How to hire a contractor in Ontario without getting burned

Why this industry earned its reputation

In a 2023 Bidmii/Pollfish survey, 32% of Ontario homeowners reported having been the victim of a renovation scam. The Better Business Bureau ranked home improvement the #3 riskiest scam category in Canada in 2024. And roughly 31% of homeowners say a contractor has left a job unfinished on them. None of that is bad luck. It is the predictable result of an industry where, in Ontario, the general contractor role requires no licence at all.

That last fact surprises almost everyone: Ontario does not licence general renovation contractors. Anyone can print business cards tomorrow. The real, checkable obligations live elsewhere, and that is exactly where you should look before hiring anyone, including us.

The Ontario scam playbook (so you recognize it)

The same tactics repeat across BBB reports, consumer-law firms and news investigations:

• The leftover-materials pitch. A knock at the door: they have asphalt or shingles left from a job "just down the street," today only.
• Storm chasers. After wind, hail or flooding, out-of-town crews appear, take deposits, and vanish.
• The cash discount. "Save the tax" removes the paper trail, and with it, your recourse.
• The big deposit. 30 to 50% up front, then underdelivery or disappearance. Anything over 25% is a widely cited red flag.
• Low-ball then escalate. Win the bid cheap, "discover" problems after demolition, raise the price while you're living in a torn-open house.
• Phoenixing. When complaints pile up, dissolve the company and reopen under a new name, escaping warranties and judgments.

These are not hypotheticals. In one documented Ontario case (CP24, July 2026), an Innisfil contractor closed his company in 2023 and reopened under a new name in 2025, leaving clients out $33,000, $55,000 and $14,900, plus $30,000 owed to an unpaid tradesperson. When AGM Renovations shut down abruptly in February 2025 after a CBC Marketplace investigation, one Oshawa homeowner's basement conversion was left 30 to 40% complete after he had paid six figures.

"I've walked into a dozen half-finished jobs to fix what another contractor abandoned. Not once did that homeowner have a WSIB certificate or an insurance cert on file. The fifteen minutes of paperwork below is the difference between a bad week and a second mortgage."

Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.

The verification checklist (15 minutes that protect your biggest asset)

1. WSIB clearance certificate

Construction is a mandatory-coverage industry in Ontario: WSIB coverage is compulsory for most people in construction, including independent operators. Ask for a current WSIB Clearance Certificate before work starts. Here's the part nobody tells homeowners: if you hire a contractor without valid WSIB clearance, you can be held liable for their unpaid premiums, up to the labour portion of the contract.

2. Liability insurance ($2M minimum)

There is no provincial minimum, which is why the market standard matters: $2 million commercial general liability for residential work. Ask for the Certificate of Insurance with the contractor named and the policy in force. An honest contractor hands this over without hesitation; ours comes with the quote.

3. Compulsory trade licences

Even though the GC role is unlicensed, electrical work must be done by a Licensed Electrical Contractor (ESA), plumbing is a compulsory trade, and gas work requires TSSA-registered technicians. Ask who is doing those scopes and verify their tickets.

4. A written contract, always

Ontario's Consumer Protection Act requires a written contract for renovation work over $50. Scope, materials, total price, payment schedule, start and completion dates, cleanup responsibility, subcontractors, warranty. If a contractor resists writing it down, they are resisting the law. Full details in our contracts and rights guide.

5. Permits, pulled by them, verifiable by you

A contractor who says "you don't need a permit for this," or asks you to pull it yourself as the homeowner, is transferring the legal risk to you. See the permits guide for what triggers a permit in Brantford and Brant County.

Two questions this hub answers that most homeowners never think to ask: how to read contractor reviews like someone in the industry, and why contractors abandon jobs in the first place.

Beyond the documents a contractor hands you, six public Ontario registries let you check them independently, most of them free.

In this hub

• When a project legally needs an HCRA-licensed builder
• Check a contractor through Ontario's public registries
• How to hire a contractor in Ontario, step by step
• 15 questions to ask before hiring (the CHBA interview worksheet, explained)
• Ontario renovation scams and red flags: the full catalogue
• "Licensed contractor" in Ontario: what it actually means
• How to verify insurance and WSIB before signing
• How to read contractor reviews like someone in the industry
• Why contractors abandon jobs, and how your contract prevents it