Method
How we check contractors, and what a check cannot tell you
Every fact on this site shows where it came from and when it was checked.
- Sheet
- M-1
- Status
- AI research draft, human review pending
Draft. Today this site is an AI research draft. No person has reviewed it, no contractor has been contacted, and no one has visited a business or a job site. The steps below marked as planned have not happened yet.
Licensing
We look up contractors in the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry license lookup and show the status the record gave on the date of the check. Where the name on the record differs from the trade name, the entry says so and says what the match rests on. Where we could not match a firm with confidence, the field stays empty. A current license is not a guarantee of workmanship, and you should run your own lookup before you sign.
What firms say about themselves
Project types and cities come from each firm's own website. A city counts only if the firm names it. That shows what the firm claims, not that it would take your project.
Prices
A price here is always one of three things: a minimum the contractor publishes, an estimate the contractor gave us, or the documented cost of a completed project. We keep assumptions and exclusions next to the number. None of them is a quote for your home. We do not estimate minimums, so when a firm publishes none, the page says so. Cost figures in the guides are cited to their source and labeled as what they are.
Availability
Planned: ask contractors to confirm availability monthly, and mark any confirmation older than 35 days as out of date. None has been collected yet, so no entry states a start date.
Why there is no leaderboard
The right contractor for a small kitchen may not want a large addition. So entries are listed A to Z and nobody is scored. When we have enough evidence, an assessment will say who a contractor suits, why, its limitations, and the evidence behind it. No entry has that yet.
What our labels mean
In this draft only “Official record checked” and “Published by contractor” are in use. The others are defined for later.
- Official record checked
We looked this up in a government record, such as Minnesota DLI licensing data. A license check is not a guarantee of workmanship.
- Confirmed by contractor
The contractor told us directly. We did not confirm it another way.
- Published by contractor
It appears on the contractor's own materials. That shows what they claim, not that it is proven.
- Seen firsthand
One of our named researchers saw this in person.
- Not independently verified
We could not confirm this. Ask about it directly.
Next: see the list or the first-call questions.