Contractor License Lookup - multi-state contractor and trade licenses from official open data ($2 per 1,000)

Price per 1,000 licenses	Free plan	Starter	Scale	Business
This Actor	$2.00	$2.00	$2.00	$2.00
Most-used alternative	$2.00	$2.00	$2.00	$2.00

• In short: Contractor License Lookup (Apify actor transparent_meteorite/contractor-license-lookup) searches, verifies and monitors contractor and trade licenses from the official open-data portals of Washington, Texas, Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon and Delaware.
• Who it is for: lead-generation and sales teams selling to contractors, insurance and surety brokers, building-supply and equipment vendors, marketplaces and property managers that vet contractors, compliance and procurement teams.
• Input: mode (search, verify, new_licenses), states, trade, city, ZIP, county, business or person name, license number, active only, contractors only, expiring-soon window, verify list.
• Output: one row per license: state, agency, license number, license type, normalized trade, business name, person name, status, issue / effective / expiration dates, isActive, isExpiringSoon, address, city, ZIP, county, business phone where the agency publishes one, source record link, official lookup link, retrieval time.
• Price: $0.002 per license record plus $0.00005 per run start. Verify rows that find nothing are free. No subscription.
• Limits: six states today, only the fields each agency publishes. California (CSLB), Florida (DBPR) and other states are not covered.

Key facts

• Actor name: Contractor License Lookup
• Actor ID: transparent_meteorite/contractor-license-lookup
• Data source: official state open-data portals (Socrata APIs) run by state agencies
• Pricing model: pay per event (apify-actor-start $0.00005, license-record $0.002)
• Output formats: JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML table (Apify dataset)
• Access: Apify Console, REST API, JavaScript and Python clients, schedules, webhooks, Apify MCP server
• Login or third-party API key needed: no, only an Apify account
• Also known as: contractor license search, contractor license verification API, trade license lookup, electrician license lookup, plumber license lookup, roofing contractor leads, new contractor licenses list
• Last updated: 2026-10-13

Why choose this actor

Most contractor license data is locked behind one-at-a-time lookup pages, a different one for every state and every board. This actor reads the bulk license datasets that the agencies themselves publish on their open-data portals and gives you one clean, consistent table across states.

• Official sources only. Every row comes from a dataset published by the licensing agency (Washington L&I, Texas TDLR, Connecticut DCP, Colorado DORA, Oregon CCB and BCD, Delaware DPR). Each row carries sourceRecordUrl, a link to the exact record in the agency's open-data API, so you can check any value yourself.
• One schema for six states. Field names, dates (ISO YYYY-MM-DD), phone format and trade names are the same no matter which state the row came from.
• Normalized trades. State license classes (for example WA specialty code CD, CT credential HIC, OR BCD LHR) are mapped to 28 plain trades such as roofing, electrical, plumbing, hvac, home_improvement.
• Honest activity flag. isActive is true only when the agency status is active and the expiration date has not passed. Some records still say "Active" after they expire; this actor does not count those as active.
• Three jobs in one actor. Search for leads, verify a list of license numbers or names, or pull licenses issued in the last N days.
• Polite and dependable. Requests are serial, at least 350 ms apart, filtered on the server, paged, and retried on rate limits and server errors. No login, no browser, no scraping of lookup pages.

What it does

Pick a mode:

1. search - find licenses that match your filters: states, trade, city, ZIP, county, business name words, person name words, license number, active only, contractor licenses only, expiring soon.
2. verify - paste up to 1,000 license numbers or business names. You get exactly one row per input with found, matchType (licenseNumber, exactName or nameContains), matchCount, the best match's full record and up to five other matches. Use a state prefix such as TX:100733 to narrow an item to one state.
3. new_licenses - licenses issued or registered in the last N days (1 to 365), newest first, in the states that publish an issue or registration date.

