Washington contractor license and registration
Checked 2026-10-23, 8 min read
Filed under State requirements
L&I registers every general and specialty contractor in Washington, and licenses the electrical and plumbing trades on top: the construction license Washington state asks of a builder is that registration. Below is each requirement as L&I and chapter 18.27 RCW publish it. For the national picture, see license requirements by state; for the steps most boards follow, how to get a contractor license.
§ 1The Washington contractor license is a registration
Washington does not issue an examined general contractor license. What people search for as a “contractor license WA” is a contractor registration with the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), under chapter 18.27 RCW. The statute’s first line is the whole rule: every contractor shall register with the department (RCW 18.27.020(1)).
Registration lets you bid, advertise and do construction work. It rests on three things you buy or file rather than a test you pass: a business registered with the Department of Revenue, a surety bond, and liability insurance. L&I’s registration steps list no exam for a general or specialty contractor; the exams sit with the separately licensed trades in § 4.
Your registration number goes on everything you put out.
L&I requires the number on all advertising, bids and estimates. Advertising without one is itself on the statute’s list of prohibited acts.
§ 2Who must register, and who does not
The default is everyone who does construction work for others. RCW 18.27.090 lists the exceptions, and each one is narrower than it sounds:
- Small jobs. One undertaking whose total price for labour and materials is under $500. The exemption is lost if the job is part of a larger one, if it was split to stay under the line, or if you advertise as a contractor at all.
- Your own property. Work on property you own or your own residence, unless you are doing it to sell, demolish or lease it.
- Owners who hire a registered contractor. Exempt, except an owner improving property held under twelve months in order to sell or lease it.
- Employees on wages. A worker whose only pay is wages from a registered contractor does not register separately.
- Certified trades within their scope. A Washington-certified electrician or plumber, and a licensed architect or engineer acting only in that capacity.
How these small-job lines compare across states is the subject of handyman vs contractor license.
§ 3Washington state general contractors license or specialty
L&I registers contractors in two classifications. The choice sets your bond and what you may take on, so it is the first decision on the application.
| Classification | What it may do | Subcontractors | Bond |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Most types of construction work | May hire them, in several specialties | $30,000 |
| Specialty | Only the specialty it is registered in | May not hire them | $15,000 |
L&I regulates 63 specialties, defined one by one in WAC 296-200A-016: roofing, painting, HVAC, tree removal and mobile home set-up among them. Pick the one your work actually sits in; a specialty contractor who strays outside it is working unregistered for that job. Our general vs specialty comparison sets out the same split as other states draw it.
The handyman specialty is small on purpose.
It is for one individual doing all the work personally, with no employees and no other contractors, on minor repair and maintenance of existing homes, under $2,000 in time and materials per job. Nothing that needs a building permit. An LLC or corporation must name the one person who is the handyman.
§ 4Trades licensed on top of registration
Registration is the floor, not the ceiling. L&I names six areas of work with their own education, examination and licensing on top of contractor registration:
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Elevators
- Mobile home installation
- Boilers
- Asbestos
Even inside a registered specialty the line holds. The WAC’s appliance specialty notes that installing a dishwasher, hot water tank or garbage disposal needs a plumber certification under chapter 18.106 RCW or an electrical license under chapter 19.28 RCW. For how those trade paths run, see the electrical contractor license guide and plumbing vs HVAC license paths.
§ 5How to get a Washington state contractors license
L&I gives the steps in this order, and says the order you finish them in changes how fast the registration goes through:
- § 1Register the business with the Department of Revenue, which issues your UBI (Uniform Business Identifier). L&I points an LLC or corporation to the Secretary of State first.
- § 2Buy the surety bond for your classification, or set up an assigned account instead (§ 6).
- § 3Buy general liability insurance, with L&I listed as certificate holder.
- § 4Complete the Application for Contractor Registration. It must be the original, notarized; L&I does not accept a copy, and the bond and insurance must be originals too.
- § 5Pay the $150.20 application fee.
L&I’s page says mailed applications were taking 3–4 weeks from receipt to activate, with the registration card following in about 2 weeks. A local L&I office will help you complete the application in person. To set the whole sequence against the time you have, our license timeline estimator counts it forward.
Once registered: the disclosure statement.
