Question 1

Where does the data come from?

Accepted Answer

Virginia DPOR's public regulant lists — one tab-delimited file per licence class (Class A, B, C, legacy Class A, temporary and residential tradesman), published at dpor.virginia.gov/RegulantLists. They list current licences and were last refreshed 2026-10-05 when we checked. This actor downloads only the classes your run needs.

Question 2

Is there a phone number?

Accepted Answer

No. DPOR's licence lists publish no phone number for any licence, so the phone field is always null. Email is on 41,484 of 53,779 licences (77%, 2026-10-06), and the mailing address and ZIP on every one.

Question 3

How accurate is the county?

Accepted Answer

Approximate. DPOR records no county, so it is derived from the mailing ZIP with the Census Bureau's 2020 ZIP-to-county file. Of 43,223 Virginia-address licences, 24,189 have a ZIP that lies in one county (county_method zip_single), 18,652 a ZIP that crosses a county line, where we use the county holding most of the ZIP (zip_majority), and 382 a PO-box ZIP with no area (unmapped, never matched by a county search). If you need precision, use the city or ZIP filter, which are exact.

Question 4

Why does 'Fairfax' not work as a county?

Accepted Answer

Fairfax, Franklin, Richmond and Roanoke are each both a county and an independent city in Virginia. Say 'Fairfax County' or 'Fairfax city' (or 'City of Fairfax'); a bare name returns the free county list rather than guessing. Some small independent cities, Fairfax city among them, cover no ZIP's majority, so a county search for them returns a free row naming the ZIPs to search instead.

Question 5

How many contractors does a search return?

Accepted Answer

Counted 2026-10-06, all three classes: Fairfax County roofing 118, electrical 451, home improvement 1,575; Richmond city roofing 13, electrical 41, home improvement 144.

Question 6

How do I name a trade?

Accepted Answer

By name ('Roofing', 'Electrical', 'HVAC', 'Home Improvement'), by a word from the name ('roof' finds Roofing), or by DPOR code ('ROC', 'H/H'). Turn on Discovery Mode to get every trade with its code, free.

Question 7

What about out-of-state contractors?

Accepted Answer

10,556 of DPOR's licences have a mailing address outside Virginia. They are left out by default; turn off 'Virginia addresses only' to include them on a statewide trade search.

Question 8

How am I charged?

Accepted Answer

One event per contractor returned ($0.002). A licence that matches two of your searches is returned and charged once. The county and trade lists, and any row explaining a source or input problem, are free.

Field	Type
`business_name`	string\|null
`individual_name`	string\|null
`email`	string\|null
`phone`	string\|null
`address`	string\|null
`city`	string\|null
`zip_code`	string\|null
`address_state`	string\|null
`state`	string\|null
`county`	string\|null
`county_method`	string\|null
`license_number`	string\|null
`board_occupation`	string\|null
`license_class`	string\|null
`license_type`	string\|null
`status`	string\|null
`specialties`	array\|null
`specialty_labels`	array\|null
`certification_date`	string\|null
`expiration_date`	string\|null
`requested_county`	string\|null
`requested_city`	string\|null
`requested_zip`	string\|null
`requested_trade`	string\|null
`matched_by`	string\|null
`county_name`	string\|null
`trade`	string\|null
`trade_code`	string\|null
`notice`	string\|null
`notice_type`	string\|null
`source_url`	string\|null

Field	Type	Req	Default	Description
`listOptionsOnly`	boolean	no	`false`	If true, skip the download and return Virginia's 95 counties and 38 independent cities plus every trade DPOR's Board for Contractors licenses, with its code. Free, not charged.
`trade`	string	no	`"Roofing"`	A DPOR trade, by name or code, e.g. 'Roofing', 'Electrical', 'HVAC', 'Home Improvement', 'ROC'. A word from the name works too: 'roof' finds Roofing. Leave it empty to get every trade in the place.
`trades`	array	no	`["Roofing","Electrical"]`	Several trades in ONE run, e.g. Roofing and Electrical. Combined with 'Trade' if you fill both. A contractor holding two of them is returned (and billed) once.
`county`	string	no	`"Fairfax County"`	A Virginia county or independent city, e.g. 'Fairfax County', 'Richmond city', 'City of Fairfax', 'Loudoun'. Fairfax, Franklin, Richmond and Roanoke are each both a county and a city, so say which. APPROXIMATE: DPOR records no county, so it is derived from the mailing ZIP (each row's county_method says how). For an exact match use City or ZIP. An unrecognised name returns the free county and trade lists instead of failing.
`counties`	array	no	`[]`	Several counties or independent cities in ONE run. Combined with 'County' if you fill both.
`city`	string	no	—	The city on the licence's mailing address, e.g. 'Vienna', 'Virginia Beach'. Exact match, case-insensitive.
`cities`	array	no	`[]`	Several mailing cities in ONE run, each searched separately.
`zip`	string	no	—	A 5-digit ZIP code, matched exactly against the licence's mailing ZIP, e.g. '22182'.
`zips`	array	no	`[]`	Several ZIP codes in ONE run, each searched separately.
`licenseClasses`	array	no	`["A","B","C"]`	Which DPOR licence classes to include: A, B, C, and RETR (residential tradesman). Only those files are downloaded. Default: A, B and C.
`inVirginiaOnly`	boolean	no	`true`	Keep only licences with a Virginia mailing address. About 20% of DPOR's licences have an out-of-state address; turn this off to include them on a statewide trade search.
`maxResults`	integer	no	—	Cap on the contractors returned PER place + trade search, not per run, so adding places can never silently truncate the ones later in the list. Leave empty to return every match.
`proxyConfiguration`	object	no	`{"useApifyProxy":false}`	Optional. DPOR answers direct requests; enable a proxy only if runs come back with a 'blocked' notice.