States and datasets covered

State	Agency	Dataset	What is in it	Refresh (as stated by the portal)
WA	Department of Labor & Industries	data.wa.gov m8qx-ubtq	Construction, electrical, plumbing and elevator contractors, all statuses	three times a day
TX	Department of Licensing and Regulation	data.texas.gov 7358-krk7	Electricians and electrical contractors, A/C contractors and technicians, appliance installers, well drillers, elevator and sign contractors	updated periodically by TDLR
CT	Department of Consumer Protection	data.ct.gov ngch-56tr	Home improvement, new home, electrical, plumbing, heating, sheet metal, fire protection, elevator, demolition, glazing, pool, well, solar, lead and asbestos credentials	daily
CO	Department of Regulatory Agencies	data.colorado.gov 7s5z-vewr	Electrical and plumbing contractors, masters, journeymen, residential wiremen and plumbers	daily
OR	Construction Contractors Board	data.oregon.gov g77e-6bhs	Active residential and commercial contractors, with bond and insurance details	daily (active licenses only)
OR	Building Codes Division	data.oregon.gov vhbr-cuaq	Active electrical, plumbing, boiler and elevator licenses	updated periodically by BCD (active licenses only)
DE	Division of Professional Regulation	data.delaware.gov pjnv-eaih	Electricians, master plumbers, HVACR, elevator mechanics	daily

Data is read live at run time, so you always get what the agency published most recently.

Not covered: California (CSLB), Florida (DBPR), Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Michigan and every other state not in the table. Those states either publish no bulk open dataset or publish it only as downloads or lookup pages that this actor does not scrape. Local city and county licenses are not covered.

Use cases

• Homeowners and property managers: confirm a contractor's license is active and not expired before signing a job.
• General contractors: verify subcontractor licenses and trades in bulk before onboarding them.
• Insurers, lenders and marketplaces: screen contractor applicants against official state records as part of KYB.
• Lead generation: pull licensed contractors by trade and city, then schedule a run to catch new or expiring licenses.

Quick start

1. Open the actor in Apify Console and click Try for free.
2. Keep the prefilled input (Washington, trade roofing, city Seattle, 20 results) and click Start. A test run finishes in a few seconds.
3. Open the Overview table, or export as CSV, JSON or Excel.

A minimal search input:

{ "mode": "search", "states": ["WA"], "trade": "roofing", "city": "Seattle", "maxResults": 20 }

Output fields

Field	Meaning
state	Two-letter state of the licensing agency
source	Agency name
licenseNumber	License number exactly as the agency publishes it
licenseType / licenseTypeCode	License class as published (and its short code)
trade / trades	Normalized trade (primary) and all trades the license covers
tradeBasis	license when the trade comes from the license class; business name when it was inferred from the business name (Oregon CCB specialty contractors only)
specialties	Published specialty descriptions (WA, CT)
businessName / dbaName	Licensed business and DBA name where published
personName	Individual licensee, principal or responsible managing individual
holderType	business, sole_proprietor or individual
entityType	Business entity type where published (WA, CT)
isContractorLicense	True for business or contractor-level licenses, false for journeyman, apprentice and technician licenses
status	Status as published (Texas publishes none, so it is null there)
isActive	Status is active and the expiration date has not passed
issueDate / effectiveDate / expirationDate	ISO dates where published
daysToExpiration / isExpiringSoon	Days until expiry and whether that is inside your window (default 60 days)
address, city, addressState, zip, county	Address of record as published
phone	Business phone, only where the agency publishes one as the business contact (WA, TX business phone, OR CCB)
verifyUrl	Per-record official verification page (Colorado)
officialLookupUrl	The agency's public license lookup page
sourceRecordUrl	API link to this record in the official dataset
sourceDataset	Dataset page on the state portal
sourceId	Internal source id (for example OR-CCB)
details	Source-specific extras: WA UBI number, OR CCB bonds and insurance, CO renewal date and discipline fields
retrievedAt	When this run read the record

Verify mode adds input, found, matchType, matchCount, statesSearched and otherMatches.

