Where Our Information Comes From — and How We Verify It
Our complete sourcing framework: the six-tier hierarchy that governs every state contractor-board guide, our eight-step verification workflow, what we deliberately do not use, and our human-in-the-loop policy for any automated assistance. This is the backbone of our E-E-A-T standard. Read alongside our Editorial Policy.
What is on this page
1. Sourcing Principle
Every factual claim about a state contractor licensing board — its name, the agency it sits within, its official website, its license-lookup URL, its phone number, its address, its complaint process, its license classifications, and its bonding and insurance requirements — traces to the board’s own official .gov source. We do not build directory entries from lead-generation sites, referral networks, or auto-scraped feeds.
If a piece of information is not confirmed on the state board’s own official .gov page, it does not get published as fact. Where the board is silent, we say so rather than fill the gap with a third-party guess.
2. The Six-Tier Source Hierarchy
When sources differ, the higher tier governs.
The state board’s official .gov site
The contractor licensing board’s own website: the homepage, the license-lookup tool, the complaint portal, and the classification and renewal pages. This is the primary source for board name, contact details, processes, and rules — for example, the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB), the Nevada State Contractors Board, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board within DBPR, the Oregon Construction Contractors Board, and the Washington Department of Labor & Industries.
The state’s official license-lookup tool
The board’s official online lookup is the authoritative source of a contractor’s current license status — active, expired, suspended, or revoked — plus bond and, where shown, insurance and complaint history. We link to this tool; we never reproduce or cache an individual’s status, because it changes constantly.
State statute & administrative code
The state’s contractor-licensing statute and administrative rules, which govern license classifications, bonding and insurance requirements, renewal cycles, disciplinary authority, and any contractor recovery or guaranty fund. We cite these for the “why” behind a board’s rules.
NASCLA — national coordination
The National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies (NASCLA) for cross-state coordination, reciprocity context, and the NASCLA Accredited Examination accepted by multiple states. Used for multi-state framing, not for any single state’s authoritative rules.
Federal & consumer-protection bodies
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at osha.gov for job-site safety; the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for consumer protection, including the Cooling-Off Rule (a 3-day right to cancel certain home-solicitation sales); and state Attorneys General for UDAP enforcement. Used for the federal and consumer-rights layer.
Recovery-fund & bonding administrators
Where a state operates a contractor recovery or guaranty fund, its official administrator pages; and surety/bonding information where published officially. Used for the consumer-recourse layer.
3. The Eight-Step Verification Workflow
Every state guide passes through these steps before publication and at each quarterly review:
- Locate the state board’s official .gov site. Confirm it is the genuine board site — not a lookalike, lead-generation, or referral domain.
- Click every URL. A human editor opens the homepage, license-lookup tool, and complaint portal to confirm each is live and correct.
- Test the license-lookup tool. Confirm the link reaches the live state lookup system and that it functions.
- Cross-check the board address against the official .gov contact page.
- Confirm the complaint process against the board’s current published procedure, step by step.
- Check classification & bonding rules against the state statute or official board guidance.
- Dial-test the board phone on a quarterly cycle — confirming the line answers and routes correctly, without ever generating a false emergency call.
- Editor sign-off. A second editor reviews the entry end-to-end, including the “not a board” notice and the 911 / Poison Control / 988 emergency framework, then stamps the “last reviewed” date.
4. License-Status Discipline
A contractor’s license status can change daily — it can lapse, be suspended, be revoked, or be reinstated. Publishing a cached status would mislead. So we publish and verify the official lookup tool and teach readers how to use it, rather than republishing any individual’s status. The board’s live tool is always the authoritative answer at the moment you check it.
5. What We Deliberately Do Not Use
- Lead-generation and referral sites — these exist to sell leads, not to report board facts, and often imply vetting that does not exist
- Auto-scraped data feeds — they drift out of date and cannot be verified to a primary source
- Lookalike or board-branded sites that are not the official .gov board
- Unverified review sites — we do not use crowd ratings as a source of factual board or licensing data
- Social-media posts as a primary source for board facts
- An individual contractor’s own marketing claims about being “licensed and bonded” — always verify on the board tool
6. When Sources Conflict
If two sources disagree, the higher tier governs — the board’s own official .gov page and live lookup tool beat everything else. If the board’s site itself is internally inconsistent (for example, two pages show different phone numbers), we contact the board to confirm, note the date of confirmation, and publish the verified detail. Where we cannot resolve a conflict, we say what is uncertain rather than present a guess as fact.
7. Human-in-the-Loop AI Policy
We use software tools for spell-check, grammar review, and routine drafting assistance. No editorial fact, URL, license-lookup link, telephone number, board address, complaint process, classification, or bonding rule is published from AI without human verification against the board’s own official .gov page. We do not auto-generate or auto-publish board entries, and we never publish an individual contractor’s license status. This human-in-the-loop standard is central to our E-E-A-T commitment.
8. Children — COPPA
The site is intended for adults verifying contractors and is not directed at children under 13. Consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. See our Privacy Policy for detail.
9. Update Cadence
- Quarterly — full re-verification of every board’s URLs, license-lookup tool, phone (dial-test), address, and complaint process
- Within 48 hours — broken license-lookup links, dead board phone numbers, and changed complaint portals reported by readers
- Within 7 business days — other reader-reported corrections
- On change — when a board moves a tool, revises a classification, or updates its process, we update and re-date the page
10. Contact
Questions about our sourcing, or a correction to a source? Email info@contractorsboard.org with the subject “Sources query” — include the page URL and, for board-change reports, a link to the official source.
Found a Source That Needs Updating?
Email info@contractorsboard.org with the page URL and the official source link. Broken license-lookup links and changed complaint portals are fixed within 48 hours.
📧 info@contractorsboard.org