Texas Contractor & Trade License Lookup & Export (TDLR)

Pain points

• Verifying a Texas electrician or HVAC license on the TDLR portal is one slow manual lookup at a time.
• The portal isn't structured for compliance workflows, subcontractor vetting, or CRM enrichment.
• Checking license type and expiration across many licensees by hand doesn't scale.
• The state's open-data file is ~1.0M rows across every TDLR profession — cosmetologists, apprentices, tow operators — so getting just the contractors means filtering it yourself.

What we solve

• Verify any Texas TDLR licensee (electrician, HVAC/ACR and other trades) by license number, business name, or OWNER name - one search.
• Leave the search empty to EXPORT a licence type statewide - every Electrical Contractor (14,019) or A/C Contractor (20,436), counted 2026-10-07 - filtered by county, city, ZIP or expiration window, up to 100,000 rows per run.
• Returns license type, expiration, county, owner name and - on company-held licences - street address, city, ZIP and phone.
• Enrich a license number or name into a full structured record; pay per record, empty searches free.

Summary

Look up and verify any Texas trade licensee from a single search - type a TDLR license number, a business name, or an owner's name and get back the license type, expiration date, county, owner name and, where TDLR publishes it, the street address, city, ZIP and phone, straight from the official Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation (TDLR) open-data registry. Business name and owner name are two separate indexes and both are searched: 19,774 of TDLR's 983,494 records name an owner who is not the business (checked 2026-09-06), so a business-name-only search misses those people entirely. Covers TDLR-regulated trades such as electricians and HVAC/AC contractors (Texas does not license general contractors statewide). Built for fast verification, compliance checks, subcontractor vetting, and enriching a license number or name into a structured record. Leave the search empty and it becomes a statewide export instead: pick a TDLR licence type - or take the default five contractor types, 36,312 records on 2026-10-07 - and optionally narrow by county, city, ZIP or expiration window. Measured 2026-10-07: all 20,436 A/C Contractors in 7.2s, and the 479 Electrical Contractors in Travis County in 3.4s. Be clear on contact data before you buy a list: Electrical Contractor, Appliance Installation Contractor, Electrical Sign Contractor and Elevator Contractor carry a street address and phone on ~99.8% of rows (Electrical Contractor: phone 14,014 of 14,019), while A/C Contractor carries none at all (0 of 20,436) - TDLR does not publish it.

Who it's for

• GCs and hiring managers vetting Texas electrical/HVAC subcontractors
• Insurance underwriters and lenders running KYC on tradespeople
• Compliance teams and marketplaces verifying TDLR licenses
• RevOps and BD teams enriching contractor records
• Suppliers, distributors and sales teams building Texas electrical-contractor lead lists by county or ZIP

How to use

Set the input, run the actor, and collect results from the run's dataset (export to JSON/CSV/Excel, or pull via the Apify API). Example input:

{
  "licenseType": "Electrical Contractor",
  "county": "Travis",
  "maxResults": 500
}

See Inputs below for every available field.

What you get

One row per record:

Field	Description
state	Always 'TX' for this actor
license_number	TDLR license number
business_name	Licensed business or licensee name
person_name	Owner name
license_type	TDLR license type (e.g. A/C Technician, Master Electrician)
expiration_date	License expiration date
county	Business county
address	Business street address — published on company-held licences only (11.0% of TDLR rows, 2026-09-06; 14,000 of 14,019 Electrical Contractors, 0 of 20,436 A/C Contractors, 2026-10-07); null on individually held trade licences
city	Business city (split out of TDLR's combined city/state/ZIP column) — same coverage as address
zip_code	Business ZIP, 5 or ZIP+4 — same coverage as address
phone	Business phone — published on company-held licences only (10.1% of TDLR rows, 2026-09-06); null on individually held trade licences
matched_by	Which search surfaced this record: 'license_number', 'business_name', 'owner_name', or 'statewide' for an export row
source_url	Link to the official TDLR license search

Sample:

