Choosing Your Hurricane Francine Recovery Contractor: The Practical Checklist

You have an award letter from the Hurricane Francine Homeowner Assistance Program. You have your Estimated Cost of Repairs. You’re choosing the contractor-managed path (the state’s term for it is Solution 2), which means you pick the contractor. Now you’re looking at proposals from people offering to do the work.

This is the post for that moment. What the program verifies, what you should verify, and the questions worth asking before you sign a contract.

What the program verifies

When you select a contractor, the program runs a few checks on its end:

License. The contractor must be Louisiana-licensed for the work scope. The program confirms this with the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors.
Insurance. General liability and workers’ compensation, current and active.
Program standing. Whether the contractor has had performance issues with prior program projects.

For projects with less than $50,000 in remaining repairs, you can also use a certified home improvement contractor in place of a full general contractor. Same license verification, smaller scope.

The program’s check is the floor. Pass it and you’re allowed to work the program. It doesn’t tell you whether the contractor is good.

What you should verify

Five things, in order:

1. License verification on your own

Don’t take a contractor’s word for it. Go to lslbc.louisiana.gov, search the company name and the license number they gave you, and confirm:

License is current (not expired or suspended)
Classification matches the work (residential building contractor, mold remediation, etc.)
No active disciplinary actions

It takes two minutes. Do it for every contractor you’re considering.

2. Insurance certificates

Ask for current Certificates of Insurance showing general liability and workers’ compensation. Look at:

Effective dates (current, not expired)
Coverage limits (general liability of at least $1 million per occurrence is standard)
Who is named as certificate holder (it should be you or your address, not the contractor’s other client)

If they hesitate to send certificates, walk away.

3. BBB and online reviews

Pull the contractor’s Better Business Bureau profile. Look at rating, complaint history, and how the contractor responded to complaints. A few complaints don’t mean much; the response to them tells you more than the complaint itself.

Google the company name. Read the recent reviews, not just the top ones. Look for patterns: missed deadlines, communication issues, post-completion problems.

4. References from similar work

Ask for references from at least three recent residential projects, ideally including at least one Restore Louisiana recovery project (Francine or the 2020-21 program). Call them. Ask:

Did the schedule hold?
Did the price hold?
How did the contractor handle change orders?
Did they communicate consistently throughout?
Would they hire them again?

You’re looking for direct, unguarded answers. A reference who sounds like they were coached is not a reference.

5. The conversation itself

Meet on site. Walk the property with them. Listen for:

Specific knowledge of the Restore Louisiana contractor-managed process. Five draws, 180-day start, 365-day finish, ECR as ceiling, no advances, written change orders. If they don’t know this, they haven’t done it.
Direct talk about what’s in scope and what isn’t. A good contractor will flag items that fall outside the ECR up front, not surprise you mid-project.
A real, named supervisor. Not “we’ll assign someone.” A specific person who runs the job and answers the phone.
No pressure to sign immediately. A contractor who needs you to commit before you’ve checked references is not the contractor you want.

Questions worth asking

A short list to bring to the site walk:

Are you on the published Hurricane Francine Solution 2 contractor list at restore.la.gov?
Have you completed Restore Louisiana recovery projects under the 2020-21 program?
What’s your current job load and start date capacity inside the 180-day window?
Who is the supervisor on this job and what’s their direct number?
How do you handle change orders and program approvals?
What’s your typical draw schedule and how does it map to construction milestones?
What happens if a sub doesn’t show or a material is back-ordered? Walk me through a real example.
Will the homeowner-responsibility funds be applied to specific items? Which ones?
Do you carry workers’ comp and current general liability? Can I see certificates?
What’s your warranty on the work after final inspection?

Red flags

A few things that should give you pause:

Asking for any payment up front before construction begins (the program doesn’t allow it)
Pressure to sign a contract before the ECR is final
Offering to do work outside the ECR and bill it as if it were inside
Verbal-only change orders
Vague answers about which trades they self-perform vs. sub out
“I know somebody at the program” or any suggestion the contractor can move you up the queue
Reluctance to put commitments in writing

The Restore Louisiana program publishes a useful 10 Tips for Hiring a Contractor guide. Worth reading even if you’ve hired contractors before.

How Adams Industries handles each of these

We’re transparent about all of it, because if you’re going to work with us for the next nine to twelve months, transparency on day one matters more than smooth marketing:

License: visible at lslbc.louisiana.gov, classification listed
Insurance: certificates issued on request, current carriers
BBB: A+, profile linked from our credentials page
References: provided on request, including 2020-21 Restore Louisiana completions
Supervisor: a named person who runs the job and stays on it from estimate to close-out
No advance payments, written change orders, five-draw schedule keyed to inspections