Washington · Landscaping licensing · official-source guide
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries registers landscaping contractors at state level. Landscaping is one of the 63 specialty classifications, so a landscaping company must register, post a surety bond and carry liability insurance before it bids or advertises. There is no exam. Spraying pesticides, testing backflow assemblies, or calling yourself a landscape architect each require a separate license.
State-level license
Yes
Public lookup
Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Washington handles this at state level, not city level. The Department of Labor and Industries runs contractor registration under chapter 18.27 RCW, and the agency states on its own registration page that the state requires all construction contractors to register, and requires them to be bonded and insured, before they can bid, advertise or perform construction work. The statute reaches landscaping through a wide definition. RCW 18.27.010 covers anyone who, in the pursuit of an independent business, undertakes or offers to undertake to construct, alter, repair, add to, improve or develop any structure, project, development or improvement attached to real estate, and the same subsection names tree removal services outright. RCW 18.27.005 adds that the chapter is strictly enforced, that the doctrine of substantial compliance does not apply, and that anyone engaged in the activities of a contractor is presumed to know the requirements. Registration is also exclusive. RCW 18.27.130 bars any political subdivision of the state from requiring or issuing its own contractor registration, license or bond for the same or a similar purpose. That is why Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma do not run competing landscaping contractor licenses. The same section preserves two city powers: a general and nondiscriminatory license fee levied on all businesses, and a tax on gross business done inside the city. Permits add a second checkpoint. RCW 18.27.110 forbids a city, town or county from issuing a construction building permit for work to be done by a contractor who must register without verifying that the registration is current, and requires the permit to carry the registration number.
Sourceslni.wa.gov 1app.leg.wa.gov 2
Landscaping is a named specialty classification in rule, not a judgment call. WAC 296-200A-016(33) defines it as constructing, maintaining, repairing, installing and developing landscape systems and facilities for public and private gardens and other areas designed to improve the ground within or surrounding a structure or a tract or plot of land, whether the improvement is aesthetic, architectural, horticultural or functional. The same subsection lists the work in detail. A Landscaping specialty contractor prepares and grades plots. It treats, conditions, prepares and installs topsoil. It performs hydroseed spraying and plants all decorative vegetation. On the hardscape side, the specialty includes installation of nonload bearing slabs, walkways and areas built from concrete, brick, stone or gravel, decorative wooden decks, and garden walls, fences and screens up to six feet in height. It also includes installation of residential lawn sprinklers without pumps, ponds and water features. The exclusions matter as much as the inclusions. The rule carves out cast in place and tilt up concrete, load bearing walls for structures, and perimeter fencing along property lines or boundaries. Work inside the specialty may still require an electrical license under chapter 19.28 RCW or plumber certification under chapter 18.106 RCW, so a low voltage lighting run or a potable water tie in can pull in a second credential. One useful exemption sits at the end of the subsection: registration is not required for companies that only deliver material and are not installing or placing the product. A supplier dropping bark or gravel is not contracting. The crew that spreads it is.
Sourcesapp.leg.wa.gov
Labor and Industries issues two classifications. A general contractor can perform most types of construction work and can hire subcontractors across multiple specialties. A specialty contractor can only perform work in the specialty it registered in and cannot hire subcontractors at all. Labor and Industries regulates 63 specialties, each of which requires contractor registration, and Landscaping is one of them under WAC 296-200A-016(33). That single sentence about subcontracting decides the choice for most landscaping companies. If your crews do the planting, the grading and the flat work themselves, the Landscaping specialty fits. If you sell a yard package and then hire a mason for a structural retaining wall, an electrician for the lighting and a fence company for a property line fence, you are using more than one building trade, which RCW 18.27.010 defines as general contracting, and you need the general registration. Registration is not a competency credential. Chapter 18.27 RCW requires no trade exam, no classroom hours and no documented years of experience for a general or specialty contractor. RCW 18.27.030 asks for an application under oath carrying a federal tax identification number, a unified business identifier number, proof of workers compensation coverage for employees working in Washington, an employment security department number, the type of contracting activity and the specialty if the applicant is a specialty contractor, and the names and addresses of the owners, partners or corporate officers. Plumbing, electrical, elevator, mobile home installation, boiler and asbestos work carry additional education, examination and licensing requirements on top of registration, but landscaping does not.