{
  "state": "TX",
  "license_number": "592",
  "business_name": "ROUNTREE APPLIANCE INC",
  "person_name": "ROUNTREE APPLIANCE INC",
  "license_type": "Appliance Installation Contractor",
  "expiration_date": "05/25/2027",
  "county": "BOSQUE",
  "address": "815 N AVENUE G",
  "city": "CLIFTON",
  "zip_code": "76634-1011",
  "phone": "2546753515",
  "matched_by": "business_name",
  "source_url": "https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch/"
}

Inputs

Field	Required	Type	Default	Description
query	no	string	"ELECTRIC"	A Texas TDLR license number, business name, or owner name. Searches all three: exact license number, business-name substring, and owner-name substring — results are unioned and deduped by license #. TDLR keeps owner and business as separate columns and they disagree on 19,774 of its 983,494 records, so an owner search finds people a business-name search cannot. Leave this and the batch list empty to run a statewide export by licence type instead (see the statewide fields below).
queries	no	array	["ELECTRIC"]	Look up many in ONE run instead of starting a run per lookup. Takes the same values as 'Search query'. Combined with 'Search query' if you fill both, and duplicates are removed. Billing is unchanged: you are charged per record returned, not per entry submitted.
licenseType	no	string	—	Used only when no search query is given: export every TDLR licence of this type statewide. TDLR's own type name, case-insensitive, e.g. 'Electrical Contractor' (14,019 records, 2026-10-07) or 'A/C Contractor' (20,436). Leave empty for the default contractor set: Electrical Contractor, A/C Contractor, Appliance Installation Contractor, Electrical Sign Contractor and Elevator Contractor (36,312 records). An unknown type is dropped with a log line, never widened to the whole 1M-row register.
licenseTypes	no	array	[]	Several TDLR licence types in one export. Combined with 'Licence type'. Note: TDLR publishes address, city, ZIP and phone only for company/establishment types — Electrical Contractor, Appliance Installation Contractor, Electrical Sign Contractor and Elevator Contractor have them on ~99.8% of rows; A/C Contractor and every individually held licence (A/C Technician, Master Electrician, ...) have none.
county	no	string	—	Statewide mode only: keep licences whose business county is this Texas county, e.g. 'Travis' or 'Harris County'.
counties	no	array	[]	Statewide mode only: several counties (OR). Combined with 'County'. Unknown names are dropped with a log line.
city	no	string	—	Statewide mode only: keep licences whose business city is this, e.g. 'Austin'. Only company/establishment types carry a city, so A/C Contractor rows never match.
cities	no	array	[]	Statewide mode only: several cities (OR). Combined with 'City'.
zip	no	string	—	Statewide mode only: 5-digit business ZIP, e.g. '78701'. Same coverage caveat as City.
zips	no	array	[]	Statewide mode only: several ZIPs (OR). Combined with 'ZIP'. Values that are not 5 digits are dropped with a log line.
excludeExpired	no	boolean	false	Statewide mode only: keep only licences whose expiration date is today or later. TDLR publishes no status column, so expiry is the only currency signal.
expiresAfter	no	string	—	Statewide mode only: keep licences expiring on or after this date.
expiresBefore	no	string	—	Statewide mode only: keep licences expiring on or before this date — with 'Expires on or after' this gives a renewal-window list.
maxResults	no	integer	—	Search mode: cap PER ENTRY (default 50), so a batch cannot silently return only the first 50 rows overall. Statewide mode: cap on the whole export (default 500; up to 100,000). The log states how many records matched in total, so a capped export never reads as complete.
proxyConfiguration	no	object	{"useApifyProxy": false}	Optional. The Texas TDLR open-data API is reachable directly; a proxy is not needed.

Pricing (Pay Per Event)

You pay per result (dataset-item) — no charge for empty runs. Example: 100 verified license records at $0.004/result ≈ $0.40.

Illustrative — the final per-result price is set at publish time. Apify platform usage (compute) is billed separately per your plan.

Use cases

• License verification — confirm a Texas trade license's type and expiration before hiring or onboarding.
• Record enrichment — turn a license number or name into a full structured record for a CRM, marketplace, or vetting workflow.
• Compliance checks — pull authoritative TDLR data on demand for audits and due diligence.
• Lender / insurer due diligence — verify a tradesperson's standing straight from the state registry.
• Statewide export — every Electrical Contractor in a county, city or ZIP with address and phone, or every licence expiring in a renewal window (2,106 Electrical Contractors expire 2026-10-07 to 2026-12-31).

