Washington L&I Contractor Lookup Guide

The Washington L&I contractor lookup is the free official tool for checking whether a construction contractor is registered, bonded, and insured in Washington State. Run it before you sign a contract or pay a deposit. It shows far more than a yes or no: registration status, bond and insurance details, workers' comp standing, lawsuits against the bond, and safety violations.

The tool is run by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and lives at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify. You can search by business name, contractor registration number, UBI (Unified Business Identifier) number, or workers' comp account number.

Last reviewed November 6, 2026. Bond amounts, insurance minimums, and registration rules can change; verify current details with Washington L&I before relying on them.

What does the Washington L&I contractor lookup show?

A single lookup returns the contractor's full public record with L&I. The fields that matter most:

• Registration status and expiration date. Active, expired, suspended, or revoked, plus the date the current registration runs out.
• General or specialty classification. Whether the business registered as a general contractor or in a specific specialty, and which specialty.
• Bond amount and surety. The bond on file, the surety company, and whether it is current.
• Liability insurance. The carrier, policy number, and expiration date.
• Workers' comp account. Whether the business has an active workers' comp account and whether it is paid to date.
• Lawsuits against the bond. Claims customers have filed against the contractor's surety bond.
• Safety violations and infractions. Citations and enforcement history L&I has recorded.
• Business identity. Legal business name, owners, and UBI number.

How do I use the L&I Verify tool?

Start with the contractor's registration number. A legitimate contractor gives it readily; Washington requires registered contractors to put the number on advertisements, estimates, bids, proposals, and contracts.

1. Open the Verify tool at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify. No account or login is needed.
2. Search by registration number first. With only a name, open the result whose legal name, owners, and UBI match the bid.
3. Confirm the registration is active. Check the status and the expiration date. A registration that expires before your job ends is a problem to resolve before work starts.
4. Read the classification and specialty. A general contractor can coordinate multi-trade work. A specialty contractor is limited to the specialty on the registration, so check that the listed specialty covers your project.
5. Check the bond. Confirm a bond is on file, the amount matches the classification, and it is current.
6. Check the insurance. Confirm liability insurance is on file with a current expiration date, and note the carrier and policy number.
7. Open the workers' comp section. If the contractor has employees, confirm the account is active and paid to date.
8. Scan the history. Lawsuits against the bond, infractions, and safety violations are listed on the same record. One old item may have an explanation; a pattern is a reason to pause.
9. Save what you found. Note the date of the lookup, the registration number, the status, and the bond and insurance results. Keep it with the contract.

What do the bond and insurance numbers mean?

Washington requires every registered contractor to maintain a surety bond and general liability insurance. The minimums come from the Contractor Registration Act, RCW 18.27, and the bond amounts rose on July 1, 2024:

The bond is a financial backstop, not a warranty. If a registered contractor breaks the contract or the law, a customer can file a claim against the bond, but recovery is limited to the bond amount, which will not cover a large loss on its own. That is why the insurance figures matter too, and why larger jobs usually call for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the contractor's agent rather than a photo of a policy.

How do I read a contractor's registration status?

• Active means the registration is current, with bond and insurance on file. Confirm the expiration date still covers your project timeline.
• Expired means the registration lapsed. The contractor cannot legally work as a registered contractor until it is reinstated, and reinstatement carries a fee.
• Suspended means L&I paused the registration, often because the bond or insurance lapsed or a penalty went unpaid. Do not sign or pay until the record shows active again.
• Revoked means L&I ended the registration. Treat this as a stop sign.

Also check the expiration date against your schedule. A registration that is active today but expires next month, with no renewal shown, deserves a question before you pay a deposit.

What if the contractor is not registered?

Working unregistered is a gross misdemeanor under RCW 18.27.020, and for the customer it means no bond to claim against, no verified insurance on file, and no workers' comp account to check.

Common responses to a missing record, and how to handle them:

• "I am registered under a different name." Search that name and confirm the owners and UBI match the business you are dealing with.
• "My registration is being processed." Ask for the application confirmation and check again before signing. A pending application is not a registration.
• "I do not need to register for this job." Registration applies to construction work done for others, with narrow exceptions such as work on your own property. If the claim sounds convenient, confirm it with L&I before proceeding.
• "Here is someone else's number." Using another business's registration number is a reason to walk away, not a paperwork mix-up.

Does the lookup cover trade licenses?

The Verify tool covers contractor registration, but Washington layers separate credentials on top for regulated trades. Electrical, plumbing, elevator, boiler, asbestos, and manufactured-home work each have their own licensing rules, and the business doing that work needs the trade credential as well as the registration.

That distinction matters on real jobs. A general contractor can manage a remodel and hire licensed subcontractors for the regulated trades, but the general registration alone does not make the company a licensed electrical or plumbing contractor. When your project includes regulated trade work, look up the trade credential separately for the business and the individual doing the work. Our electrician license verification guide walks through the electrical side in CA, TX, and WA, and our Washington registration vs. license explainer covers how the layers fit together.

How do businesses verify Washington contractors at scale?

A homeowner checks one contractor once. A marketplace or lender onboarding dozens of subs a week checks the same record repeatedly, and the manual lookup does not scale. The checks that matter at volume are the same ones in this guide: registration status, classification, bond, insurance, workers' comp, and any new infractions or bond lawsuits since the last check. That is what the Washington contractor license lookup and Washington contractor license API pages cover: the same L&I record fields, normalized into a structured response so onboarding and monitoring workflows can recheck a contractor without opening the Verify tool by hand. For the general playbook, see our guide to verifying a contractor license and the contractor onboarding verification checklist.

FAQ

Is the Washington L&I contractor lookup free?

Yes. The Verify tool at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify is free and needs no account.

What is a Washington contractor registration number?

It is the unique number L&I issues to a registered construction contractor. It appears on the contractor's ads, bids, and contracts, and it is the most reliable search key in the Verify tool.

Does Washington require a contractor exam?

No exam is required to register as a general or specialty contractor. Registration requires filing a surety bond, carrying minimum liability insurance, and paying the registration fee.

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

A general contractor may perform most types of construction and coordinate multiple trades. A specialty contractor is limited to the specialty listed on the registration, such as roofing, painting, or tree removal.

How often should I recheck a contractor?

Check before signing and before each payment, and recheck if the project runs long enough for a registration, bond, or policy to expire mid-job.

Washington L&I lookup checklist

Before you hire or pay a Washington contractor:

• Registration number from the bid matches the L&I record, including business name and owners
• Registration status is active, with an expiration date past your project end
• Classification (general or specialty) covers the full scope of work
• Bond is current: $30,000 for general, $15,000 for specialty
• Liability insurance is on file and current: $200,000/$50,000 or a $250,000 combined single limit
• Workers' comp account is active and paid to date, if the crew has employees
• No unresolved lawsuits against the bond, infractions, or safety violations
• Regulated trade work (electrical, plumbing, elevator, boiler, asbestos) verified under its own credential
• Lookup date, registration number, and results saved with the contract

Run the check at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify before you sign. Five minutes now beats a dispute after the deposit clears.

Sources

• Washington Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business
• Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.27, Registration of Contractors