Crawl Space Bid Checker

Work through a crawl space quote against what Washington law requires of the contractor and the paperwork, what the scope should name, and where the total sits. Every legal requirement is cited and linked so you can check it yourself.

Start the Check

A homeowner comparing two crawl space bids is usually comparing two documents that describe different work in similar language. One quotes encapsulation with drainage; the other quotes encapsulation and mentions drainage nowhere, because drainage is not in it. The gap does not appear until the crew is under the house.

If you are holding one bid rather than two, the gap this tool measures is harder to see. A second look at the same crawl space is the fastest way to find it: what a crawl space inspection covers, and how to get a useful second opinion explains how to ask for one without anchoring it to the first quote.

This tool does three separate checks and keeps them separate, because they rest on very different footings. Step 1 is law: Washington statutes and L&I’s public record, each cited and linked, read on the Legislature’s and L&I’s own pages and not in anyone’s summary of them. Step 2 is editorial: what this site’s published scope for a given service covers. Step 3 is the weakest and says so: it compares your total to modeled estimates before sales tax, not to a database of real quotes, because this site does not have one.

Read Steps 2 and 3 critically. They rest on this site’s editorial judgment and modeled ranges, not on law or on collected quotes. Step 1 is the part to lean on: every requirement is cited to the statute or rule, so you can confirm it without taking anyone’s word for it, ours included. Step 1 lists what was found and read. No Washington statute setting required terms for a residential repair contract was found, and L&I’s advice to get a written contract is advice, so contract terms appear under the questions in Step 4 and not under the law.

Project

What is being reviewed

Optional, and only used on this page. Filling these in labels the printed worksheet so it is still identifiable once it is one sheet among several. Nothing here is stored or sent anywhere.

Both the registration number and the business name on the bid can be checked against L&I’s public register in about two minutes. How to run that check.

Step 1

Every item below is a provision of Washington law or a section of L&I’s public record, named and linked. This is the part of a bid that is not a matter of opinion: the registration is active or it is not, and the disclosure statement was handed over or it was not. Tick what you have confirmed in the paperwork and on the register. The last item applies only to addresses inside the City of Seattle.

Jurisdiction: Washington (Seattle metro)

  1. RCW 18.27.020(1), (2)

    Every contractor must register with the Department of Labor & Industries. It is a gross misdemeanor to advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid or perform work as a contractor without being registered, or while the registration is suspended or revoked, and to subcontract to or use an unregistered contractor.

    Limit: Registration is not a test of skill. L&I’s steps to register are a business registration, a bond, an insurance policy, an application and a fee; only plumbing, electrical, elevator, mobile home installation, boiler and asbestos work carry further education, examination and licensing requirements.

    A registration number on the bid that comes up as active in L&I Verify on the day you sign. Take the status from the register, not from the bid.

  2. RCW 18.27.100(1), (2), (3)(a)

    A contractor registered under one name may not act as a contractor under another unless that name is registered too. Contracts, correspondence and documents that show the contractor’s name or address must show them as registered. Advertising that shows the name or address, and all material used to solicit business directly from retail customers, must show the current registration number.

    Limit: The number rule is written for advertising and solicitation material, with exceptions for signs on vehicles, on-premises signs and broadcast advertising. The document that must carry the number is the disclosure statement in the next item.

    The name printed at the top of the bid, letter for letter, against the name on the L&I record. A bond and an insurance policy belong to the registered business, so a similar name is not the same one.

  3. RCW 18.27.114(1), (2)

    A contractor agreeing to repair, alter or construct four or fewer residential units must give the customer the statutory NOTICE TO CUSTOMER, in substantially the prescribed form, before starting work, once the bid or contract price totals $1,000 or more. The notice states the registration number, the amount of the bond or deposit and the date the registration expires. It warns that the bond might not be sufficient to cover a claim and is not for the customer’s exclusive use, that the customer may withhold a contractually defined percentage as retainage, that the property may be liened if a supplier, employee or subcontractor is not paid, and that the customer may ask for lien release documents. The customer signs it, and the contractor must keep the signed copy for at least three years.

    Limit: Almost every crawl space scope clears $1,000. The section does not apply between contractors or to public works contracts.

    A signed copy in your own file, with the blanks filled in. The registration number, bond amount and expiry date written into it should match the L&I record.

