Groundcheck vs BuildZoom: which contractor verification is better?
BuildZoom is a contractor-matching service that publishes free contractor profiles built from license and permit data, then takes a 1.5% project fee for matched jobs. Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) is a per-search verification tool that covers license, court records, OSHA, BBB, and phoenix detection — without a contractor relationship.
BuildZoom (buildzoom.com) is the closest competitor to Groundcheck in publishing public contractor profiles. BuildZoom built its database by aggregating license data and building permit history from cities and counties nationwide — every contractor profile includes license status, permits pulled, and a permit-based "experience" estimate. The data is largely free to view.
BuildZoom monetizes via a matchmaking layer: homeowners describe their project, BuildZoom matches contractors, and if a matched contractor wins the job, BuildZoom collects 1.5% of the contract value from the contractor. This creates the same structural incentive problem as Angi and HomeAdvisor — BuildZoom is paid by contractors when projects close, so there is a soft incentive to surface positive signals over negative ones.
What BuildZoom does well: deep building-permit data (BuildZoom has the largest permit aggregation in the US), free contractor profiles with permit history, license status, and customer reviews. Useful for understanding "what work has this contractor actually pulled permits for in the past?"
What BuildZoom does not do: continuously check Secretary of State entity status, check county court records for liens and judgments, check OSHA citations, run phoenix-company cross-references, or monitor for new evidence between searches.
Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) covers the public-records categories BuildZoom does not: Secretary of State match across all 51 jurisdictions, federal and county court records, OSHA citation history, BBB complaint records, and phoenix-pattern detection. Groundcheck does not have BuildZoom's permit-history depth.
Coverage comparison:
- License status: both check. - Permit history: BuildZoom deep, Groundcheck shallow. - Secretary of State entity match: BuildZoom shallow, Groundcheck deep. - Court records: BuildZoom does not check, Groundcheck does. - OSHA citations: BuildZoom does not check, Groundcheck does. - Phoenix detection: BuildZoom does not detect, Groundcheck does. - Continuous monitoring: BuildZoom does not, Groundcheck Deep Dive does (12 months). - Project fee on matched job: BuildZoom takes 1.5%, Groundcheck takes nothing.
Right workflow: use BuildZoom to research permit history and find local contractors with verified work on similar projects. Use Groundcheck to verify the contractor's full public-records profile before signing. The two tools are highly complementary — Groundcheck does not cover permit history, and BuildZoom does not cover court/OSHA/phoenix.
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Verify any contractor or business. License status, court records, OSHA history. Under 90 seconds. The business is never notified.