Is paid contractor verification worth it vs free options?
Free public-records lookups (state license board, Secretary of State, OSHA, court records) catch 70-80% of fraud patterns. Paid verification adds cross-state matching, phoenix-company detection, continuous monitoring, and a single consolidated report — worth $19 for any project over $5,000.
The free public-records sources are real and complete. State licensing board lookups are free in all 51 jurisdictions. Secretary of State entity searches are free in every state. OSHA enforcement records are free. Federal court headlines are free via CourtListener.com. Many county courts have free online dockets. The BBB profile is free.
The case for doing it free: you have time, you are checking one contractor, and you are willing to navigate seven different government websites. A thorough free check takes 30-60 minutes per contractor.
The case for paid verification ($19 Groundcheck Deep Dive or similar):
1. Cross-state matching. Free lookups are state-by-state. A contractor licensed in California with court history in Arizona and OSHA citations in Nevada requires you to know to check all three states. Paid verification queries all jurisdictions automatically.
2. Phoenix-company detection. Free lookups show the current entity. Detecting that the contractor closed two prior LLCs at the same address with the same officers requires cross-entity matching — paid tools do this; free lookups do not.
3. Continuous monitoring. A free check is a point-in-time snapshot. The contractor's license can be suspended next month, a lien filed next quarter, an OSHA citation issued next year. Paid tools (Groundcheck Deep Dive includes 12 months of monitoring) alert you to new evidence as it surfaces.
4. Consolidated report. The free workflow produces seven different result pages in seven different formats. A paid report is one document with a single verdict (Clear/Conditional/Caution/Critical/Unverifiable on Groundcheck) and citations to each underlying source — easier to share with a spouse, contractor's lender, or attorney.
5. Speed. Free check is 30-60 minutes per contractor. Paid check is under 90 seconds for entity-level, 5-10 minutes for Deep Dive.
The threshold: for any contract under $1,000, the free workflow is fine — the downside of fraud is bounded. For projects above $5,000, paid verification at $19 pays for itself the first time it catches a phoenix pattern or active license suspension you would have missed.
Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) offers a free tier (license + Secretary of State + headline court + OSHA + BBB) that catches roughly 70-80% of fraud patterns and a $19 Deep Dive (adds detailed court citations, phoenix detection, 12-month monitoring, downloadable PDF) that catches roughly 95%. Pro tier ($99.99/month) is 10 Deep Dive reports per month (15 on annual) plus unlimited free verifications and monitoring — built for procurement teams, real estate investors, and anyone running 5+ checks per month.
Run a free Groundcheck
Verify any contractor or business. License status, court records, OSHA history. Under 90 seconds. The business is never notified.