Background checks for in-home technicians

Why screening matters in home services

Your technicians walk into bedrooms, basements and nurseries. They meet elderly customers alone and children home from school. Customers trust you with their homes and families, and a careful screening process is part of keeping that trust. It also protects your team, your insurance position and your reputation.

Customers are cautious about who is at the door. In a Pew Research Center survey, 49% of US adults said people often pretend to be someone else to steal personal information and 42% said it happens sometimes^[3]. A company that can say clearly how it screens technicians answers a question many customers have but rarely ask.

Screening has to fit a tight labor market. BLS counted 289,000 construction job openings in September 2026, up from 194,000 a year earlier^[4]. A process that is fair, fast and lawful helps you hire good people quickly rather than losing them to a competitor while a report sits in a queue.

The FCRA steps, in order

When you get a background report from a consumer reporting agency, the Fair Credit Reporting Act sets out what you must do. The FTC and EEOC publish a joint guide for employers that summarizes the steps^[1].

1. 01

   Give written notice

   Tell the applicant in writing that you may use a background report for employment decisions. The notice must be in a stand-alone format and cannot be part of the employment application^[1].

2. 02

   Get written permission

   Obtain the applicant's written authorization before ordering the report^[1].

3. 03

   Apply consistent criteria

   Decide in advance what you check for each role and what would disqualify someone, and apply it to everyone in that role.

4. 04

   Before any adverse action, send a pre-adverse notice

   If something in the report may lead you not to hire, give the applicant a copy of the report you relied on and a copy of 'A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act'^[1]. Give them a reasonable chance to explain or correct errors.

5. 05

   After adverse action, send the final notice

   Tell the person they were rejected because of information in the report, give the name, address and phone number of the company that sold it, say that the company did not make the decision, and explain their right to dispute the report and get a free copy within 60 days^[1].

6. 06

   Keep records securely

   Store reports and notices confidentially, limit access, and dispose of them securely when you no longer need them.

Equal treatment and fair-chance laws

The joint FTC and EEOC guide says it is illegal to check the background of applicants and employees when that decision is based on a person's race, national origin, sex, religion, disability or age (40 or older), and it tells employers to apply the same standards to everyone^[1]. That means the same checks for every applicant for the same role, and the same treatment of similar results.

Many states, counties and cities also have fair-chance or 'ban the box' laws that control when you can ask about criminal history and how you can use it. California's Fair Chance Act, for example, generally prohibits employers with five or more employees from asking a job candidate about conviction history before making a job offer^[2]. Other jurisdictions have their own timing, notice and assessment rules, and some limit what records can be considered.

• Remove criminal history questions from your application if any location where you hire restricts them.
• Run criminal history checks only at the stage your strictest applicable law allows, often after a conditional offer.
• Base decisions on the job: weigh what the offense was, how long ago it happened and whether it relates to work in customers' homes.
• Follow any local notice and waiting-period rules before making a final decision.
• Ask an employment attorney to review your process for each state and city where you hire.

What to check for an in-home role

Check only what you need for the role, and write down why. Office staff who never enter homes may need a different package from technicians. If you re-screen current employees periodically, tell them in advance, get the required authorization and follow the same FCRA steps.

Telling customers about screening

Screening only builds trust if customers know about it, and it only protects you if what you say is true. Describe exactly what you do, in plain words, and keep it current.

• Do not say 'certified safe', 'fully vetted' or similar unless you can explain exactly what it means.
• Do not imply subcontractors are screened to your standard unless they are.
• Show the technician's name and photo in the on-the-way text, so customers can match the person at the door.
• Train office staff to answer 'Are your techs background checked?' accurately, using the same wording.

Overstating screening creates risk in two ways: customers may rely on a claim that is not true, and if something goes wrong, the gap between what you promised and what you did becomes the story.

Subcontractors, temps and staffing agencies

Customers do not distinguish between your employees and the subcontractor you sent on a busy Saturday. If your website says every technician is background checked, that promise covers everyone who wears your shirt or arrives in your name.

• Put screening requirements in every subcontractor and staffing agreement, including what is checked and how often.
• Ask for written confirmation that each person sent to a customer's home has passed those checks.
• Verify trade licenses yourself on the state board's site rather than relying on a copy.
• Give subcontracted technicians the same ID badge and on-the-way text process, so customers can match the name at the door.
• If a subcontractor cannot meet the standard, change your customer-facing wording or stop sending that subcontractor into homes.

After the hire: conduct, re-checks and complaints

A clean report on day one does not guarantee good conduct in year three. Pair screening with clear conduct rules for in-home work, supervisor ride-alongs and a process for customer complaints about behavior. Treat any allegation of theft, harassment or unsafe behavior as a serious complaint: remove the technician from customer homes while you investigate, document what you find and take advice before acting. If you choose to re-screen employees periodically, put that in your written policy, get fresh authorization and follow the same FCRA steps each time.

Example: a fair, fast process for a growing company

Example: a fictional HVAC company hiring in two states removes the criminal history question from its application, makes a conditional offer after the interview and ride-along, then sends the stand-alone disclosure and authorization by email. The screening company returns most reports within three business days. One applicant's report shows an old conviction unrelated to work in homes; the owner reviews it with the job criteria and proceeds. Another shows a recent conviction directly related to customer safety; the office sends the pre-adverse notice with the report and the summary of rights, waits the period the company's attorney advised, considers the applicant's response, and sends the final notice.

The company hires within a week of the offer in most cases, keeps a record of every decision and its reason, and can tell customers truthfully what its screening includes.

Screening is one part of trust

Hiring is already hard: in Angi's 2025 survey, 53% of homeowners on average reported difficulty finding pros^[5], and that scarcity runs on both sides of the market. A screening process that treats applicants fairly helps you hire, and one that customers understand helps you sell. Pair it with the visible signals in trust signals homeowners look for and the training covered in hiring through the technician shortage.