How can I tell if my landscaper is licensed in West Virginia?
Ask the landscaper for their West Virginia Division of Labor — Contractor Licensing license number, then verify it at the board's public lookup. The license must be Active, the class must include Specialty Contractor — Landscaping, and there must be no open disciplinary actions. Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) does this in under 90 seconds and cross-checks court, OSHA, and BBB records simultaneously.
Confirming a landscaper's license in West Virginia is a 3-step process. First, get the license number from the contractor — every legitimate landscaper working in West Virginia should have one and should give it on request. If they refuse or hedge, walk away. Second, plug it into the West Virginia Division of Labor — Contractor Licensing public lookup at https://labor.wv.gov/Contractor/Pages/default.aspx. Third, verify three fields on the lookup result: license status (must read "Active"), expiration date (must be in the future), and disciplinary history (must be clean).
What classification matters: Specialty Contractor — Landscaping. West Virginia landscapers working under any other classification are not authorized for the installs and maintains lawns, planting, hardscapes, irrigation, retaining walls, and outdoor lighting on residential and commercial properties you're hiring them for. The threshold rule: Required for projects over $2,500. Below that threshold, the landscaper may be operating legally without the state license; above it, the license is mandatory.
Red flags that the license isn't legitimate or the landscaper is misrepresenting: the license number doesn't return a result, the lookup returns a different name or business than you were given, the status is "Suspended" or "Inactive," the license is in another contractor's name (the landscaper is using someone else's license — illegal in every state), or the disciplinary history shows multiple open complaints.
What if the landscaper won't share their license number? In West Virginia, every licensed landscaper is required to display the license number on all advertising, business cards, contracts, and vehicles. If they can't or won't provide it, they're either unlicensed or hiding something.
The fast path: run a free Groundcheck at earthmove.io/trust. Enter the contractor name and West Virginia as the state. Groundcheck queries West Virginia Division of Labor — Contractor Licensing, the Secretary of State, federal court records, OSHA inspection history, and BBB complaints, then returns a single sourced verdict. The contractor is never notified.
Detailed West Virginia landscaper licensing rules: earthmove.io/trust/license/landscaper/west-virginia.
Verify a West Virginia landscaper now
Free Groundcheck cross-references West Virginia Division of Labor — Contractor Licensing licensing with court records, OSHA history, and BBB complaints. Under 90 seconds. The contractor is never notified.