Is a registration number on a truck or a website proof of anything?

No. A number printed on a vehicle, a business card or a website is a claim, not a verification. Washington law does require the current registration number in a contractor’s advertising (RCW 18.27.100), but a number can belong to a registration that has since been suspended or to a different business. The only thing that establishes a registration is L&I’s own record, and looking it up takes about as long as reading this answer.

Is a Washington contractor licensed or registered?

Registered. Washington requires every construction contractor to register with the Department of Labor & Industries, post a bond and carry liability insurance. L&I’s steps to register are a business registration, a bond, an insurance policy, an application and a fee; there is no examination for a general or specialty registration. People search for a “contractor license” and L&I’s Verify tool uses the word license too, but what it shows for a general or specialty contractor is a registration. Electricians, plumbers and asbestos contractors are different: those trades carry their own licenses and certificates.

What is the difference between registered, bonded and insured?

They are three separate things and all three come with a Washington registration. Registered means the business is on L&I’s register and may bid and work as a contractor. Bonded means a surety bond is on file: $30,000 for a general contractor, $15,000 for a specialty contractor, one bond for every customer, supplier and worker with a claim. Insured means liability coverage for property damage and injury. None of the three is a statement about workmanship, and RCW 18.27.100(4) says a contractor may not advertise that it is bonded and insured because of the bond and insurance the registration law requires.

How long do I have to make a claim against a contractor’s bond?

A homeowner’s claim on the bond is a lawsuit, not a form. Under RCW 18.27.040 a residential homeowner’s action for breach of contract must be filed in superior court within two years of the date the work was substantially completed or abandoned, whichever came first, and it is served on L&I. Do not plan around the last month of that window: a crawl space repair can take a full wet season to show that it did not work.

Does L&I have a license for crawl space, waterproofing or mold contractors?

Not as a category of its own. L&I’s rule lists 63 specialty contractor classifications, and none of them names crawl space work, encapsulation, vapor barriers, waterproofing, foundation repair or mold (WAC 296-200A-016). A business doing that work still has to be a registered contractor. This page does not say which classification such a business must hold, because L&I has not been found to say.

Should I still check if the contractor shows me a card or a number on the bid?

Yes. Take the record from L&I’s own lookup, not from a card, a truck door or a quote letterhead, and match the business name on the register to the name on the bid. The register is public, it is free, and checking takes about two minutes. Verify anyone before you sign a contract.

Washington Requirements

L&I Contractor Lookup: How to Verify a Washington State Contractor License

Sources last checked November 11, 2026

Washington keeps one public record for every construction contractor, and the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) lets anyone search it for free. This guide covers where to look, what each part of the record means, what the bond and insurance behind a registration do and do not cover, and the deadline that decides whether you have any recourse when a job goes wrong. Every figure comes from a Washington statute, rule or L&I page, linked at the foot so you can confirm it yourself.

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Verify any contractor's registration: Washington L&I

Look up a contractor in two minutes

Do this before you sign anything, and before any money changes hands. It is free, and it is the most useful two minutes in the whole process of hiring a contractor.

Open L&I’s Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business tool.
Choose how to search: by name, by contractor license number, by workers’ comp account, or by WA UBI number.
Use the registration number from the written bid if there is one. If there is no number on the bid, search the business name exactly as the bid prints it.
Open the record for the business, not for a similarly named one.

Confirm

The business name matches the name on your paperwork.
The registration is active, with no suspend date, and its expiration date is in the future.
A bond and insurance are current.
If workers will be on your job, the workers’ comp account is active.
Read lawsuits against the bond and license violations, which go back six years.

The name is the step people skip. A registration held by “Example Crawl Space LLC” does not cover work contracted with “Example Crawlspace Services”. Washington law has a contractor work under the name it registered (RCW 18.27.100), and L&I requires the bond and the insurance to carry that exact business name. If the name on the record and the name on the bid are not the same business, the bond and insurance you just confirmed are not the ones behind your job.

