Washington Contractor License Requirements: L&I Registration

Short answer: Washington does not license general contractors — it registers them. The Department of Labor & Industries requires every construction contractor to hold an active registration, and there is no dollar threshold: a $200 repair carries the same duty as a $200,000 remodel. Registration means a surety bond ($30,000 general, $15,000 specialty, for registrations issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2024), proof of liability insurance, a UBI number from the Department of Revenue, and a $150.20 fee. No general trade exam is required.

If you are searching for a Washington contractor license, you are searching for the wrong word, and the difference is not pedantic — it changes what you have to prove. The authority is the Department of Labor & Industries, not a trade board and not a consumer-affairs division. Your tax obligations sit elsewhere: with the IRS federally, and with the Washington Department of Revenue for the retail sales tax and B&O tax that make Washington sales tax for contractors its own subject. The bond and insurance figures L&I checks are unpacked in Washington contractor insurance requirements. Registration attaches to the business, whatever its form, so whether you need an LLC is a separate question from whether you must register. This page covers registration only.

Does Washington license contractors at all?

Not in the way most states do. RCW 18.27.020(1) reads: “Every contractor shall register with the department.” L&I describes who that covers as “all construction contractors” — anyone constructing, remodeling, repairing and demolishing buildings, roads and other real property.

What Washington does not do is test you. L&I’s published registration steps set out no general trade examination and no verified-experience requirement for a standard general or specialty registration. What L&I does check is short: that a bond is on file, that liability insurance is in force, and that you have a Uniform Business Identifier from the Department of Revenue. That makes Washington registration cheap and fast to obtain compared with an exam-based state — and it makes the bond, rather than a qualifying exam, the thing standing between your client and a loss.

Is there a dollar threshold for Washington contractor registration?

No, and this is the single most misread fact about working in Washington. There is no small-job lane. California’s CSLB draws a line at $500 and Arizona’s ROC at $1,000; Washington draws no line at all. The duty attaches to being a contractor, not to the size of the contract, so a same-day $180 fence repair sits inside the same requirement as a whole-house renovation.

There is a $1,000 figure in Washington law, and mistaking it for a licensing threshold is a common and expensive error. It is the trigger for the Model Disclosure Statement, which L&I summarises as applying “for all residential jobs of $1,000 or more and for commercial projects of $1,000 to $60,000.” The statute behind it, RCW 18.27.114, is tighter at the top end: residential work of $1,000 or more, and commercial work of $1,000 or more but less than $60,000. Either way it is a document you must give the customer once you are registered. It is not permission to work while you are not.

What does L&I require before it issues a registration?

Requirement	General contractor	Specialty contractor
Surety bond, issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2024	$30,000	$15,000
Liability insurance	$200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit	Same
UBI number from the Department of Revenue	Required	Required
Registration fee	$150.20	$150.20
Reinstatement fee	$70.90	$70.90
General trade examination	None	None

The fees above are the amounts L&I published as of 2026 and are the line most likely to move between now and when you file — check them on lni.wa.gov the day you apply. The bond amounts doubled and then some on July 1, 2024, under 2023 c 213 s 3. If you are working from an older guide quoting $12,000 and $6,000, that guide predates the change. RCW 18.27.040 requires the bond to name “the state of Washington… as obligee with good and sufficient surety in a form to be approved by the department,” and the bond covers labor, employee benefits, taxes, materials, equipment, and amounts arising from breach-of-contract claims.

The general-versus-specialty split decides which bond you post. A specialty contractor works within a defined trade; a general contractor’s scope is broader. Registering as a specialty and then running multi-trade jobs leaves you bonded at the wrong figure for the work you are doing.

Which Washington trades need more than a registration?

Registration is the floor, not the ceiling. L&I states that contractors working with “plumbing, electrical, elevators, mobile home installation, boilers, and asbestos have additional requirements for education, examination, and licensing.” That is six trades, not the two or three most summaries mention, and the last three catch people out: a boiler installer or an asbestos abatement crew is as far outside registration-only territory as an electrician. Those are separate L&I programs with their own certification cards, continuing-education rules, and renewal cycles, and they are administered alongside contractor registration rather than instead of it.

So an electrician deals with L&I twice: once as a registered contractor with a bond, and once as a licensed electrical contractor with certified electricians on the crew. Confirm your trade before assuming one registration covers you.

What happens if you work in Washington without registering?

Three separate consequences run at once, and they compound in a way that surprises people who think of this as a paperwork problem.

