Washington · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Washington does not license remodelers by exam. The Department of Labor and Industries registers them as construction contractors under chapter 18.27 RCW. A general registration takes a $30,000 surety bond, general liability coverage, a state business registration and a $150.20 fee. It lasts two years, and your registration number must appear in advertising.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Washington does not hand out a remodeling license. It registers you. The Department of Labor and Industries, known in the state as L&I, runs contractor registration under chapter 18.27 RCW, and L&I states that Washington requires all construction contractors to register. Registration is what lets you bid, advertise and perform construction work, and L&I names remodeling and repair of buildings among the work it covers. The registration is a statewide credential. There is no county remodeling board and no city remodeling license layered on top of it. RCW 18.27.130 makes the chapter exclusive: no political subdivision of the state may require or issue contractor registrations, licenses or bonds, or charge a fee for the same purpose. The same section preserves two city powers, and remodelers run into both. A city may levy a general and nondiscriminatory license fee on all businesses, and a city may tax gross business done inside its limits. So a Spokane kitchen remodeler holds one L&I registration and a Spokane general business registration, not two contractor licenses. Cities and counties also sit inside the enforcement chain. RCW 18.27.110 bars any city, town or county from issuing a construction building permit for work to be done by a contractor who must be registered without verifying that the registration is current. The permit office must print your registration number on the permit and hand the applicant written notice about contractor registration law and the money a homeowner can lose by using an unregistered contractor. Falsify an exemption to get a permit and RCW 18.27.110 forfeits the permit.
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L&I recognizes two classifications of construction contractor, and for a remodeler the choice decides which jobs you can take. A general contractor can perform most types of construction work and can hire subcontractors in multiple specialties. A specialty contractor can only perform work in the specialty it registered in and cannot hire subcontractors at all. L&I states it regulates 63 specialties that each require contractor registration, naming roofing, painting and HVAC among them. A remodeler who gutted a bathroom needs a plumber and an electrician on that job. Registered as a specialty contractor, you cannot hire either one, because specialty contractors cannot hire subcontractors. That is the practical reason most residential remodeling firms in Washington register as general contractors even when their crews only swing hammers. The bond follows the classification. L&I requires a Washington Continuous Contractor Surety Bond of $30,000 for general contractors and $15,000 for specialty contractors, the amounts also written into RCW 18.27.040. Switching between them is not a lever you can pull at will. L&I states that your bond amount cannot be reduced for two years if you switch from a general to a specialty contractor. L&I also flags work that carries more than registration. Contractors working with plumbing, electrical, elevators, mobile home installation, boilers and asbestos have additional requirements for education, examination and licensing. A general registration does not clear you to pull those trades in house. It clears you to hire the people who are licensed for them.
The duty is flat. RCW 18.27.020 says every contractor shall register with the department. RCW 18.27.090 then lists the exemptions, and most of them have nothing to do with remodeling: government representatives, court officers, regulated public utilities doing work incidental to their own business, petroleum and mining operations, mineral deposits, and anyone who only furnishes materials, supplies or equipment without fabricating or consuming them in the work. Three exemptions matter to a residential remodeler. First, a job is exempt when the aggregate contract price for labor, materials and all other items on one undertaking or project is less than $500, which the statute calls casual, minor or inconsequential. That exemption has two teeth in it. It does not apply when the work is only part of a larger operation, whether the same contractor does it or not, and it does not apply where a job is divided into contracts under $500 to evade the chapter. It also does not apply to anyone who advertises or puts out a sign, card or other device indicating to the public that he or she is a contractor or is qualified to be one. Advertise, and the small job exemption is gone. Second, an owner who contracts with a registered contractor is exempt, but not a person who performs contractor activities to lease or sell improved property owned for less than twelve months. Third, a person working on his or her own property or personal residence is exempt. Flippers and owner builders read those two lines carefully, because they are where the exemption ends.
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Washington registers remodeling businesses rather than testing remodelers. L&I lists five things you must do to register: register your business with the Department of Revenue, get a surety bond or an assignment of savings, purchase a general liability insurance policy, complete the Application for Contractor Registration, and pay the application fee of $150.20. There is no trade examination in that list, no apprenticeship, and no hour requirement. The application is notarized rather than proctored. L&I states that all signatures on the application must be original and notarized and that it cannot accept a copy. That shapes what the registration proves. It proves your business exists, has a bond, carries liability coverage and paid its fee. It does not certify that you can frame a wall. The gap is filled elsewhere. L&I states that contractors working with plumbing, electrical, elevators, mobile home installation, boilers and asbestos have additional requirements for education, examination and licensing, and those trade credentials are where Washington actually tests competence. Because the general and specialty registration involves no exam, there is no exam score or license grade for another state to honor, and no credential of yours for Washington to honor in return. An out of state remodeling company works the same path a Washington company does: a Washington business registration and UBI number, a bond naming the state of Washington as obligee, liability insurance with L&I listed as certificate holder, the notarized application, and the fee. L&I says mailed applications are taking three to four weeks after receipt to process and activate.