Two financial filings have to be in place before Labor and Industries will issue or renew a registration. The first is a Washington continuous contractor surety bond. RCW 18.27.040 sets it at $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor, and the agency repeats both figures on its registration page. The bond names the state of Washington as obligee, runs continuously, and is conditioned on the contractor paying its workers and their benefits, paying taxes and contributions owed to the state, paying suppliers and equipment rental, and paying amounts adjudged against it for breach of contract, including improper work. Labor and Industries accepts an assignment of account as the alternative, funded with 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. The second filing is general liability insurance: $200,000 in public liability and $50,000 in property damage, or a $250,000 combined single limit. The policy has to carry your exact business name and list Labor and Industries as a certificate holder. The bond and insurance are not decoration. RCW 18.27.060 automatically suspends a registration on the effective date the bond is cancelled, has an unsatisfied judgment against it, or the liability policy is cancelled, and the agency notifies the contractor within two days. If you switch from general to specialty registration, the agency states that your bond amount cannot be reduced for two years.
Sourceslni.wa.gov 1app.leg.wa.gov 2
Labor and Industries charges an application fee of $150.20 to register as a contractor, and the same $150.20 to renew. Reinstating a suspended registration costs $70.90. RCW 18.27.060 makes a certificate of registration valid for two years and requires renewal on or before the expiration date, and RCW 18.27.070 leaves the exact fee amounts to department rule rather than fixing them in statute. There is no continuing education requirement attached to contractor registration. Renewal is an administrative act: pay the fee, and have current bond and insurance on file. The agency tells contractors to check the Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson, or Business tool before renewing, to confirm that the bond or assignment of account and the liability insurance on file are current and that the registration is not suspended. Originals matter. The surety bond has to be the original uncorrected document signed by the bonding agent with the bonding company seal, carrying the business name exactly as it appears on file, and it has to reach the agency before the filing date shown on the bond. Insurance certificates are accepted by mail, through the designated insurance agent portal, or in person at a service location, and are not accepted by email or fax. Mailed applications must carry original notarized signatures, and the agency says mailed applications are taking three to four weeks to process and activate. Renewal becomes valid on the date the department receives the fee and proof of bond and insurance when sent by a method requiring proof of delivery.
Sourceslni.wa.gov 1app.leg.wa.gov 2
Irrigation sits in two places in Washington rule, and the split decides which registration you need. WAC 296-200A-016(33) lets a Landscaping specialty contractor install residential lawn sprinklers without pumps, along with ponds and water features. Anything larger is a separate specialty. WAC 296-200A-016(32) defines Irrigation sprinkler systems as a specialty whose contractor installs, repairs and maintains sprinkler systems that distribute water for irrigation and for dust and soil erosion control, using the equipment, materials and fittings common to the industry. That subsection also draws the plumbing boundary precisely. Connections to potable water lines, installation of backflow prevention devices for nonpotable water, installation of hose bibs, and installation of service lines from the source of supply are permitted only when they are an integral part of the sprinkler system and outside a building. Pumps are the hard stop. The rule states that using pumps to draw or boost pressure from any source of water on a residential sprinkler system, or for irrigation on a farm, requires plumber certification under chapter 18.106 RCW, an electrical license under chapter 19.28 RCW, or both. The same subsection adds that if both the electrical and plumbing trades are pursued, the Irrigation sprinkler systems specialty is not allowed. For a landscaping company the practical reading is simple. Drip and spray zones fed by existing pressure and installed outside the building stay inside your scope. A booster pump, a well connection or a controller tied into building wiring pulls in a certified plumber or a licensed electrician, or pushes you toward general registration with those trades subcontracted.
