How to check a well driller license

Checking a license means using the state's own lookup or calling the licensing office, then matching the credential to the work. A business card, a truck lettering, or a list copied from last year's roster is not a check. Several states say so in their own words. Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says a driller license does not mean the department has found that the driller knows proper construction practice, and it tells owners the protection of a private well is the homeowner's responsibility. The official step is still to search the licensed-drillers database by name, county, or service type.

Use the lookup the agency publishes. Oklahoma's Water Resources Board has a find-a-driller page. Minnesota's Department of Health publishes a licensed well and boring contractor directory and tells you the company license and the certified representative are different. Connecticut's eLicense lookup is described by the state as a primary source. Wyoming's Water Well Contractors Licensing Board has a contractor search, and the State Engineer's Office says it will not recommend a driller. Colorado's Board of Examiners updates its licensed-contractor list quarterly. Texas uses the Department of Licensing and Regulation's license search. Do not paste those results into another website. Search again when you are ready to hire, because a license can lapse.

Read the class, not only the name. South Carolina issues well driller licenses in environmental, coastal, and rock categories and in classes A through D. A class A license may cover all three categories. Another class does not. North Carolina certifies individuals at levels A, B, C, and D, and the department says to look at the wallet card for the level and the dates. Virginia certifies water well systems providers as trainee, journeyman, or master, and a contracting business still needs the water well and pump specialty. Asking "are you licensed" without asking the level misses that structure.

Check the expiration against the state's calendar. Nevada licenses expire on June 30, and renewal is due by June 15. Tennessee licenses expire on July 31. Maine licenses expire on December 31. Oregon constructor licenses last two years and expire on June 30. New York business registrations run through March 31 of the following year. A license that expired last month is not a license. If the state requires continuing education before renewal, ask whether that education was filed. Kansas requires eight units a year after the first full year, with limits on safety courses and online courses. Nevada requires eight units and, at least once in two renewal periods, the division's own regulations course.

Match the credential to the hole. A restricted driller license in Mississippi is only for the purpose it states. A water well needs a water well driller license. North Dakota separates water well contractors, pump and pitless installers, monitoring well contractors, and geothermal drillers. Hawaii's well permit form asks for a C-57 license number for the driller and allows a C-57, C-57a, or A license number for the pump installer. Those numbers come from the contractor licensing agency, and the permit comes from the Commission on Water Resource Management.

If the state does not publish a searchable roster, call the office printed on the program page and ask them to confirm the number. Alaska's well guidance describes the driller as a construction contractor licensed under Alaska statutes, not as the holder of a separate well-driller certificate. You would confirm the contractor registration, not a well-driller card that the guidance does not name. In the District of Columbia, confirm both the out-of-state driller license and the District business license.

When the lookup and the person disagree, believe the lookup. Ask the contractor to explain a name change or a company change, and ask the agency if you are unsure. A bond or insurance certificate is extra evidence in states that require one, such as the Arkansas contractor bond or the New Mexico driller bond, but it is not a substitute for an active license.