  4. RCW 18.27.114(4), (6)

    A contractor subject to the disclosure requirement may not bring or maintain a lien claim under chapter 60.04 RCW based on the contract without alleging and proving that it gave the customer the disclosure statement. Failing to comply is also an infraction.

    Limit: It removes the lien claim of the contractor you signed with. Suppliers and subcontractors have lien rights of their own, covered in the next item.

    Whether you were handed the statement, and when. A dated copy is what makes this provision usable.

  5. RCW 60.04.031(2), (3), (4)

    On the repair, alteration or remodel of an existing owner-occupied single-family residence, a supplier or subcontractor who did not contract directly with the owner must give the owner written notice of the right to claim a lien, and that lien may only be satisfied from amounts the owner had not yet paid the prime contractor when the notice was received. A person who contracted directly with the owner needs to give no such notice. The prescribed NOTICE TO OWNER states that laborers may claim a lien without sending one, and names joint checks and lien releases as two common ways to avoid paying twice.

    Limit: This section was read for its notice rules only. The deadlines for recording a lien and the rest of chapter 60.04 RCW are not covered here.

    Whether the bid names the suppliers and subcontractors, and whether the payment terms leave something unpaid until the work is finished. A NOTICE TO OWNER arriving in the mail is this provision at work, not by itself a sign that something has gone wrong.

  6. RCW 18.27.040(1), (4), (5)

    A registered contractor files a surety bond of $30,000 as a general contractor or $15,000 as a specialty contractor. The bond is conditioned on paying labor, state taxes and suppliers, and amounts adjudged against the contractor for breach of contract including improper work. It is one bond for all of the contractor’s work, the surety is not liable for more than its amount, and claimants other than residential homeowners may not be paid more than half of it. Cancellation of the bond automatically suspends the registration.

    Limit: A contractor registered on June 30, 2024 stayed compliant at the earlier, lower amount until its next renewal. Separately, RCW 18.27.100(4) says a contractor may not advertise that it is bonded and insured because of the bond and insurance this chapter requires.

    The bond amount written into the disclosure statement and shown on the L&I record, which also tells you whether the contractor is registered as general or specialty. The same record lists lawsuits against the bond in the previous six years.

  7. RCW 18.27.050(1), (2)

    At registration and each renewal the contractor must furnish insurance, or an assigned account, of $50,000 for damage to property, $100,000 for injury to one person and $200,000 for injury to more than one person. Expiry or cancellation of the policy automatically suspends the registration.

    Limit: The policy covers injury and property damage. L&I sends a homeowner whose job was not done to the contract to a suit against the bond, and one whose property was damaged to the contractor’s insurer.

    The insurance section of the L&I record, which shows the current policy and its history. L&I states the requirement to contractors as $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit.

  8. L&I Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business

    L&I publishes a record for each registered contractor. Its sections are: owners and governing persons; license number, specialties, effective and expiration dates and any suspension; bond and bond history; insurance and insurance history; lawsuits against the bond or savings; L&I tax debts; license violations; workers’ comp accounts with the estimated number of workers reported; public works strikes and debarments; workplace safety and health violations; and asbestos certification. The lawsuit, violation and tax-debt sections cover the previous six years.

    Limit: The record is a register, not a rating. It says nothing about jobs that never produced a lawsuit, an infraction or a debt, which is most of them.

    An active workers’ comp account if the contractor will have workers on your job. L&I’s guidance is that a contractor with employees must have one that is active and up to date, and that an owner-operator with no employees is not required to.

  9. RCW 18.27.040(3), (6)

    A claim against the bond is a lawsuit against the contractor and the bond in superior court. A residential homeowner’s action for breach of contract must be commenced by filing the summons and complaint within two years from the date the work was substantially completed or abandoned, whichever came first. Service is made on L&I, with three copies and a fee. The prevailing party in a residential homeowner’s breach-of-contract action on the bond is entitled to costs, interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

    Limit: The chapter defines a residential homeowner as someone who owns or leases a single-family residence and lives in it or intends to. Other claimants have one year. The surety’s total liability stays at the amount of the bond whatever the judgment says.

    A dated record of when the work finished: a final invoice or a signed completion sheet. That date is what the two years run from.

