Most advice about hiring a contractor starts with the same line: check the license. In Texas that line is empty, because the state never created a license for the people who build fences. A survey of 1,000 U.S. property owners found 10% specifically regretted the contractor they picked on their last renovation (Clever Real Estate, 2026).
So the screening has to happen somewhere else, and it happens before a salesperson ever stands in your yard. Four things are checkable in about ten minutes from your phone.
No State License Covers Your Fence Contractor in Texas
The state licensing authority regulates roughly 40 occupations, and fence building is absent from the list (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, 2026). Electricians need a state license. Air-conditioning contractors need one. A fence builder can quote your backyard, dig your posts, and cash your check with no state credential of any kind.
That leaves the word licensed doing very little work on a fence company’s website. It may mean a city registration. It may mean a sales tax permit. It may mean nothing at all. What replaces it is a short list of things a company either has a document for or does not.
Learn These Five Terms Before You Make the First Call
The words on a contractor’s homepage and the words on their paperwork are not the same words. Knowing which is which is most of the screening.
| Term | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Accredited | A rating body reviewed the company and gave it a start date you can look up |
| Certificate of insurance | A one-page document from the insurer listing coverage types, limits, and expiration date |
| General liability | Pays when the crew damages your property, your neighbor’s, or a buried line |
| Workers’ compensation | Pays when someone on the crew is injured on your lot |
| Crew | One install team; a company with 3 crews can start 3 jobs a day, no more |
Ask What Year the BBB Accreditation Started
A rating with no start date tells you how a company is doing this quarter. The Better Business Bureau tells homeowners to verify licenses and insurance, get a signed contract before work begins, and check verified reviews and complaints in its directory (Better Business Bureau, 2025). The start date is the part a new company cannot fake and an old company cannot lose.
We have held BBB accreditation since March 2003, with an A+ rating. Any company can display a badge. Ask when the accreditation began, then look the company up and confirm the year matches.
The Insurance Certificate Should Name the Job Address
Ask for the certificate itself, sent from the insurer or the agent, with your job address on it. The Federal Trade Commission tells homeowners to require proof of insurance and to get written estimates listing the work, materials, completion date, and price (Federal Trade Commission, 2024). A screenshot of a policy number is not proof.
Three lines on that page matter:
- General liability. Covers damage to your property and your neighbor’s. San Antonio requires registered residential contractors to carry at least $500,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate (City of San Antonio Code of Ordinances, Section 10-115), which is a fair floor to measure any certificate against.
- Workers’ compensation. Covers an injury on your lot. Without it, an accident in your yard can find its way to your homeowners policy.
- The expiration date. Coverage that lapsed in March is a document, and nothing more.
But Crew Depth Decides Whether Your Install Date Holds
Most fence companies are very small operations. About 599,000 specialty-trade-contractor establishments employ roughly 5.26 million workers nationally, fewer than ten people per establishment on average (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025). At that size, one crew out sick moves every job on the calendar behind it.
Ask a simple question: how many crews do you run in my market? We field over 100 crews, with 25 to 30 in Houston and 5 to 15 in each other market, which is why a missing day does not move your date. A one-truck company can build a fine fence. It just has nowhere to put your job when Tuesday rains.
A Star Rating Needs Volume and Recent Dates Behind It
Star averages have become a threshold, and buyers apply them hard: 68% of consumers will not use a business rated below 4 stars, up from 55% the prior year (BrightLocal, 2026). The average itself is the least useful number on the page. Read the count under it, then read the dates.
Three signals separate a real review record from a thin one. Volume, because a 5.0 on four reviews is a first week and a 4.9 on hundreds is a decade. Recency, because a book of reviews that stops two years ago describes a company that no longer exists. And detail, because reviewers who name the salesman, the crew, and the week are describing a job they actually had.
Run All Four Checks in Ten Minutes From Your Phone
Every check has a document or a number behind it, and every one can be answered before anyone measures your yard. Here is the pass mark on each.
| Check | What proves it | Pass mark |
|---|---|---|
| Accreditation | A rating body listing with a start year | Accredited for years, rating verified on the rating body’s own page |
| Insurance | Certificate from the insurer, job address on it | Current general liability and workers’ comp, unexpired |
| Crew depth | A crew count for your market, given on the phone | Enough crews that one sick day does not move your date |
| Reviews | Review count plus the dates on recent entries | Volume in the hundreds, entries from this year, named detail |
Nothing on that list requires an appointment. Nothing on it requires you to already hold a bid. A company that answers all four in one phone call has told you more than a license would have.
