We have to work with a lot of contractors in our daily job in real estate mostly because an entire economy revolves around the preparation and sale of homes. If a seller isn’t already preparing a house ahead of the sale, it’s very likely that the home buyer will do a lot of work once they get ready to move in, or once they’re settled in. For us, there is an entire list of people we often refer or hire for work at our house listings:
Cleaners, window washers, inspectors, plumbers, electricians, contractors, flooring, landscapers, roofers, drone operators, photographers, furnace techs, and more just to name a small few.
This always leads to the question, “how do I know if a contractor is licensed?” and even more importantly, if they have employees and are working at your home, do they have and pay Labor & Industry insurance coverage for the possibility of a worker getting hurt on the job and needing disability pay? I’m thinking about this a lot while a company is painting my own house which is multiple stories tall and there are 4 to 6 men scurrying up and down ladders just outside.
If you are hiring a contractor, it’s always recommended that you check with the Washington Department of Licensing to validate their license AND you can also check to make sure they not only licensed, but also bonded (this painter has $4,000,000 of coverage) and that they pay into L&I. If the contractor only lists themselves as employees, it’s possible that other people you see on site could be subcontractors and now you may be putting yourself and your own insurance at risk (another good reason to have umbrella insurance) in the event someone falls and gets hurt, or similar.
Here is a website with the State of Washington you may want to check out to learn more on the topic.