How Ratedeed verifies contractors and protects payments

Most directories tell you a contractor is “verified” without saying what that means. This page states exactly what we check, what we do not check, and how money moves.

What we check before verifying a business

  • Licence number checked against the state licensing board for the trade and state
  • Business identity and contact details confirmed with the owner
  • Insurance certificate requested and recorded
  • Owner-supplied photos, services and hours published on the profile

What we do not verify

  • Listings marked “Unclaimed” are compiled from public records. We have not spoken to the business, and its hours, services and photos may be missing or out of date.
  • We do not publish a star rating for a business with no reviews. A missing rating means exactly that — not a zero.
  • We do not guarantee workmanship, price or timeline. Those are between you and the contractor, in writing.

How milestone escrow works

  1. You agree the scope, price and milestones with the contractor in writing.
  2. You fund the first milestone into escrow. The contractor does not receive it yet.
  3. When the milestone is complete and you sign off, that portion is released.
  4. If work is disputed, the funds stay in escrow while the dispute is reviewed.

Escrow protects the payment step. It is not an insurance policy and does not cover defective workmanship.

Where reviews come from

Reviews on Ratedeed are tied to completed jobs on the platform. We do not import reviews from other sites, and we do not seed listings with placeholder ratings. A profile with no reviews shows as new.

If something goes wrong

Open a dispute from the job page. Both sides submit evidence, and the release of escrowed funds is paused until it is reviewed. Our dispute policy sets out the process and timelines.

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