Secretary of State, corporation information sites, by State.
This group of States is known for hail storms over the last few years. Many contractors
are currently in Atlanta and have a history of working multiple locations across the US.
Many have been in business a few weeks to a few months.
If your state is not listed below, try starting here:
http://www.re-quest.net/g2g/investigation/corporations/
Alabama
http://arc-sos.state.al.us/CGI/SOSCRP03.MBR/INPUT
Arkansas
http://www.sosweb.state.ar.us/corps/search_all.php
Colorado
http://www.sos.state.co.us/biz/BusinessEntityCriteriaExt.do
Florida
http://www.sunbiz.org/corinam.html
Georgia
http://corp.sos.state.ga.us/corp/soskb/CSearch.asp
Idaho
http://www.accessidaho.org/public/sos/corp/search.html?ScriptForm.startstep=crit
Iowa
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/Search/corp/corp_search.asp
Illinois
http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/
Indiana
https://secure.in.gov/sos/bus_service/online_corps/name_search.aspx
Kansas
http://www.accesskansas.org/srv-corporations/compressed.do
Kentucky
http://apps.sos.ky.gov/business/obdb/default.aspx
Louisiana
http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov/app1/paygate/crpinq.jsp
Maine
http://icrs.informe.org/nei-sos-icrs/ICRS?MainPage=x
Michigan
http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp/sr_corp.asp
Minnesota
http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=790
Missouri
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/csearch.asp
Nebraska
https://www.nebraska.gov/sos/corp/corpsearch.cgi?nav=search
North Carolina
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/CSearch.aspx
North Dakota
http://www.nd.gov/sos/businessserv/registrations/business-search.html
Ohio
http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/pls/portal/S
Oklahoma
https://www.sooneraccess.state.ok.us/corp_inquiry/corp_inquiry-find.asp?
South Carolina
http://www.scsos.com/corp_search.htm
Tennessee
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/soscorp/
Utah
https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action/index
Virginia
http://s0302.vita.virginia.gov/servlet/resqportal/resqportal
Wisconsin
http://www.wdfi.org/apps/CorpSearch/Search.aspx?
Wyoming
https://wyobiz.wy.gov/Ecommerce/SearchResultNew.aspx
Note: The Roofer’s Covenant addresses these concerns
and is available for free at www.RoofersCovenant.com
Check out business addresses.
Check out the advertised address of a business in another state.
Some contractors use mail box centers and then claim “Locations”.
Most consumers would expect an office, not just a mailbox. Find out!
1. Enter address (not suite #) to confirm if UPS Store
http://go.mappoint.net/ups/PrxInput.aspx
2. Enter address (not suite #) to confirm if Mail Boxes Etc.
http://go.mappoint.net/mbe/PrxInput.aspx
3. Enter address (not suite #)
www.google.com
Check out the skyview of the area where a business advertises their location.
http://maps.google.com/
Enter the address in the “Search Maps” area.
BBB - National and Regional Better Business Bureau site.
www.bbb.org
How many employees does a contractor have? Though the BBB does not verify the
authenticity of the number shown, you may find contractors with only 1 to a handful of
employees. Some tell their Workers Compensation or the State Agency that requires
Workers Comp for employees, that they only have 1 or 4 employees and are not required
to have Workers Compensation. Some keep 2 sets of books and are trapped between (1)
the fact they subcontract most if not all work and (2)looking good to the public on the
BBB site.
• Note: “Original Start Date” may be based upon an individual or other company and not
match the actual company creation date. The company is likely an independent entity
and its creation date is most critical.
Ask the contractor who he purchases his materials from, then
call the supplier and ask:
Has the contractor been purchasing materials locally for
the last 5 years?
Has the contractor done business with them under more than
one name?
Share your information with your friends, neighbors, Homeowners Association and
those you care about in other parts of the country!