Oregon has no verification-first ADU builder list, or it did not until we built one. Every “best builders in Portland” page we could find is a directory listing or a prefab catalogue with no licence check behind it.
That is a strange gap, because the Oregon Construction Contractors Board publishes more useful information than most state boards do. You can see, for any licensed contractor in this state, how much they owe homeowners and subcontractors in unpaid claims, how much they owe in unpaid civil penalties, and whether they have ever been suspended for lack of bond or insurance. All of it free, all of it over a ten-year window.
So that is where our coverage starts. Pick a city below for the full comparison, with every CCB record checked live, the disclosure block read, and every exclusion explained.
Builder comparisons by city
How we pick
Every builder we list anywhere in Oregon has had their licence read live off the Construction Contractors Board at search.ccb.state.or.us, not pulled from an aggregator or a listicle. Licences that come back expired, surrendered or not found are excluded from ranked lists, and we name the builder and the reason rather than dropping them quietly.
Oregon publishes more than most states, and we use all of it. The CCB record carries a ten-year disclosure block: unpaid claims and unpaid civil penalties in actual dollars, plus direct yes-or-no answers on whether complaints have been filed, whether the contractor has been disciplined, and whether they have ever been suspended for lack of bond or insurance. A dollar figure in either unpaid column is the strongest negative signal any state board publishes, and it appears on our builder cards when it is there.
We also check the Certified Lead-Based Paint Renovation licence, which Oregon requires to work on anything built before 1978. Given the age of the housing stock here, that certification often decides who can legally do a basement or garage conversion at all.
One thing Oregon does not let you check, and we say so rather than implying otherwise: there is no equivalent of California's C47 Manufactured Housing classification. Some prefabricated structures are regulated by the Building Codes Division under a separate programme rather than by CCB, so a clean CCB search does not always cover what you are buying.
Beyond the licence we weigh review volume, how specialised the builder really is in ADU work, and what evidence exists of finished projects. We do not take payment for placement.
Last updated August 9, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check an Oregon contractor's licence myself?
Use the Oregon CCB licence search. One box takes either a licence number or a business name, and unlike California's search it does real matching rather than returning an alphabetical window, so a name search is trustworthy here.
Read the status, then click through to the detail for the ten-year disclosure block. Unpaid claims and unpaid civil penalties are shown in dollars, and either one above zero is worth a hard conversation before you sign anything.
Does Oregon license prefab and tiny-home builders the same way?
No, and this is the gap that catches people. CCB licenses contractors. Some prefabricated structures, including tiny homes, fall under the Building Codes Division's separate prefabricated structures programme instead, which is a different credential at a different agency.
So a CCB search returning nothing does not always mean a company is unlicensed; it can mean they were never regulated by CCB in the first place. Ask which Oregon programme regulates what you are actually buying, then check that register.
What is the lead-paint certification and when does it matter?
Oregon requires a Certified Lead-Based Paint Renovation (LBPR) licence to bid and work on structures built before 1978. It shows on the CCB detail page as a plain YES or NO.
For a new detached ADU on a clear part of the lot it may never come up. For a basement conversion, a garage conversion, or anything that disturbs painted surfaces on an older house, it decides who can legally do the work.