How to check a contractor's license in California

Which license does the contractor need in California?

Any job of $1,000 or more (labour and materials) needs a licensed contractor. AB 2622 raised the handyperson exemption "from $500 to $1,000" on 1 January 2025, and the exemption holds only if the contractor does "not hire workers and no building permits are needed" (CSLB press release). So anything that needs a permit needs a license, whatever it costs. CSLB's printed checklist (pamphlet 13P-078/0824) still gives the old "$500 or more" line; the law and the press release moved it to $1,000.

The license carries one or more classifications (CSLB list):

A C-39 roofer is not licensed to add a bedroom. The classification on the record is the scope.

How to look a contractor up, step by step

1. Ask for the license number. CSLB's lookup is built around it, and a licensed contractor will have it on the bid. If they cannot produce one, stop here.
2. Open Check a License and enter the number (digits only, up to 8). If you only have a name, use "Contractor business name" with "the first 10 to 15 letters"; name searches return up to 50 matches a page.
3. Read the status line and expiry date.
4. Check Classifications against the job you are hiring for.
5. Check Bonding: a contractor's bond of $25,000 should be active. CSLB says this "is often not enough to cover" several complaints or a project larger than the bond, so it is a floor, not insurance.
6. Check Workers' Compensation: either a policy or an exemption claiming no employees. An exemption on a firm that arrives with a crew is a flag.
7. Check Personnel and any disciplinary or complaint disclosure block. Then save the page.
8. If a salesperson rather than the contractor sold you the job, look them up too: the same page searches Home Improvement Salesperson (HIS) registrations by number or name, and CSLB's checklist tells you to ask to see that registration with a photo ID.

Name searches are fussy. CSLB's tips: leave off a leading "The" or "A", try initials with and without spaces ("A B Smith Builders", then "AB Smith Builders"), and if nothing comes back, retry with one or two fewer letters. The lookup is down "Sundays at 8 p.m. through Monday at 6 a.m."; the phone line is 800-321-CSLB (2752) (CSLB Check a License page and checklist, read 21 October 2026).

What "active", "expired" and "suspended" mean on CSLB's record

CSLB's own definitions (Terms and Definitions):

• Active: "Contractor is licensed and able to perform work."
• Inactive: "still licensed but is not permitted to perform work." Not OK to hire.
• Expired: "A license that has not been renewed."
• Suspended: not defined on that page, but the Suspended License page lists the causes: the "surety company cancels one or more of your required bonds", the "workers' compensation insurance company cancels your policy", an unresolved civil judgment after 90 days, or a missing qualifier. In every case the contractor "may not contract for work with an inactive or suspended license".

Penalties for unlicensed contracting in California

CSLB's Consequences of Contracting Without a License page: a misdemeanor with up to six months in jail and/or a $5,000 fine; an administrative fine of $200 to $15,000; "A second offense results in a mandatory 90-day jail sentence and a fine of 20 percent of the contract price or $5,000"; and felony charges for contracting without a license in a declared disaster area, using someone else's license, or misleading consumers into believing you are licensed.

Is my mobile home installer licensed?

In California, a manufactured or mobile home installer needs a CSLB license in classification C-47 General Manufactured Housing Contractor. Look the firm up on Check a License and confirm C-47 is listed among its classifications. HCD, the state housing department, puts it plainly: "A C-47 General Manufactured Housing Contractor license is required for any contractor that installs or prepares for moving any manufactured home" (HCD Permits & Inspections, read 21 October 2026).

What the C-47 covers, in CSLB's words: a C-47 contractor "installs, alters, repairs, or prepares for moving any type of manufactured home", mobilehome or multifamily manufactured home, "including the accessory buildings or structures, and the foundations", and on a single-family individual site may connect "gas, water, sewer, and electrical utilities to the home". It does not cover recreational vehicles, commercial coaches or factory-built housing (CSLB C-47 classification, read 21 October 2026).

Who issues the install permit depends on where the home goes. HCD issues permits for mobilehome parks and for alterations to manufactured homes, and says installation of factory-built housing "is subject to inspection by the local building department"; it does not publish a jurisdiction lookup, so call HCD Codes & Standards at (800) 952-8356 or the county building counter before the home is set. A dealer who sells you the home and the crew that installs it can be different businesses; the C-47 check is for the installer.

In unincorporated San Diego County, 119 manufactured-home installation permits went to 49 firms between October 2023 and September 2026; 89.8% of those firms matched an active CSLB license by name, and the usual permit took 182 days from issue to final. The San Diego County manufactured-home installer list shows each firm's license match and finished share.

If you live in an unincorporated county

Outside city limits the county is the permit office, so the permit record you compare against the CSLB record is the county's. We read three county files:

• Sacramento County. Building permits are applied for online only, through the County's Accela Citizen Access portal, which is also where you search a permit by address (Sacramento County, read 21 October 2026). 81.8% of the 581 HVAC firms in our county file match an active CSLB license; the county-wide match rate across trades is on the Sacramento County page.
• San Diego County. Planning & Development Services (PDS) issues permits for the unincorporated area; its ADU page links the submittal checklists. 83.6% of 495 solar firms and 87.2% of 218 HVAC firms match an active CSLB license.
• Marin County. 86.0% of the 300 roofing firms on unincorporated Marin permits match an active CSLB license; the Marin County page lists every trade.

Citrus Heights is a city inside Sacramento County with its own building department, so its permits are not in the county file: 76.6% of its 158 water-heater firms match an active CSLB license.

What the license does not tell you

CSLB's record is about today: is the number active, bonded, insured, disciplined. It does not say whether the firm pulled a permit on its last job, whether the inspector signed it off, or how long that took. That is the city's or county's file. Nine California files, one trade each:

San Diego's match rate is the lowest of the nine. We match by business name, so a firm that permits under a name the CSLB file does not list shows as unmatched: a gap in our join, not a finding about the firm.

Red flags on a California license record

• Status Inactive, Expired or Suspended, or an expiry date within the next month.
• A classification that does not cover the job (a C-39 roofer bidding a kitchen).
• A bond or workers' comp line showing cancelled, or a workers' comp exemption on a firm with a visible crew.
• A disciplinary bond on file; CSLB defines it as one "required when disciplinary action has been taken against a license".
• License issued within the last year on a firm claiming decades in business. Ask what happened to the old number.
• A down-payment request above 10% or $1,000, whichever is less.
• The name on the license is a person, and the business you are dealing with is a different company.

See every San Francisco roofer by their permit record →