You Can’t Say “Bonded.”Here’s What To Say Instead.

The Rule, In The CSLB’s Own Words

The CSLB’s advertising guidance for contractors says it directly:

“The law prevents you from noting in your advertising or any presentation to the public that you are bonded.”

The same guidance gives the reason: a bonding claim “could lead a consumer to believe that bonding offers a higher level of protection than might be the case.” Every licensed California contractor carries a contractor’s bond as a condition of holding the license. Advertising it implies a distinction that doesn’t exist — like a restaurant advertising that it passed its health inspection.

And “advertising” is defined broadly. The CSLB lists newspapers, radio, business cards, vehicle lettering, brochures, directories, contract proposals, “and any website or post that solicits business on the Internet.” Your website counts. Your Google Business Profile posts count. Your Instagram captions count.

Why It’s On Your Truck Anyway

“Licensed, bonded, and insured” travels by habit. It’s on the last company’s trucks, so it goes on yours. It was on your old website, so the new designer copies it over. Template copy ships with it. Most of the contractors publishing it have no idea the middle word is a problem — and most of the web designers pasting it have never read a CSLB guideline. When we take over a contractor’s site, searching every page for that one word is one of the first checks we run, every time, before anything launches.

What The Rules Ask For Instead

The same one-page CSLB guidance that bans “bonded” requires something most contractor websites forget: your license number belongs in all forms of advertising — contracts, bids, and your website included. The guidance puts the civil penalty for missing it at $100 to $1,000 for a first offense. It also tells you to stay inside your classification: a masonry contractor can’t advertise electrical work without holding the electrical license. And it notes that false or misleading advertising to induce a home-improvement contract is a misdemeanor.

So the compliant version is also the more convincing one:

• License number, visible. Footer, contact page, proposals. It’s required, and it lets a careful customer verify you on the CSLB lookup in ten seconds — which is exactly the kind of customer you want.
• “Licensed and insured” — only when both check out. Our own practice before publishing those words for a client: the license verified against the CSLB’s public lookup, and the insurance backed by a real certificate, not a verbal “yeah we’re covered.”
• A specific figure beats “fully insured.” “$2,000,000 general liability coverage, certificate available on request” is checkable and more persuasive than any adjective. That’s our house standard, not a legal requirement — but vague coverage claims are exactly the kind of thing false-advertising rules exist for.
• Drop “bonded.” Everywhere. Website, truck the next time it’s wrapped, GBP posts, captions, proposals. It was never doing work a license number doesn’t do better.

Can I Say It If It’s True?

No — that’s the point of the rule. It is true, of every licensed contractor in the state, which is exactly why the CSLB treats advertising it as misleading. The rule isn’t punishing a lie; it’s preventing a true statement from creating a false impression of extra protection.

This is a plain-English explainer by a web designer who builds contractor websites, not legal advice. For anything regulatory, read the primary source below or talk to the CSLB directly — rules change, and this page records when we last checked.

Sources: CSLB, “Advertising Guidelines For Contractors” (PDF), retrieved August 24, 2026 · CSLB license lookup.