It is an infraction. RCW 18.27.200 makes it a violation for any contractor to “advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid, or perform any work as a contractor without being registered.” Note the first verb: the Marketplace post that goes up before your registration does is already a violation. The statute then multiplies the exposure — each day that a contractor works without being registered is a separate infraction, and each worksite is a separate infraction.

It is a crime. RCW 18.27.020 makes contracting without registration a gross misdemeanor, and after a citation, a person is guilty of a separate gross misdemeanor for each day worked and for each worksite.

You cannot sue to get paid. RCW 18.27.080 bars an unregistered contractor from bringing or maintaining any action in any Washington court for the collection of compensation for the performance of any work without proving valid registration at the time of contracting. Washington leaves one narrow escape: a court may find substantial compliance where the department had the required information on file and the contractor maintained current bonding and insurance throughout, and the court must weigh how long the contractor went without a valid certificate. That is a defense argued in front of a judge, not a plan.

How does a Washington homeowner check you?

At secure.lni.wa.gov/verify, in about fifteen seconds, from a phone, standing in their driveway. The tool shows whether the registration is active, whether the bond and insurance are current, job-site safety history, and prior lawsuits or license violations tied to the registration.

Two things follow. First, a lapse is visible — a bond that quietly cancelled between renewals is not a private problem between you and your surety. Second, your registration number is a sales asset, not just a compliance number. Putting it on the estimate and the invoice before a homeowner asks is the cheapest trust-building move available to a Washington contractor, and it is exactly what an unregistered competitor cannot do.

What records does Washington registration actually make you keep?

Registration is one afternoon. The obligations behind it are documentary and permanent. A bond claim asks what was contracted and what was paid. A Department of Revenue audit asks how much retail sales tax you collected on the gross contract price. And if you ever hire another contractor, L&I’s independent-contractor test asks whether that person maintained a separate set of books or records reflecting all items of income and expenses — a records question, decided by whether records exist.

Keel is an iOS app built for exactly that layer. Everything stays on the device: no account, no bank connection, no cloud sync, and an App Store privacy label that reads Data Not Collected. It produces invoice PDFs with your own numbering, your logo, and a payment-link QR code; captures receipts read on-device with Apple Intelligence; logs mileage; and writes all of it into an append-only, hash-chained ledger you can export as a single file per year or as an Accountant Pack. Free is $0 with unlimited invoices, receipts, and mileage. Keel Pro is a one-time $249.99 Lifetime purchase.

Keel does not register you with L&I, file your excise return, or sell you a bond. It is a record keeper, and it keeps the record those things are judged against. If your material receipts currently live in a truck door pocket, a contractor receipt organizer is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a contractor license in Washington for a small job?

You need a registration, and the size of the job is irrelevant. Washington sets no dollar threshold for contractor registration, so a $150 repair carries the same duty as a $150,000 build. The $1,000 figure you may have seen is the Model Disclosure Statement trigger for residential work, which applies after you are registered, not instead of registering.

How much is the bond for a Washington contractor?

$30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor, for registrations issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2024. The bond must name the state of Washington as obligee in a form approved by L&I. Older sources quoting $12,000 and $6,000 predate the 2023 amendment that raised the amounts, so check the current figure on lni.wa.gov before you buy.

Is there an exam for a Washington contractor registration?

Not for a standard general or specialty registration. Washington verifies your bond, your liability insurance, and your UBI number rather than testing your trade knowledge. Certain specialties are different: L&I names plumbing, electrical, elevators, mobile home installation, boilers, and asbestos as trades carrying additional education, examination, and licensing requirements layered on top of registration. Check your own trade against that list before assuming the registration is all you need.

Can an unregistered contractor sue a Washington client for unpaid work?

No. RCW 18.27.080 blocks any court action for collection of compensation unless you prove you were validly registered when the contract was made. A narrow substantial-compliance exception exists where L&I had your information on file and you kept bond and insurance current throughout, but the court also weighs how long the registration was invalid. Registering after the dispute starts does not fix a contract signed unregistered.

How do I check if a Washington contractor is registered?

Use L&I’s verification tool at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify. It shows active registration status, current bond and insurance, job-site safety history, and any prior lawsuits or license violations. Search before the first payment, not after a problem, and confirm the registration name matches the name on the contract and the invoice you are being asked to pay.

What is the difference between a general and a specialty contractor in Washington?

Which bond you post and what work you can lawfully take. A specialty contractor works within a defined trade or set of trades and posts $15,000; a general contractor’s scope is broader and requires $30,000. Both carry the same liability insurance minimums and the same $150.20 fee. Registering as a specialty and then running multi-trade jobs is a mismatch L&I can act on.

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This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change — confirm with the authority named above.