location_onOregon & Southwest Washington
Find licensed general contractors in Oregon without doing the vetting yourself
A general contractor runs the whole job — schedule, subcontractors, permits, inspections. Getting that choice right matters more than any single trade decision, and it is the one most homeowners make from a search result and a phone call. We do the licence, bond and insurance checks before anyone contacts you.
01engineering
When you need a general contractor rather than a trade
If your project involves one trade — a water heater, a panel upgrade, a roof — hire that trade directly and skip the overhead. You want a general contractor when the job crosses trades and someone has to sequence them: an addition, a full kitchen or bathroom, a structural change, or anything where framing, plumbing, electrical and finish work all have to happen in the right order. The value is coordination, and on a multi-trade job that coordination is worth what it costs.
02gavel
What Oregon requires, and what it doesn't
Oregon requires contractors doing residential construction work for pay to hold a Construction Contractors Board licence, which means passing an exam on state construction law, carrying a surety bond, and holding liability insurance. What the licence does not do is assess quality. It confirms a business met the legal threshold and carries financial backing. Plenty of licensed contractors are ordinary. The licence removes a category of risk; it does not select for the good ones.
03checklist
How we shortlist for a whole-project job
For a general contracting job we match on three things beyond licence status: whether they take projects of your size, whether they actually work your part of the state, and whether their recent work resembles yours. A firm that builds custom homes and a firm that does bathroom remodels are both general contractors and neither is the right answer for the other's job. Usually two to four get your request, and nobody outside that shortlist sees your details.
04description
The contract is where projects go wrong
Most disputes we hear about trace back to a contract that was vague at the start. A workable one names the scope in specifics, sets a payment schedule tied to milestones rather than dates, states who pulls the permits, and says what happens when something unexpected turns up behind a wall. If a contractor resists putting any of that in writing, that is information worth acting on before money changes hands.
Completely free. No obligation.
Describe the project once and we match it with vetted local pros who actually do this work — you choose who to hire, or nobody at all.
Good to know locally
verifiedThe CCB registry is public and worth two minutes
Oregon publishes a free licence search. Enter the business name or licence number and you can see status, endorsement type, bond and insurance with expiry dates, the responsible managing individual, and complaint history. Confirm the name on the licence matches the name on your contract — when those differ, ask why before signing anything.
account_balanceA bond is not insurance for you
This is the most common and most expensive misunderstanding. A surety bond is a limited fund the CCB can order paid on an upheld claim, shared across everyone claiming against that contractor. It is a floor, not a guarantee. General liability insurance is what covers property damage, and the limits are worth reading rather than assuming.
mapEndorsements limit what they can legally do
Oregon splits residential and commercial endorsements, and within those separates general contractors from specialty and limited categories with restricted scope. A residential specialty endorsement does not automatically cover a structural remodel. When you are given a licence number, the endorsement attached tells you whether the proposed work is actually in scope.
General contractors typically price either as cost-plus — subcontractor and material costs plus an agreed percentage — or as a fixed bid covering a defined scope. Cost-plus is more transparent and less predictable; a fixed bid is the reverse, and carries a contingency the contractor has priced in for risk. Neither is automatically better. What matters is knowing which you have signed, what the allowances are, and what happens to the number when the scope changes mid-project. Ask for that in writing before you compare two bids, because otherwise you are comparing different things.
Areas we serve
location_onMultnomah Countylocation_onWashington Countylocation_onClackamas Countylocation_onMarion Countylocation_onYamhill Countylocation_onClark County, WA…and more
Frequently asked questions
How do I check an Oregon contractor's licence myself?expand_more
Search the Construction Contractors Board's public registry by business name or licence number. Confirm the status reads active, that bond and insurance have future expiry dates, and read any complaint history. One resolved complaint over a long history is normal; the same complaint repeating is a pattern.
Do I need a general contractor for a single-trade job?expand_more
Usually not. For one plumber's worth of work, hiring the plumber directly is cheaper and simpler. A general contractor earns their margin when several trades have to be sequenced and somebody has to own the schedule, the permits and the inspections.
Who pulls the permit — me or the contractor?expand_more
Your contractor should, under their own licence. A contractor asking you to pull it as an owner-builder is moving liability onto you: you become responsible for the work meeting code, and your recourse if something goes wrong narrows considerably.
What does this cost me?expand_more
Nothing at any stage. Describing the project is free, getting quotes is free, and there is no fee if you hire someone. You pay your contractor for the work — that is the entire financial relationship.
How many contractors will get in touch?expand_more
Usually two to four, matched on trade, project size and where they actually work. We would rather send three good options than fifteen mediocre ones, and only those matched to your job ever see your contact details.
More services in your area
Describe the project once
Tell us what needs doing and we will bring the licence-verified general contractors to you. Free, no obligation, and your details never go on a list.
Find Your Contractors Todayauto_awesome100% free · No obligation · Takes about 2 minutes — only matched pros ever see your number