Does Groundcheck notify the contractor that I checked them?
No. Groundcheck never notifies the contractor that a check was run, never shows the contractor who ran the check, and never gives the contractor a copy of the report. Public-records verification of a business is not subject to consumer-notice requirements.
Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) is built to be invisible to the contractor being checked. No notification email, no profile claim alert, no "someone searched for you" notice. The contractor will not know a check was run unless you tell them.
The reason: Groundcheck verifies business entities using public records. There is no legal notice requirement for public-records research about a commercial entity, and there is no business reason to alert the subject. Consumer credit checks and employment background checks have notice and consent requirements because they are regulated by the FCRA — but those rules apply to checks ON INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS, not to public-records research on businesses.
What this means for you as a homeowner or commercial user:
- You can run a Groundcheck before, during, or after meeting with a contractor. - You can run a Groundcheck on a contractor who has not given you a quote yet. - You can run a Groundcheck on a contractor your insurance is recommending. - You can run multiple Groundchecks on the same contractor over time without the contractor knowing. - The contractor does not see your name, email, IP address, or any other identifying information.
Why this matters: contractor fraud often relies on the homeowner feeling awkward about "checking up on" the contractor. If you knew the contractor would be notified, you might skip the verification. Groundcheck removes that friction. The premise is the same as checking a restaurant's health inspection score before you eat there — the restaurant has no notice and no objection right.
What is shared with the contractor if there's a dispute: nothing. The contractor's recourse if they believe Groundcheck has incorrect information is to correct the underlying public record (re-activate the license, update the Secretary of State filing, request a court-record correction). Groundcheck reflects what the source agencies publish — if the source is wrong, the source must be corrected at the source.
Contrast with consumer credit reports (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion): those reports trigger a consumer dispute right under FCRA. The credit bureaus must investigate and respond within 30 days. Groundcheck is not a consumer report, so no dispute right attaches. The right framing is: "we publish what the state and court records show; if the state and court records are wrong, they need to be corrected at the source."
For commercial users (procurement teams, real estate investors): Pro tier reports are equally invisible to the contractor. The 12-month monitoring (Deep Dive and Pro) also runs silently — the contractor is not notified when new evidence surfaces.
Run a free Groundcheck
Verify any contractor or business. License status, court records, OSHA history. Under 90 seconds. The business is never notified.