Your home is likely the largest investment you will make and hiring an unlicensed and uninsured contractor is not a risk you want to take. While licensing isn’t always necessarily a measure of competence, it does imply a certain level of professionalism and suggests that the contractor is committed to his or her job. More significantly, licensing can protect you from a number of potential problems, such as the following: – Unlicensed usually means uninsured. If you use a contractor who is uninsured, it means the contractor has no way of reimbursing you for any property damage he or she causes. This means you end up paying the price. Likewise, if contractor carelessness leads to injury or damage to someone else’s property, the problem is likely to become yours. – No coverage under the homeowner’s policy. Some homeowners believe it is safe to use an uninsured contractor, assuming that any damages incurred would be covered under their own insurance policies. However, this isn’t the case. Most homeowner policies require that any work to the property be done by licensed contractors; coverage is often specifically excluded for damages caused by “bootleg” contractors. – Poor quality work. Not all unlicensed contractors do poor quality work. And not all poor quality work is done by unlicensed contractors. However, as a rule, if there’s shoddy work to be done, it’s usually done by unlicensed contractors. Because unlicensed contractors aren’t subject to meeting specific standards, they are often untrained, less experienced, and unqualified to do certain types of work. Tampa Bay Painting Co. is fully licensed and Insured. Our painting contractor lic# is C-10626 and we carry full General Liability ($1,000,000), Auto($1,000,000) and Workers Comp Insurance.