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RCW 18.27.040 requires each applicant to file a surety bond with the department in the sum of $30,000 for a general contractor or $15,000 for a specialty contractor, issued by a surety meeting chapter 48.28 RCW. The state of Washington is named as obligee. The bond must be continuous. L&I adds that the bond must carry the bond number and the exact business name, and that the document you file must be the original and uncorrected, not a photocopy. The statutory alternative is an assignment of account: cash, a certificate of deposit, a time deposit or a money market account at a Washington branch bank, savings and loan, or credit union, filed on L&I form F625-008-000. The bond is conditioned to pay laborers and employee benefits, taxes and contributions owed to the state, suppliers and equipment renters, and amounts adjudged against you for breach of contract, including improper work. Cancellation, revocation or withdrawal of the surety automatically suspends your registration until a new bond or reinstatement notice is filed and approved. A residential homeowner suing the bond for breach of contract must file the summons and complaint in superior court within two years of the date the claimed work was substantially completed or abandoned. Other claimants get one year. Recovery by residential homeowners must not exceed one half of the bond or deposit, and the prevailing party in a homeowner breach action against the contractor and the bond is entitled to costs, interest and reasonable attorney fees. A judgment that impairs the bond below the required amount suspends the registration automatically.
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L&I requires a general liability policy in the amount of $200,000 in public liability and $50,000 property damage, or a $250,000 combined single limit. RCW 18.27.050 states the floors as $50,000 for injury or damage to property, $100,000 for injury or damage including death to any one person, and $200,000 for injury or damage including death to more than one person. Two filing details trip up new registrants. Your bond and insurance must use your exact business name, and L&I must be listed as a certificate holder on the liability insurance. L&I also states that insurance certificates will not be accepted by email or fax, and lists mail, the designated insurance agent portal, and walking into a regional service location as the three ways to submit one. At renewal L&I asks for a certificate of general liability insurance for at least $250,000. Coverage is a live condition of your registration, not a one time filing. RCW 18.27.050 states that an expiration, cancellation or revocation of the policy, or withdrawal of the insurer, automatically suspends the registration until a new policy or reinstatement notice is filed and approved. The statute also allows proof of financial responsibility by an assigned account acceptable to the department in the same amount, held to satisfy an execution on a judgment against you for property damage or injury or death in your contracting operations. Liability coverage is separate from workers compensation. L&I states that workers compensation insurance, which Washington calls industrial insurance, provides wage replacement and medical benefits to workers injured on the job, and points employers to its insurance requirements page.
The money side of Washington contractor registration is short. L&I states the application fee is $150.20. Renewal is the same figure: L&I lists a required fee of $150.20 to renew online, by mail with the renewal card, or in person. If L&I suspends your registration and you need it back, the reinstatement fee is $70.90, paid with proof that you corrected the problem, such as a new bond, a new insurance certificate or a satisfaction of judgment. L&I accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express for online payment, plus an electronic check as a one time withdrawal from a checking account, and takes cash, check, money order or card in person. Mailed payments go to the Contractor Registration Section, PO Box 44450, Olympia WA 98504-4450. Those are the state registration fees only. A remodeler also pays for the surety bond premium, which L&I says varies by company, the liability policy, the Washington business license through the Department of Revenue, and any city business license where the work happens. Penalty money does not vanish into the general fund. RCW 18.27.340 directs that monetary penalties collected under that section be deposited in the homeowner recovery account created by RCW 18.27.420, and RCW 18.27.420 limits spending from that account to satisfying unpaid judgments for eligible homeowner claims, with administrative costs barred from the account. In other words, the fines paid by contractors who skipped registration are the money a wronged homeowner is later paid from.
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RCW 18.27.060 states that a certificate of registration is valid for two years and shall be renewed on or before the expiration date. Renewal is valid on the date the department receives the required fee and proof of bond and liability insurance, and if you sent it by certified mail or another method requiring proof of delivery, that receipt serves as your proof of renewed registration until L&I confirms. L&I tells contractors to use the Verify 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. If your business changed partners, name, structure or specialty, L&I does not allow the simple renewal path and asks you to update the information first. Online renewal needs your twelve digit contractor registration number, your UBI number and the fee. L&I's renewal instructions ask for three things: the fee, a current bond, and a current insurance certificate. They do not ask for continuing education hours, a refresher course or a competency test, which is consistent with a registration that had no exam at the front end. Two suspension triggers sit outside your control of paperwork. RCW 18.27.060 suspends a registration automatically when the bond has an unsatisfied judgment against it or is canceled, or when the insurance policy is canceled, with notice to the contractor within two days by a trackable method. The same section requires immediate suspension when the Department of Social and Health Services certifies noncompliance with a support or visitation order.
