Background check requirements

Verified by Pro Support · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · All Pros · ~3 min read

The rule

Every Pro completes a criminal and identity background check through Checkr, our third-party provider. It's triggered after your first job — not at signup — so you can claim and work jobs before it's done. Checkr emails you the invitation. The check takes your Social Security number (SSN) or a valid EIN. Complete it while the invitation is active: once it expires, it generally can't be reissued.

Why it matters

Your background check has no effect on how many jobs you're offered — that keeps working normally the whole time. What it affects is whether your account stays active.

What counts as a violation

Not completing the check before your countdown runs out. Your countdown starts when you open your dashboard and see the intro notification about the check — not before — and the app shows the live count.

Consequences

Finish before the countdown on your dashboard runs out, from the email or by tapping "Complete Now." You get 14 days from that intro notification before you're paused, and 30 days before your account is deactivated. New job offers pause until you complete it. Paused means no new jobs, but you keep your already-scheduled customers — you can still complete them and offer them additional services. The paused notice reappears daily with a running day count. If it's still not done when your countdown ends, your account is deactivated.

A passed check clears you permanently, with no further action. A failed check is different: it permanently deactivates you, the decision is final, and any dispute about the result goes through Checkr rather than Pro Support.

What to do instead

  1. After your first job, watch for the intro notification on your dashboard telling you a background check is required. Opening it starts your countdown.
  1. Complete the check in the app or from the email. The check takes your SSN or a valid EIN. – In the app: on your dashboard, tap "Complete Now" on the background check message at the top. On "Background Check Guidelines," tap "Confirm." Checkr, the company that runs our background checks, opens in the app. Follow its steps. – From the email: follow the Checkr invitation you get by email.
  2. Checkr usually takes a few days to process your result.
  3. Finish before the deadline shown in the app. If the invitation expires first, a resend is only possible as a reviewed exception — don't count on one.

What you need to know

  • Checkr — where you complete the check, and where any dispute about your result goes.
  • The intro notification on your dashboard — this is what starts your countdown.
  • The paused and deactivated screens in the app.

If something goes wrong

You're paused. You can still see and complete your already-scheduled customers. You just won't get new jobs until the check is resolved.

Your invitation expired. Contact Pro Support. A resend is possible for a valid exception — mainly a verified technical issue, like a bug or system error that stopped you accessing or completing the check. It's reviewed case by case and isn't guaranteed. If you believe your account was deactivated in error, that's a separate documented review handled by our engineering team rather than standard Pro Support — ask for it specifically.

You're still getting Checkr emails. Check whether you have an account under the same email on another of our brands (LawnStarter, Lawn Love, HomeGnome). One check covers all of them, and the email may reference a brand you don't work under.

Your dashboard shows "Review background check results." Checkr, the company that runs our background checks, needs more from you. Tap "Review background check results" on your Dashboard, then "Go to Checkr," and finish what it asks for there.

Checkr is asking for something you can't provide. Take that up with Checkr directly — they run the check, and Pro Support can't act for them or see what they're asking. Come to Pro Support if the problem is the app, the invitation, or your account status.

Your outcome

Passing clears the requirement permanently. Complete the check before your invitation expires and your account stays active, with no interruption to new job offers.

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