  10. RCW 18.27.410

    Beginning July 1, 2026, the owner of an owner-occupied single-family dwelling, or a multifamily dwelling of four or fewer units, may apply to L&I’s homeowner recovery program where they hold a final judgment against a registered contractor on a claim under RCW 18.27.040(3) for their primary residence, have proceeded against the bond, have not been paid in full, and apply within 90 days after the civil action concludes. Payment is limited to actual damages and may not exceed $25,000 per contractor per parcel.

    Limit: Condominiums are excluded. The fund does not pay attorneys’ fees or court costs. The statute says payments are discretionary and subject to available funds, with a waitlist, and that eligibility does not create a right to payment.

    That the contractor was registered when you hired it. The fund is for judgments against registered contractors only.

  11. RCW 82.04.050(2)(b); Department of Revenue construction guide

    Washington’s definition of a retail sale includes the charge for labor and services in constructing, repairing or improving new or existing buildings for consumers. The Department of Revenue’s construction guide says the prime contractor collects retail sales tax from the owner on the gross contract price, that the tax must be stated separately from the price, and that it is charged at the rate for the place where the work is done.

    Limit: The separate-statement rule is reported from the department’s guide, which cites RCW 82.08.050; that section was not read for this page. Rates are republished every quarter, and the department’s address lookup decides the rate for a specific house.

    Whether the total reads “plus tax” or shows the tax as its own line. The combined rate in Seattle is 10.55% from October 1 to December 31, 2026, and across the cities this site covers it runs from 9.9% to 10.7%.

  12. Seattle Residential Code R105.1, R105.2 items 1 and 2

    Inside the City of Seattle a building permit is required to construct, alter or repair a building, and all work must meet the code even where no permit is required. No permit is required for minor repairs or alterations valued by the building official at $6,000 or less in any six-month period, provided no loadbearing support is removed, reduced, altered or relocated and ventilation is not reduced. Nor is one required, provided the building envelope is not changed, for listed minor work that includes insulating existing buildings, abatement of hazardous materials, and in-kind or similar replacement or repair of deteriorated members of a structure.

    Limit: City of Seattle only. The section does not say how the department treats a ground cover, a sealed crawl space or a sump basin; that is a question for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections. Electrical, plumbing and side sewer permits are separate from the building permit. Every other city, and each county, amends its own permit section, and those were not read for this page.

    Where a Seattle bid says no permit is needed, which of these it is relying on. Floor insulation and like-for-like replacement of a deteriorated member are named in the list. Added posts, beams or footings change loadbearing support.

This reports what the named provisions say and links each one so you can read it yourself. It is not legal advice, and this site is not a law firm. L&I does not decide a dispute between a homeowner and a contractor: under RCW 18.27.040 a claim on the bond is a lawsuit in superior court. L&I’s register is free to search, and L&I takes reports of unregistered contracting.

Step 2

What the bid should name

Pick the service the bid is for. Two crawl space bids for one house can differ by thousands because they are not quoting the same square footage, or not quoting the same work, and the second is usually invisible until you list the line items side by side. Unlike Step 1, this is editorial: it is what this site’s published scope for each service covers, not a legal requirement.

Choose a service to see the line items a bid at the typical price normally includes, and the work that is normally billed separately.

Step 3

Where the total sits (optional)

Optional, and the weakest of the three checks. The ranges this compares against are modeled estimates for the Seattle area, before Washington sales tax. They are not a dataset of contractor quotes: this site does not hold one and does not claim to. A total outside the range is a reason to ask which part of the scope explains it, and nothing more than that.

Enter a total once you have picked a service above.

Every range here is a modeled estimate, not a record of contractor quotes, and is before Washington sales tax. Compare the bid’s total before tax.

Every range describes one reference project: 1,200 to 1,500 square feet of crawl space floor, damp but without standing water at the time of the quote, a standard exterior or interior hatch with roughly 3 feet of working clearance, on a single-family home on a continuous perimeter foundation, in the Seattle metro (King County and south Snohomish County), priced in 2026 dollars before sales tax. The further your crawl space is from that description, the less the comparison means.

Step 4

Questions worth asking about any crawl space bid

These are not service-specific. Each one exists because the answer changes what two bids mean when you put them next to each other. Tick the ones your paperwork already answers.

  • Everything under a house is priced by area. Two bids quoting different square footage are not two prices for one job, and the difference is usually the whole gap.

  • Washington sales tax applies to the whole contract, labor included, at the rate for the job site. A bid that is “plus tax” and one that includes it differ by roughly a tenth of the price, and the published ranges this tool compares against are before tax.

