What does a suspended contractor license mean? The rules, and how often it shows up in permits

Suspended, expired, revoked: what each status means

California's licence pages spell out the reason under each heading. A suspended licence can show, for example, "License is suspended for failure to comply with an outstanding civil judgment", or a note that a new bond "may have been received by the Board but not yet processed", in which case "the suspension will be lifted retroactively to the effective date of the bond" (CSLB licence detail pages, read 21 October 2026).

Why licences get suspended: the written rules

California. Every licence needs a contractor's bond of $25,000 to stay in force (B&P § 7071.6). When a licensee has an unsatisfied final judgment for construction work, it has 90 days to deal with it, and "the license shall be automatically suspended" if it does not (B&P § 7071.17). The money side is strict: a contractor can only sue for payment if it was "a duly licensed contractor at all times during the performance" of the work, and a customer can sue to "recover all compensation paid to the unlicensed contractor" (B&P § 7031, 2025).

Washington. Registration needs a bond of $30,000 for a general contractor or $15,000 for a specialty contractor. "A cancellation or revocation of the bond or withdrawal of the surety from the bond automatically suspends the registration" until a new bond is filed and approved, and a judgment that eats into the bond suspends it too (RCW 18.27.040). L&I adds: "We suspend a registration when the registration requirements are not met", naming a cancelled or expired bond or insurance policy and an unsatisfied judgment (Washington L&I, read 21 October 2026).

A bond suspension can be paperwork: CSLB's own pages note that a new bond may have been received but not yet processed. A judgment suspension means a former customer won a court case and has not been paid, which is worth knowing before you sign.

How often it shows up, by city and trade

These are firms that pulled at least one permit in the city's three-year window, matched to the state licence record. In the California cities, the only problem status the licence data carries is "Suspended"; Washington's mixes expired and suspended; Minnesota's adds revoked and voluntary terminations.

Two readings. In California, a suspended licence among permit-pulling firms runs at a few percent per trade: uncommon, which is why it is easy to miss. And the share with no licence match at all can be larger than the suspended share: 44.5% of San Diego ADU firms did not match a California licence by name, which usually means a trade name or a typo, not an unlicensed firm. Look those up by licence number instead.

What to do, in five minutes

1. Look the firm up on the board's own search. California: CSLB Check a License, by licence number, business name or personnel name. Washington: L&I's "Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson, or Business" tool, linked from L&I's registration page.
2. Read the reason. "Bond not yet processed" is paperwork; "outstanding civil judgment" is a former customer who was not paid.
3. If you have not signed: wait until the status shows Active, then sign.
4. If the job is under way: pay only for work done, ask in writing for the reinstatement date, and keep the permit open until the final inspection.
5. Check the firm's permits on our compare page for your city, for example San Francisco roofing, to see whether its other jobs reached a final.

See San Francisco roofers with their licence status →

What this does not tell you

Our licence status is a snapshot from the state's data at our build date, not the status on the day a permit was pulled; a firm can be suspended today and have been active for every job in its record, or the reverse. We match firms to licences by name, so a firm with a trade name may show no match even when licensed. Each state uses its own status words, and in some states our data carries only one problem status ("Expired" in the Texas cities, for example). Our guides on licensed vs unlicensed contractors and checking a California licence cover the rest.