Colorado DORA Contractor License Scraper

Scrape Colorado contractor and professional licenses from the DORA CIM Open Data API — no browser, no proxy, no authentication required.

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How It Works

Colorado DORA publishes all professional and occupational license data on the Colorado Information Marketplace (CIM) via a Socrata SODA API. Data is updated nightly. This actor queries the API directly with SoQL filters — no scraping, no browser, no rate limits.

GET https://data.colorado.gov/resource/7s5z-vewr.json
    ?$where=licensetype in ('EC','PC','ME','JW','MP','JP','PE','ARC')
     AND licensestatusdescription in ('Active','Expired')
    &$limit=1000&$offset=0
    &$order=licensefirstissuedate DESC

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Input

{
  "licenseTypes": ["EC", "PC", "ME", "JW", "MP", "JP", "PE", "ARC"],
  "statuses": ["Active", "Expired"],
  "cities": [],
  "issuedAfter": "2025-01-01",
  "maxRecords": 5000,
  "pageSize": 1000
}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
licenseTypes	array	["EC","PC","ME","JW","MP","JP","PE","ARC"]	License type prefixes. See list below.
statuses	array	["Active","Expired"]	License statuses to include.
cities	array	[]	City filter. Empty = all cities.
issuedAfter	string	—	Only licenses issued on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
issuedBefore	string	—	Only licenses issued on/before this date.
maxRecords	integer	5000	Max records to fetch. 0 = unlimited.
pageSize	integer	1000	Records per API request.
requestDelay	integer (ms)	200	Delay between API calls.

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Contractor License Type Prefixes

Prefix	Description
EC	Electrical Contractor
PC	Plumbing Contractor
ME	Mechanical / HVAC Contractor
JW	Journeyman Wireman (Electrical)
MP	Master Plumber
JP	Journeyman Plumber
PE	Professional Engineer
ARC	Architect

Other Available Prefixes

Prefix	Description
REB	Real Estate Broker
COS	Cosmetology
NA	Nursing
PHY	Physician
DEN	Dental
ACU	Acupuncture
CHI	Chiropractic

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Output

Example record:

{
  "licenseNumber":   "EL.0012345",
  "licenseType":     "EC",
  "subCategory":     null,
  "status":          "Active",
  "firstName":       "John",
  "lastName":        "Smith",
  "middleName":      "A",
  "suffix":          null,
  "entityName":      "SMITH ELECTRIC LLC",
  "city":            "Denver",
  "state":           "CO",
  "zipCode":         "80202",
  "specialty":       null,
  "firstIssueDate":  "2020-03-15",
  "lastRenewedDate": "2024-03-01",
  "expirationDate":  "2026-02-28",
  "verifyUrl":       "https://www.colorado.gov/dora/licensing/Lookup/PrintLicenseDetails.aspx?cred=123456&contact=789012",
  "scrapedAt":       "2026-04-17T14:00:00.000Z"
}

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Use Cases

• Lead generation for contractors — find active EC, PC, ME license holders in specific Colorado cities
• Compliance monitoring — track expiring or suspended contractor licenses
• Market sizing — count active contractors by type and city
• Competitor intelligence — identify new contractors entering the market
• Insurance/bonding — verify contractor license status before coverage
• Scheduled monitoring — daily/weekly runs to catch new licenses and status changes

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Performance & Cost

~0.002 CU per 1,000 records. No browser overhead — pure API. A full dump of all 8 contractor categories (~50,000 records) completes in ~60 seconds.

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Data Source

• Provider: Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
• Dataset: Professional and Occupational Licenses in Colorado
• API: Socrata SODA 2.0 — data.colorado.gov/resource/7s5z-vewr.json
• Update frequency: Nightly
• Authentication: None (public open data)
• Terms: Open data, no restrictions on commercial use

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Changelog

Version	Date	Notes
1.0.0	2026-04-17	Initial release — Socrata SODA API, contractor license types, SoQL filtering, pagination