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Hiring a remodeling contractor: 5 red flags and 10 questions, checked against remodel permits in 49 cities

To hire a remodeling contractor, check four things: a general license or registration that covers the size of your job, separate licenses for the electrician and plumber who will work under it, permits pulled in the contractor's own name, and a permit history in your city that mostly reaches a final inspection. Remodels are where records diverge most: 90.2% of Sacramento County remodel permits a year or more old reached a final, usually in 85 days, against 51.3% in Cambridge after 304. In San Francisco the usual kitchen, bath or remodel permit was filed at $38,000.

By Contractor Records · data through October 17, 2026

Who licenses remodelers in the states we cover

We hold remodel permits for 48 cities, plus renovation permits in New York City, across 23 states. On a remodel, the general contractor's license is only the first check: the trades under it are licensed separately in most states (see our electrician and plumber guides).

State License or registration to ask for Look it up
Arizona ROC general residential license ROC Contractor Search
California CSLB B General Building or B-2 Residential Remodeling, for any job of $1,000 or more CSLB Check a License
Colorado No state license. Denver Residential Class C certificate; Boulder Class C; PPRBD B-E (maintenance and remodelling) Boulder, PPRBD
Florida DBPR general, building or residential contractor, certified or registered MyFloridaLicense
Hawaii B general building; it does not cover the C-37 plumbing on the job PVL search
Iowa Contractor registration ($2,000 or more of work a year) Labor Portal search
Illinois None statewide; Chicago general contractor license, Class A–E by project value Chicago active GCs
Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License plus HIC registration for owner-occupied 1–4 unit homes Contractor Hub
Minnesota DLI residential building contractor (BC) or residential remodeler (CR) DLI iMS
Missouri No state license; St. Louis business license; county towns license their own St. Louis search
North Carolina NCLBGC general contractor for projects of $40,000 or more (G.S. 87-1) NCLBGC
North Dakota State contractor license above $4,000; class D caps a single job at $100,000 FirstStop
New Mexico CID GB-2 Residential (or GB-98) CID
Nevada NSCB B General Building, with a monetary limit at least your contract NSCB search
New York City DCWP Home Improvement Contractor license, plus DOB general contractor registration for alterations DCWP search
Ohio No state license; Cleveland and Cincinnati register contractors; jobs over $25,000 fall under ORC 4722's contract rules City registration
Oregon CCB license with a residential endorsement CCB License Search
Pennsylvania Attorney General HIC registration; Pittsburgh general contractor license or HIC in lieu HIC search
Texas None: TDLR does not license general contractors City permit record only
Utah DOPL R100 or B100; R101 has a lower job limit DOPL Verify a License
Virginia DPOR Class A, B or C (the class caps the job price) with a specialty that covers the work DPOR License Lookup
Vermont OPR residential contractor registration over $10,000 OPR Find a Professional
Washington L&I general contractor registration, $30,000 bond L&I Verify

Ten questions to ask a remodeling contractor, and how to check each answer

Ask A good answer How to check it
1. What is your license or registration number, and its class or limit? A class whose limit covers your contract price The board in the table above
2. Who are your electrician and plumber? Named firms with their own license numbers The trade board for each
3. Which permits will this job need, and who pulls them? A list (building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical as needed), all pulled by the contractor or its licensed subs The permits on the city portal
4. How many remodel permits have you pulled here in three years? A number The firm's page here: search by name
5. How many passed final? Near your city's share (table below) Finished share on the firm page
6. How long do your remodels take from permit to final? Near your city's usual days Days to final on the firm page
7. What is the deposit and payment schedule? Within your state's limit; later payments tied to inspections passed CA: $1,000 or 10%; MA and PA: one-third
8. Is the license number on the contract? Yes Required in Pennsylvania (§ 517.7) and Nevada (NRS 624.970)
9. How are changes priced, and what does the warranty cover? Written change orders, signed before the work; a written workmanship warranty with its length The contract
10. Who carries liability insurance and workers' comp? Certificates naming you Phone the insurer named on each

Our general list of questions covers the rest; for an addition or ADU, see ADU vs addition; for a pool, questions to ask a pool builder.

