Guides

Washington Contractor Insurance Renewal Dates: Where the State Publishes Them
Where Washington publishes every contractor's liability insurer, renewal date and placing agency, and how agents use it. Read more...
Where each record in a contractor background check is kept
Contractor Background Check
What a contractor background check can cover, where each record is, what it costs, and why a criminal or credit check is a different thing. Read more...
What L&I's Verify page shows on a Washington contractor
How to Check a Contractor's License in Washington
What L&I's free Verify page shows on a Washington contractor, what each section means and what it leaves out, with the state's own bond and insurance figures. Read more...
Bonded vs Insured: What It Means When You Hire a Contractor
Bonded vs Insured: What It Means When You Hire a Contractor
Bonded and insured are two different protections. What each pays for, what neither covers, and how to check both before you pay a contractor's deposit. Read more...
How to Vet a Contractor Before You Sign
How to Vet a Contractor Before You Sign
The six public-record checks to run on a contractor before you pay a deposit on a major project, and the official license lookup for every state and DC. Read more...
We Read 6,358 Contractor Websites in Six Western Metros: What Was Missing
We Read 6,358 Contractor Websites in Six Western Metros: What Was Missing
Of 9,932 plumbing, electrical, HVAC and roofing contractors on our six metro lists, 16% list no website and 24% of the listed sites did not answer. Among the 6,358 sites... Read more...
How to Build a Plumber or Contractor Lead List for Your City: What Is Public, What It Costs, How to Check It
How to Build a Plumber or Contractor Lead List for Your City: What Is Public, What It Costs, How to Check It
An alternative to a purchased business database for the trades: where the names come from (map data, state license registries, the company's own site), what share of rows carry a... Read more...
Share of contractors with no website, by metro
How many plumbers, electricians, HVAC and roofing companies have no website? Six metros, counted
1,615 of 9,932 contractors across six metros have no website on record. The share by metro, computed from the list files, and what the count does and does not mean. Read more...
Puget Sound contractor list: owner names and license years from the WA L&I registry
How to find the owner of a licensed contractor in Washington, Oregon, Arizona or Colorado (free, from the registries)
Four state registries publish who is behind a plumbing, electrical, HVAC or roofing company, and three of them are open data. Here is exactly where the owner's name, the license... Read more...