Registered, not licensed: what L&I checks

People search for a Washington contractor license, and L&I’s own tool uses the word. For a general or specialty contractor, though, what the state issues is a registration. Every contractor must register with L&I (RCW 18.27.020), and L&I’s steps to register are a business registration with the Department of Revenue, a surety bond, a liability insurance policy, an application and a fee. No examination is on that list. Plumbing, electrical, elevator, mobile home installation, boiler and asbestos work are the exceptions: L&I says those carry further education, examination and licensing requirements.

There are two classifications, and the bond is what differs between them. The amounts rose on July 1, 2024, from $12,000 and $6,000; a contractor registered before that date could keep the earlier amount until its next renewal.

Washington contractor registration classifications with surety bond amounts and what each may do
Classification	Surety bond	What it may do	Relevance to crawl space work
General contractor	$30,000	Work that uses more than one building trade on a job or under one permit. May hire subcontractors.	A job that combines a liner, insulation, drainage and framing repair uses several trades, which is how the statute defines general contractor work.
Specialty contractor	$15,000	Work in the registered specialty only. May subcontract only work incidental to that specialty.	None of the 63 specialties names crawl space work. The nearest are insulation and acoustical, structural pest control (exclusion carpentry), concrete, and house moving (raising and underpinning).

Insurance is the same for both. The statute sets $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to one person and $200,000 for injury to more than one (RCW 18.27.050); L&I states it to contractors as $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit. If the bond or the insurance lapses, the registration is suspended automatically, which is why checking that both are current matters more than checking that they once existed. L&I has not been found to say which classification a crawl space company must hold, so this page does not name one.

The registration has teeth on the contractor’s side. Working, bidding or advertising as a contractor without one is a gross misdemeanor (RCW 18.27.020), the fine for failing to register runs from $1,200 to $10,000 (RCW 18.27.340), and a contractor that was not registered when it took the job cannot sue to collect payment for it (RCW 18.27.080).

Reading the L&I record

A contractor record is one long page in sections. These are the ones that carry the signal, with what L&I says each one is. The lawsuit, violation and tax-debt sections cover the previous six years.

License: number, specialties, dates: The registration number, whether the contractor is general or which specialty it holds, and the effective and expiration dates. A suspend date means the registration does not meet current requirements: L&I lists a canceled or expired bond or insurance and unpaid penalties among the reasons. Past and related licenses sit underneath, and are where a business that has traded under an earlier registration shows up.
Business name, owners and UBI number: The legal name, any “doing business as” name, the business type, and the owners and governing persons named on the applications. The UBI number is the state business license number, and it is one of the four ways to search. Match the name here to the name on the bid.
Bond and bond history: The surety bond on file, and earlier ones. The amount tells you the classification: $30,000 general, $15,000 specialty. Some contractors post an assigned savings account in place of a bond, which appears under Savings.
Insurance and insurance history: The general liability policy on file and its insurer. L&I’s note on this section says that if the contractor damaged your property you may be covered by it, and that a claim goes to the insurer directly.
Lawsuits against the bond or savings: Suits filed against the bond by a consumer, supplier, subcontractor, employee or state agency. L&I’s own advice beside this section is to discuss it with the contractor before hiring. An empty section is the normal state, not a distinction: most jobs never produce a lawsuit.
License violations and L&I tax debts: Violations are infractions L&I issued under the contractor, plumber, electrical and related laws. Tax debts are liens on file with the contractor registration program; the record notes that debts may also be recorded by other agencies.
Workers’ comp: Whether the business has an active workers’ comp account, and the estimated number of workers it reported last quarter, which L&I suggests comparing with the size of the job being bid. L&I’s guidance is that a contractor with workers on your job must have an active, up-to-date account, that you could be held liable if a worker is hurt on your property and the employer has none, and that an owner-operator with no employees is not required to have one.
Workplace safety and asbestos certification: Past safety and health violations on job sites the business was responsible for, and whether it is a certified asbestos contractor. The asbestos line matters where insulation on heating ducts or hot water pipes under the house may contain it.