Sourcesapp.leg.wa.gov
An irrigation system tied to a public water supply is a cross connection, and Washington regulates it through the water purveyor rather than through your contractor registration. WAC 246-290-490 requires purveyors to run a cross connection control program, to survey premises, to assess the degree of hazard, and to ensure that approved backflow prevention assemblies are inspected and tested. The timing is set by rule. Inspections and tests of approved assemblies that protect the public water system must happen upon installation, repair, reinstallation or relocation of an assembly, after a backflow incident involving the assembly, and annually after that, unless the purveyor requires more frequent testing for high hazard premises or for assemblies that repeatedly fail. Approved atmospheric vacuum breakers installed on irrigation systems have their own schedule: inspection at the time of installation, after a backflow incident, and after repair, reinstallation or relocation. The rule also decides who holds the wrench. Testing of approved backflow prevention assemblies must be done by a backflow assembly tester, and WAC 246-290-010 defines a backflow assembly tester as a person holding a valid certificate issued under chapter 246-292 WAC. A cross connection specialist or a backflow assembly tester inspects assemblies for correct installation and approval status. Purveyors are required to document tester certification and test kit calibration as part of a quality control program. The rule leaves room for the plumbing code: a purveyor may accept an approved atmospheric vacuum breaker on a residential irrigation system when it is properly installed under the Uniform Plumbing Code. Your Landscaping or Irrigation sprinkler systems registration does not substitute for that tester certificate.
Chapter 18.96 RCW protects a title, which is a different thing from licensing the work. RCW 18.96.020 makes it unlawful to practice or offer to practice landscape architecture in Washington, or to use in connection with your name any title or description including the phrases landscape architect, landscape architecture or landscape architectural, or language tending to imply that you are a landscape architect, unless you are licensed under the chapter. A graduate of an accredited landscape architecture degree program working under the direct supervision of a licensed landscape architect may use the title intern landscape architect. The chapter does not reach the phrases where a person does not practice or offer to practice landscape architecture. RCW 18.96.220 then lists what the chapter does not affect, and the list is the single most useful passage for a landscaping contractor. It does not prevent the construction, alteration or supervision of sites by contractors or by superintendents employed by contractors. It does not prevent owners or contractors registered under chapter 18.27 RCW from engaging people who are not landscape architects to observe and supervise site construction. It does not prevent the preparation of construction documents including planting plans, landscape materials or other horticulture related elements. It does not prevent the design of irrigation systems. And it does not prevent landscape design on residential properties. So you can sell and draw a residential yard plan, specify plants, and design the irrigation, under your contractor registration. What you cannot do is call the result landscape architecture or call yourself a landscape architect.
Sourcesapp.leg.wa.gov
The Department of Licensing issues the license, and the Board of Licensure for Landscape Architects sets the standards. RCW 18.96.070 gives two routes. The first is a professional landscape architectural degree from an institution accredited by the national landscape architecture accreditation board, or an equivalent degree as determined by the board, plus three years of practical landscape architectural work experience under the supervision of a registered or licensed landscape architect. The second is a high school diploma or equivalent plus eight years of practical landscape architectural work experience, which may include landscape design as a principal activity, with at least six of those years under direct supervision of a registered or licensed landscape architect. Up to two of the eight years can be credited for approved postsecondary coursework. RCW 18.96.090 requires examination at least annually and allows the board to adopt a national examination, and the Department of Licensing directs applicants to CLARB for exam scheduling and exam fees. Candidates may begin the exam after graduating from an accredited program if employed under a licensed landscape architect, and must finish all sections within five years or retake the whole exam. The published state fees are $328 for the initial examination application, $590 for the initial license, $590 for a reciprocity application, $590 for the two year renewal, $197 for a late renewal penalty and $5 to print a license. Renewal carries continuing education: 24 professional development hours per two year period, at least 18 of which must address public health, safety and welfare, with up to 12 hours carried over. RCW 18.96.100 is the reciprocity path for a landscape architect licensed elsewhere whose qualifications the board finds equivalent.
