Hiring a contractor in Wichita Falls: Texas licenses, city permits, written scopes

Most of what you can check about a contractor in Wichita Falls is public and free. Texas licenses some trades through state boards, each with its own lookup. The city registers contractors and issues the permits that bring an inspector to your house. A clean license search will not tell you who does tidy work. What it does show is whether the company in your driveway answers to anyone.

Nothing below is legal advice. If a job ends in a dispute over money or workmanship, a Texas attorney is the right call.

The trades Texas licenses

Electricians. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TDLR, is plain about it: anyone who performs or offers to perform electrical work in Texas that is not exempt must be licensed and must do that work through a licensed electrical contractor. So the person at your panel should hold a license, and the company that sent them should too.

Heating and air conditioning. TDLR also licenses air conditioning and refrigeration contractors. Anyone who installs, repairs or maintains air conditioning, refrigeration or heating systems needs a TDLR license, and each company has to employ a licensed contractor at every permanent location. In a city where about 28 days a year reach 100 degrees, this is the license you are most likely to check.

Plumbers. Plumbing has its own agency, the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, with a "Find a License / Registration" search on its website.

Pest control. Structural pest control is licensed through the Texas Department of Agriculture's Structural Pest Control Service.

Not every trade has a state board. For a roofer, a painter or a general remodeler, the city registration below, your own references and current insurance certificates carry more of the weight.

How to look someone up

TDLR keeps a "Verify a License" page that searches its programs, electricians and air conditioning contractors among them. The plumbing board has its own search. Search both the individual and the business, confirm the license shows as active, and compare the name with the one printed on the bid. Five minutes at the kitchen table, before the contract, is the cheapest protection on this page.

If a general contractor is bringing in an electrician or a plumber for part of the job, ask who that will be and look them up as well.

City registration and permits

Inside city limits, the Building Inspections division, part of Development Services, issues permits, inspects construction against the building codes, and licenses and registers contractors. Its staff includes a chief electrical inspector and plumbing and mechanical inspectors, and it runs the city's backflow program.

A few points from the city's own forms:

• A contractor's city registration expires one year from the date it is issued, so ask to see a current one.
• On the registration form, the contractor acknowledges that it is unlawful to start work that needs a permit before the permit is issued, and unlawful to occupy a new structure before its building, electrical, gas, plumbing, mechanical and fire protection systems have passed inspection and the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy.
• The city has separate permit applications for demolition, excavation, mechanical, plumbing and residential electrical work.
• The city also keeps code compliance bond forms and an affidavit of licensed contractor.

It is fair to ask a contractor, before work starts, who is pulling the permit and to see it. Without a permit there is normally no inspection, and an inspector is often the only person outside the company who ever looks at the work.

Inspections normally happen in business hours. The city will do after-hours and weekend inspections when an inspector is available, but only if they are arranged and paid for before 5 p.m. on a weekday.

Older houses and lead paint

If your house was built before 1978, federal rules apply to paid work that disturbs paint. The EPA requires anyone paid to do renovation, repair or painting work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 homes to be certified, with workers trained in lead-safe practices. That includes one-person firms. Ask for the certification before anyone sands or demolishes.

Watering and irrigation work

Wichita Falls takes water seriously. During the 2010 to 2015 drought the city's lake supply fell below 19 percent, and some rules stayed in place year round afterward. Sprinklers may not run between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., and running an irrigation system with broken parts or leaks is not allowed. If you are paying for a new system or a repair, ask how it will be set up to follow those rules. Drip, bubbler and soaker lines can run at any time.

Plan around the weather

Summer heat here is long, with an average of 102 days a year at 90 degrees or more, and May is the wettest month. Concrete, roofing and exterior paint all depend on the weather, so ask a crew how it schedules around rain in May and heat in July.

Put the scope and payments in writing

Ask for the bid in writing, with brands and model numbers for anything installed, a line on debris removal, and a sentence on how surprises get priced, such as rot behind drywall or a cracked sill under old siding. Any change after signing should be a signed change order, not a phone call.

Pay as stages pass inspection instead of on calendar dates, and hold back the last payment until the final inspection is signed off. File every permit and inspection record with the deed and closing papers; a future buyer or appraiser may want them.

After a storm

Storm damage brings its own rush of work and its own risks. Our guide to being storm-ready in Wichita Falls covers the city's emergency procedure for electrical and gas repairs and what to watch for.

Using our listings

Our Remodeling and Contractors, Roofing, Electricians, Plumbers, Heating and Air Conditioning, Concrete, Painting and Pest Control pages list businesses working in the Wichita Falls area, by name, address and phone. We have not hired or checked any of them, and a listing here is not a license or registration check. Run every name through the state lookups yourself.