Hiring · 8 min read
How to Choose a Contractor in Utah (Without Getting Burned)
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We're a contractor telling you how to evaluate contractors, so read this with appropriate skepticism. But every item here is verifiable independently, which is rather the point.
Verify the license yourself
Utah's Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing maintains a public license lookup. It's free, it takes about a minute, and it tells you whether a license is active and whether there's disciplinary history.
Don't accept a license number on a business card as proof. Look it up. Any legitimate contractor expects you to.
What bonded and insured actually mean
These get used as marketing words, and most homeowners don't know what they cover.
- Licensed means the state has verified qualifications and the contractor is legally permitted to do the work.
- Bonded means there's a surety bond providing a limited pool of funds if the contractor fails to meet obligations. It is not unlimited insurance against a bad outcome.
- Insured means general liability coverage for damage to your property. Ask for a certificate of insurance — and ask that it be sent directly from the insurer, not forwarded as a PDF.
- Workers' compensation matters too. If an uninsured worker is injured on your property, you may be exposed.
Red flags
Some of these are absolute, some are judgment calls, but a cluster of them is a strong signal to walk.
- Large up-front deposits. A reasonable deposit covers materials, not most of the project. Anyone asking for half down before work begins is asking you to finance their risk.
- Cash-only, or a discount for paying cash with no written contract.
- Pressure to decide today, or a price that expires this week.
- No written itemized estimate — just a number.
- Suggesting you skip the permit to save money. This one is disqualifying on its own.
- No physical address, no verifiable license, no certificate of insurance.
- A bid dramatically below every other bid. Find out what's excluded before assuming you found a deal.
What a good contract looks like
Get scope in writing, itemized. Get a payment schedule tied to milestones rather than dates. Get a start date and a rough completion window. Get the change order process in writing — how changes get priced and approved before work happens.
Get the warranty in writing, including what's covered and for how long. And confirm who's pulling the permit; if the contractor asks you to pull it as the homeowner, understand that this shifts liability onto you and is a common way for unlicensed work to proceed.
The short version
Look up the license yourself, get a certificate of insurance from the insurer, insist on an itemized written contract, and never pay a large deposit up front.
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