Home-addition pre-hire check
Verify a home-addition contractor before you hire.
A room addition, a second-story add, a garage conversion, a foundation-and-slab that extends the footprint, a structural framing and roof tie-in to the existing envelope — every one of them puts a six-figure deposit in front of a general contractor you do not yet have a relationship with, and concentrates scope-creep exposure, structural and water-intrusion risk, and supplier-lien-on-title exposure in a way a deck rebuild or kitchen remodel handle differently. Run the same public-record check the GC runs on you, pair it with the five parallel signals the public record does not cover, and decide with the full picture before you write the deposit.
Or review plans for Solo / Team contractors.
What the public-record check covers on a home-addition GC
The same four public-record sources TradeSafeJobs uses for pre-bid client vetting — reframed for the lens of a homeowner running the check on a home-addition GC instead of the other way around. Additions concentrate the supplier-lien and owner-builder on-title signals more than any other residential scope.
Civil cases filed in U.S. District Courts naming the addition GC or the GC entity. Adversary proceedings, debt-collection actions, federal-question disputes, and supplier-collection suits (concrete, lumber yard, truss fabricator, steel on a second-story, mechanical/HVAC, electrical panel vendor) surface here before they appear on a state-court index.
Why it matters on an addition hire: A federal civil filing against an addition GC is the earliest indicator that the GC you are about to retain is already in active litigation. It is independent of the lien history on your specific property and tends to predate the payment-risk signals you would see at the state level — the same kind of early-warning that makes supplier-lien cohorts worth surfacing up front on a six-figure deposit.
Money judgments recorded at the state trial-court level — open, satisfied, and vacated judgments against the addition GC or the GC entity. Same dataset a homeowner does not normally see when they ask a GC for "references." Addition lenses weight judgments naming prior trades the GC already owes (concrete supplier, lumber yard, truss fabricator, mechanical/HVAC vendor, electrical panel vendor).
Why it matters on an addition hire: An open money judgment names a prior trade the addition GC already owes. That is exactly the cohort you are about to join if the addition goes sideways, and a prior judgment concentration is the single sharpest go / caution / no-go signal the public record carries. On a project where the homeowner is GCing, the unpaid trades file against YOUR title, not the owner-builder's books.
Recorded mechanic's liens on residential addition projects the GC has worked on. Additions concentrate the lien risk across foundation / framing / truss / mechanical / electrical cohorts — an unpaid concrete pour, lumber yard delivery, truss fabricator, or HVAC vendor can file a mechanic's lien against the homeowner's property, not the GC's. The lens is double: on a GC'd addition we surface liens the GC has filed as an unpaid claimant (a recovery pattern) AND liens a prior homeowner has filed AGAINST the GC's additions (a payment-friction pattern); on a homeowner-GC'd addition we additionally flag the structural risk that the supplier files against YOUR title.
Why it matters on an addition hire: A pattern of prior supplier liens against the GC's additions is a Caution-grade signal — the unpaid supplier can attach YOUR title. On a homeowner-GC'd project the GC has no entity of their own, so the supplier's lien attaches to the homeowner's title regardless of who pulled the permit. A GC who has filed many mechanic's liens of their own is signaling they have had to chase payment on prior additions — read in context.
Chapter 7, 11, and 13 petitions filed by or against the addition GC in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Active cases, discharges, and dismissals all appear with the current status flagged next to the filing.
Why it matters on an addition hire: A pending bankruptcy automatically stays most collection activity, including judgment enforcement — and on a six-figure deposit the GC's bankruptcy is the single most disruptive event to the timeline between foundation pour and trim-out. A prior discharge also matters — debts wiped out there will not reappear as fresh judgments later, so an older discharge that has been resolved can be read as neutral context rather than a live signal.
What to verify in parallel — and why
Five checks every home-addition hire should clear. Two are partially covered by TradeSafeJobs; three are external and must be verified independently. Treat the public-record Go as necessary but not sufficient — these five are the rest, and the addition-specific exposure on structural defect, roof / siding tie-in water-intrusion, wide permit triggers, and supplier-lien-on-title is what makes each of them different from the same check on a deck build or a kitchen remodel.
State contractor’s license lookup
Pull the addition GC’s license status on your state contractor board site — verify the license is current, bonded, and unrestricted. Confirm the license class actually covers the scope of your addition (foundation-and-slab vs. single-story room addition vs. second-story structural addition vs. garage conversion). Verify any qualifier (e.g. "General Building" vs. "Residential") on the licensed individual, not just the entity.
Why: An active license is the single signal TradeSafeJobs does not check. It is the most concrete thing you can do before writing the deposit, and at least one state places the lookup result alongside every public-record entry on the report. On an addition the license-class coverage gap (a license scoped to "Home Improvement" rather than "General Building") is the most common disqualifier we surface as a separate check.
Certificate of insurance — structural-defect liability + new roof / siding tie-in water-intrusion
Ask the addition GC for a COI naming YOU as the certificate holder for the duration of the addition. Verify both general liability AND that the certificate explicitly covers structural-defect liability on the new framing and water-intrusion from the new roof / siding tie-in during the build — additions concentrate this exposure more than any other residential scope because the new envelope must weather-tight to the existing envelope for the duration of the project. Workers’ comp is verified by a phone call to the issuing carrier, not just the producer’s certificate PDF.
