Bellevue contractor license lookup: L&I registration, the permit search, and what the permits show

Which license each job needs in Bellevue

L&I's rule is that "Washington State requires all construction contractors to register with L&I", with a $30,000 bond for a general contractor, $15,000 for a specialty contractor, and liability insurance of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage or $250,000 combined. A specialty contractor works only in its specialty and "cannot hire subcontractors" (Register as a Contractor, read 22 October 2026). An electrical contractor needs "A certified, assigned electrical administrator or master electrician" and a $4,000 bond (Electrical Contractor).

Bellevue adds its own business license, and in the permit application you enter the contractor's Washington license number (Getting Started). Bonds are small next to Bellevue prices: the usual remodel permit here carries $40,000 and the usual new home $948,071. Treat the bond as a sign of a real business, not as your protection.

How to run the lookup in five minutes

1. Get the L&I number (and the electrical contractor number for electrical work) from the quote.
2. Search L&I Verify. L&I says it shows an active license, any "lawsuits against their surety bond", an "active and paid-to-date workers' comp account", and "safety citations or other infractions".
3. Check the type fits the job: general or specialty, and which specialty. A specialty contractor proposing to hire subs is outside its registration.
4. Search the address on MyBuildingPermit Check Status to see what was permitted.
5. Track record: open the firm on our Bellevue electrician list, HVAC list or remodeler list.

How to search Bellevue permit records

Bellevue permits are applied for and tracked on MyBuildingPermit.com, which a City handout calls "a regional governmental web site". Its Check Status search requires a jurisdiction (choose Bellevue), then takes "all or part of a permit number" or, on the Location tab, a house number, street name or parcel number (Status Site User Guide). Bellevue also publishes permit data from 1998 on its open data portal, and its Permit Center answers on 425-452-4898 (Permits, read 22 October 2026).

The status site is organised by permit. Ours is organised by firm: each firm's Bellevue permits, its L&I status, the share closed and the days to close, on the Bellevue permit statistics page and the compare lists.

What 22,601 Bellevue permits show

"Closed" is the share of permits a year or more old the City closed; permits left in Issued count against it. Water heaters close least often (66.8%), so ask who books the final inspection on a swap. Among the 77 HVAC firms with 10 or more permits, the 10th-percentile firm closed 53.5% and the 90th 92.2%.

See every Bellevue HVAC contractor by L&I status and permits closed →

Red flags in Bellevue

• An L&I record that is not active. 74 HVAC firms and 56 remodel firms on Bellevue permits held a record that had expired or been suspended.
• A specialty registration on a firm bidding a whole remodel, or a specialty contractor bringing in subcontractors.
• Electrical work by a firm with no L&I electrical contractor license.
• Lawsuits against the bond on the Verify record.
• A firm that has gone quiet: 27 electrical firms with 5+ permits filed none in the last 12 months.

What this lookup does not tell you

Our L&I status comes from L&I's public license data file as of our build, joined to Bellevue's contractor names through the business's UBI; a registration can lapse after that, so run Verify the week you sign. Bellevue's finals are loaded with a lag, so the newest permits look less closed than they are. Solar and demolition are too thin in Bellevue to rank. A registration says the firm may work, not how its last job went. Statewide rules are in How to check a contractor's license in Washington; for Seattle's extra city licenses, see Seattle contractor license lookup.