The 12 Questions That Separate a Real Contractor From a Fly-By-Night One

Ask the same twelve questions of every bidder

Owners rarely get burned by a contractor who seemed obviously unqualified. They get burned by someone who was likable, available, and cheaper than the other two — and who turned out to have no license for the scope, no insurance that would have covered a loss, and no written scope to argue from when the job went sideways. The tell was almost always there at the first meeting. It just was not asked for.

What follows is the list we would want an owner to run on us. It is grouped rather than ranked, because the groups do different work. Licensing and insurance establish whether a company can legally carry your risk. Process and documentation establish whether it can manage your project. Money and schedule establish whether it can survive the job. Track record establishes whether it has done this before. A contractor who answers all four groups plainly is not automatically the lowest bid. They are the one you can hold to something.

Licensing, insurance, and who signs for the permit

This group is close to binary. Either the paperwork exists and checks out, or the conversation should end — and none of it requires you to know anything about construction.

• Are you a licensed general contractor in Florida, and can I verify it myself? The right answer includes the license number and the exact legal name it is held under, offered without hesitation. It matters because the license is what ties responsibility for code compliance to a real, regulated entity, and because the name on the license has to match the name on your contract. A mismatch there is one of the most common ways owners end up with nobody to hold accountable.
• Can I see a current certificate of insurance sent directly from your insurer or agent? Ask for general liability and workers’ compensation, and ask for it to arrive from the agent rather than as a forwarded PDF. It matters because a certificate that passes through the contractor’s hands can be expired or altered, and workers’ compensation is the coverage that decides who pays if somebody is hurt on your property.
• Who pulls the permit for this work — you or me? The answer should be the contractor, as the licensed qualifier. It matters because a contractor asking you to pull an owner-builder permit is asking you to absorb their liability, and the request usually means they are not licensed for the scope or do not want their license attached to it. We covered the mechanics of this in our piece on permits in Miami-Dade.
• Will drawings or engineering be sealed where the scope requires it? Structural work needs drawings sealed by a Florida-licensed engineer or architect. It matters because the seal is a licensed professional taking responsibility for the calculations, and because a structural permit application without it does not move. A contractor who is vague here has probably not priced the engineering into your number.

None of the four is an insult to ask. A company that operates this way answers them without pausing, often before you finish the sentence. The friction is the signal, not the answer.

Scope, process, and documentation

This group predicts how the project will actually feel to live through. It is where the difference between a company with a system and a capable individual with a truck becomes visible.

• Will I get a written, line-item scope of work rather than just a total price? Line-item means the work broken out by trade, with allowances identified as allowances and a written list of exclusions. It matters because a single lump number cannot be compared against another bid, cannot be audited when a change is proposed, and quietly hides whatever the contractor assumed you would not ask about.
• Who is my single point of contact once work starts? You want a name, a role, and the reporting rhythm you can expect from that person. It matters because most owner frustration on a job is not construction failure, it is information failure — chasing answers through whoever happens to pick up. One accountable contact with a scheduled update turns that into a routine.
• How do you handle a change if we find something unexpected once walls are open? The answer should describe a written change order stating revised scope, cost impact, and schedule impact, signed by both parties before the work proceeds. It matters because in an older Miami-Dade house finding something unexpected is close to a certainty, and verbal changes are how good relationships end.

Ask to see the formats, not just hear about them. A sample budget page, a sample weekly report, a blank change order. A contractor who genuinely works this way has them on hand. A contractor who does not will answer with reassurances about quality and years in business, which is a different answer than the one you asked for.

Money and schedule

These two are about whether the company can carry the job financially and operationally, and whether their cash-flow problems can become your legal problem.

• What is your process for keeping the schedule on track, and how will I know if it slips? Look for a real schedule with milestones, long-lead items named, and a stated update rhythm. It matters because every schedule slips somewhere. The difference between a well-run job and a bad one is whether you hear about it the week it happens or the month after, when the recovery options have already closed.
• How do you pay your subcontractors, and could I ever be exposed to a lien from an unpaid sub? The answer should include how releases and waivers are exchanged alongside each payment application. It matters because Florida’s construction lien framework lets subcontractors and suppliers secure payment against your property, and paying your general contractor does not by itself prove the money reached everyone downstream. This is general information rather than legal advice; for your situation, talk to a Florida construction attorney.

A contractor who runs disciplined paperwork on payments is usually also the one whose trades show up, because trades work hardest for the general contractor who pays them predictably. That question tells you about the schedule as much as it tells you about the money.

Track record and how the job ends

The last group is about evidence. Anyone can describe a process. Fewer can show you one they already delivered.

• Can I see photos of — or better, visit — a completed project similar in scope to mine? Similar in scope matters more than similar in style. It matters because a contractor with ten bathrooms behind them and no additions is not the same risk on your addition, and because a finished project you can stand inside tells you about tile lines, trim returns, and door reveals in a way a photograph never will.
• What happens at the end — is there a formal closeout, a punch list, and a warranty? You want passed final inspections and the applicable certificate, a written punch list that gets walked, corrected, and re-walked, and warranty terms in writing with duration and coverage stated. It matters because closeout is where otherwise decent projects quietly go wrong, once everybody is tired and the house already looks finished.
• What is included in cleanup and the final walkthrough — what should I expect on day one after you leave? Ask specifically about debris removal, construction dust in the areas you kept living in, filter changes, protective coverings, and whether the space is turned over cleaned rather than swept. It matters because the gap between a broom-clean site and a genuinely finished one is the last impression you keep of the entire job.

Add one thing to this group that is not a question: ask for references, actually call them, and ask those owners about the middle of the project rather than the end. Everyone is pleasant at the walkthrough. What you want to know is how the company behaved the week something went wrong.

How to actually use the list

Send the questions ahead of the meeting, ask every bidder the same twelve, and write the answers down in the same format for each one. That last part is what makes the exercise work. The value is not in any single answer; it is in the comparison, because differences that are invisible in three total prices become obvious in three sets of answers.

Then compare answers before you compare price. A lower bid is not automatically the wrong bid — a contractor may be genuinely more efficient in a trade, or already mobilized nearby. But a low number paired with vague answers about scope, permits, and change orders is usually not cheaper. It is smaller. The missing scope reappears later as a change order at a price nobody competed for. So when the bids are side by side, spend your attention on what one contractor included that another left out, and on whether the exclusions lists match.

You are allowed to ask for all of it in writing, and you are allowed to walk away over an answer. The point of the twelve is not to catch anyone out. It is to move the decision off charisma and onto whether a system exists.

None of this requires you to become a construction expert. It requires you to ask for the machinery — the license, the certificate, the scope, the change order, the closeout package — and then notice who produces it without friction. That is the standard we hold ourselves to on home remodeling work and on larger capital projects alike, and you can read how we are structured on our company page. If you would like the answers to all twelve in writing for your own project, request a proposal and we will put them next to a line-item scope.