How to verify a Washington contractor's registration, bond and insurance
Registration vs licence, the L&I verification tool, what bond and insurance status mean, and why an unregistered contractor cannot sue you for payment.
In Washington, the state agency that regulates contractors is the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). Before you sign anything, it takes a few minutes to confirm that a contractor is legally allowed to do the work and that the protections the law requires are actually in place.
Registration, licence and the three kinds of contractor
Washington uses one system for most trades and separate ones for two of them:
- Construction contractors register under chapter 18.27 RCW. This covers general contractors (remodels, additions, new homes) and specialty contractors such as roofing, tree removal, excavation, siding, fencing, concrete and HVAC.
- Electrical contractors hold an electrical contractor licence under chapter 19.28 RCW.
- Plumbing contractors are licensed through L&I as well, with journey-level and residential-service plumber credentials behind them.
The public dataset that this directory is built from covers all three. Each is shown with its licence number, specialty and status.
Use L&I's verification tool
L&I tells homeowners to start at its contractor verification tool at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify. Search by name, licence number or UBI number. L&I says the tool lets you verify the licence is active, confirm bonding and insurance, check the job-site safety record and review the licence history for violations and lawsuits. Do the search yourself even after reading a profile here: the state's page is the record, and ours is a snapshot from the last data refresh.
What to look for
- Status is Active. Expired, suspended or revoked registrations should not be doing your job.
- The name matches your contract. The business name, the licence number and, if it is a company, the UBI number should match what you are signing.
- A bond is on file. Construction contractors must have a bond naming the State of Washington. Electrical contractors also must have one. The listing shows the surety and amount.
- Insurance is on file and current. Construction contractors must show liability insurance. Under RCW 18.27.050, if a contractor's insurance expires or is cancelled, the registration is automatically suspended until new proof of coverage is filed and approved. An insurance date in the past on the state's page is a stop sign.
- Read the history. The L&I tool lists violations and lawsuits against a licence.
Why registration matters legally
RCW 18.27.080 bars a contractor from bringing or maintaining a court action to collect payment for work, or for breach of a contract, unless they allege and prove they held a current and valid registration when they contracted for the work. Acting as a contractor without registration is a gross misdemeanor under RCW 18.27.020, and L&I can cite it. Hiring an unregistered contractor usually leaves you without the bond and insurance protections in this guide.
Electrical work
RCW 19.28.041 requires an electrical contractor to hold an electrical contractor licence with a $4,000 bond naming the State of Washington. The statute asks for proof of workers' compensation coverage rather than liability insurance, which is why electrical contractors on this site show a bond but not a liability policy. Ask an electrician for a certificate of liability insurance and check that permits are pulled for the work.
What this directory adds and what it does not
Every business listed here shows an active L&I registration with a current bond on file, plus liability insurance for construction and plumbing contractors. That is a positive check on paperwork, not a review of work quality. We do not publish complaints. For that, use the L&I tool and ask references for photos of recent work.
If you are planning an accessory dwelling unit in Seattle or Bellevue, our sister site ADU Builder Index lists builders who specialize in ADUs and applies the same check-first approach.