Labor and Industries says so on its own contractor registration page: if you will be applying pesticides, contact the Washington State Department of Agriculture to ensure compliance with state and federal pesticide law. The Department of Agriculture defines a commercial applicator as a business that engages in applying pesticides to the land or property of another, which is what weed control, turf treatment and ornamental pest work on a client property is. It is a joint company and individual license. The individual who makes the pesticide application decisions for the company must hold the commercial applicator license. Qualifying means passing the Washington Laws and Safety exam plus a category exam for every area the business operates in, or presenting a valid reciprocal state license. The published application fee is $250 for a commercial applicator, with equipment fees of $27 per apparatus after the first one. Employees who do the spraying under that company hold a separate commercial operator license, published at $85, and the commercial applicator must report every employed commercial operator to the agency. Financial responsibility is required under RCW 17.21.160 and RCW 17.21.170 before a license issues. Option one is a liability policy with $50,000 public liability coverage, $50,000 property damage coverage and a deductible no greater than $5,000. Option two is a surety bond of at least $100,000. Licenses renew annually, and the agency begins suspension procedures if proof of coverage is not filed before the existing policy or bond expires. Changes to equipment, locations or employed operators must be reported within 30 days.
Sourcesagr.wa.gov 1agr.wa.gov 2
The category decides the exam, and the Department of Agriculture publishes the scope of each one. Weed Control covers controlling or consulting on the control of weeds in all agricultural, forest, rights of way, turf and ornamental situations, and does not allow the use of fumigants. Insect and Disease Control covers insects and diseases in all sites, and the agency lists ornamental, turf and right of way situations including golf courses, parks, schools, yards, gardens and greenhouses inside that category. Two limited specialty categories map onto common yard work in this state. Structural and Turf Demossing covers controlling moss on structures and turf and does not allow restricted use pesticides. Stump Treatment covers using herbicides on cut stumps only. Aquatic Pest Control is the category for pests in canals, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and marshes, and the agency notes that aquatic pesticide applications may require a permit from the Department of Ecology. Recertification runs on a five year cycle for every license type. Commercial applicators and commercial operators fall into the agency category of all other license types, which needs 40 credits across the five year cycle with a maximum of 15 credits in any one calendar year. Credits must be reported to the agency by the course sponsor, cannot be carried over to the next cycle, and have to be completed by the end of the calendar year to count toward that year. The agency runs a public Pesticide and SPI Licensing Search by person, license number or company, and notes that results show only licensees who have renewed within the last two years.
This one is easy to overlook because it is not a contractor credential and it is not administered by Labor and Industries. The Department of Agriculture licenses nursery plant sellers and installers under chapter 15.13 RCW, and the license is an endorsement on your state business license that permits you to sell horticultural plants in Washington. The agency list of who needs one names landscapers and maintenance companies who buy, hold or grow plants to install, alongside wholesale and retail nurseries, growers, garden centers, in state brokers, grocery and warehouse stores selling plants, pet and aquarium stores selling aquatic plants, reforestation companies and contractors, and individuals who sell more than $100 worth of plants in a calendar year. The agency sums it up as any business that holds, grows, sells or installs plants for customers in Washington. Fees scale with annual gross sales of horticultural plants and with whether the business is retail or wholesale, and the agency publishes them per location: retail is $80.64 for $100 to $2,500 in annual gross sales, $176.64 for $2,501 to $15,000 with two free inspection hours, and $350.40 above $15,000 with four hours. Wholesale is $176.64 at $15,000 or under and $350.40 above that. The license renews annually, and you apply or renew through the Department of Revenue Business Licensing Service rather than through the Department of Agriculture. Businesses selling only cut plant material, or making plant sales under $100 annually, are exempt from the license and permit requirements.
