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Playbook · Insurers, surety & contractor-credit underwriting

The underwriting playbook

You underwrite and monitor contractors. A permit record shows what a contractor actually builds — volume, value, velocity — and the AZ ROC roster shows whether they’re licensed, clean, and current. This turns that into an underwriting signal and a monitoring feed, so a revocation or an activity drop reaches you before your exposure does.

Spot-check a contractor now; a portfolio feed is a scoping call away.

The daily loop

  1. 1

    Pull the contractor

    Every AZ ROC contractor carries license status and classification, issue and expiration dates, disciplinary history (suspensions and revocations), presence on the unlicensed-violator list, and — where they pull permits — volume, permitted valuation, project mix, and velocity. Each field carries source lineage back to the originating filing, so a decision is traceable.

  2. 2

    Read the risk

    A license that’s lapsed, suspended, or revoked; a name on the unlicensed-violator list; a disciplinary action; or a sharp drop in permit velocity — an early financial-stress or wind-down signal that often moves before the financials do.

  3. 3

    Set a watch on your book

    Track the contractors you’ve written and get flagged the day a license nears expiry, a new disciplinary action posts, or activity falls off — surfaced in the feed rather than waiting for an annual review.

  4. 4

    Scale to a portfolio feed

    For a full book, the nightly data feed — bulk file or a Snowflake/BigQuery share — delivers the same signals across every contractor, with a freshness SLA, a dedicated contact, and source lineage for auditable decisions.

Aim it right

What each decision looks at

Underwriting is a lookup, not a lead search. Pull the contractor, read the signals for the decision in front of you, and set a watch for the life of the exposure.

When you underwrite…Read the…
Surety bondsLicense validity, disciplinary history, and permit velocity as a capacity read
GL / WC insuranceLicense validity and the unlicensed-violator check before binding
Contractor credit / net termsVelocity trend and disciplinary posture over the term
Portfolio monitoringAll signals, every contractor, refreshed nightly via the data feed

What to look for

The signals that separate a call from a waste of a call

License status
Active, lapsed, suspended, or revoked — the baseline validity check, and a status that can change between annual reviews.
Disciplinary history
Suspensions and revocations on the ROC record — a conduct-and-claims signal from the public file, not an inference.
Unlicensed-violator presence
The contractor has been found operating without a license. A standing red flag worth catching before terms or coverage go out.
Permit velocity
A sharp drop in permit pace can precede financial stress or wind-down — and it often moves before it shows up in a filing.
Project mix & valuation
The size and type of work a contractor actually takes on, versus what they’re bonded or rated for — a mismatch is a signal.

Power moves

Once you’re past the basics

Verify at bind, every time

Pull license status, disciplinary history, and the unlicensed check before you write — a 30-second look that closes a known gap.

Monitor; don’t wait for renewal

A daily watch surfaces a revocation or a stall the day it happens, not at the next review cycle when the exposure has already run.

Read velocity as a leading indicator

A contractor’s permit pace often moves before their financials — a stall is an early warning worth acting on.

Trace every flag to source

Each record carries lineage to the originating ROC filing, so an underwriting decision is documented and defensible.

Scale with the data feed

For portfolio-wide monitoring, bulk or warehouse delivery covers every contractor — and we’ll scope a sample against a slice of your book before a full agreement.

What you’ll see on every lead

License & classification

AZ ROC license number, status, class, and issue/expiration dates — statewide, refreshed on the ROC’s cadence.

Disciplinary & unlicensed

Suspensions, revocations, and presence on the unlicensed-violator list — the conduct record from the public file.

Permit activity

Volume, permitted valuation, project mix, and velocity over time for contractors who pull permits across the metro.

Source lineage

Every field traces to the originating filing, so a decision is auditable — not a black box.

Straight about the data

What we won’t oversell

  • PlumbIntel is not a consumer reporting agency and its data is not a consumer report subject to the FCRA. Flags are signals for review — never a coverage or eligibility decision — and you remain responsible for how the data is used in your underwriting.
  • The contractor roster and disciplinary / unlicensed overlays are statewide Arizona (AZ ROC); permit depth is eleven Phoenix-metro cities plus Maricopa County, expanding.
  • A contractor is resolved to permit activity on 42% of all permits and about 68% of the ones that name a contractor — every link carries a match-confidence badge and source lineage.

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Underwriting playbook — vet and monitor Arizona contractors | Plumb Intelligence