Many people wonder what the key differences are between licensed and certified professional contractors and contractors and companies which lack such credentials. If you are unsure of where to look to find professionally licensed contractors, you can benefit from the use of networks. These networks are designed to ease the burden of differentiating between licensed and certified professionals and those who are not.
There are many networks which match homeowners to contractors who are screened thoroughly. One of the things these networks search for before approving a contractor or contracting company is their license. Instead of requiring you to conduct background checks, you can use a professional service which will verify that each company has their appropriate state licenses. They will also contact the insurance company for the contractors to determine whether or not they have pro general liability insurance.
Some contracting business requires a filing with the Secretary of State. When you use a professional network you can rest assured that the potential contractors are already confirmed to be in good standing with the state. Other services offered by professional networks include using third party data to complete successful criminal background checks. These checks are associated with the principle owner of the company.
Many professional networks also verify sex offender searches against the owner of the company in state sex offender websites. These networks also conduct a background check for the finances of the business owner to verify whether or not any bankruptcy filings were placed by them or against them. You can rest assured knowing that these networks will also conduct legal searches for any civil judgments against the business owner at the state level.
These networks will use third party data resources to verify whether or not the business owner had any liens placed against them. They also verify the social security number or numbers of the business owner for smaller business entities to ensure that they are who they claim to be. There is also an identity verification conducted using a reverse phone number lookup to ensure that the information on record matches the phone number information which the business provides.
Often these professional services will change over time and as such, the technologies used by the companies will change accordingly though this does at times result in discrepancies in terms of the accuracy of the information provided. Nonetheless it is recommended that you verify the professionals with whom you plan to work prior to entering into any agreement with them.