Washington Construction Law Blog

The paltry $12,000 bond required under the current Contractor Registration Act would be increased to $75,000 for contractors with gross revenue of more than $7.5 million and to $50,000 for contractors with gross revenue of $2 million or more under this new proposed Senate bill.

Under the Contractor Registration Act (CRA), a builder cannot sue a client to recover compensation if the builder is not properly registered.  RCW 18.27.080.  In this case, an unpaid landscaper seeking to sue its client argued it wasn't a contractor as the term is used in the CRA. 

The court said the landscaper was a contractor and, having not been registered, wasn't allowed to sue the client for compensation.  The decision hinges on a reading of the "contractor" definition in RCW 18.27.010(1).

Under the Contractor Registration Act (CRA), contractors are required to obtain a surety bond of ordinarily $12,000 in penal sum. See RCW 18.27.040. Because of the small size of the bond, this statute doesn't get a lot of attention and doesn't raise much liability concern in the typical case.