  • Remediation, insulation and a vapor barrier all fail again on a schedule if the source is untouched. This is the most expensive omission available and it is rarely stated as an exclusion.

  • A sump that pumps to an approved point 60 feet downhill and one that pumps to the foundation edge cost very different amounts and are described with the same sentence.

  • Each city and county sets its own permit exemptions, so the answer depends on the address. L&I’s guidance is that in most cases the contractor, not the homeowner, takes out the permits. The fee is normally billed at cost, so a bid that is silent on it is a bid that is not final.

  • Structural repair is excluded from essentially every crawl space quote. The useful answer is not that it is excluded. It is how it gets priced and approved when it appears.

  • A materials warranty from a liner manufacturer and a workmanship warranty from the installer are different products. Transferability is what makes it worth anything to a homeowner who sells in four years.

  • Using an unregistered subcontractor is a violation by the contractor who hires it (RCW 18.27.020(2)(e)), and a specialty contractor may subcontract only work incidental to its specialty (RCW 18.27.010(12)). Anyone with workers on your job should show an active workers’ comp account in L&I Verify. Asking is normal.

  • The disclosure statement Washington requires tells the customer they may withhold a contractually defined percentage as retainage (RCW 18.27.114). L&I’s guidance is to pay as phases of the work are completed rather than by date, and to ask for lien releases before the final payment.

Excluded from every range on this site, without exception
  • Washington retail sales tax, which applies to the full contract price, labor and materials together, at the rate for the job site: 10.55% in Seattle from October 1 to December 31, 2026. Every range here is before tax
  • Permit fees, which vary by jurisdiction and are usually billed at cost
  • Structural repair of framing found to be rotten once the space is opened up
  • Asbestos or lead abatement, which is separate work no range here prices
  • Electrical service upgrades where an existing panel cannot carry new equipment
  • Landscape or hardscape restoration after exterior excavation

Your open items

Nothing ticked yet — everything above is still open.

Send this to the contractor as it stands. A contractor who answers all of it in writing has given you something you can compare against another bid; one who will not is telling you something too.

Share this with a client

Home inspectors are asked whether a repair quote is reasonable on almost every wet crawl space. Washington’s standards of practice do not require an inspector to determine the cause of a condition or the method or cost of a repair, and they bar an inspector’s firm from repairing a building it inspected for a year afterward (WAC 308-408C-030 and 308-408C-020). Agents hit the same question mid-transaction, when a crawl space finding lands during the repair-negotiation window and nobody has time to become an expert. Property managers, landlords and HOA boards compare bids across buildings as routine work.

This page is written to be handed over. It names no contractor, recommends no company, and every legal item on it points at the statute and not at us. Link it, print it, or paste the open-items list into a report. No attribution is required, though a link is appreciated.

If the bid came out of a transaction and not out of a homeowner’s own project, three companion guides cover the stages either side of this one: reading the inspection finding that produced the bid, bounding the exposure as a buyer, and deciding what to repair and document before listing.

Three ways to pass it on

  • Print or save as PDF. The Print / Save as PDF button at the top of the tool produces a clean worksheet: the site navigation, the calls to action and the interactive controls are stripped, and what remains is the project header, the checklist with your ticks, the statutory citations with their URLs printed in full, the review date and the disclosure. Blank, it is a worksheet to fill in at the property. Filled in, it is a record of one bid review.
  • Copy the link. The Copy link button copies the page URL. On a phone, Share opens the operating system’s own share sheet where the browser supports it.
  • Quote it. The legal layer is server-rendered and will be in the page whether or not scripts run, so it can be quoted from the source, cited, or reproduced in a report.

To be explicit about what this is not. This tool is published by Seattle Crawlspace Pros, operated by H. Mae LLC. It is not endorsed by, affiliated with or approved by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, the Department of Licensing, the City of Seattle, any Realtor association, or any home inspection association. Where it states what the law requires, it cites the provision so you can confirm it yourself. If something on it is wrong or has been superseded, we would like to hear about it: tell us, and we publish what changed.