Sample output

Real rows from a local run on 2026-10-13 (input {"mode":"search","contractorsOnly":true,"maxResults":42}), shortened to the main columns:

state	licenseNumber	licenseType	trade	businessName	city	expirationDate	phone
WA	100PLRL754Q5	CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR	general	100PLUS REMODELING LLC	SEATTLE	2028-01-13	425-229-9790
WA	100PRPD823OR	CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR	carpentry_drywall	100 PROOF DRYWALL LLC	SOUTHWORTH	2028-09-19	360-317-3229
TX	1000	Appliance Installation Contractor	appliance	ABNATION INC	AUSTIN	2027-03-11	281-870-4705
CT	50.000122	Lead Abatement Contractor	asbestos_lead	KRONENBERGER & SONS RESTORATION, LLC.	MIDDLETOWN	2027-07-31
CO	100003	Electrical Contractor	electrical	Headley Electric, LLC	Canon City	2029-09-30
OR	100260	Residential Specialty Contractor	painting	THE FOXGLOVED PAINTERS & DESIGNERS INC	PORTLAND	2027-05-14	503-255-2327
OR	10-102PB	PB-Plumbing Contractor	plumbing	JOE PISCOPO PLUMBING LLC	COTTAGE GROVE	2029-07-01
DE	HL-0000006	Master HVACR Restricted	hvac	(person) BRIAN SCHURMAN	Harrington	2028-10-31

One full record (Oregon CCB, including bond and insurance details):

{
  "state": "OR",
  "source": "Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB)",
  "licenseNumber": "100215",
  "licenseType": "Residential General Contractor",
  "licenseTypeCode": "RGC",
  "trade": "general",
  "trades": ["general"],
  "tradeBasis": "license",
  "businessName": "BRUCE HUIE",
  "personName": "BRUCE HUIE",
  "holderType": "business",
  "isContractorLicense": true,
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "isActive": true,
  "issueDate": "1994-06-20",
  "expirationDate": "2028-02-06",
  "daysToExpiration": 481,
  "isExpiringSoon": false,
  "address": "PO BOX 543",
  "city": "BROOKINGS",
  "addressState": "OR",
  "zip": "97415",
  "county": "Curry",
  "phone": "541-215-0829",
  "officialLookupUrl": "https://search.ccb.state.or.us/search/",
  "sourceRecordUrl": "https://data.oregon.gov/resource/g77e-6bhs.json?license_number=100215",
  "sourceDataset": "https://data.oregon.gov/d/g77e-6bhs",
  "details": {
    "exempt": "Exempt",
    "bonds": [{ "licenseClass": "RGC", "company": "WESTERN SURETY COMPANY", "amount": 25000, "expires": "2028-02-06" }],
    "insuranceCompany": "SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE CO",
    "insuranceAmount": 1000000,
    "insuranceExpires": "2027-08-25"
  }
}

A verify row from the same day (input Sechler Electric Co., Inc.) came back with found: true, matchType: "exactName", Colorado license 100, Electrical Contractor, status Active, first issued 1965-07-15, expiring 2029-09-30, plus the official verifyUrl.

Input options and examples

Option	Default	Notes
mode	search	search, verify or new_licenses
states	all six	WA, TX, CT, CO, OR, DE
trade	none	One of 28 normalized trades. States that cannot express the trade are skipped and listed in the run summary
city, zip, county	none	City is an exact, case-insensitive match. ZIP accepts a prefix. County works only in Texas and Oregon
businessName, personName	none	One keyword per line; every word of a keyword must appear (any order)
licenseNumber	none	Exact number; Colorado also accepts EC.100836 style
activeOnly	true	Active status and not expired
contractorsOnly	false	Drop journeyman, apprentice and technician licenses
daysBack	30	new_licenses window
expiringWithinDays	60	Window for isExpiringSoon
onlyExpiringSoon	false	Keep only licenses expiring inside the window
verifyList, verifyBy	empty, auto	Verify mode inputs
maxResults	100	Split fairly across states first, then topped up from states with more matches

