Connecticut contractor license verification API

Look up any Connecticut contractor license by number or by business name and get one normalized JSON record back, sourced from the eLicense — the state credential register (DCP and other agencies).

Try a free lookup — no signup, right here on this page. For programmatic access, take a free API key — 250 requests a month, no card. Also on RapidAPI and, if you would rather not write code at all, the Apify Store.

Look up a license by number

curl "https://contractor-license-verification2.p.rapidapi.com/v1/licenses/CT/HIC.0631057" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: contractor-license-verification2.p.rapidapi.com"

HIC.0631057 is a real CT license (ARETE CONSTRUCTION LLC), so you can run that call as written.

Search by business name

curl "https://contractor-license-verification2.p.rapidapi.com/v1/licenses/CT/search?name=ACME&limit=10" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: contractor-license-verification2.p.rapidapi.com"

Partial, case-insensitive match. A search hit returns the same full record as a lookup by number, so there is no second call to make.

What eLicense — the state credential register publishes

• License status, plus DCP's own raw wording
• Credential type and its full name — home improvement, new home construction, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, elevator and the rest
• Issue and expiration dates
• Full street address
• The date DCP last refreshed each individual record

What it does not

• Surety bond
• Workers' compensation
• General liability insurance
• Disciplinary actions
• The qualifying individual behind a licensed company

Every response carries a data_completeness map saying which fields this source actually supplies, so an absent bond reads as “not published” rather than “no bond”. Records are never padded with guesses.

Before you build on it

A Connecticut credential is printed with its type prefix — HIC.0631057 — and that prefix matters: 8,593 contractor numbers are shared by more than one credential type. A bare number is accepted and resolved when it is unambiguous, and refused with the candidates named when it is not, rather than returning an arbitrary one of two unrelated businesses. Separately, DCP stamps every row with its own refresh date, and across the file those run from 2004 to today: `data_as_of` on a Connecticut record is that stamp, not the time of the request, so a record can be current or years old and the response tells you which. Two more things worth knowing before you compare a response with the eLicense screen. The register spans agencies — an asbestos contractor is licensed by the Department of Public Health, not by DCP — and the file names no agency per row, so `source_name` says the register rather than a regulator it cannot prove. And `issue_date` is the date the credential was first issued, while eLicense labels the current period's start date "Issue Date"; both come from the same row and they are usually years apart.

Other states

How do I check if a contractor is licensed in Connecticut?

Enter the Connecticut license number — or the business name if you don't have it — in the free lookup above or the API. Swanum reads the eLicense — the state credential register record and returns license status, classifications and expiration date as one JSON object.

How do I check if a contractor is licensed?

Give this API the license number if you have it, or the business name if you don't. Both return the same normalized record, so nothing downstream needs to know which one you used.

Can I look up a contractor license by company name instead of a number?

Yes — the search endpoint does a partial, case-insensitive match and can return multiple matching licenses per name.

Does this include contractor complaints or disciplinary actions?

Colorado, Illinois and California. Their feeds carry the case number, action and date — Illinois adds IDFPR's own reason — and when the state has nothing on a license you get an empty list rather than a null, so you can tell 'clean' from 'unknown'. For the other six the field is null, meaning this source does not report it — not that the contractor is clean. Oregon CCB, Washington L&I and Connecticut eLicense all publish disciplinary history on the record's own page; it just isn't in the extract they publish for bulk use, so follow source_url for those three.

Is there a free way to try contractor license verification?

Yes — the free lookup page needs no signup at all, and a free API key gives you 100 requests a month with no card. The API also has a free tier on RapidAPI.

Which states does this cover?

CA, CO (electrical and plumbing trades only), CT, FL, IL (roofing contractors only), NYC, OR (general contractors from the CCB, plus electricians, plumbers and the boiler and elevator trades from the Building Codes Division), TX, and WA. New York is New York City only; New York State itself issues no statewide contractor license.