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This is the Washington paperwork rule most remodelers underestimate. RCW 18.27.114 requires a contractor agreeing to repair, alter or construct four or fewer residential units or accessory structures to give the customer a written disclosure statement before starting work whenever the bid or contract price totals $1,000 or more. For commercial buildings the trigger band is $1,000 or more but less than $60,000. The statute dictates the form, in lower case and upper case twelve point and bold type where appropriate. It is titled NOTICE TO CUSTOMER and it prints your registration number, the amount of the bond or deposit you posted, and the expiration date of your registration. It then warns the customer, in capitals, that the bond might not be sufficient to cover a claim, that the bond is not for their exclusive use, that they may withhold a contractually defined percentage as retainage, and that their property may be liened. It closes with a signature line for the customer. L&I publishes the Model Disclosure Statement Notice to Customer as form F625-030-000 and states you must provide it for all residential jobs of $1,000 or more and commercial projects of $1,000 to $60,000. Keep the signed copy for a minimum of three years and produce it to the department on request. If your registration expires or is revoked or suspended before the contract ends, RCW 18.27.114 requires you to notify that customer. The penalty has two edges: failure to comply is an infraction under chapter 18.27 RCW, and you cannot bring or maintain a lien claim under chapter 60.04 RCW without alleging and proving you gave the disclosure.
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Washington has no single blanket cooling off period written into the contractor registration chapter. The cancellation right a remodeler is most likely to meet sits in RCW 63.14.154, in the retail installment sales chapter. It gives the buyer the right to cancel a retail installment transaction, for reasons other than the seller's breach, by sending notice of cancellation to the seller at the place of business set out in the contract by certified mail, return receipt requested, posted no later than midnight of the third day following the date the buyer signs, excluding Sundays and holidays. Two conditions must both hold. The transaction must have been entered into by the buyer and solicited in person, or by a commercial telephone solicitation, by the seller or a representative at a place other than the seller's main or branch office shown on the contract. And the buyer must return goods received or make them available to the seller at the place of delivery in original condition. What follows cancellation is specific. Within ten days, and without being asked, the seller must refund all deposits including any down payment, and return goods traded in, less reasonable costs actually incurred in making those goods ready for sale. The buyer incurs no additional liability for the cancellation. The section does not apply to a retail installment transaction for the purchase of a motor vehicle. For a remodeler, the shape of the rule is the lesson: a financed deal signed at the customer's kitchen table rather than at your office is the one that can be unwound, and the clock runs from signature.
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Washington created a homeowner recovery program in RCW 18.27.410 and a homeowner recovery account in RCW 18.27.420, both administered by L&I. Eligibility begins July 1, 2026. The statute sets five conditions. The claimant holds a final judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction against a registered contractor on a claim brought under RCW 18.27.040(3) on his or her primary residence. The judgment specifies the actual damages. The claimant already proceeded against any existing bond covering the contractor. The judgment is not satisfied in full. And the application is made within 90 days after the civil action concludes. L&I adds that you must own and occupy the home, that it means a single family home or a multifamily dwelling of four or fewer units, and that condominiums are excluded, and that the judgment must be ordered after July 1, 2026. Payment is capped. RCW 18.27.410 limits payment to actual damages awarded in the final judgment after recovery against the bond, prohibits payment for attorney fees, court costs or punitive damages, and caps payment at $25,000 per contractor per parcel or the unpaid amount of the judgment, whichever is less. Total payments in a fiscal year may not exceed 80 percent of the account balance at the end of the previous fiscal year, with a waitlist in order of receipt for applications left unpaid. Eligibility creates no right to payment; the statute calls payments discretionary. L&I says review takes about 14 business days and that an approved applicant signs judgment rights over to L&I before payment. For a registered remodeler this fund is a selling point, because it only reaches registered contractors.
