The short version
- Get the business license and UBI from the Department of Revenue, then the bond, then liability insurance that lists L&I as certificate holder.
- File the notarized application with the $150.20 fee at an L&I office or by mail, where L&I says processing takes 3 to 4 weeks.
- Once the number is active, put it on your site, your Google profile, and every estimate, next to the exact name on the registration.
Washington registers contractors instead of licensing them. The Department of Labor and Industries, L&I, requires every construction contractor to register (opens in a new tab), and state law requires a bond and liability insurance to go with it. Once registered, a business can bid, advertise, and do construction work. Plumbers, electricians, and a few other trades need their own licenses on top.
I build sites for contractors in Washington and Oregon, and the registration number is one of the first things I ask for. Here is how to get one, in an order that avoids the usual delays.
The steps in order
L&I lists what it needs. A business registered with the Department of Revenue, a surety bond, liability insurance, a completed application, and the fee. It also says the order you finish them in affects how quickly the registration goes through. This is the order I would follow.
- Choose the business structure and the name. An LLC or corporation files with the Secretary of State first.
- Register the business with the Department of Revenue and get a UBI number.
- Buy the contractor surety bond, which is $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor.
- Buy general liability insurance that lists L&I as certificate holder.
- Fill out the Application for Contractor Registration and get every owner's signature notarized.
- File it at a local L&I office, or mail it with a check or money order for $150.20.
- Open a workers' comp account if you will have employees.
- Get any trade license your work requires.
Every document in that list has to carry the same business name, which is why the name comes first.
Step 1. The structure and the name
If you are a sole proprietor or a partnership, pick the name and move on. If you are forming an LLC or a corporation, the Department of Revenue says those structures file with the Secretary of State before the business license application (opens in a new tab). L&I points to the Secretary of State or a private attorney for that step.
Then get the name right, once. The L&I application (opens in a new tab) says the name you do business under must be registered with the Department of Revenue and must match the name on your bond and your insurance certificate. If you do not use a trade name, you use your personal name or the corporate name on file with the Secretary of State.
One detail from the same form. Business names over 30 characters get abbreviated on the contractor registration. The registration is what homeowners see when they look you up on L&I's Verify tool, so a long name that gets cut short reads differently from the name on your truck. Keep it short if you can.
Each owner, partner, member, or corporate officer also completes a signed statement on the application, with a Social Security number or ITIN, and each one has to be at least 18.
Step 2. The UBI from the Department of Revenue
The UBI is the nine digit Unified Business Identifier that Washington assigns when your business license is approved. You apply through the Department of Revenue, online or on paper, or with help at an L&I office.
The Department of Revenue says online applications take about 10 business days, city or state endorsements can add 2 to 3 weeks, and mailed applications can take up to six weeks. There is a processing fee that depends on the filing, plus a fee for each endorsement. Its Business Licensing Wizard lists the agencies to contact and the endorsements your business needs, so run it before you apply.
L&I will not process your registration until the business license application is filed and your excise tax account is open. And unless you are a sole proprietor with no employees, you also need a federal Employer Identification Number from the IRS.
Step 3. The bond
Every registered contractor files a Washington continuous contractor surety bond with L&I.
| Registration type | Bond |
|---|---|
| General contractor | $30,000 |
| Specialty contractor | $15,000 |
The bond has to show the bond number and your exact business name. Premiums vary by company, so get more than one quote from a bonding company or an insurance agency. If you would rather not buy a bond, L&I accepts an assignment of savings instead. That is the same amount held as cash, a certificate of deposit, a time deposit, or a money market account at a bank, savings and loan, or credit union with a Washington branch.
Decide general or specialty before you buy it. A general contractor may perform more than one construction trade and hire subcontractors in several specialties. A specialty contractor works only in the one trade listed on the registration and cannot hire subcontractors. L&I lists 63 specialties, from roofing and painting to HVAC and tree removal. A roofer with a roofing crew is a specialty contractor. A remodeler who runs framing, drywall, and tile subs on the same kitchen is a general contractor.
Step 4. Liability insurance
L&I requires general liability coverage of at least one of these.
- $200,000 in public liability and $50,000 in property damage, or
- $250,000 as a combined single limit.
Two details matter as much as the coverage amount. The certificate has to use your exact business name, and it has to list L&I as the certificate holder. Tell your agent both before they issue it. L&I also wants the originals of your bond and your insurance certificate to complete the registration.
Step 5. The application, the fee, and the wait
The form is the Application for Contractor Registration, F625-001-000, and the fee is $150.20. Every signature has to be original and notarized. L&I will not accept a copy.
You have two ways to file.
In person. L&I recommends a visit to your local L&I office as the fastest and simplest route. Staff there can help you register the business and complete the application, and they can notarize the signatures of the owners who come in. Bring the business name and structure or your UBI, the bond or assignment of savings, the insurance certificate, and the fee. The office takes any form of payment.
By mail. Send the notarized application, the bond, the insurance certificate, and a check or money order payable to the Department of Labor & Industries to Contractor Registration, P.O. Box 44450, Olympia, WA 98504-4450. L&I says mailed applications currently take 3 to 4 weeks after they arrive. The registration card follows in about 2 weeks.
Answer the questions about past registrations honestly. The form asks whether you, your spouse, or anyone who owns or manages the company with you has been registered before, and it warns that a false answer can bring a fine of up to $10,000.
Once you are registered, the business shows up on L&I's Verify tool, and that record is what homeowners, general contractors, and suppliers read.
Step 6. Workers' comp and trade licenses
Workers' comp if you hire
The application asks whether you will have employees. L&I says to answer yes if you plan to hire in the next 90 days, and to open a workers' compensation account with L&I through the Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue also lists hiring within 90 days as one of the reasons a business has to register with it. A one person business with no employees answers no. When that changes, update the business license with the Department of Revenue before the first hire, not after.
Trade licenses and city endorsements
The contractor registration covers the business. Some trades need more. L&I lists plumbing, electrical, elevators, mobile home installation, boilers, and asbestos as work with its own education, exam, and licensing requirements. Electrical contractors are licensed under a separate chapter of state law, and the registration form points them there.
If you renovate homes built before 1978, L&I points you to the Department of Commerce lead paint program before the work starts. City endorsements are a separate filing. They go through the Department of Revenue with your business license, not through L&I.
Once you are registered, the website and the Google profile
L&I is direct about this. After you register, the registration number goes on your business communications, and when you advertise, bid, or offer to do work, the number goes with it. L&I names business cards, newspaper ads, internet ads, estimates, and bid proposals.
On the sites I build, the number goes in three places by default. The footer of every page, the about page, and next to the quote form. Write the business name exactly as the registration shows it, and label the number so a homeowner knows where to look it up, for example "WA contractor registration" followed by the number. I wrote a separate guide on where the license number goes on a contractor website.
Your Google Business Profile should use the same name, list the towns you work, and carry the number in the business description, so the name a homeowner sees on Google matches the name on the record. I set up map listings for $600 on their own, and they come with a Site with Tools. They cover your Google Business Profile, your Apple Maps listing, and your Bing listing, and the Google Business Profile setup page has the details.
Before any of that goes live, look yourself up the way a homeowner will. I walk through each part of the record in how to look up a contractor license in Washington. If the name, the specialty, the bond, and the insurance all read the way you expect, the number is ready to go on the site. A Site is $1,500, and it launches with the number at the top of the site, in the footer, and next to the quote form.
