California: the CSLB license number in every ad, site and truck

California requires every licensed contractor to print the CSLB license number in all advertising, and that includes the website. Business and Professions Code §7030.5 sets the rule, a regulation defines advertising to include “any electronic transmission”, and CSLB’s advertising guidelines name websites outright. The familiar tagline “licensed, bonded and insured” breaks a different section, §7027.4.

Two texts make the rule

Reviewed on 2026-10-25 against the statute and regulation text available that day. The Legislature’s own site, leginfo, refused every request that day, so the statutes were read in Internet Archive copies of leginfo and in a public mirror, and the regulations at Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. California only; other states were not checked.

The statute is one sentence. §7030.5: “Every person licensed pursuant to this chapter shall include his license number in: (a) all construction contracts; (b) subcontracts and calls for bid; and © all forms of advertising, as prescribed by the registrar of contractors, used by such a person.”

“As prescribed by the registrar” sends you to the regulation, 16 CCR §861, titled “‘Advertising’ Defined”. It says the term “includes but is not limited to the following: any card, contract proposal, sign, billboard, lettering on vehicles registered in this or any other state, brochure, pamphlet, circular, newspaper, magazine, airwave or any electronic transmission, and any form of directory under any listing denoting ‘Contractor’” or words of similar meaning, requesting work that needs a license.

Note “contract proposal”: your estimate template is covered twice.

What “any electronic transmission” reaches

The regulation never says “website”. CSLB does. Its Advertising Guidelines brochure lists “any website or post that solicits business on the Internet” among the forms advertising takes. Its September 2020 bulletin is plainer: the license number belongs on all advertisements, and “This includes online sales postings and websites, as well as newspaper, radio, and television advertisements.”

“Licensed contractors must clearly display their contractor license number in their advertisements and on commercially-registered vehicles.”— David Fogt, CSLB Registrar, Industry Bulletin #20-21

Neither names Google, Yelp, Angi or Instagram. Our reading of §861: a profile offering your services is an “electronic transmission”, and a trade listing is a “form of directory”. Treat every profile you control as an ad.

Why “bonded” gets contractors disciplined

Business and Professions Code §7027.4 has two parts, and the common footer line trips both.

• “Insured.” It is a cause for discipline to advertise that you are “insured” or have insurance “without identifying in the advertisement the type of insurance”, with “commercial general liability insurance” and “workers’ compensation insurance” given as examples. Abbreviations are allowed.
• “Bonded.” It is a cause for discipline to advertise that you are “bonded” if the reference is to the contractor’s license bond (§7071.6) or a disciplinary bond (§7071.8). CSLB’s brochure explains why: such a statement “could lead a consumer to believe that bonding offers a higher level of protection than might be the case.”

The section’s “advertise” includes business vehicles, so the truck gets the rewrite too.

The number in the table is a placeholder. Only use “workers’ comp” if you carry it.

Your classification sets what a page may offer

§7027.1 makes it a misdemeanor “to advertise for construction or work of improvement covered by this chapter unless that person holds a valid license under this chapter in the classification so advertised”. Licensed building (B) and engineering (A) contractors may advertise as general contractors. CSLB’s example: a C-29 masonry contractor cannot advertise electrical work without a C-10.

On a website that is a service-page question. A painter’s site with a “Drywall and framing” page is offering work the license may not cover, so match every page against the classifications on your CSLB record. The trade’s page plan, such as the one in the HVAC local SEO guide, should start from that record.

The business name has its own limit. §7059.1 bars a name “that indicates the licensee is qualified to perform work in classifications other than those issued for that license”, and bars doing business “under more than one name for each license”. A made-up example: “Hillcrest Roofing & Solar” on a roofing-only license is a §7059.1 problem before anyone reads the site.

Truck lettering: 72 points, or one and a half inches

Both apply to commercially registered vehicles. Only the first group needs the street address, so a P.O. box on a plumbing van is a miss.

§861 adds that lettering counts as advertising on vehicles “registered in this or any other state”. A crew truck plated in Nevada or Arizona and working California jobs is not outside the rule.

The handyman line moved to $1,000

Since January 1, 2025, §7027.2 lets a person without a license advertise construction work “only if the aggregate contract price for labor, material, and all other items on a project or undertaking is less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) and the person states in the advertisement that the person is not licensed”. The old figure was $500, so check any page that still quotes it.

CSLB’s December 2024 bulletin adds the catch: the work “cannot require a permit, and the unlicensed person cannot employ anyone for the project.” §7048 says the same, and denies the exemption to anyone who advertises or puts out a sign “that might indicate to the public that the person is a contractor”.

So the exception holds only while all four conditions do: the project’s total price is under $1,000, no permit is required, nobody is employed for the project, and nothing in the ad presents the person as a contractor. On a website that means a plain “not licensed by the CSLB” statement on every page that offers work, and no service whose usual job breaks one of those conditions. Whether a given page does depends on the facts of the work it offers; if your license has lapsed, ask CSLB before the site stays up.

What CSLB can fine, cite or disconnect

The citation penalty table is 16 CCR §884. For the sections in this post, as printed on 2026-10-25:

CSLB’s own publications disagree: the brochure says $100 to $1,000 for a first §7030.5 offense, the 2020 bulletin says advertising violations “can range from $100 to $5,000”. And new versions of §7099.2 and §7028.7 took effect on July 1, 2026, setting a general $500 to $8,000 range and $1,500 to $15,000 for unlicensed citations. The §884 table was last changed in 2023. Ask CSLB which floor applies.

Separately, §7027.1 sets a criminal fine of $700 to $1,000 for advertising without the right license, and §7099.10 lets the registrar order the phone company to disconnect “any telephone number contained in the unlawful advertising” in a directory, with no forwarding to a new number.

Enforcement does start from ads. CSLB describes undercover stings aimed at “individuals who unlawfully advertise for construction work”. Its September 30, 2026 release on a sting in Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo County, run with the county district attorney, reports six notices to appear, all for bids over the $1,000 limit, and says those cited “may face additional charges for illegal advertising”.

A footer line that passes

A fictional company, a placeholder number:

The number gets checked. Google’s suggestions for “cslb license number” are “lookup” and “check” (checked 2026-10-25), and the result is CSLB’s Check a License page. The name and classifications there have to match what your site claims.

Before the next ad goes live

1. Look yourself up on Check a License. Copy the name, number and classifications exactly.
2. Open your homepage, one service page and the contact page. Confirm the number shows in the footer on all three.
3. Search your site, profiles and truck artwork for “bonded” and “insured”. Rewrite them per §7027.4.
4. Match every service page and your business name against your classifications.
5. Check the estimate, contract and subcontract templates for the number.
6. Walk the trucks: name and number at 72 points or ¾ inch; C-36, C-45 and C-57 add the street address at 1½ inches, both sides.
7. Read your Google, Yelp and Angi descriptions and your last month of paid ads.
8. Put the next check in January, when new California statutes take effect.

The rules read differently in other states: compare Florida’s contractor advertising rules and the Texas license number rules. If you want the footer done once and carried on every page, pricing shows what a LocalBiz site costs to run.