Hiring a paver?
The 10-minute vetting list.

Every legitimate California paving contractor holds a CSLB license — for asphalt work, class A, C-12 or C-32. Verify it free at cslb.ca.gov: active status, workers' comp on file, and bond. Ours is C-32 #760658 — check it right now; that's the point. No license number on the truck, card or quote is a walk-away.

The classic: a crew knocks on your door with 'extra hot mix from a job down the street,' offering a deal that expires today. Real hot mix is ordered to tonnage; real contractors don't have spare truckloads or expiring discounts. What follows is an inch of asphalt on bare dirt that alligator-cracks by spring, from a crew whose phone number is already dead. Urgency is the tell — legitimate paving is never a today-only decision.

Written, itemized, and specific: base depth, asphalt thickness, compaction, drainage plan, edge detail, timeline and payment terms. California law caps down payments at $1,000 or 10%, whichever is less — a contractor demanding half up front is either underfunded or leaving. Compare bids on the section spec, not the bottom line: the $2,000 cheaper bid is usually an inch of asphalt thinner.

Ask each bidder: How do you handle expansive clay? What's the base spec and where does the water go? Who's actually on my job — your crew or a sub? What happens at the edges? How long have you answered this phone number? The last one sounds soft and isn't: shops that have answered the same number since 1990 are findable, reviewable and accountable in a way pop-ups never are.