How current this is

The legal provisions on this page were last read at their source on November 11, 2026, and are scheduled for re-reading by August 1, 2027, after the Washington Legislature’s 2027 regular session, the next point at which the contractor registration chapter can change. The Revised Code of Washington is republished as session laws take effect, so every citation links to the provision itself and not to a quotation of it. Two rows move on their own schedule: the sales tax rate changes by quarter, and the Seattle permit row follows whichever edition of the Seattle Residential Code is in force. Check any of it against the current text before relying on it for anything that matters.

The price ranges in Step 3 are governed separately and change on their own schedule; the cost methodology page says how they were produced and when they were last reviewed.

About the printed version

The Print / Save as PDF button opens your browser’s own print dialog, where every desktop and mobile browser offers “Save as PDF” as a destination. There is deliberately no separate downloadable worksheet and no PDF-generating library on this page. A second document would have to be kept in step with the checklist by hand, and the first time it fell behind it would be a sheet of paper stating superseded law with our name on it.

What prints is a worksheet: a title block, the project details you entered, the checklist with your ticks, each statutory citation with its full URL printed alongside it, the modeled price context, the review date and the disclosure. Requirements are kept whole across page breaks, so no citation is separated from the requirement it supports. It is laid out for Letter and A4 and reads the same on both.

Sources

Step 1 of this tool rests on the statutes, L&I pages, Department of Revenue pages and Seattle code chapter listed first, each read at the publisher and not at a summary. The L&I pages that follow are the department’s own guidance, cited where a question in Step 4 leans on it. Nothing on this page rests on a trade association’s restatement of a rule or on a contractor’s blog.

  1. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.020 — Registration required; prohibited acts; criminal penalty Checked

    That every contractor must register with L&I, and that it is a gross misdemeanor to advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid or perform work as a contractor while unregistered or while the registration is suspended or revoked, or to subcontract to or use an unregistered contractor.

  2. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.100 — Business practices; advertising; penalty Checked

    That a contractor may work only under the name it registered; that advertising, contracts and correspondence showing the contractor’s name or address must show them as registered; that advertising showing the name or address, and all material used to solicit retail customers directly, must show the current registration number (signs on vehicles, on-premises signs and broadcast advertising excepted); and, in subsection (4), that a contractor may not advertise that it is bonded and insured because of the bond and insurance this chapter requires.

  3. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.114 — Disclosure statement required; prerequisite to lien claim Checked

    That a contractor working on four or fewer residential units must give the customer the statutory NOTICE TO CUSTOMER disclosure before starting work once the bid or contract price totals $1,000 or more, keep the signed copy three years, and cannot maintain a lien claim under chapter 60.04 RCW without proving the customer received it.

  4. Washington State Legislature, RCW 60.04.031 — Notices; exceptions (construction liens) Checked

    How lien notices work on a repair to an owner-occupied single-family home: a supplier or subcontractor who did not contract directly with the owner must give the owner written notice of the right to claim a lien, and that lien may only be satisfied from amounts the owner had not yet paid the prime contractor when the notice was received; a contractor who contracted directly with the owner needs no such notice; laborers may claim a lien without one; and the prescribed NOTICE TO OWNER names joint checks and lien releases as the two common ways to avoid paying twice.

    Note: One section of chapter 60.04 RCW, read for its notice rules only. Recording deadlines, lien amounts and foreclosure are in other sections this site has not read.

  5. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.040 — Bond or other security required; actions against (As amended by 2023 c 213 s 3, effective July 1, 2024) Checked

    The bond itself: $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor (a contractor registered on June 30, 2024 stayed compliant at the old amount until its next renewal); what the bond is conditioned on (labor, state taxes, suppliers, and amounts adjudged for breach of contract including improper work); that cancellation of the bond automatically suspends the registration; that a claim is a suit against the contractor and the bond in superior court, served on L&I with three copies and a fee; that a residential homeowner’s breach-of-contract suit on the bond must be filed within two years of the work being substantially completed or abandoned, whichever came first; the order in which claims are paid when they exceed the bond; that claimants other than residential homeowners may not take more than half of it; that the prevailing party in a residential homeowner’s action on the bond is entitled to costs, interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees; and that a contractor may file an assigned savings account in place of the bond.

    Note: The surety is never liable for more than the amount of the bond, and one bond covers all of that contractor’s work.

  6. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.050 — Insurance or financial responsibility required Checked

    The statutory insurance minimums for a registered contractor: $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to one person and $200,000 for injury to more than one person, or an assigned account in that amount; and that expiry or cancellation of the policy automatically suspends the registration.

