Austin contractor license lookup: which license, where to search, and what the permits show

Which license each job needs in Austin

The City's rule ties registration to the state license. Its Contractor Registration page says trade contractors (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) need "a state license and registration" for each trade, that the City registration must match the state license, and that it must be updated every year; general contractors need no state license, and "anyone can be a GC", homeowners included (City of Austin, read 22 October 2026). So for a remodel, the City registration is the only credential, and it is not a test of skill.

How to run the lookup in five minutes

1. Ask whose license the trade permits go under. In Texas the trade license belongs to a person: the master electrician, the A/C contractor, the responsible master plumber. Get the name and number.
2. Electrician or A/C: search TDLR License Search by number or business name and check the expiry date.
3. Plumber: search the TSBPE public license search (linked from tsbpe.texas.gov) and check the company on the record is the one on your quote.
4. Sprinklers: search the TCEQ license database for the irrigator.
5. Remodeler, builder or pool company: there is no license to search. Open the firm on our Austin remodel, addition or pool list and read its permits: how many, how recent and how many the City completed.

How to search Austin permit records

Austin's permits live in Austin Build + Connect. The City says its "Public Search function is available to search permits and case history (and does not require registration)" (AB+C page, read 22 October 2026); open the portal and choose Public Search. The full file is also on the City's open data portal as Issued Construction Permits, which is where ours come from.

AB+C answers "what was permitted at this address". We answer "what does this firm's Austin record look like": every permit it pulled in three years, the share completed and the usual days to completion, on the compare pages, the Austin permit statistics page and the Austin ZIP code pages.

What 87,588 Austin permits show

"Completed" is the share of permits a year or more old that the City completed. The license column for trade firms is lower than you might expect: 40.6% of plumbing firms and 29.2% of electrical firms had no match. That is a name we could not match, not proof of no license: Texas trade licenses belong to a person, and a company can permit under a name that differs from its license. Fewer matched a license that is no longer active: 59 electrical, 42 plumbing and 24 HVAC firms.

Where there is no license, the finish rate is the track record. Among the 56 home builders with 10 or more permits, the 10th-percentile builder completed 27.7% and the 90th 97.3%; 18 were under 70%. For remodelers the spread is 45.6% to 97.0%.

See every Austin remodeler by completed permits →

Red flags in Austin

• A trade contractor who will not name the license holder. Without that name you cannot run the TDLR or TSBPE search, and the City cannot register the trade.
• A remodeler offering to have you pull the permit as homeowner. Austin's registration rule covers "homeowners acting as contractors", so the permit and its inspections become yours.
• A builder or remodeler with a low completed share against the spread above, or one that has gone quiet: 34 builders with 5 or more permits filed none in the last 12 months.

What this lookup does not tell you

We match firms to TDLR's A/C and electrical contractor file and the plumbing board's company list by name, so a firm that permits under a different name shows as unmatched, not unlicensed; we do not match TCEQ irrigators. City registration is not something we show. A license says the firm may do the work, not how its last job went. The Austin file in our data runs October 2023 to September 2026, snapshot 10 October 2026. For statewide rules and penalties see How to check a contractor's license in Texas; for a smaller Texas city, the Waco guide.