Tradie Red Flags: When to Walk Away | BLDESY!
You've found someone. They can start Thursday, the price sounds fine, and you just want the job done. But something's nagging at you — maybe it's the unmarked ute, maybe it's that they want half the money before they've touched a tool. That nagging feeling is worth listening to.
Here are the seven signs that actually mean something, and what to do about each one.
No fixed business address, and you can't find them online
A real business has a trail: a website, a Facebook page, a business listing, something. If a quick search turns up nothing — no ABN lookup result, no reviews anywhere, no trace — that's not proof they're a scammer, but it means you're taking the whole thing on faith. Ask for their business name and ABN before you ask anything else.
The ABN doesn't check out
Anyone can print a number on a card. What matters is whether it's registered, active, and matches the name on the invoice. You can check any ABN for free on the ABN Lookup site in under a minute — search the number, confirm the business name matches, and check the status says "Active." If it comes back cancelled, or the name doesn't match who's standing on your porch, stop there.
No licence for licensed work
Plumbing, electrical, gas fitting and building work over a certain value all require a current NSW licence — it's not optional, and it's not a formality. NSW Fair Trading's licence check tells you in seconds whether the licence is current, what class of work it actually covers, and whether there's a history of disciplinary action against it. A tradie who's genuinely licensed won't blink at you checking. One who gets cagey about it is telling you something.
No insurance, or they can't say what kind
"Yeah, we're insured" isn't an answer — insured for what, and how much? Home warranty insurance, public liability, and contractor insurance all cover different things, and a job going wrong without the right one means the cost lands on you. Ask to see a current certificate of currency. A legitimate tradie carries one and can produce it without drama.
No ID, no uniform, no signage — nothing that says who they are
An unmarked vehicle isn't automatically a problem. But paired with no photo ID, no business card, and no way to confirm who's actually standing in front of you, it adds up. You should be able to look at something — a licence card, a work ID, a White Card for site work — and know you've got the right person for the job, not just someone who turned up.
No reviews, or reviews that feel off
A brand-new tradie with zero reviews isn't automatically dodgy — everyone starts somewhere. But watch for reviews that are all five stars, all posted the same week, all written in suspiciously similar language, or reviews that only ever mention how "professional" and "friendly" someone was without saying anything about the actual work. Real reviews mention specifics: what was fixed, how long it took, what it cost.
Full payment, or a big deposit, before any work starts
Materials deposits for a genuine job are normal. Being asked for the full amount, or a large chunk of it, before anyone's picked up a tool is not. It removes your only leverage if the job's done badly, done slowly, or not done at all. A written quote should say what's owed when — deposit on booking, balance on completion is the standard shape.
Everything's verbal, nothing's in writing
If a price, a timeline, or what's actually included in the job only ever gets said out loud and never turns up in a text, email, or written quote, that's a problem waiting to happen. Get it in writing — even a text message confirming "$450, includes materials, done by Friday" gives you something to point back to if it goes sideways.
What to do if you spot one
One red flag on its own might be nothing — plenty of good tradies have messy websites and no photo ID sitting in their van. But if two or three of these stack up, that's the gamble talking, not you being paranoid. Ask the direct questions: ABN, licence number, insurance certificate. A legitimate tradie answers all three without hesitation. One who dodges, gets defensive, or tries to rush you past the question has told you everything you need to know.
This is exactly why we built BLDESY the way we did. Every tradie on the platform is checked five ways before their profile goes live — ABN, licence, photo ID, White Card, and insurance — so you're not the one running the checks at 8pm on a Tuesday with someone already in your driveway. Checked by us, chosen by you.
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