Hiring a service provider safely
Check the license yourself, get the scope and the price in writing before anybody starts, and never pay for the whole job up front. Those three habits prevent nearly every bad outcome on home and trade work.
Check the license and the insurance
- Ask for the license number, then verify it. Every state runs a free online lookup for contractor and trade licenses. A number in a listing proves nothing until you have typed it into the state's own site and seen the name match.
- Ask for a certificate of insurance, and have the insurer send it to you rather than accepting a photograph of a PDF. General liability covers damage to your property. Workers' compensation matters more than people expect: if an uninsured worker is injured on your property, that can become your problem.
- Match the names. The name on the license, the insurance and the invoice should be the same business. Different names is worth asking about before, not after.
Get it in writing
Before work starts, in a message or an email, agree:
- Exactly what is being done, and what is not.
- The total price, and whether it is fixed or an estimate. If it is an estimate, what it depends on.
- Who is buying materials, and whether they are in the price.
- Start date and expected completion.
- Who pulls the permit, on any job that needs one. If a contractor asks you to pull it as the homeowner, that is often a sign they cannot.
- What happens if the job runs over, and any warranty on the work.
Keep it in the Jinu message thread where you can. A written record you both can see settles most disagreements before they become disputes.
Payment
- Never pay the full amount before the work is done. A deposit for materials on a large job is normal. Paying for everything in advance is not, whatever the discount.
- Be wary of a large cash-only deposit demanded on the first visit, and of pressure to decide today.
- Use a payment method you can dispute for anything substantial. A credit card gives you a chargeback. Wire transfers, gift cards, cryptocurrency and cash app payments to a stranger are final the moment they leave, and asking for those is the clearest signal you will get.
- Pay the balance when the work is finished and you have looked at it, not when you are told it is finished.
- Get a receipt.
Warning signs
- They knocked on your door or messaged out of nowhere about work you did not ask about.
- A price far below every other quote, or a discount that expires today.
- No written estimate, no license number, no business address.
- They want the money moved off Jinu and off any traceable method before starting.
- They pressure you to skip the permit.
What Jinu is and is not
Jinu lists the service. It does not vet, license, insure, employ or endorse the provider, does not hold the money and cannot refund you. Verification on Jinu is optional phone verification a seller does themselves; it says an account confirmed a phone number, and it is not a background check or proof of a trade license. Read reviews with that in mind: they are earned through confirmed deals, which makes them meaningful, and they are still not a substitute for checking the license.
If something goes wrong
Report the listing through the more menu on the listing, and report the account from its profile if the behavior was worse than the work. For anything involving a threat or your safety, write to safety@jinu.app. For unlicensed or fraudulent contracting, your state licensing board and your state attorney general's consumer protection office both take complaints, and they have powers Jinu does not.