Electrical contractors in Harris County, Texas:

{ "states": ["TX"], "trade": "electrical", "county": "Harris", "contractorsOnly": true, "maxResults": 500 }

HVAC licenses expiring in the next 30 days in every state (renewal, bonding and insurance outreach):

{ "trade": "hvac", "onlyExpiringSoon": true, "expiringWithinDays": 30, "maxResults": 1000 }

New contractor licenses in Connecticut, Colorado and Oregon in the last 7 days:

{ "mode": "new_licenses", "states": ["CT", "CO", "OR"], "daysBack": 7, "contractorsOnly": true, "maxResults": 500 }

Verify a vendor list:

{ "mode": "verify", "verifyList": ["WA:04CONCL862CR", "CT:50.000105", "TX:100", "Sechler Electric Co., Inc."] }

Find a contractor by name across all states:

{ "businessName": ["summit roofing"], "activeOnly": false, "maxResults": 50 }

Pricing

Pay per event, no subscription:

• apify-actor-start: $0.00005 per run.
• license-record: $0.002 per license record delivered, which is $2 per 1,000 records.

In verify mode only rows that found a license are charged; "not found" rows are free. The actor stops cleanly when your run reaches the maximum cost you set in the run options and says so in the log and status line. Apify's free plan credit is enough for a first test. Apify platform usage is included in the event price.

How to run

Apify Console

Fill the form, click Start, then open the Overview table or export the dataset. The run summary (per-state counts, skipped states with the reason, warnings) is saved as the OUTPUT record in the key-value store.

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/transparent_meteorite~contractor-license-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"states":["WA","OR"],"trade":"roofing","maxResults":100}'

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('transparent_meteorite/contractor-license-lookup').call({ trade: 'plumbing', states: ['CO'], contractorsOnly: true });
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("transparent_meteorite/contractor-license-lookup").call(run_input={"mode": "new_licenses", "daysBack": 7})
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items

Schedule

Create a schedule in Apify Console (for example every Monday at 07:00) with mode: new_licenses and daysBack: 7 to get a weekly list of new licenses, or onlyExpiringSoon: true to get a monthly renewal list.

n8n, Make, Zapier and MCP

• n8n: use the Apify node, operation "Run actor and get dataset", actor transparent_meteorite/contractor-license-lookup.
• Make: Apify module "Run an Actor", then "Get Dataset Items".
• Zapier: Apify app, action "Run Actor", then use the dataset items in the next step (Google Sheets, HubSpot, Slack).
• AI agents (MCP): add the Apify MCP server (https://mcp.apify.com) with this actor enabled, then ask your assistant, for example, "verify Washington contractor license 04CONCL862CR".

Limits and honest caveats

• Six states only. See the coverage table. If a state is not listed, this actor does not return it.
• Each state publishes different fields. Texas publishes no status column, so status is null and isActive is based on the expiration date. Texas A/C contractor and technician rows carry no address or phone in the dataset. Colorado and Delaware publish city and ZIP but no street. Delaware lists individual licensees only, so business-name searches skip Delaware.
• Oregon publishes active licenses only. With activeOnly: false, Oregon still returns only active licenses.
• Washington new_licenses uses the effective date of the current license term, so renewals appear next to brand-new licenses. Use effectiveDate to judge.
• Texas and Oregon BCD publish no issue date, so they are skipped in new_licenses mode (the summary says so).
• Oregon CCB specialty contractors have no trade in their license class. For trade searches the actor also matches business-name words (for example "ROOF" for roofing) and marks those rows tradeBasis: "business name". Treat them as likely, not certain.
• Name search is word-based. Every word of your keyword must appear somewhere in the name. Abbreviations differ by state ("CO" vs "COMPANY").
• Phone numbers: only business phones the agency publishes as the license contact. Texas owner_telephone and Texas mailing addresses are never output, and no emails are output from any state.
• Address privacy rule: for individual non-contractor licenses (journeyman, apprentice, technician) the street line is dropped and only city, state and ZIP are kept, because these are often home addresses. Business and contractor-of-record addresses are returned as published.
• Freshness depends on the agency. The actor reads the live dataset at run time; it cannot be fresher than the agency's last update.
• A dataset is not the legal record. For a decision that matters (hiring, permitting, payment), confirm on the agency lookup page linked in officialLookupUrl or verifyUrl.

