How do I check if a contractor is licensed?

Every state with a contractor licensing requirement has a free public lookup tool. California's Contractors State License Board (cslb.ca.gov) lets you search by license number, business name, or personal name. Arizona Registrar of Contractors (roc.az.gov), Oregon Construction Contractors Board (oregon.gov/ccb), Nevada State Contractors Board (nscb.nv.gov), Florida DBPR (myfloridalicense.com), and Texas TDLR (tdlr.texas.gov) all offer the same.

For the search to be useful, you need three things to match: the license number, the legal business name on the license, and the personal name of the qualifying party. A common scam is for an unlicensed worker to quote a license number that belongs to someone else — a quick search will show the real licensee's name and address. If those do not match the person standing in your driveway, walk away.

Twelve states do not require a general contractor license at all — Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (state-level), South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming have no statewide GC license. Local municipalities may still require one (Denver, Kansas City, NYC, Philadelphia). For trade specialties — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roofing — most of these states do license at the state level.

Groundcheck (earthmove.io/trust) checks the license across all 51 state and territory jurisdictions in a single search. It also surfaces the most common red flags: an "Inactive" status, an expired bond, a missing workers' compensation certificate, or a license issued in a trade specialty that does not match the work being quoted (a "C-10 Electrical" license cannot legally pull permits for a kitchen remodel).

If your state has no GC license, license verification is not the right check — focus instead on Secretary of State entity registration, county-level permit history, and court records.