How to verify a Texas contractor's license before they start work

Step 1: know which agency holds the record

Texas splits the trades between two agencies. Electricians, HVAC/ACR techs, and appliance installers are licensed by TDLR (the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation) — along with dozens of other trades, from tow operators to cosmetologists. Plumbers are the exception: every plumbing license lives with TSBPE, the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, a separate board with separate records. A plumber will never show up in TDLR's data, and vice versa.

Step 2: get the exact license number AND the license type

This is the gotcha. Texas license numbers are not unique on their own — the same number can belong to several different licenses across different trades, and even to two different credentials held by the same person (an A/C Technician can hold Registered and Certified credentials on one number). So "license 2144" isn't an identity; "Journeyman Electrician #2144" is. When a tech gives you a number, get the type with it — and if a search shows several results for one number, that's normal, not an error. Match the type before you read the status.

Plumbing numbers have their own quirk: cards often show a rank letter in front of the number (M12345, J12345). The letter is the rank, not part of the number — search with or without it and a good lookup will handle both.

Step 3: read the result like the state does

• Active with a future expiration date — good to go. Note the date; that's when this check goes stale.
• Expired — the state's own record says the license has lapsed. For TDLR trades that's fine-and-suspension territory the moment they work, not a technicality.
• Not found — don't assume fraud, but don't shrug either. Check the spelling, the number, and the type first; a license removed from the state's rolls also shows this way.

One honest caveat worth knowing: TDLR's public data derives status from the expiration date, so suspensions and revocations don't show as a separate flag there. An in-force suspension is something the state's enforcement side handles — the public record tells you current-vs-expired, which covers the everyday hiring check.

Step 4: run the check somewhere that covers both agencies

You can search TDLR's and TSBPE's sites separately, or use our free Texas license lookup, which reads both agencies' published records in one search — every TDLR license type plus all six plumbing rosters, no signup. It shows the holder's name, status, expiration date, and which agency the record came from, with the date we last pulled the state's data.

Step 5: remember the check expires too

A license verified today can lapse next month — every Texas trade license renews annually, on dates scattered across the year (plumbing dates are deliberately staggered and follow no pattern at all). Re-check at hire, before big jobs, and any time an insurer or GC asks. Or skip the re-checking entirely: LicenseCrew watches your crew's licenses against the state's records and emails you at 90, 60, 30, 14, and 7 days before anything expires — free for up to 2 credentials, no card needed.