{
  "locale": "en",
  "access": {
    "cost": "free",
    "signupRequired": false,
    "loginRequired": false,
    "readCountsAreAnonymous": true,
    "readingHistoryAssociatedWithReader": false,
    "note": "Everything here is free to read. There is no account, no signup, and no login. Verifiant counts anonymous reads of each lesson; no reading history is associated with you."
  },
  "notice": "Verifiant is not the State of Arizona, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, or a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. It describes public process and public record, and links to the official sources so you can read them yourself.",
  "hub": {
    "slug": "before-you-hire",
    "locale": "en",
    "title": "Before You Hire",
    "summary": "What a public license check is, what it shows, and where its answer stops. Free to read, with nothing to sign up for.",
    "publicationStatus": "published",
    "updatedOn": "2026-08-11",
    "path": "/learn/hubs/before-you-hire"
  },
  "course": {
    "slug": "checking-a-license-before-you-hire",
    "locale": "en",
    "hubSlug": "before-you-hire",
    "title": "Checking a License Before You Hire",
    "summary": "A short walk through the public record behind a license check: what the words mean, why the time it was read counts, and how to read one honestly.",
    "publicationStatus": "published",
    "updatedOn": "2026-08-10",
    "path": "/learn/courses/checking-a-license-before-you-hire"
  },
  "module": {
    "slug": "reading-a-license-check",
    "locale": "en",
    "courseSlug": "checking-a-license-before-you-hire",
    "title": "Reading a License Check",
    "introduction": "One module, taken in order. You will read what a check is, step through its edges, say the words out loud, and finish by running a real check on a number you actually hold.",
    "publicationStatus": "published",
    "updatedOn": "2026-08-08"
  },
  "lesson": {
    "slug": "what-a-license-check-shows",
    "locale": "en",
    "moduleSlug": "reading-a-license-check",
    "title": "What a License Check Shows",
    "publicationStatus": "published",
    "updatedOn": "2026-08-10",
    "assets": [
      {
        "kind": "summary",
        "text": "A license check is one question asked of one place: what does Arizona public record publish for this license number? The answer comes back in public record's own words, with the time it was read. It is not a rating, and it is not anyone's opinion of a contractor's work.",
        "fact": {
          "factType": "general_practice",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "slide_deck",
        "title": "What a Result Carries",
        "frames": [
          {
            "heading": "The status word",
            "lines": [
              "Exactly as Arizona publishes it, letter for letter.",
              "Never translated into a word of ours."
            ],
            "fact": {
              "factType": "general_practice",
              "source": {
                "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
              }
            },
            "layout": "cover"
          },
          {
            "heading": "The moment",
            "lines": [
              "Every result carries the time it was read.",
              "A reading is a moment, not a subscription."
            ],
            "fact": {
              "factType": "general_practice",
              "source": {
                "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
              }
            },
            "layout": "statement"
          },
          {
            "heading": "The source",
            "lines": [
              "The live portal, or the official posted list with its own date.",
              "One result, one source, always named."
            ],
            "fact": {
              "factType": "general_practice",
              "source": {
                "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
              }
            },
            "layout": "statement"
          },
          {
            "heading": "The fields",
            "lines": [
              "Whatever the record published rides along, word for word.",
              "The record speaks for itself."
            ],
            "fact": {
              "factType": "general_practice",
              "source": {
                "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
              }
            },
            "layout": "statement"
          }
        ],
        "fact": {
          "factType": "general_practice",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "reading",
        "title": "The Anatomy of a Result",
        "moments": [
          {
            "kind": "statement",
            "text": "A result is four facts standing together."
          },
          {
            "kind": "explain",
            "text": "The status, word for word. The moment it was read. The official source that answered. And the fields the record published beside the status. Each one narrows the other three, and reading all four together is the whole skill."
          },
          {
            "kind": "figure",
            "steps": [
              {
                "label": "The status",
                "detail": "Arizona's word, letter for letter."
              },
              {
                "label": "The moment",
                "detail": "When the record was read."
              },
              {
                "label": "The source",
                "detail": "Which official door answered."
              },
              {
                "label": "The fields",
                "detail": "What the record published beside it."
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "kind": "statement",
            "text": "The status arrives word for word."
          },
          {
            "kind": "explain",
            "text": "If Arizona publishes Active, the page says Active. If it publishes Suspended, the page says Suspended. Nothing is renamed into a friendlier word, and nothing is turned into a mark out of ten."