Red flags the permit record can show

City Remodel permits Firms Usual filed value Usual days to final Reached final 10th-percentile firm Firms under 70% finished
San Francisco, CA 5,126 1,925 $38,000 180 81.9% 66.9% 10 of 67
Sacramento County, CA 2,933 864 $22,464 85 90.2% 77.1% 1 of 43
Minneapolis, MN 5,552 1,424 $15,000 161 75.5% 56.1% 24 of 84
Cary, NC 1,857 626 $40,000 84 88.9% 79.5% 2 of 20
Cambridge, MA 3,512 1,395 $24,805 304 51.3% 14.8% 35 of 37
New York City (renovation) 11,805 3,139 $80,000 433 65.1% 33.1% 119 of 169

Remodeling is spread thin: 47.2% of San Francisco remodel firms filed exactly one permit in three years, so many firms you meet will have one or two jobs to look at, not fifty.

1. You are asked to pull the permit, or told none is needed. The FTC lists "Scammers ask you to get any required building permits" as a scam sign (FTC, read October 2026). It also costs you: Massachusetts' $25,000 Guaranty Fund requires that the contractor pulled the permit, and Nevada's Residential Recovery Fund excludes owners who pulled the building permit themselves.

2. Its finished share is below its city's 10th percentile. In San Francisco that line is 66.9%; in Minneapolis, 56.1%; in Cambridge, where 35 of 37 firms with 10 or more permits finish under 70%, it is 14.8%. Cities record finals differently, so compare a firm only with its own city.

3. Its jobs run far longer than the city's usual. The usual remodel reached final in 84 days in Cary and 161 in Minneapolis. Ask a firm whose own jobs take several times that why, and ask for the addresses of two recent finals.

4. The price, or the deposit, is out of line. In Sacramento County the middle half of remodel firms have a usual filed value between $15,000 and $45,200; in Cary, $20,000 to $65,439. A filed value is what the firm told the city, so use it to ask questions, not to price your job. A deposit over your state's limit is a red flag on its own.

5. The license lapsed or the class is too small. 143 Minneapolis remodel firms on permits and 502 New York City renovation firms now hold a license that is no longer active. A Virginia Class C firm cannot take a single job of $30,000 or more, and a North Dakota class D firm none over $100,000: check the class against your contract.

See every San Francisco remodeler by permit record →

What a clean record does not prove

A remodel permit's final means the inspector passed what the code covers: framing, wiring, plumbing, fire separation. It does not cover finishes, whether the job came in on budget or on time against your contract, or how change orders were handled. Firms with one or two permits have too little record to judge either way. Cary, Cambridge and the other cities with no license file show no license status here; check the board yourself. Our copy updates about monthly; the city portal is the live record.

How we know this

Counts, usual filed values and days to final come from each city's remodel permits (New York City: renovation), October 2023 to September 2026. "Reached final" is the share of permits a year or more old that the city closed with a final; days to final is the median from issue to final. The 10th-percentile and under-70% columns use firms with 10 or more permits; the filed-value range uses firms with 3 or more. License status is matched by name to CSLB (San Francisco, Sacramento County), DLI (Minneapolis) and DOB (New York City). Thresholds, deposit limits and fund caps are quoted from the boards and statutes under Sources and our state guides, read 20 October 2026.

Numbers come from San Francisco DBI building permits on one- and two-family homes, with the contractor from the city's permit contacts file; Sacramento County building permits on single-family, duplex and townhouse homes in the unincorporated county (the County's Accela permit layer); City of Minneapolis construction permits (CCS); Town of Cary building permit applications (issued permits only); City of Cambridge Inspectional Services permits (the city's per-type open-data permit files); NYC Department of Buildings permits and DOB NOW filings on one- and two-family homes (NYC Open Data), data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.

Questions

  • Does a remodeling contractor need a license?

    In most of our states, above a dollar line. California needs a licensed contractor for any job of $1,000 or more; North Carolina's general contractor license starts at $40,000; North Dakota's at $4,000; Vermont's registration over $10,000; Pennsylvania's HIC registration at $5,000 of home improvement a year. Texas, and Illinois outside Chicago, have no general contractor license at all.

  • How big a deposit can a remodeler ask for?

    California: no more than $1,000 or 10% of the price, whichever is less (B&P § 7159.5). Massachusetts: no more than one-third of the price, or the cost of special-order materials. Pennsylvania, on contracts over $5,000: no more than one-third plus special-order materials named in the contract (73 P.S. § 517.9). Elsewhere, tie each payment to a stage and an inspection on the permit.

  • Who should pull the permits for a remodel?