Run in 30 seconds

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console and click Try for free (or Start if you already have an account).
2. Open the Input tab, switch to JSON, and paste the example below. It is small on purpose, so the first run is quick and cheap.
3. Click Start. Most small runs finish in well under two minutes.
4. Open the Output tab to read the Overview table, or use Export to download JSON, CSV or Excel.

{
  "mode": "search",
  "states": [
    "WA"
  ],
  "trade": "roofing",
  "city": "Seattle",
  "maxResults": 10
}

Once the sample looks right, replace the example values with your own list and raise the limits.

Example API call

Start a search from code or with curl. Replace the placeholder token and username.

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("YOUR_USERNAME/contractor-license-lookup").call(run_input={"mode": "search", "states": ["WA"], "trade": "roofing", "city": "Seattle", "maxResults": 10})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row)

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR_USERNAME~contractor-license-lookup/runs?token=APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mode": "search", "states": ["WA"], "trade": "roofing", "city": "Seattle", "maxResults": 10}'

FAQ

Is this data legal to use? These are public records that the agencies publish as open data for reuse. You are responsible for how you use them, including marketing rules such as the TCPA, CAN-SPAM and state telemarketing laws.

How fresh is it? As fresh as the agency's dataset. Washington updates three times a day; Connecticut, Colorado, Oregon CCB and Delaware daily; Texas and Oregon BCD periodically.

Why did a state return nothing? It was probably skipped because it cannot serve a filter (for example roofing in Texas, county in Washington). The OUTPUT record lists every skipped source with the reason.

Can I get every license in a state? Yes. Set the state, leave the filters empty and raise maxResults. Large pulls are paged 1,000 rows at a time.

How fast is it? Searches typically return in seconds to a minute. Verify checks every selected state per item, so it takes a few seconds per item; add a state prefix (TX:12345) to make it faster.

Do you have California or Florida? Not today. Neither publishes a bulk open dataset that this actor can read.

Troubleshooting

• 0 results: remove filters one at a time (city spelling must match the agency's, for example SEATTLE), or set activeOnly to false.
• Fewer results than maxResults: that is everything that matched. Check perSource and filteredOut in OUTPUT.
• A state shows a warning: the state portal returned an error after retries. The other states still deliver. Run again later.
• Verify says not found but the license exists: the license may be outside the trades this actor covers (for example a Texas barber license), or the name is written differently. Try the license number, or verifyBy: "name".
• Run stopped early: you reached the maximum cost per run. Raise it in the run options.

Terms and responsible use

The data comes from public government datasets. This actor does not log in anywhere, does not bypass any access control and does not scrape lookup pages. It keeps requests serial and spaced out to respect the portals. Use the output lawfully: honor do-not-call and opt-out requests, do not use it to harass or discriminate, and verify a license on the official page before relying on it for a legal or financial decision. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by any state agency.

Changelog

• 0.1 (2026-10-13): first release. Seven official sources in six states, search, verify and new_licenses modes, 28 normalized trades, expiring-soon flags, Oregon bond and insurance details, Colorado verification links.

Support

Thanks for trying Contractor License Lookup. If a field is wrong, a state changed its dataset, or you need another state or field, open an issue on the actor's Issues tab with the run URL and we will reply there.