On residential jobs of $1,000 or more, and commercial jobs from $1,000 to $60,000, L&I requires you to give the customer its Model Disclosure Statement (form F625-030-000).
§ 6Bond and insurance
| Requirement | General | Specialty |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous surety bond | $30,000 | $15,000 |
| Liability: bodily injury | $200,000 | $200,000 |
| Liability: property damage | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| Or one combined single limit | $250,000 | $250,000 |
The bond amounts rose on 2024-07-01. A contractor registered before then kept the old amount only until the next renewal; any renewal from that date needs the higher bond. The bond pays, in the statute’s order: your workers and their benefits, state taxes and contributions, your suppliers and equipment renters, and judgments for breach of contract. It does not protect you. Our surety bond guide explains why a claim comes back to you, and the bond premium calculator shows what a $30,000 bond costs a year at your credit tier.
Instead of a bond you may file an assignment of account: cash, a certificate of deposit, a time deposit or a money market account at a bank, savings and loan or credit union with a Washington branch. Moving from general to specialty does not lower the bond at once: L&I keeps it at the general amount for 2 years.
Use the exact business name, and keep both in force.
The bond and the insurance must carry your exact registered business name. If the bond is cancelled or has an unpaid judgment against it, or the insurance is cancelled, the registration is suspended automatically on that date (RCW 18.27.060(3)). At renewal L&I wants a liability certificate for at least $250,000. How the policy limits work is in our general liability guide.
§ 7Workers' comp: the state fund only
Washington does not allow private workers’ compensation coverage. L&I says so plainly: you buy coverage from L&I or you are a certified self-insured employer. A contractor with no employees does not need an account, but L&I warns that workers you call independent contractors may still have to be covered. Check the L&I workers’ comp page before the first hire.
How premiums are built elsewhere is in our workers’ comp guide; in Washington the coverage itself comes from L&I, not a carrier.
§ 8Renewal, suspension and working unregistered
A certificate of registration is valid for 2 years and must be renewed on or before its expiry date (RCW 18.27.060(1)). Renewal costs the same $150.20, online, by mail or at an L&I office; online you need your 12-digit registration number and your UBI. A suspended registration is reinstated once the cause is fixed, for $70.90.
Unregistered work is a crime, and the invoice may be uncollectable.
Bidding, advertising or working while unregistered or suspended is a gross misdemeanor (RCW 18.27.020(2)), and after a citation each day worked is a separate one. Under RCW 18.27.080 you cannot sue to collect for the work without proving you were registered, with the bond and insurance in force the whole time, when you contracted for it.
RCW 18.27.020(2)(e) also makes it an offence to subcontract to an unregistered contractor, which is why a general checks every sub before the contract. What other states do to unlicensed work is in working unlicensed: what it costs; to keep the renewal date in view, use the renewal tracker.
§ 9Contractor look up in Washington
L&I’s Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business tool is the only register that counts. It shows more than most states’ lookups:
- § 1Search by contractor registration number or L&I account ID, by UBI, or by all or part of the business or owner name.
- § 2Confirm the registration is active and the business name matches the bid exactly.
- § 3Check the workers’ comp account is active and paid to date if the firm has employees.
- § 4Read the safety and construction citations, and any lawsuits against the bond.
- § 5For electrical, plumbing, elevator or manufactured home work, confirm the person doing it is certified.
Our guide to checking a contractor license covers what a clean record still does not tell you.
Checked against
- L&I — Register as a contractor (classifications, bond, insurance, fees, steps, renewal, disclosure)read 2026-10-23
- L&I — Verify a contractor, tradesperson or business (what the record shows)read 2026-10-23
- L&I — Do I need a workers' comp account? (no private coverage in Washington)read 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.020 — registration required, prohibited acts, gross misdemeanorread 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.040 — the bond: amounts, what it pays, assigned account in lieuread 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.050 — the liability insurance minimumsread 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.060 — two-year registration, automatic suspensionread 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.080 — registration as a condition of suing for paymentread 2026-10-23
- RCW 18.27.090 — exemptions (the small-job line, owners, certified trades)read 2026-10-23
- WAC 296-200A-016 — the specialty classifications, handyman includedread 2026-10-23
Not legal advice. Fees, bond amounts and deadlines are set by statute and change without notice — confirm with the board that issues your license before you file.