    The contractor, in its own name, and each trade its own permit where the city issues them separately. It also protects your remedies: Massachusetts' Guaranty Fund requires that the contractor, not you, pulled the permit, and Nevada's Residential Recovery Fund excludes owners who pulled the building permit themselves.

  • How long does a remodel permit stay open?

    The usual remodel permit reached its final in 85 days in Sacramento County, 84 in Cary, 180 in San Francisco and 304 in Cambridge. A New York City renovation took 433 days.

  • Do I need lien releases from the remodeler's subcontractors and suppliers?

    On any remodel with subs, yes. In California, a sub or supplier who may file a mechanics lien must first send you a Preliminary Notice; get a conditional release from each before you pay and an unconditional one after, and "by law, you may withhold the next payment until you get the unconditional releases for the previous payment". A joint check to the contractor and the sub or supplier is the simplest protection (CSLB). Notice rules differ by state; ask your license board.

  • What if my remodeler disappears with the deposit?

    Several states have a fund of last resort, all needing a judgment or award first: Arizona up to $30,000 per claimant, Virginia $30,000 per claimant, Massachusetts and Hawaii $25,000, Minnesota up to $100,000 per owner per licensee. None pays if the contractor was unlicensed. See contractor didn't finish the job.

Build your own list

Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.

San Francisco kitchen, bath & remodelSacramento County (unincorporated) remodel, addition & repairMinneapolis remodelCary remodel & repairCambridge remodel, addition & alterationNew York City renovation

Related guides

For one city

All guides →

Sources
  1. Licensing Classifications — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  2. Check a License — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  3. California Business and Professions Code § 7159.5 (2025 edition, via Justia) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  4. Contractor Search — Arizona Registrar of Contractors (accessed 2026-10-20)
  5. A.R.S. 32-1132.01 Maximum award (Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  6. Boulder licensed-contractor search (Customer Self-Service) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  7. Contractor search — Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (accessed 2026-10-20)
  8. Verify a License — Florida DBPR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  9. PVL public license search — Hawaii DCCA (accessed 2026-10-20)
  10. Contractors Recovery Fund brochure — Hawaii Contractors License Board (accessed 2026-10-20)
  11. Labor Portal public search — Iowa contractor registration (accessed 2026-10-20)
  12. General Contractors (Active) — City of Chicago (accessed 2026-10-20)
  13. HIC contractor search — MA Contractor Hub (accessed 2026-10-20)
  14. Required contract terms in a home improvement contract — Mass.gov (accessed 2026-10-20)
  15. File a Guaranty Fund claim for an unpaid HIC judgment — Mass.gov (accessed 2026-10-20)
  16. License and registration lookup (iMS) — Minnesota DLI (accessed 2026-10-20)
  17. Minnesota Statutes § 326B.89 Contractor recovery fund (2025) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  18. Business License Search — City of St. Louis (accessed 2026-10-20)
  19. NC General Statutes Chapter 87, Article 1 (G.S. 87-1) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  20. FirstStop contractor search — North Dakota Secretary of State (accessed 2026-10-20)
  21. 14.6.6.8 NMAC classifications — New Mexico (accessed 2026-10-20)
  22. License Search — Nevada State Contractors Board (accessed 2026-10-20)
  23. Residential Recovery Fund — Nevada State Contractors Board (accessed 2026-10-20)
  24. NRS Chapter 624 Contractors (NRS 624.970) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  25. Search Business (Home Improvement Contractor) — NYC DCWP (accessed 2026-10-20)
  26. Ohio Revised Code 4722.01 (home construction service contracts) (accessed 2026-10-20)
  27. License Search — Oregon CCB (accessed 2026-10-20)
  28. Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act — Pennsylvania Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
  29. Home Improvement Contractor search — Pennsylvania Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
  30. Programs Licensed and Regulated by TDLR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  31. Verify a License — Utah DOPL (accessed 2026-10-20)
  32. License Lookup — Virginia DPOR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  33. Code of Virginia 54.1-1123 Limits on recovery (accessed 2026-10-20)
  34. Find a Professional — Vermont OPR (accessed 2026-10-20)
  35. Register as a Contractor — Washington L&I (accessed 2026-10-20)
  36. Verify a Contractor — Washington L&I (accessed 2026-10-20)
  37. How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam — FTC Consumer Advice (accessed 2026-10-20)
  38. How to Prevent a Mechanics Lien — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-21)