Why It’s Important to Background Check Your Home Contractors

Hiring a contractor is a big decision whether you’re building a new family home or updating your current one. You want to do everything in your power to hire the right contractor so you can have peace of mind for yourself, your family, and your home. Plus, it’s helpful on the legal front to avoid liability and fraud schemes.

If you don’t plan to run a background check on your home contractors, you run a risk with whoever you pick. Sure, they might seem like reputable individuals from their website and social media presence. But do they have the background, skills, and experience to back that up?

The only way to find out is by background checking your potential home contractors. Here are five reasons it’s essential to complete a background check on your home contractor candidates:

1. Keep Your Family Safe

When someone is working in your home so much, they can often end up spending a lot of time around you, or at the very least, around your possessions and valuables. Feel good knowing that your items, home, and children are safe around the contractor you choose by getting a comprehensive background check. This screening looks for things like criminal history so you can have greater peace of mind.

2. Reduce Legal Liability

The last thing you want is to be liable for something terrible that happens on the job due to choosing a poor contractor.

For example, suppose you hire Contractor B to join Contractor A to complete a specific job. Contractor A causes Contractor B to get injured, and Contractor B finds out that you didn’t perform a background check. A screening would have revealed no real history in the construction field.

This scenario happens more frequently than you’d think. Unfortunately, in this situation, you could be liable for any damages or injuries caused.

3. Discourage Dishonorable Candidates

Just posting that all of your contractor candidates will go through a criminal and professional background check will automatically increase the quality of your candidates. This requirement will discourage liars and cheats from applying and encourage skilled and experienced contractors to apply.

4. Enhance Quality of Work

A contractor with a criminal history may do just as good of a job on a project as a contractor without one, but there are certainly risks involved. However, hiring a contractor after running a background check will enhance the quality of work. This vetting process makes it more likely that you’ll choose one with bonafide experience and skills to match.

5. Avoid Insurance Fraud

Low-life scamming contractors often like to prey on homeowners to take advantage of their insurance policy. They may perform low-quality work and charge your insurance company high fees, which constitute insurance fraud. These scams can ultimately put the liability on you, resulting in the insurers denying your claim and leaving you on the hook to foot the bill.

Better Safe Than Sorry

A background check may prolong the home contractor hiring process by a few extra hours or even days. However, it’s a safety precaution that protects you, your home, your family, and even your legal liability.