In Washington, look the business up on L&I’s Verify a Contractor tool; in Oregon, look it up on the Construction Contractors Board or Landscape Contractors Board search. Then spend the rest of the 10 minutes on the certificate of insurance and the arborist credential, because a license proves a bond and minimum insurance exist, not that the crew can drop a fir next to your house.
Minutes 1–3 in Washington: L&I Verify
Washington has no separate tree service license. RCW 18.27.010 defines a contractor to include anyone “performing tree removal services,” and L&I lists tree removal among the specialties that must register. Ask for the L&I registration number or UBI, then open secure.lni.wa.gov/verify and check:
- Status: active, with an expiration date after your job.
- Bond: $15,000 for a specialty contractor or $30,000 for a general contractor (RCW 18.27.040).
- Insurance: the carrier and expiration. The legal floor is $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or a $250,000 combined single limit (RCW 18.27.050, as L&I states it).
- Workers’ comp: an active account if the business has employees.
- Lawsuits against the bond and safety violations. One old citation is common in tree work; a pattern is not.
The full walk-through is on checking a tree service license in Washington.
Minutes 1–3 in Oregon: CCB or LCB
Oregon law puts tree removal, pruning, limb and stump removal and tree guying inside both the CCB contractor definition (ORS 701.005(5)(e)) and the landscape contracting license (ORS 671.525). The LCB says it directly: tree removal, guying, pruning and stump removal require an LCB or CCB license. Search both:
- CCB Contractor/License Search (search.ccb.state.or.us), by business name, license number or person. The CCB says the record shows active status, bond and insurance on file, and complaints or discipline from the past 10 years. Phone 503-378-4621.
- LCB Verify a License (lcb.us.thentiacloud.net). Phone 503-967-6291. The LCB’s Arborist Phase requires ISA certification.
Check that the name on the license matches the name on the bid and the truck, and that the license belongs to the business doing the work; a licensed owner who passes your job to an unlicensed crew leaves you dealing with the unlicensed crew. Bonds are $25,000 for a CCB residential general contractor, $20,000 for a residential specialty contractor and $15,000 for a residential limited contractor (ORS 701.081); the LCB bond rose to $20,000 on January 1, 2026. If the business is on neither list, it cannot lawfully contract for your tree work. Details are on checking a tree service license in Oregon.
- WA: tree removal requires L&I contractor registration (RCW 18.27.010); specialty bond $15,000.
- OR: tree work requires a CCB or LCB license (ORS 701.005, ORS 671.525).
- WA insurance floor: $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined.
- Seattle’s registered Tree Service Provider rule requires $1,000,000 general liability (SMC 25.11.100).
- Neither state license tests arborist skill; check ISA credentials separately.
Minutes 4–6: the certificate of insurance
The lookup shows that a policy is on file, not its limits or exclusions. Ask the business to have its insurance agent send you a certificate naming you as certificate holder, then read:
- Policy dates for general liability and workers’ comp, covering your job date.
- Per-occurrence limit. The state minimums are low for a large tree over a house. For comparison, Seattle requires its registered tree service providers to carry $1,000,000 in commercial general liability with the City as additional insured.
- Exclusions. Ask the agent, not the crew, whether the policy excludes tree removal, work above a stated height, or crane and rigging work.
The ISA’s hiring brochure gives the same advice: ask for proof of insurance and call the insurer to confirm it.
Minutes 7–8: arborist credentials
Registration and licensing are financial floors. Neither Washington’s chapter 18.27 RCW nor Oregon’s CCB license includes an exam in pruning, rigging or felling. For that, look the person up in the ISA’s credential directory (treesaregood.org/findanarborist). A Certified Arborist has passed ISA’s exam and keeps up continuing education; the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification is a separate add-on for written risk ratings. The differences are on the arborist hub.
If any limb is within 10 feet of a power line, ask who will do that part. Washington (WAC 296-45) and Oregon OSHA (OAR 437-002-2317) reserve that zone for qualified line-clearance tree trimmers, and the utility usually clears its own primary lines; see tree removal near power lines.
Minutes 9–10: local rules that add a requirement
- Seattle: any removal of a regulated tree, or pruning of live branches 4 inches and larger, must be done by an SDCI-registered Tree Service Provider, which must post public notice before the work (SMC 25.11.100). See trees in Seattle.
- Spokane: work on public trees requires an ISA Certified Arborist with a city Commercial Tree License.
- Walla Walla: major pruning or removal of right-of-way trees 6 inches and larger requires a city Licensed Tree Care Specialist (WWMC 12.49.080).
- Happy Valley: tree contractors need a city business license.
Why this matters most after a storm
Storm season brings knocks on the door. NOAA’s Storm Events data show 79% of Washington and Oregon wind and ice storm reports since 2016 starting between November and March, the months when a tree on the roof pushes people to hire the first crew that appears. The ISA warns against door-to-door offers, and L&I’s own consumer page notes that hiring a registered contractor “may give you protections that aren’t available otherwise”: the bond, the insurance, and L&I’s complaint process. Oregon’s CCB dispute process is available only if the contractor was licensed during your project.
If a tree is already on the house, the order is people, power lines, insurer, then crew; see emergency tree service. The lookup still takes 10 minutes, and it is the 10 minutes that keeps the bond and the board available to you if the job goes wrong.
Sources
- RCW 18.27.010, Definitions; RCW 18.27.040, Bond; RCW 18.27.050, Insurance, checked 2026-10-02.
- L&I, Register as a contractor; L&I, Hiring a contractor, checked 2026-10-02.
- L&I, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business, checked 2026-10-02.
- ORS Chapter 701 (701.005(5)(e), 701.021, 701.081); ORS Chapter 671 (671.525, 671.530), checked 2026-10-02.
- Oregon Construction Contractors Board (Contractor/License Search); CCB consumer tools, checked 2026-10-02.
- Oregon Landscape Contractors Board (Verify a License); LCB insurance and bond requirements, checked 2026-10-02.
- SDCI, Tree Service Provider Registry Requirements; SDCI, Tree removal (SMC 25.11), checked 2026-10-02.
- ISA, Find an ISA-credentialed arborist, checked 2026-10-02.
- Why Hire an Arborist, International Society of Arboriculture consumer brochure, 2021, checked 2026-10-02.
- WAC 296-45-455, Line-clearance tree trimming; Oregon OSHA Division 2/RR (OAR 437-002-2317), checked 2026-10-02.
- City of Spokane Urban Forestry, Permits; City of Walla Walla, Tree permits; City of Happy Valley, Tree cutting ordinance, checked 2026-10-02.
- NOAA NCEI, Storm Events bulk CSV files, January 2016 to June 2026 (WA/OR counts computed for this article), checked 2026-10-02.
Westcoast-Tree.org is an independent information site. If you call a number on this site, the call goes to a tree service that covers your area and we may be paid a referral fee by that company. We don't perform tree work and we don't vet, license or insure anyone. Cost figures are modeled estimates, not quotes (method). Not affiliated with the former Westcoast Tree Care Inc of Tumwater, WA.