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Washington treats working unregistered as a crime, not a paperwork slip. RCW 18.27.020 makes it a gross misdemeanor for a contractor to advertise, offer to do work, submit a bid or perform any work as a contractor without being registered; to do those things while registration is suspended or revoked; to use a false or expired registration number in buying or offering to buy an advertisement; to transfer a valid registration to an unregistered contractor or let one work under another's registration; or to subcontract to or use an unregistered contractor. After a citation, each day worked while unregistered, suspended or revoked is a separate gross misdemeanor. Prosecution happens in the county where the infraction occurs. The same conduct is also an infraction under RCW 18.27.200, and RCW 18.27.340 sets the money. A contractor found to have committed an infraction is assessed not less than $200 and not more than $10,000. For failure to register the floor rises to $1,200, with the same $10,000 ceiling, and the director may reduce a first offense penalty to no lower than $600 if the person registers within 10 days of receiving the notice of infraction. The civil consequence may hurt worse. RCW 18.27.080 bars an unregistered 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 a current, valid registration held at the time of contracting. Finish the remodel, go unpaid, and you cannot sue for the money. RCW 18.27.350 adds that a misdemeanor or infraction under the chapter is a violation of chapter 19.86 RCW, the Consumer Protection Act.
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Washington writes the advertising rule into statute, and it is stricter than most states. RCW 18.27.100 requires that all advertising, contracts, correspondence, cards, signs, posters, papers and documents showing a contractor's name or address show them as registered. Subsection (3)(a) then requires all advertising that shows the contractor's name or address to show the current registration number. L&I spells out the reach: by law, when you advertise, solicit bids or offer to perform work, you must always include your contractor registration number, including business cards, newspaper ads, internet ads, estimates and bid proposals. All materials used to directly solicit business from retail customers who are not businesses must show the current registration number. The statute carves out an alphabetized listing of registered contractors stating only name, address and telephone number, signs on motor vehicles subject to RCW 46.16A.030, and on premises signs, which it says do not constitute advertising for that subsection. Advertising by airwave transmission is also outside subsection (3)(a). Two wording limits bite remodelers directly. 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. And subsection (5) bars falsifying a registration number or using an expired one in any solicitation or identification as a contractor, and requires everyone working in the capacity of a contractor to use true names and addresses. Advertising while unregistered is itself a violation. Penalties run to not more than $10,000 as determined by the director, though RCW 18.27.100 exempts a violation found to be an inadvertent error. RCW 18.27.104 lets L&I issue a citation with an order to cease unlawful advertising, and RCW 18.27.102 holds responsible the person who purchased or offered to purchase the ad.
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Because RCW 18.27.130 stops cities from issuing their own contractor registrations or bonds, the municipal layer for a Washington remodeler is tax and general business licensing, not a second trade credential. It still has to be handled city by city. The Department of Revenue issues the state business license and the Unified Business Identifier, or UBI, number, and tells you to register when your business needs city, county or state endorsements, uses a name other than your full legal name, plans to hire within 90 days, collects sales tax, or has gross income of $12,000 per year or more. Revenue also runs city endorsements: if your business is physically located in or travels to a listed city, you apply for that city's endorsement on the same state application, and for any city not listed you contact the city directly. Spokane is on that list. Revenue publishes its general business registration fee as $131 plus an employee fee of $10 per employee for one through five, $15 for six through ten and $20 for eleven or more, with a reduced $131 alternative of $65.50 for businesses reporting $18,000 or less in Spokane gross income. Seattle is not on the endorsement list and runs its own. The city states that anyone doing business in Seattle must hold a Seattle business license tax certificate, renewed each year by December 31, applied for through FileLocal or by mail, and that effective 2026 a person with $4,000 or less in annual Seattle gross who maintains no place of business in the city is not required to get one. Permit counters add the last step: RCW 18.27.110 makes the city, town or county verify your registration and print your registration number on the building permit.
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Two credentials sit outside contractor registration and catch remodelers constantly. The first is lead paint. The Washington State Department of Commerce runs the Renovation, Repair and Painting program and states that if you or your business performs renovation, repair or painting work on pre-1978 homes or child occupied facilities, RRP certification is required. Firm RRP certification requires an employee or owner holding a valid individual RRP certification that is not within six months of expiring, and that certified individual must supervise or perform the work. The firm also needs an active Department of Revenue account, a Washington State business license, Secretary of State registration if applicable, and an L&I contractor license if applicable. The firm application is mailed to Commerce with copies of all individual renovator certificates and a $25 check or money order. Individual certification comes from a Washington accredited training provider, which submits the registration after the course, and an individual already certified by the EPA or another authorized state files for registration instead. L&I repeats the warning on both its registration and its verification pages, pointing contractors to the Commerce lead paint program before renovating or remodeling pre-1978 residential or child occupied facilities. The second is the regulated trades. L&I states that to engage in the electrical construction trade you need an electrical contractor license, which requires a UBI number, a certified assigned electrical administrator or master electrician, and an original $4,000 electrical or telecommunication contractor surety bond or assignment of savings, with all work performed by properly certified electricians and the license renewed every two years. Plumbing, elevators, boilers, mobile home installation and asbestos carry their own education, examination and licensing requirements.
