Before the phone rings: have your license number and lookup open
On a live transfer, the homeowner is already on the line when you pick up, so you have no time to hunt for anything. If you want the background first, the guide what a live transfer is covers how the handoff works. This post covers the minute after you answer, with a bathroom remodel as the running example.
Start with what the homeowner has been told. On its page called What Seniors Should Know, the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) tells homeowners to get the contractor's license number and verify its status online or by calling (800) 321-CSLB (2752). Plan on the homeowner running that check while you talk, or right after you hang up.
Business and Professions Code section 7030.5 requires a licensed contractor to put the license number in all construction contracts, in subcontracts and calls for bid, and in all forms of advertising. The CSLB tells homeowners that contractors must have the number on their business card and on all bids and contracts. The same page warns them that seeing a license number does not by itself mean the license is valid.
Know what the lookup shows. The CSLB gives homeowners a contractor's license, bond and workers' compensation insurance status, along with pending and prior legal actions. Pull up your own record before your first call of the week, so nothing on that page catches you off guard.
Have these open before the phone rings:
- Your license number, where you can read it without searching.
- Your own record on the CSLB lookup.
- Your calendar for the next several days.
- An intake form or a blank page for the job details.
The first seconds: the homeowner's name, your business name, your license number
Greet the homeowner by name. Then give your business name and your license number, before they have to ask. The homeowner has been told to get that number and check it. Saying it first answers the question and lets them start the lookup while you move on.
Keep the opening short. The homeowner called about a bathroom, and the sooner the talk turns to the bathroom, the sooner you learn whether it is your kind of job.
If someone other than you takes transfers, check how they sell. A salesperson who sells home improvement work for a contractor must be registered with the CSLB as a Home Improvement Salesperson. Under Business and Professions Code section 7152, that salesperson must also tell the homeowner the business name and license number of the contractor they represent. If a sales rep answers for you, make sure they open with your business name and number the same way you would.
Confirm the bathroom job before you talk about a visit
Before you offer a time, confirm the job. Work through these in order, and write each answer down as you hear it:
- The room. Which bathroom, and whether any other room is part of the job.
- The scope. What the homeowner wants changed: the shower or tub, the tile, the vanity, or moving the plumbing. Ask whether they have drawings, photos or a product in mind.
- The address. The street and city, so you know the house sits inside your service area before you book.
- Who decides. Whether a spouse, a co-owner or anyone else needs to be at the visit.
If the job is not one you take, say so now and end the call politely. The homeowner can keep looking, and you keep the time.
The scope matters past this call. The CSLB tells homeowners to get at least three written bids and to compare them on the same plans, specifications and scope of work. The scope you write down on the first call is the one you walk at the visit, and the one your written bid gets compared on. Read it back to the homeowner before you move on, so you both start from the same page.
Have answers ready for what the CSLB tells homeowners to ask
The homeowner may ask these on the call or save them for the visit. Either way, each answer should take you seconds. The CSLB's page on finding the right licensed contractor holds most of them.
Your pocket license and ID
The CSLB tells homeowners that when a contractor comes to the house to give a bid, they should ask to see the pocket license with a picture ID and make sure the person matches the license. If someone other than the license holder will walk the job, tell the homeowner on the call who is coming.
Your insurance
The CSLB tells homeowners to ask for a copy of the Certificate of Insurance, or the name of the contractor's insurance carrier and agency. In California, a contractor who has employees is required to carry workers' compensation insurance. Keep a current certificate as a file on your phone, and know your carrier and agency by name.
Your references
The CSLB's homeowner checklist asks whether the homeowner got at least three local references from the contractors they are considering. Have names ready of past local customers who agreed to take a call, bathroom jobs first.
The deposit
In California, a contractor cannot ask for a down payment on a home improvement project of more than 10 percent of the contract price or one thousand dollars, whichever is less. If the homeowner asks what they will owe up front, give them that rule and leave the payment schedule for the written contract.
Book the visit without pushing for a decision
Once the job is confirmed, offer site visit times from your calendar and book one before the call ends. Ask for a decision on the visit, not on the job.
The CSLB warns homeowners that an unscrupulous contractor pushes for an immediate decision, which keeps the homeowner from getting competing bids, checking licenses or reviewing references. A homeowner who has read that warning hears pressure on the first call as a reason to hang up.
Watch out: A price that runs out at the end of the call, or a request to commit before anyone has seen the bathroom, is the kind of push the CSLB warns homeowners about.
Tell the homeowner what comes next instead: the visit, then a written bid on the scope you just confirmed. The CSLB tells homeowners to compare at least three written bids on the same scope of work. Say that you expect them to compare, and that your bid will spell out the scope so the comparison is fair.
Before you hang up, repeat the visit date, time and address, and confirm who will be there. Send the same details by text or email that day.
What to do
- Look up your own license on the CSLB site this week, and check the license, bond and workers' compensation status and any legal actions it shows.
- Tape your license number beside the phone, with the CSLB line, (800) 321-CSLB (2752), under it so you can give the homeowner both.
- Put your pocket license and a picture ID where they go with you to every site visit.
- Ask your insurance agency for a current Certificate of Insurance, and save it to your phone.
- Call past local bathroom customers and ask who will take a reference call, until you have at least three names.
- Put the room, the scope, the address and who decides at the top of your intake form.
- Blueprint Lead sells live call transfers and pre-set appointments to contractors, with each homeowner qualified by a real person on a recorded call and each transfer delivered to you alone.