Three signals tell you whether a contractor will actually show up: did they answer your first call and follow up when they said they would, will they hand you proof of insurance and the trade licenses New Hampshire does require, and can they show you finished projects you can drive past. If any one of those is missing, keep looking.
We get a call almost every week from a Salem, Windham, or Nashua homeowner whose last contractor walked off mid-project. Half-built deck, missing railings, three unanswered calls. We hear it from commercial owners too, storefront build-outs and office fit-ups left half done. Below is what to check before you sign anything, in the order Tony actually checks it.
Signal 1: How they handle your first call
If a contractor takes three days to call you back when you are the prospect, they will take three weeks to call you back when you are the customer with a leaking pipe. The bid stage is the best behavior you will ever see. Watch it carefully.
- First call: they pick up, or they call you back and tell you when they can come look
- Consultation: they name a specific day and time, and they keep it
- Written estimate: it arrives in writing, with line items, in the timeframe they told you
If any one of those slips without an explanation, it is a red flag. Real contractors are busy. Real contractors who want your job answer the phone.
Signal 2: License and insurance in writing
New Hampshire does not license general contractors at the state level, so there is no single state number to look up the way Massachusetts has. That puts more weight on you. Two things do the work here: insurance and trade licenses.
- Insurance: ask for a current Certificate of Insurance showing general liability and workers compensation. Have the carrier email it to you directly, not a photocopy from the truck.
- Trade licenses: New Hampshire does license electricians and plumbers through the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC). Any electrical or plumbing on your job must be done or supervised by a NH-licensed tradesperson. You can verify a license on the OPLC lookup.
- Business standing: a real company is registered as an LLC or corporation with the NH Secretary of State. Ask for the legal business name and confirm it matches the contract.
A contractor who will not give you a Certificate of Insurance, or who shrugs at the question of who is pulling the electrical and plumbing permits, is a contractor you cannot verify. Slow it down.
Signal 3: Finished projects you can drive past
Photos are easy to fake. Addresses are not. Ask for three recent project addresses inside a 20 mile radius. Drive past two of them on a Saturday afternoon. If the contractor cannot give you three real addresses for a job they finished in the last 12 months, they did not finish it.
We run jobs across Salem, Windham, Derry, Nashua, Hudson, Pelham, Londonderry, and Manchester, plus MA jobs across the line. We will give you addresses on the walkthrough. Drive past whichever ones you want.
Bonus signal: a written contract that actually protects you
New Hampshire does not have a home-improvement-specific contract statute like Massachusetts does, so the contract is what you make it. A solid one still spells out the total price, a written start date, a payment schedule that does not front-load the deposit, the scope and materials, who pulls permits, and a plain description of the work. If a contractor hands you a one-line quote and wants a signature, that is not a contract, that is a handshake with a number on it.
Red flags Tony watches for
After 7 years on the tools in this corridor, here are the patterns that almost always end in a homeowner or a property manager calling us to finish what someone else started.
- No website or a website with zero project photos and no proof of insurance
- Verbal quote only, no line items, refuses to put numbers in writing
- Asks for cash deposit or wants the check made out to a personal name, not the LLC
- Cannot give you three recent project addresses inside 30 miles
- Pressures you to sign today because the price is good only this week
- Refuses to pull permits and tells you the work does not need one (when it does)
What to do if you have already been ghosted
First, do not panic. Second, do not pay any more money to the contractor who walked. Third, gather everything: the contract, the permits, the photos of where they stopped, and any emails or written messages. Take photos of the work as it stands today. Then call us, or whoever you trust to finish it. We have a whole service line for finishing what other contractors started. We will tell you straight what is fixable and what it costs.
What good contractors look like in week one
After 7 years of working alongside other trades in this corridor, the patterns that signal a good contractor in week one of a project are simple. They show up the day they said they would, with the materials they said they would bring. They cover your floors. They put up a dust wall before they swing a hammer. They tell you, in writing, what is happening tomorrow.
If your week one looks like that, you hired well. If your week one looks like missed start dates and confusing change orders, you have a tell that the next 10 weeks will look the same. Address it on day three, not day 30.
What to do next
If you are doing your homework now, before you sign anything, that is the right move. Read our questions to ask before hiring a contractor in New Hampshire for the full checklist, then schedule a walkthrough when you are ready. Tony answers his own phone, and he is the one who walks your project.
Next step
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Take the 6 question quiz to find your project, or schedule a free walkthrough. Tony does the walkthrough himself. Written quote, line by line.