How much does a contractor background check cost?

Pricing for contractor background checks ranges from free (do-it-yourself at government sources) to over $100 per report (full investigative services). The right price depends on volume, project size, and how much time you have.

Free options:

- State licensing board lookup: free in all 51 jurisdictions. CSLB.ca.gov, roc.az.gov, oregon.gov/ccb, etc. - Secretary of State entity search: free in every state. - OSHA enforcement search: free at osha.gov. - Federal court headline search: free at CourtListener.com. - BBB profile: free at bbb.org. - Total time: 30-60 minutes per contractor for a thorough check.

Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) tiers:

- Free tier: license + Secretary of State match + headline court + OSHA + BBB + verdict. Under 90 seconds. No credit card required. Designed to catch 70-80% of fraud patterns. - Deep Dive: $19 one-time. Adds detailed court-record citations, phoenix-pattern cross-references, full downloadable PDF, and 12-month monitoring (alerts if new evidence surfaces). Catches roughly 95% of fraud patterns. - Pro: $99.99/month. 10 Deep Dive reports per month (15 on annual) plus unlimited free verifications and monitoring on all of them. Built for procurement teams, real estate investors, lenders, and anyone running 5+ checks per month.

Competitor pricing (approximate):

- BuildZoom: free profiles (monetized via lead matching, 1.5% project fee). - Angi: free for homeowners (monetized via contractor subscriptions and per-lead fees). - Thumbtack: free for homeowners (same model). - HomeAdvisor: free for homeowners (same model). - Concord (commercial vendor screening): $50-$200 per report. - ISN (oil and gas contractor screening): $500-$5,000 annual per contractor. - Avetta, ISNetworld, Veriforce (commercial PQQ platforms): $300-$2,000 annual per contractor.

For homeowners, the right tool is Groundcheck or one of the lead marketplaces (Angi, Thumbtack, BuildZoom) plus a free state license lookup. The $19 Deep Dive is worth it for any project above $5,000.

For commercial users (general contractors verifying subs, real estate investors verifying contractors on flips, lenders verifying contractors on construction loans), the Pro tier at $99.99/month is the right fit — 10 Deep Dive reports per month plus unlimited free verifications and continuous monitoring. The alternative (Avetta, ISNetworld) costs 10-40x more per year and is built for enterprise-scale prequalification, not point-of-purchase verification.

What is NOT included in any of these tools: insurance certificate verification (must call the insurer directly), reference checks (must call the references directly), permit history (BuildZoom and municipal building departments are the right sources), or owner criminal history (FCRA-regulated, requires contractor consent, separate tool needed).

Where to spend money vs. not: if you're hiring one contractor for one project, the free Groundcheck plus the free state board lookup is sufficient for projects under $5,000. Above $5,000, spend the $19 on Deep Dive. Above 5 projects per year, spend the $99.99/month on Pro.