California contractor license check
A California contractor license check starts at the official CSLB record. Type the number. Then open that license’s own page on cslb.ca.gov.
- Type the license number
- Open the official record
- Read the 4 lines that matter
JavaScript is off, so this page cannot build the link for you. You can still do it by hand. Open cslb.ca.gov. Pick Check-A-License. Type the number. Or type cslb.ca.gov/ plus the license number straight into your address bar.
Nothing looked up yet.
Direct link to this license's CSLB record
Open the CSLB recordAddress it opens:
Before you read a word of it, check that your address bar starts with cslb.ca.gov. Some paid sites dress up like the state's page. The state charges nothing for this.
If the record does not load, that tells you something. CSLB shows a page for each number it holds. If your number brings up nothing, ask the contractor about it before you go on.
Direct link to a business-name search
CSLB does not publish one
CSLB's name search runs inside its own form. It makes no web address we can link to. Checked Jul 25, 2026: the address such a link would need returns 404 Not Found. We will not invent a link that only looks like it works. So this tool hands you the 3 steps instead.
Open CSLB Check-A-License on cslb.ca.gov. Choose Contractor Business Name. Paste the name.
CSLB Check-A-License · checked Jul 25 2026
The name to paste
A name search can return several licenses, or none. Several usually means linked firms or a shared trade name. None usually means the registered name is not the name on the bid. Either way, the next question is for the contractor: what license number are you working under?
Only have the business name?
What to read once the record opens
1 · License status
Not on this page. It is on the CSLB record.
The status line sits at the top of the record. It answers the first question: is it active? The line you want reads this license is current and active. Expired, suspended, revoked, and inactive all mean the same thing here. CSLB does not consider that company able to contract under that license right now. There is no judgment call. The active line is there or it is not.
Read it on CSLB Check-A-License, or on the record link this tool builds.
CSLB Check-A-License · checked Jul 25 2026
2 · The registered name and the name on the bid
Not on this page. It is on the CSLB record.
The record shows the registered business name and any DBA (doing business as). It also shows the address and the people qualifying the license. Hold those against the name on the bid, the card, and the van. A DBA is normal, and it shows on the record itself. We checked one Oceanside company on Jul 6, 2026. Its license is registered to one corporate name. It trades under another. The record says so. A mismatch nobody can explain is a different thing. Ask one plain question about it before any money moves.
Background: how to read a CSLB record, field by field.
CSLB Check-A-License · checked Jul 25 2026
3 · Issue date, next to the size of your job
Not on this page. It is on the CSLB record.
The record shows the date CSLB issued the license. Every company has a first year. On a small, simple job, a new date tells you almost nothing. On a big job, a very new license is a reason to ask more. How long has this crew worked as a team? What job like mine can you show me? Who is the qualifying individual on the license, and will they run my job?
Read the issue date on the record, next to the expiration date.
CSLB Check-A-License · checked Jul 25 2026
4 · Workers' compensation line
Not on this page. It is on the CSLB record.
Workers' compensation is not general liability insurance. This line says nothing about whether this business carries general liability cover.
The record shows a workers' comp policy or an exemption filed with CSLB. An exemption means the licensee told CSLB they have no employees. For a true one-person shop, that is lawful and normal. If a crew shows up anyway, ask. You want to know who exactly will be working in your house. General liability cover is a separate paper. Ask the contractor for a certificate of insurance that names you. It is not on the CSLB record at all.
Read the workers' comp section partway down the record.
CSLB Check-A-License · checked Jul 25 2026
How this works
You type a California contractor license number. This page checks the shape of it in your browser: digits only, up to 8. Then it builds the web address of that license's own page on cslb.ca.gov. That is the Contractors State License Board's public Check-A-License system. You see the full address before you open it. So you know you are going to the state's own site. Nothing is fetched, copied, or cached here. No network call is made. You read the live record yourself, as it stands on the day you read it. A business name has no link like this. CSLB's name search runs inside its own form and makes no shareable web address. So this page sends you to that form with the name ready to paste.
What it can't tell you
A number with the right shape is still just a number. This page cannot tell you if the number exists, or who holds it. It cannot tell you if the status is active, or if the record changed since anyone last looked. Only the CSLB record answers those, and only at the moment you open it. A license record is not an endorsement, a recommendation, or a warranty of the work. It records what the state holds on file. The workers' compensation line on that record is not general liability insurance. Coastal SD Pros is not affiliated with CSLB. We inspect no one. No one can pay to change what any tool on this site says.
A license record is not an endorsement
An active license means the state holds a current license on file for that number. It is not a review of anyone's work. It is not a recommendation. It is not a promise about your job. Some companies with clean records do poor work. Some with plain records do great work. The record cannot tell them apart. It is where you start. You still have more to check.
Coastal SD Pros is not affiliated with the Contractors State License Board. We inspect no one. No one can pay to change what any tool on this site says, or the order anything appears in.
If there is no license number to check
California lets a narrow band of small work be done without a license. The rules turn on the price of the job, whether it needs a permit, whether anyone is hired to help, and what the ad says. The rules are exact, and they changed not long ago. Read them from the state's own pages. Outside that band, a homeowner who hires an unlicensed person can end up treated as the employer. Then the employer's legal duties can fall on you.
Read CSLB's consumer pages on cslb.ca.gov for the current rules and dollar limits. This page does not restate those figures, on purpose. A stale number on a legal limit is worse than no number.
CSLB consumer pages · checked Jul 25 2026