How to check a contractor license in Hawaii

In Hawaii, a contractor needs a state license for any project over $1,500 in labor and materials, or any job that needs a building, electrical or plumbing permit. Search the name in the Professional and Vocational Licensing public license search, then check the complaint history separately in DCCA's Business Check.

How do I check if a contractor is licensed in Hawaii?

Search the contractor in the public license search run by DCCA's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, or call 844-808-3222. Confirm the license is current and that the name on it matches the business you're hiring.

Get the contractor's business name, or the license number if they'll give it to you.
Open the PVL public license search at mypvl.dcca.hawaii.gov/public-license-search. The PVL home page links to it as Verify a Professional.
Search the name and open the record for the Contractors License Board.
Confirm the license is current. The board says a license not renewed by its expiration date is unlicensed and may not practice.
Check that the name on the license matches the name on the bid and the contract.

We last checked this lookup on 2026-10-19. The license search blocked the tool we used to check it that day, so it may need to be opened in a regular web browser. If it won't load for you either, call PVL at 1-844-808-DCCA (3222) and choose option 1.

Check the date if you're hiring in the fall of an even-numbered year. Contractor licenses renew by September 30 of every even-numbered year. A contractor who missed that deadline is unlicensed until the license is restored, and the board allows that only within 60 days of the expiration date.

When does a contractor need a license in Hawaii?

A contractor needs a license for any project over $1,500 in labor and material, and for any project that needs a building, electrical or plumbing permit. Those are the two tests DCCA gives homeowners.

The license also decides what your client can do if a job goes wrong. DCCA says the Contractors Recovery Fund is open only to homeowners who hired a licensed contractor. A cheap unlicensed bid can cost your client that safety net.

How do I see complaints against a Hawaii contractor?

Use DCCA's Business Check, not the license search. Business Check keeps license status and complaint history in separate searches, so a clean license result doesn't tell you whether anyone has complained.

Business Check offers four searches. Licensee Complaint History shows prior complaints or disciplinary actions against a licensee, and Business Complaint History shows general consumer complaints against a business. DCCA encourages people to run all of them. If you find someone working without a license, report it to RICO, DCCA's complaints office, at 808-587-4272.

Who licenses electricians and plumbers in Hawaii?

The Board of Electricians and Plumbers licenses individual electricians and plumbers. DCCA says electrical and plumbing contractors must employ licensed electricians and plumbers to do the actual electrical and plumbing work.

So for a panel upgrade or a water heater, there are two names to check. Look up the contracting company under the Contractors License Board, then look up the electrician or plumber who'll be doing the work. Both show up in the same PVL search.

What does a Hawaii license lookup not tell you?

It tells you the license is current, not whether the work is any good. Plenty of licensed contractors are slow, hard to reach or careless, and only your clients' experience shows that.

Insurance needs its own check. DCCA says a licensed contractor has workers' compensation and liability insurance. Ask for a current certificate of insurance before a large job anyway, because policies lapse.
Complaints only show if someone filed one. A quiet Business Check record can mean unhappy customers never reported anything.
It doesn't confirm who's at the door. Make sure the crew on site works for the business named on the license.

If the contractor has also worked in another state, check that state's records too. The lookups for California and Alaska are on their own pages.

For other states, see how to check a contractor license, state by state. This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm details with DCCA's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division.

Sources

Agents can keep these contractors in Proferral

Proferral is a free app real estate agents use to keep a go-to list of the providers they trust and to remember every referral they send. Its license checks cover Oregon and Washington only, so for Hawaii you still run the lookup above by hand. Here's how Proferral's license checks work.

Start your list, free

It's free, no credit card needed, and you're never charged unless you choose Pro.