Sourcesagr.wa.gov
RCW 18.27.100 is specific, and Labor and Industries restates it plainly: when you advertise, solicit bids or offer to perform work, you must always include your contractor registration number. The agency names business cards, directory ads, newspaper ads, internet ads, estimates and bid proposals. The statute says all advertising that shows the contractor name or address shall show the current registration number, and that all materials used to directly solicit business from retail customers who are not businesses shall show it. All advertising, contracts, correspondence, cards, signs, posters, papers and documents that show a contractor name or address must show the name or address as registered. Three exclusions sit in the statute. The number may be omitted from an alphabetized listing of registered contractors that states only name, address and telephone number. Signs on motor vehicles subject to RCW 46.16A.030 and on premises signs do not count as advertising for this requirement. Advertising by airwave transmission is outside the subsection, although the subpoena provision that lets the director trace who bought an ad does reach airwave and electronic transmission. There is prohibited wording too. RCW 18.27.100(4) states that no contractor shall advertise that he or she is bonded and insured because of the bond and insurance required by the chapter. Using a false or expired registration number to buy advertising is separately prohibited. RCW 18.27.104 lets the department issue a citation with an order to stop the unlawful advertising, and RCW 18.27.100(8) allows a penalty of up to ten thousand dollars, with an exception for an inadvertent error.
Washington stacks three consequences, and the money one bites first. RCW 18.27.200 makes it an infraction to advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid or perform work as a contractor without being registered, to do so while suspended or revoked, to transfer a registration to an unregistered contractor, or to subcontract to or use an unregistered contractor. Each day worked and each worksite is a separate infraction. RCW 18.27.340 sets the penalty at not less than $200 and not more than $10,000 for an infraction generally, and not less than $1,200 and not more than $10,000 for failure to register, with discretion to reduce a first offense to no lower than $600 if the person registers within 10 days of receiving the notice of infraction. Penalties collected go into the homeowner recovery account. RCW 18.27.020 makes the same conduct a gross misdemeanor, prosecuted in the county where it occurs, with each day and each worksite again counting separately. The third consequence is the one that costs the most on a large job. RCW 18.27.080 bars anyone acting as a contractor from bringing or maintaining any action in a Washington court to collect compensation for the work, or for breach of the contract, without alleging and proving that he or she was duly registered and held a current and valid certificate at the time of contracting. RCW 18.27.350 adds that an infraction or misdemeanor under the chapter is deemed to affect the public interest and constitutes a violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
Seattle cannot issue a competing contractor license, but it does regulate tree work, and a landscaping crew runs into it fast. The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections maintains a Tree Service Provider Registry under Seattle Municipal Code 25.11, established in August 2022. Every tree service provider doing commercial work defined in SMC 25.11.130 in Seattle for financial compensation must be registered, and the reportable work includes removing live branches four inches in diameter or greater and pruning or removal affecting any Tier 1 through Tier 4 tree, which the city describes as trees six inches diameter at standard height or greater. Property owners who hire a commercial tree service for that work must use a provider from the registry. The city states that unregistered providers cannot do commercial tree work in Seattle and may face penalties if they do. Registration requires a Seattle business license tax certificate and the endorsement, plus at least one employee or person on retainer who is a currently credentialed International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist trained to work to ANSI A300 or its successor. The registered provider also files a public notice that posts to the city website at least three full business days before reportable work and six full business days before removal, with the notice kept on site during the work. Registration covers private property work through the construction department, with a separate registry for work in the public right of way. Routine pruning and maintenance outside those thresholds does not require registration. Seattle also requires most businesses operating in the city to hold a business license tax certificate, renewed annually by December 31.
Sourcesseattle.gov 1seattle.gov 2
Before registration, you need the state business license. The Department of Revenue requires one if your business needs city, county or state endorsements, if you use a name other than your full legal name, if you plan to hire employees within 90 days, if you sell something that requires collecting sales tax, or if your gross income is $12,000 a year or more. The license carries your unified business identifier number, which Labor and Industries requires on the contractor application, and the nursery plant seller and installer endorsement is added through the same system. How you bill matters in this state. WAC 458-20-226 treats most landscaping work as a retail sale, including grading, filling, leveling, planting, seeding, sodding, removing, cutting, trimming, pruning, mulching, aerating, applying chemicals, watering and fertilizing to establish, promote or control growth for ornamental or other nonagricultural purposes, plus the sale or rental of landscaping materials and the construction of sprinkling systems, walks, pools, fences, trellises, rockeries and retaining walls. That income is taxable under the retailing business and occupation classification, and the rule says landscape gardeners and horticulturists must generally collect and report retail sales tax on the full contract price. Landscape design performed by a landscape architect separate from a maintenance contract falls outside retail. Verification runs through Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson, or Business, searchable by name, license number, workers compensation account or unified business identifier. RCW 18.27.114 also requires a written disclosure statement before work starts on residential jobs of $1,000 or more and commercial jobs from $1,000 to less than $60,000.