What “bonded and insured” actually buys you

This is the most misunderstood phrase in the trade. In Washington every registered contractor is bonded and insured, because the registration requires both, and the statute says a contractor may not advertise that it is bonded and insured on the strength of that required bond and insurance (RCW 18.27.100(4)). So the phrase on a truck tells you only that the business is registered, which the lookup tells you better.

The bond is not a fund set aside for you. It is one bond for all of the contractor’s work: $30,000 or $15,000 to answer every customer, supplier, worker and tax claim (RCW 18.27.040). The disclosure statement a contractor must hand you before starting a job of $1,000 or more says so in capital letters: the bond might not be sufficient to cover a claim arising from your contract, and it is not for your exclusive use (RCW 18.27.114). The law does give homeowners priority in one respect. Claimants other than residential homeowners may not be paid more than half of the bond.

Reaching the bond means a lawsuit. L&I does not decide a dispute between a homeowner and a contractor. A claim on the bond is a suit against the contractor and the bond in superior court, served on L&I. The bond is real and worth confirming. It is not a refund mechanism.

Liability insurance is a different instrument again. It answers for property damage and injury the contractor causes. L&I sends a homeowner whose job was left unfinished or not done to the contract to a suit on the bond, and one whose property was damaged to the contractor’s insurer.

The same disclosure statement warns that your property may be liened if a supplier, employee or subcontractor is not paid, and that you may ask the contractor for lien release documents. On a repair to an owner-occupied house, a supplier or subcontractor who did not contract with you directly has to send you a written notice first, and that lien can only be satisfied from what you had not yet paid the contractor when the notice arrived (RCW 60.04.031). A contractor who did not give you the disclosure statement cannot bring a lien claim on the contract at all.

Other credentials crawl space work can need

Contractor registration is the floor. Several jobs that happen under a house need a second credential from a different agency, and the L&I record will not show most of them.

Wood destroying organism (WDO) reports: Department of Agriculture. A complete WDO inspection, the kind done for a sale or refinance, requires a Structural Pest Inspector license from the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and the business needs a company license. An inspection attached to a treatment proposal is a “specific” inspection and cannot stand in for a complete one in a sale. A home inspector who does not also hold that license may report rot and conducive conditions, and must refer insect identification to someone who does.
Pesticide application: Department of Agriculture. Applying pesticides to someone else’s property as a business requires a commercial pesticide applicator license. L&I’s “structural pest control” contractor specialty is something else: screens, exclusion devices and caulking, not pesticide work.
Asbestos: L&I certification. L&I requires a good faith asbestos inspection by an AHERA-certified building inspector before work that could disturb suspect materials, regardless of the building’s age, and a certified asbestos contractor to abate what is found. Certification shows on the Verify record.
Electrical: an electrical contractor license. Installing or altering wiring as a business requires an electrical contractor license from L&I, separate from contractor registration. In Seattle, a new circuit or receptacle for a sump pump or dehumidifier also needs an electrical permit.
Plumbing: a plumber’s certificate. Plumbing work requires a certified plumber working for a licensed plumbing contractor. Whether setting a sump basin and its discharge line counts as plumbing was not established for this page; the plumbing permit office for the address is the place to ask.
Home inspection: Department of Licensing. A home inspector is licensed by the Department of Licensing, not registered with L&I as a contractor, and has been since 2009.
A Seattle business license. A business based outside Seattle that works in the city needs a Seattle business license tax certificate, with an exemption from 2026 for those with $4,000 or less of annual gross income in the city and no place of business there.

What has no classification of its own. L&I’s list of 63 specialty classifications has none for crawl space work, encapsulation, vapor barriers, waterproofing, foundation repair, mold or radon (WAC 296-200A-016). A business doing that work still has to be a registered contractor. The handyman specialty is narrower than it sounds: one person working alone, on minor repair under $2,000, and not on work that needs a building permit.

