Hiring a contractor in Texas
Only specific trades are licensed. This state licenses individual trades such as electrical, plumbing and HVAC, but issues no general contractor or remodeler licence. Anyone can call themselves a general contractor here. Licensing for the rest happens at city level, if at all.
Who licenses
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), plus the separate Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE)
What to do before you hire in Texas
- There is no general contractor licence to ask for here, so the licence question moves to the specific trades. Anyone doing electrical, plumbing or HVAC work should still hold a state licence for that trade.
- Ask for proof of liability insurance and workers' compensation in writing. With no licensing board standing behind the work, insurance is most of your protection.
- Your city may register contractors even though the state does not. See below.
- Get the full scope and price in writing before any money changes hands, and never pay the full amount up front.
What the big cities in Texas do
Where the state does not license, the city sometimes does. We checked each of these directly.
| City | Registers contractors? | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Arlington | Yes | VERDICT: one of the better municipal contractor files. Arlington registers contractors itself and publishes the register as real bulk data with a trade column. |
| Austin | Yes | HEADLINE: Austin REGISTERS contractors but does NOT publish the register. The bulk data that exists is a permit file, plus one narrow city licence list. |
| Corpus Christi | Yes | CORPUS CHRISTI DOES REGISTER CONTRACTORS, and it does publish machine-readable data, but the two available sources are different shapes and neither is the full registration roll. 1) DOES THE CITY REGISTER? YES, mandatory. |
| Dallas | Yes | DALLAS REGISTERS CONTRACTORS, AND IT IS MANDATORY. Dallas City Code Chapter 52 (Administrative Procedures for the Construction Codes), Sec. |
| El Paso | Yes | ANSWER: yes, El Paso registers contractors, and yes, there is a real bulk export. Verified end to end (actual CSVs on disk). |
| Fort Worth | Yes | BOTTOM LINE: Fort Worth DOES register contractors, but publishes NO bulk contractor data. The registry exists only behind a one-at-a-time lookup form. |
| Houston | Yes | ANSWER TO Q1: Houston does NOT license or register general contractors, home-improvement contractors, remodelers, or roofers. Houston is a per-permit city: you pull a permit per job, there is no standing GC credential. |
| San Antonio | Yes | BEST MUNICIPAL SOURCE FOUND SO FAR. Registration is mandatory: every city- and state-licensed contractor must register with DSD before pulling any permit ($170 initial/renewal, liability insurance, FBI background check, Code of Ethics form). |
Sourced from Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), plus the separate Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE) and checked by downloading the state's own published file. Licensing rules change; verify with the authority before you hire.