Sourcesdor.wa.gov 1app.leg.wa.gov 2secure.lni.wa.gov 3lni.wa.gov 4
These are common details other guides publish about Washington, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. Labor and Industries requires contractor registration under chapter 18.27 RCW before you bid, advertise or perform the work, and Landscaping is a named specialty classification in WAC 296-200A-016(33). There is no trade exam and no experience requirement, but the bond, the liability insurance and the fee are prerequisites, not formalities.
Register in the Landscaping specialty if your own crews do the work. A specialty contractor cannot hire subcontractors at all. The moment you subcontract the masonry, the lighting and the fencing on a yard package, you are using more than one building trade, which is general contracting under RCW 18.27.010 and needs the general registration and the larger bond.
Partly. WAC 296-200A-016(33) includes nonload bearing slabs and walkways in concrete, brick, stone or gravel, decorative wooden decks, and garden walls up to six feet. It excludes cast in place or tilt up concrete, load bearing walls for structures, and perimeter fencing along property lines. A structural retaining wall falls outside the specialty.
RCW 18.27.040 sets $15,000 for a specialty contractor and $30,000 for a general contractor. Labor and Industries accepts an assignment of account funded with cash, a certificate of deposit, a time deposit or a money market account as the alternative. Liability insurance of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit, is separate and also required.
Residential lawn sprinklers without pumps are inside the Landscaping specialty per WAC 296-200A-016(33). Larger systems belong to the Irrigation sprinkler systems specialty in subsection 32. Either way, pumps that draw or boost pressure on a residential sprinkler system require plumber certification under chapter 18.106 RCW, an electrical license under chapter 19.28 RCW, or both.
A backflow assembly tester, which WAC 246-290-010 defines as a person holding a valid certificate issued under chapter 246-292 WAC. WAC 246-290-490 requires the water purveyor to ensure testing upon installation, repair, reinstallation or relocation, after a backflow incident, and annually thereafter. Your contractor registration does not authorize the test.
Yes, within limits. RCW 18.96.220 states the chapter does not prevent landscape design on residential properties, the design of irrigation systems, or the preparation of construction documents including planting plans and other horticulture related elements. What RCW 18.96.020 forbids is calling yourself a landscape architect or your service landscape architecture without the license.
Applying pesticides to the land or property of another is commercial application, licensed by the Department of Agriculture. The decision maker holds the commercial applicator license, published at $250, and each employee who applies holds a commercial operator license, published at $85. Both require the Washington Laws and Safety exam plus a category exam such as Weed Control.
Yes. The Department of Agriculture names landscapers and maintenance companies who buy, hold or grow plants to install among those needing a nursery plant seller and installer license under chapter 15.13 RCW. It is an endorsement on your state business license, renewed annually, with fees set by annual gross plant sales and by retail or wholesale status.
Your current contractor registration number. RCW 18.27.100 requires it on all advertising showing your name or address and on all material used to solicit business directly from retail customers. Labor and Industries names business cards, internet ads, estimates and bid proposals. The statute also forbids advertising that you are bonded and insured on the strength of the required bond.
RCW 18.27.340 sets a fine of not less than $1,200 and up to $10,000 for failure to register, reducible to no less than $600 for a first offense if you register within 10 days of the notice. Each day and each worksite counts separately, the conduct is also a gross misdemeanor, and RCW 18.27.080 blocks you from suing to collect.
For commercial tree work under Seattle Municipal Code 25.11, yes. The construction department requires registration on its Tree Service Provider Registry for work such as removing live branches four inches or greater, and for pruning or removal affecting trees six inches diameter at standard height or greater. Registration requires an ISA certified arborist and a city business license tax certificate.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.