Licensed, Bonded and Insured: What It Means for Water Line Work in Washington

Contractor registration

Washington's Department of Labor & Industries registers construction contractors. A general contractor registration covers a broad scope of construction work, including excavation, site work, drainage and the buried utility lines on a property. Registration requires a bond and liability insurance on file, and it's public: anyone can look up a contractor by name, UBI or license number on L&I's verify page and see whether it's active, what specialty it holds, and whether the bond and insurance are current.

360 Leak Finders operates as a registered general contractor (license UPPERLE788KZ, UBI 604 861 248), bonded and insured. Our registration, bond and insurance are listed on the L&I site for anyone to verify.

The bond

A contractor's bond is a surety amount on file with the state that a customer can claim against if the contractor fails to perform or violates the law. It's not insurance for the customer in the ordinary sense, and it's limited, but it's a baseline the state requires and a signal that the contractor is operating in the open.

The insurance

General liability insurance covers damage the contractor causes to property or people while doing the work. Registration requires it to be on file. For excavation work in particular, where a bucket can find a line nobody marked, it matters.

Plumbing inside the building

Work on the water supply system inside a building, from the point of entry to the fixtures, is plumbing in Washington and must be performed by or under a licensed plumber, with a permit where the jurisdiction requires one. Our interior leak repairs, repipes and rough-ins are done by the licensed plumbers on our team, under our general contractor registration, with permits pulled and inspections scheduled where required.

Excavation and drainage outside

The buried service line from the meter to the foundation, exterior drains, footing drains, French drains and the excavation that exposes them are construction and excavation work. We do that with our own equipment and crew under the same registration. The result is one contractor accountable for both sides of the foundation.

How to check any contractor

• Go to L&I's contractor verify page and search by business name, UBI or license number.
• Confirm the registration is active and note the specialty.
• Confirm the bond and insurance are listed as current.
• Look at the violations section.
• Ask who will actually be on site and whether interior plumbing is done by a licensed plumber.