How to hire a general contractor in Santa Barbara, in seven checks
Every check here can be run on us. License 802739. Start there.
1. Look up the license yourself
Every California contractor has a public record at the Contractors State License Board. Search the number, not the company name. Read four lines: the status (it should say active), the classification (a house needs Class B, General Building), the bond, and workers’ compensation. If the record says the contractor has no employees and you have seen a crew, ask about it.
2. Know what the bond is, and is not
Every licensed contractor carries a $25,000 contractor’s bond. It is a small consumer protection, not insurance on your project. A bond that size does not finish a house. What protects a large job is the contractor’s general liability insurance, workers’ compensation, and how the payments are paced.
3. Ask for insurance certificates, sent by the insurer
General liability and workers’ compensation. Ask the contractor’s broker to send the certificates to you directly, with you named as certificate holder. It is a routine request, and a contractor who does this for a living will not mind it.
4. Know the deposit limit
On a home improvement contract in California, the down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. After that, payments may not run ahead of the work done or the materials delivered. A request for a third up front is a reason to stop. New houses are under different rules, so ask how the payment schedule was built.
5. Read the contract for three things
A fixed price, or a clear statement of what is still an allowance. A payment schedule tied to finished stages of work. And a change-order clause that says no work changing the price begins until you have approved the cost in writing. You also have three business days to cancel most home improvement contracts, five if you are 65 or older.
6. Ask who will be on your site
The person who sells the job is often not the person who runs it. Ask for the name of whoever will be on site, how many other projects that person is carrying, and how often you will hear from them. Our answer is Matt Newman, three projects, every Friday in writing.
7. Ask what they know about your town
On this coast the review path changes at every town line. Montecito and Summerland answer to the County and a board of architectural review. Hope Ranch adds its homes association. Carpinteria is entirely in the Coastal Zone. A builder who has worked your town can name the review bodies for your address before you pay for a drawing. Who permits your house, town by town.
A note on small jobs
Work under $1,000 in labor and materials, needing no permit and done by someone with no employees, does not require a license. Anything larger does.
Related: six questions to ask any builder, our own contract paperwork, and what building costs here.
Built by Matt Newman. Licensed since 2001. Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, twenty years on this coast, and on every AMN site himself. One name on the contract. His story
Send us the address. We'll tell you the truth about it.
Email it to purchasing@amnbuild.com. Matt reads it himself and writes back within two business days.
- Same dayMatt confirms he has it, and flags anything obvious that is missing.
- Within two business daysA written reading of your parcel: jurisdiction, review bodies, an order of cost and the permit path.
- Then nothing, unless you askNo follow-up sequence, no call from anyone else. The reading is yours to keep.
CSLB 802739 · Class B General Building · Licensed and insured · Two-year workmanship warranty, in writing