If the work goes wrong

The deadline below is the reason to read this section before you need it.

Sort the problem into the right channel. Damage to your property or an injury is a claim on the contractor’s liability policy, made to the insurer named on the Verify record. Work left unfinished, or not done to the contract, is a claim on the bond.
File suit within two years. A residential homeowner’s action on the bond for breach of contract must be filed in superior court within two years from the date the work was substantially completed or abandoned, whichever came first. The summons and complaint are served on L&I, in three copies with a fee.
Know what the bond can pay. The surety is never liable for more than the amount of the bond, however many claims there are. Where the claims exceed it, the statute sets the order of payment. The prevailing party in a residential homeowner’s breach-of-contract action on the bond is entitled to costs, interest and reasonable attorneys’ fees.
After a judgment, the Homeowner Recovery Fund. An owner-occupier who holds a final superior court judgment against a registered contractor, ordered after July 1, 2026, has gone against the bond and is still unpaid, can apply to L&I within 90 days of the case ending. The fund pays actual damages up to $25,000, subject to available money, with a waitlist. It does not pay attorneys’ fees, condominiums are excluded, and the statute says eligibility is not a right to payment.

What this means practically: document as you go. Photograph the crawl space before work starts, keep the written scope and the signed disclosure statement, keep every invoice, put change orders in writing, and get a dated record of the day the work finished, because that date starts the two years. If a lien notice arrives, L&I’s advice is to take it seriously and ask the contractor what arrangements have been made to pay the sender.

What the register will not tell you

Verification clears a floor. It is not a quality assessment, and L&I says as much: hiring a registered contractor does not guarantee that problems will not happen.

Workmanship on jobs that never produced a lawsuit or an infraction, which is nearly all of them.
Skill. A general or specialty registration involves no examination.
Whether the crew on your job are the registered business’s employees or a subcontractor. Ask, and look the subcontractor up too.
Whether the scope you were quoted is the right scope. A registered contractor can sell an encapsulation when the actual problem is drainage.
Whether the price is reasonable. See the cost guide and its methodology for modeled ranges and how they were produced.
Whether a warranty is backed by anything durable. A 25-year warranty from a business registered 18 months ago is a statement of intent.
The credentials in the section above that other agencies issue.

Verifying is necessary and it is not sufficient. Do it anyway. It takes two minutes and it removes a whole category of problem before it starts.

If you are running this check inside a real-estate transaction, the registration is one of several things worth having in writing before a deadline. The rest of them are in the buyer’s guide to crawl space findings and, on the other side of the table, what to document before listing.

Sources

Every bond amount, insurance minimum, deadline and procedural step on this page comes from the Revised Code of Washington, the Washington Administrative Code, or the agency that runs the register or issues the credential. The description of a contractor record was read from L&I's record page with no contractor loaded. This page is a summary written for homeowners and the professionals advising them; it is not legal advice, and the agencies themselves are the authority on their own requirements.

Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business Checked August 20, 2026

The official Washington register: registration status, bond, workers compensation account standing, and lawsuits filed against the bond.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business: record detail page (The page template, read with no contractor loaded) Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Register as a Contractor Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.020 — Registration required; prohibited acts; criminal penalty Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.010 — Definitions Checked November 11, 2026

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.
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 November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.050 — Insurance or financial responsibility required Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Higher contractor bonds will help consumers stuck with shoddy construction (News release 24-13) Checked October 21, 2026

Washington contractor bond amounts and the July 1, 2024 increase: general contractors from $12,000 to $30,000, specialty contractors from $6,000 to $15,000.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.100 — Business practices; advertising; penalty Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.114 — Disclosure statement required; prerequisite to lien claim Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 60.04.031 — Notices; exceptions (construction liens) Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.080 — Registration prerequisite to suit Checked November 11, 2026

