Question 1

Where does the data come from?

Accepted Answer

From the West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board's public contractor search (wvclboard.wv.gov/verify/), queried live on every run. Nothing is cached: each row is what the board's search returned at run time.

Question 2

How many licences are there?

Accepted Answer

17,495 on 2026-10-12. Largest counties: Kanawha 802, Berkeley 654, Monongalia 648, Harrison 446, Raleigh 445, Cabell 442. 7,832 carry the board's OUT OF STATE county. Most common classifications after Specialty: General Building 5,388, Residential 2,876, Electrical 2,283, HVAC 1,634, Plumbing 1,431, Roofing 1,224.

Question 3

Lookup or export — which do I use?

Accepted Answer

Lookup when you have licence numbers or names: fill 'License number or name' (or the batch list). Names match anywhere in the company name and in the DBA, and both are searched. Export when you want a list: leave that field empty and set filters. 'Mode' can force one or the other (lookup, export); the default, auto, decides by whether you gave names or numbers.

Question 4

Can I list licences that are about to expire?

Accepted Answer

Yes: set 'Expires on or after' and 'Expires on or before' (dates like 2027-01-31), alone or with a county, city or classification. Every row carries the board's expiry date, so the window works on exports and lookups alike.

Question 5

Does it include expired or revoked licences?

Accepted Answer

No. The board's search lists current licences only (17,494 of the 17,495 on 2026-10-12 expired later than that day), and it publishes no status field, so the status column is always empty. A licence that is not in the search returns no row.

Question 6

How do I name a classification?

Accepted Answer

By its name or a word from it: 'roofing', 'hvac', 'electrical', 'general building', 'finished carpentry'. An exact name matches only itself, so 'electrical' does not also return Sign Installation (No Electrical); a word like 'sign' matches every class containing it. A value that matches none of the 63 classes is dropped and logged.

Question 7

Does it include out-of-state contractors?

Accepted Answer

Yes: 7,967 of the 17,495 licences (45.5%) have a mailing address outside West Virginia, most often Ohio (1,638), Pennsylvania (1,549), Virginia (993) and Maryland (880). Tick 'West Virginia mailing addresses only' to drop them, or use the county 'Out of State' to get only them.

Question 8

How am I charged?

Accepted Answer

$0.004 per licence returned. The default export returns 500 licences ($2.00); Kanawha County roofing contractors were 64 ($0.26) on 2026-10-12. Rows explaining an outage or an unrecognised filter are free.

Field	Type
`license_number`	string\|null
`business_name`	string\|null
`dba_name`	string\|null
`phone`	string\|null
`address`	string\|null
`city`	string\|null
`address_state`	string\|null
`zip_code`	string\|null
`county`	string\|null
`classification`	string\|null
`classifications`	array\|null
`expiration_date`	string\|null
`matched_by`	string\|null
`status`	string\|null
`license_type`	string\|null
`state`	string\|null
`notice`	string\|null
`notice_type`	string\|null
`source_url`	string\|null

Field	Type	Req	Default	Description
`mode`	string	no	`"auto"`	auto (default): a licence number or name below runs a lookup, none runs an export. lookup: find licences by WV licence number or company / DBA name. export: current licences by the filters below (county, city, classification, expiry), names and numbers ignored.
`query`	string	no	—	A WVCLB licence number ('WV038157', or just '38157'), or part of a company or DBA name ('Almost Heaven'). Names match anywhere in the company name and in the DBA. Leave empty to run an export instead.
`queries`	array	no	`[]`	Several lookups in ONE run, one per line. Combined with the field above if you fill both.
`county`	string	no	—	A West Virginia county ('Kanawha', 'Berkeley County'), or 'Out of State' / 'International' for the board's non-WV licences. A value that is not one of these is dropped and logged.
`counties`	array	no	`[]`	Several counties in ONE export.
`classification`	string	no	—	A WVCLB classification name or a word from one: 'roofing', 'hvac', 'electrical', 'general building', 'siding'. An exact name matches only itself ('electrical' does not also take SIGN INSTALLATION (NO ELECTRICAL)). A value that matches none of the board's 63 classifications is dropped and logged.
`classifications`	array	no	`[]`	Several classifications in ONE export, e.g. roofing and siding.
`licenseTypes`	array	no	`[]`	Same as Classifications (WVCLB's licence types are its classifications): names like 'ROOFING' or words like 'roofing', 'hvac', 'general building'.
`licenseType`	string	no	—	One licence type; same as Classification.
`city`	string	no	—	Mailing-address city, exact match ignoring case and punctuation, e.g. 'Charleston' (which does not include South Charleston).
`cities`	array	no	`[]`	Several cities in ONE export.
`westVirginiaAddressesOnly`	boolean	no	`false`	Out-of-state contractors hold WV licences: 7,967 of 17,495 (45.5%, 2026-10-12) have a mailing address outside West Virginia. Tick to drop them.
`expiresAfter`	string	no	—	Only licences expiring on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). With 'Expires on or before' it lists licences due for renewal in a window. Works on exports and lookups.
`expiresBefore`	string	no	—	Only licences expiring on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`maxResults`	integer	no	`500`	EXPORT: cap on licences for the WHOLE run — your spend control (17,495 licences statewide on 2026-10-12; set 100000 to take everything that matches). LOOKUP: cap per name or number (default 50).
`proxyConfiguration`	object	no	`{"useApifyProxy":false}`	Not needed: the board's search answers Apify's own IPs (measured 2026-10-12). Leave it off unless a run reports that the board refused it.