How to check a California contractor’s license
Check it on the Contractors State License Board’s own Instant License Check, free, on the day you sign — status, expiry, classifications, contractor bond and workers’ compensation are the board’s record, and CSLB updates it continuously, so it is more current than any copy including ours. We used to sell a $39 report of exactly those fields; when we compared it with the board’s free lookup the honest answer was that we were selling a staler copy of a free record, so we took it off sale.
What the board’s lookup genuinely does not do is apply California’s rules to your job and your contract price. That part is free here: whether the classification covers the work, the legal maximum down payment to the cent, and whether the job needs a licensed contractor at all. In our copy of the master list, 15,194 of 243,921 California licenses — 6.2% — were not in good standing and 22,676 expire within 90 days, which is why the day you check matters (our database, 16 September 2026, from CSLB files loaded 14 September 2026).
What the free tool answers
- Does the license classification cover my job? Business and Professions Code §7057: a general building contractor may take a project involving two or more unrelated trades, and a single-trade contract only for framing or carpentry, or when it holds that trade’s classification or subcontracts the work.
- What is the legal maximum down payment? §7159.5(a)(3): $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less — worked out to the cent, with the bonded-contractor exemption in §7159.5(a)(8) and the swimming-pool rules in §7159(d)(8)(C) and §7167.
- Does this job need a licensed contractor at all? §7048’s minor-work exemption and every condition attached to it.
Each rule shows its section of the California Business and Professions Code with a link to the official text, read on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov on 15 Sep 2026. It runs in your browser: nothing is sent anywhere and no personal detail is collected.
CSLB’s lookup is the live record; ours was a copy
Check it at the source
Status, expiry, classifications, contractor bond and workers’ compensation are CSLB’s record, published free on Instant License Check. It is updated by the board; any copy, including one we download, is behind it. CSLB says a license’s status can change at any time, so the only check that counts is the one you run on the day you sign.
What we can honestly add
Not the record — the rules on top of it. Which classification a job needs, when a B license may take a single-trade contract, what a contractor may legally ask up front, and when no license is required. Those are statute, not data, and they don’t go stale between downloads. So they’re free.
What we never had
Court cases, liens and complaints were never part of this report, and no rating or recommendation ever was. CSLB’s master list also leaves out cancelled, revoked and expired non-renewable licenses, so a number missing from it was never proof of anything either way.
If you bought this report before it came off sale, the rules it applied are exactly the ones in the free checks — the same code, the same sections, checked against each other by test.
Questions homeowners ask before signing
How do I check whether a California contractor is licensed?
Use CSLB’s free Instant License Check with the license number on the bid. It returns status, expiry, classifications, the contractor’s bond and workers’ compensation coverage, live. Check it on the day you sign: a license’s status can change at any time.
What is the maximum deposit a California contractor can ask for?
For a home improvement contract, Business and Professions Code §7159.5(a)(3) caps the down payment at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less. The free check works it out to the cent for your contract price and shows the bonded-contractor exemption in §7159.5(a)(8) and the swimming-pool rules in §7159(d)(8)(C) and §7167.
Does a “B” general building license cover a single-trade job?
Usually not. Under §7057 a general building contractor may take a project involving two or more unrelated trades; for a single-trade contract it needs that trade’s own classification, or it must subcontract the work — framing and carpentry excepted. The free check applies the section to the trades you name.
Does my job need a licensed contractor at all?
Section §7048 exempts minor work below a stated value, but every condition attached to it has to hold. The free check walks through those conditions rather than giving you the headline number alone.
Why don’t you sell a contractor license report any more?
Because every field in it was CSLB’s, published free and updated live, while ours was a download that ages. In our own copy 9.3% of licenses expire within 90 days. Charging for a staler copy of a free record is not defensible, so we stopped.
Does a license in good standing mean the contractor is any good?
No. It means the board records no current suspension of that license, bond or workers’ compensation coverage. Court cases, liens and complaints were never part of our report, and CSLB’s master list leaves out cancelled, revoked and expired non-renewable licenses — so a number missing from it proves nothing either way. We never rate or recommend a contractor.
Is any of this legal advice?
No. The checks quote and link the official statute text on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, read 15 September 2026, so you can read the section yourself. CivicDelta is not affiliated with CSLB or any California agency.
Open the free contractor checks · how we check and cite a record · the CSLB files we hold · all free checks
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