That a contractor cannot bring a court action to collect payment for work, or for breach of a contract, without proving it was registered and held a current certificate of registration when it entered into the contract.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.340 — Infraction; monetary penalty Checked November 11, 2026

The penalties behind the registration requirement: a fine of not less than $1,200 and not more than $10,000 for failure to register, and $200 to $10,000 for other infractions under the chapter.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Hire Smart Step-by-Step Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Hiring a Contractor Checked November 10, 2026

L&I’s statement that hiring a registered contractor does not guarantee problems will not happen, and its list of what to check in the Verify tool: an active license, bond and insurance, job-site safety violations, and the license history for previous lawsuits or violations.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Problems With a Contractor Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27.410 — Homeowner recovery program (2023 c 213 s 6) Checked November 11, 2026

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.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Homeowner Recovery Fund Checked November 11, 2026

Who can apply to the fund and how: an owner who occupies the single-family home, or dwelling of four or fewer units, where the work took place (condominiums excluded); the contractor must have been registered; the owner must hold a final superior court judgment ordered after July 1, 2026, and apply within 90 days of the case ending; review takes about 14 business days; a successful applicant can receive up to $25,000 depending on available funds, with a waitlist when the fund is short.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (via Washington State Legislature), WAC 296-200A-016 — Definitions of the specialty contractor classifications Checked November 10, 2026

The list of specialty contractor classifications, read to establish that none names crawl space work, encapsulation, vapor barriers, foundation repair, mold or radon, and for the definitions nearest to crawl space work: insulation and acoustical (insulation for the nonmechanical control of heat, sound and moisture), structural pest control (ventilation screens, exclusion devices and caulking, not pesticide work), concrete (which includes placing film barriers, sealing and waterproofing), house moving (raising, cribbing and underpinning), sanitation systems and side sewers (drains outside the building), asbestos and lead (asbestos certification required), and handyman (one person working alone on minor residential repair under $2,000 that needs no building permit).

Note: The rule defines classifications for registration only. It does not say which registration a crawl space company must hold, and this site does not state one.
Washington State Department of Agriculture, Structural Pest Inspector (SPI) License Checked October 22, 2026

That in Washington the SPI license is required of anyone conducting complete wood destroying organism (WDO) inspections, those made to find evidence of infestation, damage or conducive conditions as part of the transfer, exchange or refinancing of a structure; that licensed home inspectors need it only when they include wood-destroying-insect inspections; and that the requirements are in chapter 15.58 RCW and WAC 16-228.
Washington State Department of Agriculture (via Washington State Legislature), Chapter 16-228 WAC, sections 2005 to 2060 — Wood destroying organism inspections Checked November 10, 2026

That a wood destroying organism (WDO) inspection done for the sale, exchange or refinancing of a property must be a complete WDO inspection by a licensed individual; that substructure crawl areas must be inspected when accessible, and where they are not the report must say why and state that the area may be vulnerable and should be made accessible; that a specific WDO inspection must accompany any proposal or estimate to prevent or control WDOs, may be done only by a licensed structural pest control operator or structural pest inspector, and may not stand in for a complete inspection in a sale.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 15.58.445 — Wood destroying organism inspections; license required Checked November 10, 2026

That a business may not conduct complete wood destroying organism inspections without a structural pest inspection company license from the Department of Agriculture.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 17.21.070 — Commercial pesticide applicator license Checked November 10, 2026

That engaging in the business of applying pesticides to someone else’s land requires a commercial pesticide applicator license, which is a Department of Agriculture license separate from contractor registration.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.280.020 — Home inspectors: licensure required Checked November 10, 2026

That since September 1, 2009 nobody may work or advertise as a home inspector in Washington without a state license.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.280.190 — Home inspectors: structural pest inspector Checked November 10, 2026