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Assume every serious prospect looks you up, because L&I tells them to. The agency runs a public lookup called Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business at secure.lni.wa.gov/verify, searchable by name, contractor or tradesperson license number, workers compensation account or Washington UBI number. L&I states the tool lets a homeowner verify that a contractor has an active license, see whether the contractor is bonded and insured, check for safety or construction citations, find out whether there are lawsuits against the bond, and confirm the names of business owners. The same tool confirms that the tradesperson doing electrical, plumbing, elevator or manufactured home installation work is certified in Washington. L&I's hiring guidance goes further than a license check. It tells homeowners to get at least three written bids and compare them carefully, get references, stay alert for scams, get a written contract, consider requesting a performance bond on larger projects, and learn about the Homeowner Recovery Fund. It publishes a Hire Smart step by step guide and a ProtectMyHome page alongside the lookup. Two things follow for a remodeler competing for the job. Your record is the sales document you do not control, so an open citation or a bond lawsuit is read before your estimate is. And the Notice to Customer you are already required to deliver under RCW 18.27.114 hands the customer your registration number, your bond amount and your expiration date, which is an invitation to look you up. L&I also lets contractors file a tracking request on a subcontractor and get a notification letter if that subcontractor's registration, workers compensation coverage or electrical or plumbing license fails within one year.
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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.
No. The Department of Labor and Industries registers construction contractors under chapter 18.27 RCW instead of licensing remodelers by trade. L&I states that Washington requires all construction contractors to register, and that registration is what lets you bid, advertise and perform work including remodeling and repair of buildings.
L&I says a general contractor can perform most types of construction work and hire subcontractors in multiple specialties, while a specialty contractor can only work in its registered specialty and cannot hire subcontractors at all. That matters on a remodel that needs a licensed electrician or plumber on site.
RCW 18.27.040 and L&I both set it at $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor. The bond must be continuous, name the state of Washington as obligee, carry your exact business name and bond number, and be filed as an original rather than a photocopy.
Not for general or specialty contractor registration. L&I lists five steps: a Department of Revenue business registration, a bond or assignment of savings, a general liability policy, the notarized application, and the $150.20 fee. L&I says plumbing, electrical, elevators, boilers, asbestos and mobile home installation add education, examination and licensing.
RCW 18.27.060 makes a certificate of registration valid for two years, renewable on or before the expiration date. Renewal takes effect on the date L&I receives the fee and proof of bond and liability insurance. L&I charges $150.20 to renew and $70.90 to reinstate a suspended registration.
Your current registration number. RCW 18.27.100 requires all advertising showing your name or address to show it, and L&I applies that to business cards, newspaper ads, internet ads, estimates and bid proposals. The statute also bars advertising that you are bonded and insured because of the chapter's required bond and insurance.
Before starting work. RCW 18.27.114 requires it on repair, alteration or construction of four or fewer residential units when the bid or contract price totals $1,000 or more, and on commercial buildings from $1,000 to under $60,000. Keep the signed copy three years and produce it to L&I on request.
No. RCW 18.27.130 makes chapter 18.27 exclusive, so no political subdivision may require or issue contractor registrations, licenses or bonds. Cities keep two powers: a general, nondiscriminatory license fee on all businesses and a tax on gross business done in the city. Seattle and Spokane both charge under those powers.
RCW 18.27.020 makes it a gross misdemeanor, with each day worked after a citation a separate gross misdemeanor. RCW 18.27.340 sets a fine of not less than $1,200 and not more than $10,000 for failure to register. RCW 18.27.080 also bars you from suing to collect for the work.
Yes, starting July 1, 2026. RCW 18.27.410 lets a homeowner with an unsatisfied final judgment on a primary residence apply to L&I's homeowner recovery program within 90 days of the case ending, after proceeding against the bond. Payment is capped at $25,000 per contractor per parcel and excludes attorney fees.
RCW 63.14.154 gives a buyer three days to cancel a retail installment transaction solicited in person or by commercial telephone solicitation away from the seller's address shown on the contract, by certified mail posted by midnight of the third day excluding Sundays and holidays. The seller refunds deposits within ten days.
Yes. The Washington State Department of Commerce states that RRP certification is required for renovation, repair or painting work on pre-1978 homes or child occupied facilities. Firm certification needs a currently certified individual renovator who supervises or performs the work, active state business registrations, and a $25 application payment.
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