          },
          {
            "kind": "callout",
            "label": "Worth knowing",
            "text": "The page shows the record's own words. Never a rating, never a score, never anyone's opinion of the work."
          },
          {
            "kind": "statement",
            "text": "The timestamp is half the answer."
          },
          {
            "kind": "explain",
            "text": "A reading describes the moment it was made, and the record moves on its own schedule. That is not a flaw in the check; it is what a public record is. The habit that follows: read again at each moment money is about to move."
          },
          {
            "kind": "example",
            "label": "One word, two moments",
            "text": "A result read this morning says Active as of this morning. A screenshot someone sends you from three weeks ago says Active as of three weeks ago. The words match; the moments do not. The fresh read is a minute away and costs nothing."
          },
          {
            "kind": "statement",
            "text": "The source line names the door the answer came through."
          },
          {
            "kind": "explain",
            "text": "Sometimes the answer comes from the live portal; sometimes it comes from Arizona's posted list of active licenses, which carries its own date. The page names which one answered, every time, and never blends the two into one blurred reading."
          },
          {
            "kind": "callout",
            "label": "Never",
            "tone": "strong",
            "text": "A list reading is never dressed up as a live check, and absence from the active list is never a statement that a license does not exist."
          },
          {
            "kind": "statement",
            "text": "The fields are the record speaking for itself."
          },
          {
            "kind": "explain",
            "text": "Whatever fields the source published ride along under a heading that says exactly that. When you want more than the fields, the result links the Registrar's own record, and reading it there is always the fuller read."
          }
        ],
        "fact": {
          "factType": "official_process",
          "source": {
            "kind": "official",
            "label": "Arizona ROC contractor search",
            "url": "https://azroc.my.site.com/AZRoc/s/contractor-search"
          },
          "checkedAt": "2026-08-10"
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "flashcards",
        "title": "Two-sided Review",
        "cards": [
          {
            "front": "What does a license check carry?",
            "back": "What public record published for that license number, in its own words, plus the time it was read."
          },
          {
            "front": "Why is the timestamp part of the answer?",
            "back": "Because a status can change after it was read. The time says which moment the answer describes."
          },
          {
            "front": "What is a check not?",
            "back": "Not a rating, not a grade, not a prediction, and not Verifiant's opinion of anyone's work."
          }
        ],
        "fact": {
          "factType": "general_practice",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "quiz",
        "title": "Check Yourself",
        "questions": [
          {
            "id": "what-it-tells-you",
            "prompt": "What does a license check tell you?",
            "options": [
              {
                "id": "quality",
                "text": "How good the contractor's work is"
              },
              {
                "id": "public-record",
                "text": "What Arizona public record published for that license number, and when it was read"
              },
              {
                "id": "outcome",
                "text": "Whether the job will go well"
              }
            ],
            "answerOptionId": "public-record",
            "explanation": "A check is a reading of public record at a moment in time. It carries the words public record published and the time they were read, nothing about workmanship, and nothing about how a job will go."
          },
          {
            "id": "why-the-time",
            "prompt": "Why does a check carry the time it was made?",
            "options": [
              {
                "id": "duration",
                "text": "So you know how long the lookup took"
              },
              {
                "id": "may-have-changed",
                "text": "Because a status can change after it was read, so a check describes the moment it was made"
              },
              {
                "id": "expiry",
                "text": "Because older checks stop working"
              }
            ],
            "answerOptionId": "may-have-changed",
            "explanation": "Public record can change the day after you read it. The timestamp is what keeps an older reading honest: it says what was published then, not what is published now. Nothing here is graded. The answer is here so you can check your own thinking."
          }
        ],
        "fact": {
          "factType": "general_practice",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "talking_points",
        "title": "Things You Can Say",
        "points": [
          "Can you give me the license number the work would be done under?",
          "I look up license numbers before work starts. I do it for every quote.",
          "I read public record today and it showed that status. Is that still current?",
          "I am not asking for anything private. This is the record the state publishes."
        ],
        "fact": {
          "factType": "opinion",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "kind": "tool_link",
        "title": "Try It",
        "tool": {
          "key": "check",
          "path": "/check",
          "label": "Check a license number",
          "description": "Look up what Arizona public record publishes for a license number, with the time it was read. Free, and no account."
        },
        "note": "Use a license number from a quote you already have. Free, and no account.",
        "fact": {
          "factType": "opinion",
          "source": {
            "kind": "verifiant_doctrine"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}