  7. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business: record detail page (The page template, read with no contractor loaded) Checked

    The sections a contractor record carries and L&I’s own explanation of each: owners and governing persons, business type, license number, specialties, effective and expiration dates, past and related licenses and any suspend date; bond and bond history; insurance and insurance history; savings (an assigned account used in place of a bond); lawsuits against the bond or savings; L&I tax debts; license violations; workers’ comp accounts with the estimated number of workers reported; public works strikes and debarments; workplace safety and health violations; and asbestos certification. The lawsuit, violation and tax-debt sections cover the previous six years.

    Note: Read from the page template, not from a live record: loading a record means submitting a search. The search form at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify/ offers four ways to search: name, contractor or tradesperson license, workers’ comp account, and WA UBI number.

  8. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.410 — Homeowner recovery program (2023 c 213 s 6) Checked

    The statutory terms of the Homeowner Recovery Fund: eligibility beginning July 1, 2026 for an owner-occupier holding a final judgment against a registered contractor on a claim under RCW 18.27.040(3) for their primary residence, who has gone against the bond first and applies within 90 days; payment limited to actual damages, not attorneys’ fees or court costs, capped at $25,000 per contractor per parcel; and that payments are discretionary, subject to available funds, with a waitlist.

    Note: The section says in terms that eligibility does not create a right to payment.

  9. Washington State Legislature, RCW 82.04.050 — “Sale at retail,” “retail sale” (Subsection (2)(b)) Checked

    That a retail sale in Washington includes the charge for labor and services in constructing, repairing, decorating or improving new or existing buildings for consumers, including installing or attaching tangible personal property. This is why sales tax applies to the price of crawl space work on a home, labor included.

    Note: The section was amended twice in 2026 and the Legislature’s page prints more than one version of it. Subsection (2)(b) reads the same in each version on the page.

  10. Washington Department of Revenue, Construction industry guide: Custom construction Explanatory summary, not the governing text Checked

    How the department applies the tax to construction for a landowner: the prime contractor collects retail sales tax on the gross contract price without deducting costs, the invoice must state the tax separately (a quoted price is presumed not to include it), and retail construction services are taxed at the combined rate for the location where the construction takes place.

    Note: The department’s guidance for contractors, not the statute. It cites RCW 82.08.050 for the separate-statement rule; this site has not read that section itself.

  11. Washington Department of Revenue, Local sales and use tax rate table (Quarter 4 2026, effective October 1 through December 31, 2026) Checked

    The combined state and local retail sales tax rate for each city this site covers, by Department of Revenue location code: from 9.9% in Everett to 10.7% in Lynnwood and Edmonds, and 10.55% in Seattle. The state rate is 6.5% on every row.

    Note: These rates apply from October 1 to December 31, 2026; the department republishes the table every quarter. Several cities have more than one location code, with a lower rate where the Regional Transit Authority tax does not apply or a different rate in a second county. The department’s address lookup (dor.wa.gov/TaxRateLookup) decides the rate for a specific house.

  12. Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, 2021 Seattle Residential Code, Chapter 1, Administration (Sections R105.1 and R105.2) Checked

    When a building permit is needed in the City of Seattle. R105.1: a permit is required to construct, alter or repair a building, and all work must meet the code whether or not a permit is required. R105.2 item 1: no permit for minor repairs or alterations valued at $6,000 or less in any six-month period, provided no loadbearing support is removed, reduced, altered or relocated and ventilation is not reduced. R105.2 item 2: no permit, provided the building envelope is not changed, for listed work that includes insulating existing buildings and in-kind or similar replacement or repair of deteriorated members.

    Note: City of Seattle only, and it is the building permit only: electrical, plumbing and side sewer permits are separate. The chapter does not say how the department classifies a ground cover, a sealed crawl space or a sump basin.

  13. Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.010 — Definitions Checked

    The statutory definitions this site relies on: a general contractor is one whose business needs more than one building trade or craft on a single job or under a single permit; a specialty contractor is any contractor who is not a general contractor, and may subcontract only work incidental to the specialty; a residential homeowner is a person owning or leasing a single-family residence they intend to live in; and an unregistered contractor includes one whose registration is expired, revoked or suspended.

    Note: Amended in 2026 (2026 c 77). Subsection numbers can move when the Legislature amends the section.

