Arizona Contractor License Lookup: How to Verify Any Contractor

Hiring a contractor is one of the few purchases where a stranger works inside your home for weeks and handles tens of thousands of your dollars. Arizona gives you a free, public tool for checking whether that stranger is accountable to anyone. Most homeowners never use it. This page shows you exactly how, and we will use our own license as the worked example so you can see what a legitimate record looks like.

How to look up any Arizona contractor license

1. Go to the official AZ ROC contractor search

   The only official source is the Arizona Registrar of Contractors search portal: azroc.my.site.com/AZRoc/s/contractor-search, linked from roc.az.gov. Several lookalike websites republish this data with ads wrapped around it. Skip them and go straight to the state.

2. Search by name, license number, or qualifying party

   You can search three ways: the business name on the bid, the ROC license number if you have it, or the name of the qualifying party (the person whose experience backs the license). Fewer words work better. If a company name returns nothing, try just the first word, or ask the contractor for their number outright. Ours is 367703, and you are welcome to try it.

3. Open the record and check five things

   • Status: it should say Active. Suspended, expired, or cancelled means stop.
   • Classification: the license class must cover your project (more on classes below).
   • Bond: an active surety bond should be on file, with the surety company named.
   • First issued date: tells you how long this entity has been licensed. Newer license is not automatically bad, but it is context you deserve to have.
   • Complaint history: the record shows discipline and open complaints. A long history of resolved workmanship complaints is a pattern, not bad luck.

4. Match the contract to the license, word for word

   The name on your bid and contract must match the licensed entity exactly. A common trick is bidding under a trade name while pointing at someone else's license. If "Desert Sun Builders" hands you a contract but the license belongs to a different LLC, ask why before you sign.

5. If anything looks off, ask

   A legitimate contractor will not be offended that you checked. We would rather you verify every contractor in the Valley, including us, than get burned by the one you did not.

What a legitimate record looks like: ours

Search "Radiant Construction" or license number 367703 and this is the record the state shows you. Every line below is pulled from the live registry.

One honest note, because this guide is about transparency: Radiant Construction LLC's license is new, issued in 2026. What is not new is the experience behind it. Shane spent five years building and remodeling homes in the Valley before putting his own name on a license. The license did not create the skill; it made the skill accountable to the state, with a bond behind it and a public record you can check any time.

What Arizona license classes mean

The classification line matters more than most people realize, because a license only covers the work its class describes.

• B, General Residential Contractor: general contracting on residential structures. This is the standard license for home remodelers.
• KB-1, Dual Building Contractor: general contracting on both residential and commercial buildings. It is one of the broadest building classifications Arizona issues, and it is the license Radiant holds.
• KB-2, Dual Small Building Contractor: a limited dual license with restrictions on project scope.
• CR and C specialty classes: single-trade licenses (residential and commercial respectively) for trades like electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or roofing. A specialty license does not authorize general contracting.

The practical test: if your project involves structural work, multiple trades, and a building permit, the person signing your contract should hold a general building class like B or KB-1, not a single-trade specialty license, and not a handyman with no license at all. Arizona's handyman exemption only covers jobs under $1,000 including labor and materials, and it never applies to work that requires a permit.

Red flags for unlicensed or dishonest contractors

• No ROC number anywhere: not on the website, the truck, the business card, or the bid. Arizona policy requires contractors to display their license number on advertising, including their homepage.
• "We can skip the permit" or "we will pull the permit in your name." Owner-pulled permits shift all the liability to you and are a classic unlicensed-contractor move.
• Large cash deposits, or prices that drop sharply if you pay cash with no paperwork.
• A contract naming a different business than the license, or no written contract at all.
• Pressure to sign today: door-to-door solicitation, storm chasing, or a "price that expires tonight."
• A "license" that turns out to be a business license, a tax registration, or an out-of-state credential. Only an Arizona ROC license authorizes contracting here.

What the bond and the Recovery Fund actually protect

Two separate safety nets sit behind a licensed Arizona contractor, and homeowners mix them up constantly.

The license bond. Every licensed contractor posts a surety bond as a condition of licensure. Radiant's is a $14,000 bond issued by RLI Insurance Company, and it appears on our registry record. The bond exists so an injured party has somewhere to make a claim if a contractor fails to meet their obligations.

The Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund. This is the bigger protection, and it is the one you give up entirely by hiring unlicensed. If a licensed residential contractor abandons your project or leaves deficient work and does not make it right through the complaint process, you may be eligible for actual damages of up to $30,000 per homeowner from the fund, capped at $200,000 in total claims per license, under A.R.S. 32-1132.01. Hire an unlicensed contractor and none of this applies: no complaint process with teeth, no bond on file, no fund.

Frequently asked questions