# Better Vetters

> Better Vetters is a pay-per-call API and MCP server that tells an AI agent whether a US contractor is real, licensed, and pulling permits. It checks official state license boards and city permit portals and returns a verdict, a 0-100 trust score, and the public records behind them. $0.15 per check; every new API key includes 20 free checks. Public records, not a consumer report.

Better Vetters is operated by James Russell, a sole proprietor based in Waterford, PA. Contact: james@fullyarmedmarketing.com. Site: https://bettervetters.com. API: https://api.bettervetters.com. Full text of the key pages in one file: https://bettervetters.com/llms-full.txt

## Key facts
- Tagline: Vet every contractor in one call.
- Coverage today: Washington State (L&I contractor licenses, insurance and bond, Seattle permits), Texas (TDLR trade licenses, Austin permits), New York City (DCWP home-improvement licenses and charges, DOB permits), Oregon (all Construction Contractors Board licenses, with bond and insurance), Connecticut (DCP contractor credentials), Pennsylvania (City of Pittsburgh contractor and trade licenses and Pittsburgh permits only; Pennsylvania has no statewide contractor license, and PA Attorney General HIC registration is not checked). Requests for other states return `out_of_coverage` and are not charged.
- Verdicts: trusted, likely_ok, caution, high_risk, needs_review, unknown, not_found, out_of_coverage. needs_review means the closest record is only a fuzzy name match (confidence below 0.8, no license-number or phone match); confirm the business before relying on it.
- Not a consumer report. Do not use for employment, credit, insurance, or tenant-screening decisions.
- A missing record is not proof of a problem. Treat match.confidence below 0.8 as a possible match.
- Listed on the Official MCP Registry as com.bettervetters/contractor-check.
- Attribution: Pittsburgh permit data is from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections, published by the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (https://data.wprdc.org/dataset/pli-permits) under CC BY 4.0.

## Docs
- [Docs and quickstart](https://bettervetters.com/docs/): create a key, call POST /v1/contractor/check and GET /v1/coverage, error codes, scoring, MCP setup.
- [How it works](https://bettervetters.com/how-it-works/): name normalization, matching, the weighted trust score, verdicts, billing, limits.
- [MCP server](https://bettervetters.com/mcp-server/): hosted streamable-HTTP endpoint https://api.bettervetters.com/mcp and local stdio server, tools check_contractor and get_coverage.
- [FAQ](https://bettervetters.com/faq/): short answers on coverage, billing, data freshness, API keys, and MCP use.
- [Pricing](https://bettervetters.com/pricing/): $0.15 per check, 20 free checks, $10/$50/$200 credit packs coming soon, what is and is not charged. All credit purchases are final and non-refundable, except where applicable law requires a refund or to correct a duplicate or erroneous charge. Unused credits are not refundable. Credits do not expire while the account is active. Free starter credits have no cash value.
- [Coverage](https://bettervetters.com/coverage/): exact data sources, record counts, publisher cadence, and known limits per jurisdiction.
- [Feedback](https://bettervetters.com/feedback/): five written questions, about two minutes, no calls. Tell us how you vet contractors and which states or data you need; replies come only by email, if you leave one. API: POST https://api.bettervetters.com/v1/feedback (free, no key).

## Coverage by place
- [Verify a Washington contractor license via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-washington-contractor-license-api/): L&I licenses, insurance and bond, suspension dates, Seattle permits.
- [Verify a Texas contractor license (TDLR) via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-texas-contractor-license-api/): TDLR trade licenses (no statewide general-contractor license in Texas), Austin permits.
- [Verify a NYC home improvement contractor license via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-nyc-contractor-license-api/): DCWP licenses, DCWP charges, DOB permits. New York City only.
- [Verify an Oregon contractor license via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-oregon-contractor-license-api/): Construction Contractors Board licenses with insurance and bond. License data only.
- [Verify a Connecticut contractor license via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-connecticut-contractor-license-api/): DCP contractor credentials with status and expiry. License data only.
- [Verify a Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) contractor license via API](https://bettervetters.com/verify-pennsylvania-contractor-license-api/): City of Pittsburgh contractor and trade licenses and Pittsburgh permits. Pennsylvania has no statewide contractor license; HIC registration is not checked.

## API
- [OpenAPI 3.1 spec](https://api.bettervetters.com/openapi.json)
- [API llms.txt](https://api.bettervetters.com/llms.txt)
- [Live coverage, free, no key](https://api.bettervetters.com/v1/coverage)
- [Interactive API docs](https://api.bettervetters.com/docs)
- Create an API key (20 free checks, no card): POST https://api.bettervetters.com/v1/keys with body {"label":"my-agent"}
- Check a contractor: POST https://api.bettervetters.com/v1/contractor/check with header Authorization: Bearer <key> and body {"name":"...","state":"WA"}

## MCP
- Hosted endpoint (streamable HTTP): https://api.bettervetters.com/mcp with header Authorization: Bearer <key>
- [Local stdio server download](https://api.bettervetters.com/mcp/server.py) and [MCP setup](https://api.bettervetters.com/mcp/README)
- Tools: check_contractor (billed per call), get_coverage (free, no key).

## Policies
- [Terms of Service](https://bettervetters.com/terms/)
- [Privacy Policy](https://bettervetters.com/privacy/)
- Credits: purchases are final and non-refundable, except where applicable law requires a refund or to correct a duplicate or erroneous charge. Unused credits are not refundable. Credits do not expire while the account is active. Free starter credits have no cash value.