How to check a contractor through Ontario's public registries

Six public lookups, most of them free

Ontario does not licence general contractors, so verification falls to you. The good news is that almost everything you need is a public record, and most of it costs nothing. Here is the whole routine, in the order I would run it.

1. WSIB clearance certificate (free)

A clearance is a number the WSIB issues to a registered business showing it is registered and up to date, and it is valid for up to 90 days. Anyone can obtain and validate one through the WSIB's public clearance service, so you do not have to take a contractor's word or their photocopy. Check the expiry, and check it again before final payment. Note one Ontario quirk in your favour: homeowners are exempt from having to obtain clearance for home renovation work they directly retain, but obtaining it anyway is free protection.

2. Electrical contractor licence (free)

Electrical work for hire is genuinely restricted in Ontario. Licensed Electrical Contractors are the only businesses legally authorized to do electrical work in your home, and every one of them holds a 7-digit ECRA/ESA licence number in the format "ECRA/ESA 7999999". Verify it in the ESA's contractor look-up tool or by phone. If your general contractor cannot name the licensed electrical contractor on the job, that is your answer.

3. Ontario Business Registry (free basic search, $8 profile)

Anyone can search the Ontario Business Registry free for basic information on a business or corporation. A full corporate profile report is $8, document copies are $3, and a certificate of status is $26. This is how you confirm the legal name on your contract actually exists, how long it has existed, and whether the "20 years in business" claim matches a corporation registered eighteen months ago.

4. PPSA lien search ($8)

A Personal Property Security Act search through ServiceOntario costs $8 online and can be run against a business name or an individual name. It reveals secured creditors and financing registrations against the contractor, which is a reasonable proxy for financial distress in a trade where the most common failure mode is a contractor running out of money mid-project.

5. Court records (free)

Ontario court case searches are public and free, split across two portals: Toronto civil, family and enforcement matters moved to the Ontario Courts Public Portal on October 14, 2025, while everything outside Toronto remains on Justice Services Online. A pattern of civil claims against a renovation company is a meaningful signal.

6. HCRA Ontario Builder Directory (free), for new-home work

If your project is a new home rather than a renovation, the builder must be HCRA-licensed, and the public Ontario Builder Directory lists licensing status, years active, homes built, charges, Registrar decisions and discipline outcomes. HCRA's own guidance is that renovations and upgrades to an existing home typically do not make it a "new home" and so do not require the builder to be licensed, but coach houses, laneway homes and tiny homes generally do require licensing and warranty coverage.

"Twenty minutes and about sixteen dollars buys you more certainty than any five-star review page. And here is the part I like: every one of these checks works on me too. Run them. A contractor who flinches at public records is telling you which records he is worried about."

Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.

What about the property itself

To check whether a lien has landed on your own title, you buy the parcel register through OnLand: $36.50 for the first page ($9.55 statutory, $23.85 ELRSA, $3.10 HST), $2.56 per additional page, and $3.39 for an individual document, which is how you pull the actual lien by its registration number. Why that matters, and why you hold back 10 percent until the lien period closes, is explained in the liens and holdback field guide.

The checks reviews cannot replace

Directory review scores are a popularity signal, not a verification. These registries are the verification. Pair them with the document requests in the insurance and WSIB walkthrough and the interview in our fifteen-question checklist, and there is very little a bad actor can hide from you.