Why this actor

• Straight from the official Texas TDLR open-data registry — authoritative, not a stale third-party copy.
• Search by license number (exact), business name, or owner name (substring) — three indexes, unioned and deduped by license #, so you find the person behind the company name too.
• Or export a whole licence type statewide, already scoped to contractors — the filters run at the source, and the run log states how many records matched in total, so a capped export never reads as complete.
• Pay per record; searches with no results are free.

Limitations & updates

Covers Texas TDLR-regulated trade licenses (electricians, HVAC/ACR and similar) only — Texas does not license general contractors statewide, and plumbers (TSBPE) are not included in this version. Results reflect the published open-data snapshot. A name search matches the business-name AND owner-name indexes and is bounded (default 50 results per query) — refine a broad name to narrow it. A statewide export is always scoped to licence types (default: the five contractor types) and capped by maxResults (default 500, max 100,000). Address, city, ZIP and phone are published by TDLR only for company-held licence types (11.0% / 10.1% of records, 2026-09-06) and are null elsewhere. Licence STATUS is not in this dataset at all — TDLR publishes no status column here — so that field is always null; use the expiration date to judge currency.

FAQ

Where does the data come from?

The official Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation (TDLR) open-data registry — public, authoritative license data.

Does Texas license general contractors?

No — Texas does not license general contractors statewide. TDLR licenses specific trades such as electricians and HVAC/AC contractors, which is what this actor verifies. (Plumbers are licensed by the separate TSBPE board and are not included here.)

What can I search by?

A TDLR license number (exact), a business name (substring), or an owner name (substring). All three indexes are searched and the results unioned and deduped by license number — which matters because TDLR's owner and business columns disagree on 19,774 of its 983,494 records (checked 2026-09-06): an owner such as 'PETERSON, LESLIE LYNN' trades as 'AIR TEMP HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING', and a business-name-only search would never find them.

Can I export every contractor of a type, statewide?

Yes — leave the search empty and set 'Licence type' (TDLR's own name, e.g. 'Electrical Contractor'), optionally with county, city, ZIP and expiration filters. With no type it exports the five TDLR contractor types: A/C Contractor 20,436, Electrical Contractor 14,019, Appliance Installation Contractor 830, Electrical Sign Contractor 655 and Elevator Contractor 372 (36,312 in all, counted 2026-10-07). It never returns the whole ~1.0M-row register, most of which is not contractors. Default cap 500 rows, up to 100,000 per run; an unrecognised type or county is dropped with a log line rather than widened to the whole state.

Do I get an address and phone number?

On company-held licences, yes — street address, city, ZIP and phone. TDLR publishes contact details only for its establishment/company licence types, which is 11.0% of records for address and 10.1% for phone (counted against the live dataset 2026-09-06). Among contractors (counted 2026-10-07): Electrical Contractor has a phone on 14,014 of 14,019 rows, Appliance Installation, Electrical Sign and Elevator Contractors on ~99%, and A/C Contractor on 0 of 20,436 — TDLR publishes no address or phone for A/C Contractors, so an A/C export is names, licence numbers, counties and expiry dates only, and a city or ZIP filter can never match one. Individually held trade licences carry no address or phone at the source either, and those columns come back null rather than guessed.

How am I charged?

Pay-per-result — per license record returned, in search and export mode alike. No charge for searches with no results, input errors or outage notices.

Is this personal data?

It's public professional-license data (business and license records as TDLR publishes them); we add no personal/PII enrichment.

How current is it?

It reflects the TDLR open-data registry. The state publishes no refresh schedule and the export is not daily — when checked on 2026-07-28 its last row update was 2026-07-16, and on 2026-10-07 it was 2026-09-19, so expect the snapshot to lag the board's live record by weeks.

