Questions to Ask Before Signing Any Pavement Contract

License, insurance, and who is actually doing the work

Ask for the license number and verify it yourself with the state board. In California, paving and sealcoating work requires a contractor license, and you can look up status, classification, and bond information online in a couple of minutes. Robert E. Sutton Co. holds California license number 510637 and Nevada license number 29573, A-8.

Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the insurer or agent, not a photocopy handed to you at the door. General liability and workers compensation both matter. If an uninsured worker is hurt on your property, that becomes your problem.

Ask who will actually perform the work. Some outfits sell the job and subcontract everything. That is not automatically bad, but you should know who is showing up and whether they carry their own coverage.

Scope written in plain terms

A proposal should say what is being done, where, with what material, and to what standard. Square footage, linear feet of crack sealing, number of coats, product name, and what preparation is included. Vague language like clean and seal as needed is a promise to do whatever is convenient.

Preparation deserves its own line. Blowing, sweeping, edging, oil spot treatment, and vegetation removal are where sealcoating jobs are won or lost. If prep is not described, assume it is not priced.

Watch for what is excluded. Cracks that are too wide to seal, areas that need patching, and drainage problems should be identified up front and called out. A contractor who never mentions a limitation has not really looked.

Honesty about what the work will and will not do

This is the question that separates people. Ask directly what this work will not fix. A straight answer sounds like this. Sealer will not repair cracks, will not level a low spot, and will not restore a failed base. Crack sealant will not hold in broken, crumbling pavement.

Ask whether any part of your pavement needs a different contractor. We do not pave, patch, or overlay, so when a property needs dig-outs or an overlay we say so and point you to a paving contractor. Any maintenance company that claims a coating solves structural problems is either inexperienced or selling.

Be skeptical of leftover material stories, prices that expire today, crews going door to door in the neighborhood, and anyone unwilling to walk the property with you before quoting. Those are old patterns and they still show up every summer.

Schedule, access, and references

Timing is real up here. Our work season runs roughly June through September because sealer needs warm, dry conditions to cure and late season weather does not cooperate. A contractor promising sealcoating in late fall at 6,000 feet is promising something the weather may not allow.

Ask about access. How long is the surface closed, how will traffic be routed on a shared road or a business lot, and what happens to your residents or customers during the work. Ask about cure time before vehicles return, and get it in a range rather than a guarantee, since it depends on the day.

Ask for local references on similar work and go look at the pavement yourself. Ask how long the company has worked in this area, because mountain pavement is its own problem and experience elsewhere does not fully transfer. We have been doing this in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe since 1965. Call (530) 587-4161 and we will look at it, and we will tell you honestly whether the work belongs to us or to a paving contractor.

Quick answers

See the rest of the pavement library, or if you are trying to identify something specific, start with pavement problems.