for Your Home Project

How to Read and Compare Contractor Quotes (and Avoid Surprise Costs)

Licensed, Bonded & Insured: What It Means and How to Verify in California