How to hire a general contractor in Utah (use this on us too)

Step 1: The two-minute license check

Utah makes this easy. Go to the DOPL license lookup (dopl.utah.gov), search the contractor’s business name, and confirm three things:

1. The license is Active — not expired, inactive, or on probation.
2. The classification matches the work. B100 General Building Qualifier covers general contracting; specialty trades carry their own.
3. The business name on the license matches the name on your contract. A bid from a company whose license belongs to somebody’s cousin is a bid from an unlicensed contractor.

Unlicensed work isn’t just a paperwork problem: you lose access to Utah’s Residence Lien Recovery Fund protections, permits become your problem, and insurance claims involving unpermitted work get ugly.

Step 2: Insurance, documented

Ask for certificates of general liability and workers’ compensation, current-dated. The stakes are simple: if an uninsured worker is injured at your house, the claim can land on your homeowner’s policy — or on you.

Step 3: The written estimate test

The estimate tells you how the project will run before a single trade shows up:

• Itemized scope — what’s included, and just as important, what’s excluded.
• A real timeline — start window and duration, not “a few weeks.”
• A written change process — surprises found in walls get priced and approved in writing before the work happens.
• Payment schedule tied to progress — not front-loaded.

If any of those makes a bidder uncomfortable, that discomfort is the information.

Red flags, condensed

Door-knockers after storms who “have leftover material,” cash-only pricing, a total with no line items, pressure to sign today, no physical address, and any hesitation about the license number. None of these are always fraud — but each one predicts the horror stories, and together they’re the whole horror-story recipe.

Why we publish this

Because the checklist is our best sales pitch. We’re a Utah licensed general contractor based in Farmington, our estimates are written and itemized, and every check on this page is one we expect you to run on us.