Which actor to choose

Part of the contractor-license verification suite — pick the one that fits your goal:

• California Contractor License Lookup & Verify (CSLB) — You need a California contractor verified — by license number, business, or owner/personnel name (CSLB).
• Florida Contractor License Lookup & Verify (DBPR) — You're verifying a Florida contractor or tradesperson — type, status, expiration, county (DBPR).
• Louisiana Contractor License Lookup — You want the full Louisiana roster — 50,000+ commercial, residential & specialty licenses as data (LSLBC).
• Multi-State Contractor & Trade License Lookup — You don't know the state, or want the same contractor checked across WA, OR, TX & CT in one run.
• Nevada Contractor License Lookup & Verify (NSCB) — You need a Nevada contractor's status, trade classifications, bond & principals (NSCB).
• New Mexico Contractor License Lookup & Verify (NM CID) — You're verifying a New Mexico contractor — license #, status, city/ZIP, expiry (NM CID).
• North Carolina Contractor License Lookup & Verify (NCLBGC) — You're verifying a North Carolina general contractor — classification, status, expiration (NCLBGC).
• Oregon Contractor License Lookup & Verify (CCB) — You're verifying an Oregon contractor — status, bond, insurance & RMI (CCB).
• South Carolina Contractor License Lookup & Verify (SC LLR) — You're searching or verifying South Carolina contractors — by name, license, city, or classification (SC LLR).
• Tennessee Contractor License Lookup & Verify (TN DOCI) — You're verifying a Tennessee contractor or tradesperson — type, status, city & county (TN DOCI).
• Virginia Contractor License Lookup (DPOR Bulk) — You want the full Virginia roster — 50,000+ Class A/B/C and trade licenses as bulk data (DPOR).
• Washington Contractor License Lookup & Verify (L&I) — You're verifying a Washington contractor — type, status, expiration, principal (L&I).
• Alabama Contractor License Lookup & Verify (LBGC) — You're verifying an Alabama general contractor — classification, city, phone, expiration (LBGC).
• Arkansas Contractor License Lookup & Verify (ACLB) — You're verifying an Arkansas contractor — validity, type, expiration, city & county (ACLB).
• Michigan Contractor License Lookup & Verify (LARA) — You're verifying a Michigan builder or trade contractor — type, status, expiration (LARA).
• Minnesota Contractor License Lookup & Export (DLI) — You're verifying a Minnesota residential contractor — subtype, status, expiration, enforcement flags (DLI).
• Massachusetts Construction License Lookup & Verify (CSL) — You're verifying a Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License — type, status, expiration (CSL).
• Iowa Contractor License Lookup & Export (DIAL) — You need Iowa contractors — every active DIAL registration statewide, with phone and email, filtered by trade, county, city or ZIP.
• Mississippi Contractor License Lookup & Export (MSBOC) — You need Mississippi contractors — the active MSBOC roster with phone, street address and classifications, by county or class.
• Ohio Contractor License Lookup & Export (OCILB) — You need Ohio electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics or refrigeration contractors — the full OCILB roster, by trade and county.
• Nebraska Contractor Registration Lookup & Export (NDOL) — You need Nebraska contractors — every current NDOL registration, by service and county, with phone on request.
• Delaware Contractor License Lookup & Export (DOR + DPR) — You need Delaware contractors — DOR business licences plus DPR electrical, plumbing and HVACR licences, by city or ZIP.

Guides & use cases

Written up on scrapebench.dev — the bench that runs and verifies this actor against the live source every night:

• How-to: How to run Texas Contractor & Trade License Lookup & Export (TDLR)
• Use case: Find Texas Electricians by Company Name

More actors, coverage and nightly verification results: scrapebench.dev

Works with n8n

Ready-made n8n templates that call this actor:

• Monitor contractor licences and alert 30 days before expiry — free template. Step-by-step guide
• Verify contractor licenses in your lead list — free template. Step-by-step guide
• Verify a subcontractor's licence when they submit your onboarding form — free template. Step-by-step guide

Works with AI assistants (MCP)

Callable as an MCP tool, so Claude, Cursor, VS Code Copilot and other MCP clients can run it directly. Grab the config from the MCP tab on this page — Apify hosts the server and keeps that snippet current, and OAuth signs you in on first connect, so no API token goes in your config file.

Then just ask:

"Look up Texas contractors matching 'ELECTRIC' — licence type, expiry and county."

Rows carry the licence, its type, the qualifying person and (on company-held licences only) address and phone; TDLR publishes no status column in this dataset, so judge currency from expiration_date. Runs started this way bill exactly like any other run.