Before you let anyone onto your property or hand over a deposit, run a short set of checks: confirm the trade is licensed or certified where the law requires it, ask for a current Workers Compensation Board (WCB) clearance letter and a Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance certificate, get the scope in writing, and never pay the whole price up front. These checks take minutes, they are free, and they are the difference between a contractor who stands behind the work and one who disappears when something goes wrong.
This guide is the overview. Each step links to a deeper guide below.
Why the checks matter
The hard truth is that hiring badly can make you, the homeowner, liable. If you hire someone who is not registered with their provincial WCB and they are injured on your property, you can be treated as the employer and held responsible for their compensation costs. If you hire an unlicensed electrician and the work causes a fire, your home insurer may deny the claim. If you pay everything up front and the work is defective, you have no money left to hold as leverage. Every one of those risks shifts to you the moment you skip a check.
The five checks, in order
- Licence or certification. Some trades, such as electrical and gas work, cannot legally be done for hire without the right ticket, and the rules differ by province. Confirm the contractor and the worker hold what the law requires. See Checking a Contractor Is Licensed.
- WCB clearance letter. Ask for a current clearance letter from the provincial board (WSIB in Ontario, WorkSafeBC, WCB-Alberta and so on). It confirms their account is in good standing and protects you from the deemed-employer trap.
- CGL insurance certificate. Ask for a Certificate of Insurance direct from their insurer, not a photocopy of a policy page, and check the expiry date. A minimum of $2 million CGL is standard for residential renovation; ask for $5 million for roofing, excavation or any high-risk work.
- A written contract. Get the scope, the materials, the price, the payment milestones and the start and finish dates in writing. In Ontario a written contract is required by law for consumer agreements over $50. See Deposits and Your Consumer Rights.
- References and reviews. Ask for two or three recent local jobs and actually call them. Read the negative reviews, not just the five-star ones, and look for a pattern.
Get three written quotes
For anything beyond a small repair, get three written quotes for the same defined scope. Quotes that are wildly apart usually mean the cheap one has left work out, or the expensive one has padded it. A bid that comes in 40 percent below the next lowest is a warning sign, not a bargain. For a realistic sense of what work should cost before you compare quotes, see What Renovation Work Should Cost.
Pay in stages, never all up front
A deposit of 10 to 15 percent at signing is normal and is enough for a legitimate contractor to order materials and book you in. Never pay more than about 30 percent up front, never pay a deposit in cash, and hold back the final payment until the work is finished, inspected and any deficiencies are fixed. Cash-only deals with no receipt leave you with no paper trail and no recourse.
Common mistakes
- Hiring on a recommendation alone. A friend's word is a good start, but still run the licence, WCB and insurance checks yourself.
- Accepting a verbal quote. Get it in writing. A handshake leaves you nothing to stand on if the job goes sideways.
- Skipping the insurance certificate. "I am insured" is not proof. A current certificate from the insurer is.
- Paying to make the contractor start sooner. Pressure to pay more up front is a red flag, not a scheduling reality. See Avoiding Renovation Scams.
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