Why: A failed structural tie-in or a wind-driven-rain event during the build turns a six-figure addition into a six-figure insurance claim against the homeowner’s policy if the GC’s general liability excludes structural-defect or water-intrusion during construction. Workers’ comp puts your homeowner’s-policy at risk if a crew member is hurt on your property during foundation or framing.
Surety bond check at the state board
If your state requires residential contractor bonds, confirm the bond is in force for the addition GC’s current license. A bond that has lapsed usually means the license is one renewal payment away from being suspended.
Why: A lapsed bond is one of the few signals that can flip a license from "active" to "suspended" without warning. Most state boards surface bond status next to license status when both are pulled in the same lookup. On an addition, a suspended license mid-project halts permit sign-off at final inspection — confirm the bond first.
Local permit history at the building department
Pull the addition GC’s permit history at your local building department — past additions pulled under their license, code-case history, and final inspection outcomes. Addition permits span foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and often roof tie-in — unpermitted additions transfer a hidden liability to the new owner at sale. On a homeowner-GC’d addition the permits list the homeowner as the owner-builder; verify the same scope and final-inspection patterns.
Why: A pattern of permits pulled but never finalized, or repeated code violations in additions specifically, is the signal a public-record check does not surface. The building department record is local-only and lives outside the datasets we pull. On an addition the permit breadth across six trades is wider than any other residential scope, which is why this check surfaces more on additions than on any other page in this set.
Financial-health indicator summary
The aggregate read on the GC’s payment profile — how often they show up as an unpaid claimant on prior projects, how often they appear as a defendant in payment disputes, and the current status of the largest open judgments. On an addition this read also reflects how the GC handles their structural subs; ask the GC who handles the foundation, framing, mechanical, and electrical before signing — the same way the GC asks who their homeowner is.
Why: TradeSafeJobs condenses the four federal/state sources into a Go / Caution / No-Go verdict and surfaces the counts that drove the verdict — the same read a contractor uses on a homeowner before bidding, repackaged for the homeowner running it on the GC. On an addition the read extends to the GC plus their structural subs because the supplier cohort is the same four foundation / framing / mechanical / electrical trades that the GC has hired on prior jobs.
Common home-addition pre-hire questions
Short answers to the questions homeowners ask before they run the public-record check on a home-addition GC — what to expect, what the verdict means, and how to pair it with the parallel checks above.
What is the single most important check before I hire a home-addition GC?
Verify the state contractor’s license directly on the state board site — confirm the license class covers your scope (foundation-only, room addition, second-story addition, garage conversion, or full structural), confirm it is current, and confirm the bond is in force. Then pair it with a phone call to the COI carrier to verify the certificate explicitly covers structural-defect liability on the new framing AND water-intrusion from the new roof / siding tie-in during the build. An addition concentrates structural and water-intrusion exposure more than any other residential scope, and a generic "general liability" certificate often excludes both.
How is a Go / Caution / No-Go on a home-addition GC different from the one I see on a homeowner?
The four public-record sources are the same, but the read is different. On a homeowner, "Caution" usually means they have open judgments a prior creditor already won. On an addition GC, "Caution" usually means prior trades — concrete supplier, lumber yard, truss fabricator, mechanical/HVAC vendor, electrical panel vendor — already had to chase payment from them, the same cohort you are about to join. On a homeowner-GC’d addition the read is sharper still: there is no GC entity to lien against, so the supplier files against YOUR title, regardless of whether the GC has a clean Go. The verdict vocabulary is identical; the lien-attachment target flips.
Does a clean Go mean the home-addition GC is safe to hire?
A clean Go is "no red flags in the public record today" — not a guarantee. The four sources do not include a state license, certificate of insurance, surety-bond status, or local permit history. Run those four checks in parallel before you sign; the public-record Go pairs with them, it does not replace them. Additions specifically require permits across foundation, framing, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and often roof tie-in — a "clean Go" with unpermitted foundation or unpermitted roof tie-in is a Caution-grade hidden liability that surfaces at sale. The verdict is necessary but not sufficient on additions, where the permit breadth and the owner-builder path are unique.
Should the home-addition GC know I am running a public-record check?
Yes — and that is the framing the bid walk should start from. A licensed, bonded GC with a clean public record — and a verified COI that explicitly covers structural-defect and roof / siding tie-in water-intrusion — will not object; the Go verdict on an addition GC is exactly the symmetrical counterpart to the Go verdict a contractor sees on a clean homeowner. Run it the same way the contractor runs it on you, and ask the GC who handles the foundation, framing, mechanical, and electrical before signing — the same way the GC asks who their homeowner is.
Pre-hire next step
Run the home-addition contractor check before you sign the contract.
Pull the public-record Go / Caution / No-Go on the addition GC you are about to retain — the GC plus their structural subs — then walk down the five parallel checks above: license-class coverage on the foundation / framing / second-story scope, COI carrier verification that explicitly names structural-defect and the new roof / siding tie-in water-intrusion, surety bond, local permit history that covers the foundation / framing / electrical / plumbing / mechanical / roof tie-in triggers, and the financial-health read on the GC plus their subs. The verdict is the first signal, not the last one.