What a contractor license number is
It is the identifier a state board puts on one contractor’s licence, and on a bid or a contract it is the only thing that points at exactly one holder. Washington calls it a registration number and Texas and Oregon call it a licence number; it does the same job in all three, and it is what every board’s public file is keyed on.
What one looks like
Not a rule from a statute — a count. Every shape below is the commonest one among the numbers in that board’s own published file, read on 2026-10-22, with letters written as A and digits as 9.
| State | Board | Shape | A real one | Out of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | L&I | AAAAAAA999AA12 characters | AAACEEC902KQ | 90,647 of 161,649 |
| Texas | TDLR | 9999993 to 6 characters across this state’s registers | 100015 | 77,532 of 106,074 |
| Oregon | CCB | 9999992 to 8 characters across this state’s registers | 241085 | 41,073 of 44,749 |
The symbols are real. L&I’s own description of the field calls it “the unique combination of letters, numbers and symbols that are specific and unique to a contractor”, and Washington numbers do contain asterisks. A number that looks wrong to you may be copied correctly.
Check one
Questions
What is a contractor license number?
It is the identifier a state board puts on one contractor’s licence, and it is the only thing on a bid or a contract that points at exactly one holder. Two contractors can share a business name; no two share this.
Washington’s L&I describes its own as “the unique combination of letters, numbers and symbols that are specific and unique to a contractor” — the word symbols is not padding, and asterisks appear in real Washington numbers.
Is a contractor registration number the same thing?
In Washington, yes — L&I registers construction contractors rather than licensing them, so the number on the paperwork is a registration number. Its file column is still called a licence number.
Texas and Oregon licence, and call it a licence number. The number does the same job in all three: it is the key their public files are keyed on.
How do I find a contractor’s licence number?
Ask for it, or read it off the bid, the contract or the invoice — and then check it against the board’s file rather than the other way round. Searching by name first is how two similar businesses get confused for one.
If you only have a name, the search on this page takes one and looks for it in the registers this site holds.