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Washington general contractor license bonds.
From $270.
Every Washington contractor registers with the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), and RCW 18.27.040 requires a continuous surety bond naming the State of Washington as obligee: $30,000 for a general contractor. For contractors already registered, this bond is e-filed with L&I. The premium starts at $270 for a term.
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From application to registered with L&I.
Your registration cannot issue or stay active without a bond on file. Here is the whole process:
Send us the file
Your UBI number, your contractor registration number if you have one, business details, years in business, and the commercial questions on judgments, liens and prior bonding.
See your exact price
The one-year premium starts at $270 for the $30,000 bond. The application includes a credit review, and your exact price appears there before you pay — a credit review can raise it above the starting price.
Filed with L&I
If you are already registered, the bond is e-filed with L&I. If this is a new registration, you receive the executed bond to submit with your contractor registration application.
What it is and who needs it.
What the general contractor bond guarantees
Under RCW 18.27.020 every contractor must register with L&I, and RCW 18.27.040(1) requires each applicant to file a surety bond “in the sum of $30,000 if the applicant is a general contractor or $15,000 if the applicant is a specialty contractor.” The Legislature raised the general contractor amount from $12,000 to $30,000 effective July 1, 2024, and contractors registered before then kept the old bond only until their next renewal. The bond names the State of Washington as obligee and is continuous: cancellation by the surety automatically suspends the registration.
A general contractor, under RCW 18.27.010(5), is one “whose business operations require the use of more than one building trade or craft upon a single job or project or under a single building permit,” and the definition also reaches anyone who superintends or consults on contracting work. Single-trade businesses register as specialty contractors instead and post the $15,000 bond.
The standard $30,000 applies to contractors with no final judgments involving a residential single-family dwelling in the past five years. Under WAC 296-200A-030(2), L&I may raise it to $40,000, $60,000 or $90,000 after one, two, or three or more such judgments, and under subsection (4) a raised amount is reviewed for reduction only at the next regular renewal. The bond answers claims for unpaid labor and employee benefits, taxes and contributions owed to the state, amounts owed to suppliers and equipment lessors, and breach-of-contract judgments. Homeowners have two years to sue on it and other claimants one year. It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay it.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $30,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The term is set on the carrier’s application; the premium covers the period shown there.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
Filed with L&I. If you are already registered, the bond is e-filed with L&I. If this is a new registration, you receive the executed bond to submit with your contractor registration application.
What sets the price
From $270; your exact price appears at the application once you enter the amount.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, one soft pull.
These are the actual underwriting fields — your UBI and registration numbers, business details, and the commercial questions on judgments, liens and prior bonding. The application includes a credit review; the one-year premium starts at $270 and your exact price appears there before you pay. Free until issued.
Start the application →Common questions.
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Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get your general contractor registration bonded.
Send us a short application and see your exact price — the one-year premium for your $30,000 Washington general contractor bond starts at $270. Free until issued.