  14. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Register as a Contractor Checked

    That Washington requires every construction contractor to register with L&I and to be bonded and insured; that there are two classifications, general and specialty, with 63 specialties; that a specialty contractor works only in the registered specialty and cannot hire subcontractors; that plumbing, electrical, elevator, mobile home installation, boiler and asbestos work carry further education, examination and licensing requirements; the bond amounts ($30,000 general, $15,000 specialty); the liability insurance L&I asks for ($200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit); that the bond and insurance must carry the exact business name; and that L&I suspends a registration when a bond or insurance policy lapses or a judgment goes unsatisfied.

    Note: L&I’s page for contractors. The statute states the insurance minimums differently (RCW 18.27.050); this site gives both.

  15. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Hire Smart Step-by-Step Checked

    L&I’s own advice to homeowners: that the registration number is found in a contractor’s advertisements and on the written bid, and that the law requires it in all advertisements, business cards and internet advertising included; that a contractor with workers on the job must have an active, up-to-date workers’ comp account, which Verify shows, and that an owner-operator with no employees is not required to have one; that a contract should state the price including sales tax, payment terms, permit fees, the specific work, materials and subcontractors, warranties and the change-order process; that in most cases the contractor, not the homeowner, takes out the permits; that a construction lien may be filed within 90 days of work stopping or materials being delivered; and that a homeowner should ask for lien releases before the final payment.

    Note: Guidance, not statute. The contract contents are L&I’s recommendation; this site found no Washington statute that requires a written residential construction contract.

  16. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Problems With a Contractor Checked

    What L&I tells a homeowner whose job went wrong: that the route for unfinished or out-of-specification work is a suit against the contractor’s bond; that damage to people or property may be covered by the contractor’s liability policy, claimed from the insurer directly, with the policy shown in Verify; that a notice of intent to lien should be taken seriously; and that a contract over $1,000 comes with a disclosure statement the homeowner signs and should keep a copy of.

  17. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business Checked

    The official Washington register: registration status, bond, workers compensation account standing, and lawsuits filed against the bond.

  18. Washington State Department of Licensing (via Washington State Legislature), Chapter 308-408C WAC — Home inspectors: standards of practice (As amended by WSR 26-15-037, effective August 7, 2026) Checked

    What a Washington home inspection is required to cover at a crawl space, and what it is not. WAC 308-408C-010: an inspection uses visual observation, simple tools and normal controls, is not technically exhaustive, and the inspector is a generalist who identifies conditions that may need a specialist. WAC 308-408C-030(1): inspectors are not required to determine the strength, adequacy, effectiveness or efficiency of a system or component, the causes of any condition or deficiency, the methods, materials or estimated cost of repairs, or future conditions; (2) nor to comment on compliance with codes; (3) nor to report wood destroying insects or environmental hazards including mold; (18) nor to enter flooded crawl spaces. The same section says an inspector who is qualified and willing may specify the type of repairs to be made. WAC 308-408C-070: the inspector enters and traverses crawl spaces where readily and safely accessible, inspects visible foundations, posts, piers, beams, joists and subfloors and looks for signs of flooding and moisture penetration, probes where deterioration is suspected, and reports all wood rot and pest-conducive conditions, but need not enter a crawl space that requires excavation, has an access opening under 18 by 24 inches, or has less than 18 inches of headroom under joists or 12 inches under girders. WAC 308-408C-100: reports the presence and functionality of sump pumps when visible. WAC 308-408C-150: reports missing or inadequate vapor barriers in crawl spaces with earth floors and missing insulation where visible, and need not determine the thickness or R-value of insulation below floors. WAC 308-408C-050: the pre-inspection agreement must say the inspection does not include mold, asbestos, air quality or other environmental issues unless agreed in writing. WAC 308-408C-020(8): for one year after an inspection, the inspector and the inspector’s firm may not repair, replace or upgrade components of that building for pay. Also: the reason any item normally inspected is excluded must be stated in the report (030); the report may not be disclosed without the client’s approval (020(10)); and conditions beyond the inspection are referred to a specialist (070).

    Note: The Washington verb in 030(1) is “determine”, and the rule permits an inspector to specify repairs. It does not bar a repair recommendation; it makes one optional.

Sources last checked between and ; the date beside each one is when it was last opened. Where a figure comes from a document that is revised on a schedule, the edition or version is named above so you can confirm it against the current one yourself.

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