That a home inspector who is not also a licensed structural pest inspector may refer in the report only to rot or conditions conducive to wood destroying organisms, and must refer the identification of, or damage by, wood destroying insects to a licensed structural pest inspector.
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Asbestos Certification Checked October 29, 2026

That a good faith inspection by an AHERA-certified building inspector is required before any remodel, repair, removal or other work that could disturb suspect materials; that where asbestos-containing material could be affected, a certified asbestos contractor does the abatement; and that building owners and contractors face a mandatory $600-a-day fine when the inspection is not done.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 19.28.041 — Electrical contractors: license required Checked November 10, 2026

That it is unlawful to advertise, bid for or carry on the business of installing or maintaining electrical wiring or equipment without an electrical contractor license from L&I, which is separate from contractor registration.
Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.106.020 — Plumbers: certificate or permit required Checked November 10, 2026

That nobody may engage in the trade of plumbing without a plumber’s certificate or permit, and that a contractor may employ a person to do plumbing only if the contractor is a licensed plumbing contractor and the person holds a certificate.

Note: This site has not established whether setting a sump basin and a discharge line that does not join the building drain counts as plumbing under the chapter. Ask the plumbing permit office for the address.
Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, Electrical Permit Checked November 10, 2026

That in Seattle an electrical permit is needed whenever wiring is installed, altered, extended or connected to equipment, which covers a new receptacle or circuit for a sump pump or dehumidifier; that a professional applying needs a Washington electrical contractor’s license and a Seattle business license; and that owners may do their own electrical work on a property they own and occupy.
City of Seattle, Office of City Finance, Business Licenses Checked November 10, 2026

That a business based outside Seattle that does business in the city must hold a Seattle business license tax certificate, and that from 2026 a business with $4,000 or less of annual gross income in the city and no place of business there is not required to.

Sources last checked between August 20, 2026 and November 11, 2026; 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.

Questions, Answered

Frequently Asked Questions

: No. A number printed on a vehicle, a business card or a website is a claim, not a verification. Washington law does require the current registration number in a contractor’s advertising (RCW 18.27.100), but a number can belong to a registration that has since been suspended or to a different business. The only thing that establishes a registration is L&I’s own record, and looking it up takes about as long as reading this answer.
: Registered. Washington requires every construction contractor to register with the Department of Labor & Industries, post a bond and carry liability insurance. L&I’s steps to register are a business registration, a bond, an insurance policy, an application and a fee; there is no examination for a general or specialty registration. People search for a “contractor license” and L&I’s Verify tool uses the word license too, but what it shows for a general or specialty contractor is a registration. Electricians, plumbers and asbestos contractors are different: those trades carry their own licenses and certificates.
: They are three separate things and all three come with a Washington registration. Registered means the business is on L&I’s register and may bid and work as a contractor. Bonded means a surety bond is on file: $30,000 for a general contractor, $15,000 for a specialty contractor, one bond for every customer, supplier and worker with a claim. Insured means liability coverage for property damage and injury. None of the three is a statement about workmanship, and RCW 18.27.100(4) says a contractor may not advertise that it is bonded and insured because of the bond and insurance the registration law requires.
: A homeowner’s claim on the bond is a lawsuit, not a form. Under RCW 18.27.040 a residential homeowner’s action for breach of contract must be filed in superior court within two years of the date the work was substantially completed or abandoned, whichever came first, and it is served on L&I. Do not plan around the last month of that window: a crawl space repair can take a full wet season to show that it did not work.
: Not as a category of its own. L&I’s rule lists 63 specialty contractor classifications, and none of them names crawl space work, encapsulation, vapor barriers, waterproofing, foundation repair or mold (WAC 296-200A-016). A business doing that work still has to be a registered contractor. This page does not say which classification such a business must hold, because L&I has not been found to say.
: Yes. Take the record from L&I’s own lookup, not from a card, a truck door or a quote letterhead, and match the business name on the register to the name on the bid. The register is public, it is free, and checking takes about two minutes. Verify anyone before you sign a contract.

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