How to Check a Contractor's Trade License in Dubai (Free DED Check)

What a Dubai trade licence actually is

Before a plumber, electrician or AC technician sets foot in your Dubai flat, you can check whether their company is legally allowed to do that work. Here is how to read a trade licence, verify it in under a minute, and decide what to do with each result.

A trade licence is the document that lets a business operate legally in Dubai. For mainland firms it is issued by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), the authority most people still call by its former name, the Department of Economic Development (DED). Every legitimate mainland contractor has one.

The licence is not just a number on a wall. It records the company's registered trade name, its licence number, the issue and expiry dates, the current status, the issuing authority, and the part most newcomers skip: the registered activities the business is actually permitted to perform.

Those activities are specific. A handyman company that does plumbing will carry an activity worded something like "Plumbing and Sanitary Installation" or "Plumbing and Sanitary Contracting". An electrical firm carries "Electrical Fitting Contracting"; an AC contractor carries "Air-Conditioning Systems Installation and Maintenance". A single technical-services licence can list several related activities at once.

Here is the lever that makes this worth your time: if you are hiring someone to rewire a socket and their licence lists only cleaning and general maintenance, they are working outside their licensed scope. The licence tells you that before the invoice does.

Mainland, free zone, or another emirate

One thing trips up almost every new resident: a Dubai DED check only covers mainland Dubai companies. It is not a national register.

Free-zone companies are licensed by their own free-zone authority (DMCC, JAFZA, Dubai Silicon Oasis and so on), not by DET. They will not appear in mainland DED data even though they are perfectly legitimate. So a "not found" result does not automatically mean "unlicensed".

The other emirates run their own economic departments. Abu Dhabi mainland firms are licensed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED); the Northern Emirates have their own registries. A Sharjah-registered firm will not show up in a Dubai search.

There are also freelance permits: person-centric licences for independent professionals, issued by the Dubai and Abu Dhabi economic departments rather than tied to a company trade name. A solo handyman may be working on one of those.

So the right mental model is simple. A Dubai DED check confirms a Dubai mainland licence. If nothing comes up, the next question is not "are they a fraud" — it is "which authority licensed you, then".

How to verify a Dubai trade licence, step by step

Dubai trade licences are verifiable against official data. The Department of Economy and Tourism publishes its mainland licence register openly, and the UAE's official government platform lets anyone inquire about licences, trade names and activities. The underlying mainland records also flow into Dubai's open-data platform, where the licence master dataset lists each business and the activities it performs.

Reading raw government data is more than most people want for a one-off hire. So Everlook runs a free public DED Licence Check tool at Everlook's free licence-check tool, built on that same official Dubai DED data imported from Dubai Pulse.

Search by number or by name

You can search two ways. If the contractor has sent you a quote or a licence copy, type in the licence number directly. If all you have is a company name, search by trade name instead.

Either way the tool returns the same core facts in seconds: the current status, the expiry date, the licence category, and the full list of registered activities.

Match the activity to the job

Now do the one check most people forget. Read the activity list and confirm it covers the work you are about to book. Electrical job, electrical activity. Plumbing job, a plumbing or sanitary activity. AC servicing, an air-conditioning activity.

A valid licence for the wrong trade is not the green light it looks like. It tells you the business exists and is registered, but not that it is authorised for what you are hiring it to do.

What to do with each result

You will land on one of four outcomes. Here is the decision tree for each.

Valid, and the activity matches

This is the baseline you want: the status reads active, the expiry date is in the future, and the registered activities cover the job. Treat it as a good first signal — the company is legally registered and authorised for that line of work. It is a floor, not a ceiling; keep going with reviews and a written quote.

Status shows expired

An expired licence means the company is not currently authorised to trade. Licences lapse for ordinary reasons — a renewal in progress, an administrative gap — so this is a question, not a verdict. Ask the contractor to confirm the licence is renewed and send the updated copy before you let any work start.

Activities do not match the job

This is the quiet red flag. The licence is valid, but you wanted electrical work and the only listed activities are cleaning and general maintenance. They may be operating outside their licensed scope, which is exactly the situation that leaves you with no recourse if the work goes wrong. Ask directly whether they hold the matching activity — or find a contractor whose licence already covers it.

Nothing found

A blank result has three innocent explanations and one that is not. They could be free-zone licensed, registered in another emirate, or working on an individual freelance permit, all legitimate, and none of which appear in a Dubai mainland search. Or they could be unlicensed. The way to tell them apart is to ask which authority issued their licence, then verify with that authority. A straight answer is reassuring; evasion is not.

What a licence does and does not guarantee

Be clear-eyed about what you are buying with this check, because it is easy to over-read.

A valid trade licence proves one thing: the business is legally registered and authorised for the listed activities. That is genuinely useful — it filters out firms with no standing to invoice you at all.

It does not guarantee the quality of the workmanship. It does not promise that the specific worker who turns up is skilled or experienced. And it says nothing about whether the company carries insurance for accidental damage. A spotless licence and a botched repair can coexist.

So the licence check is one layer, not the whole vetting. Pair it with recent reviews, a written and itemised quote, and the broader habits covered in this guide to avoiding common hiring scams. For higher-risk electrical work in older buildings, the same logic that drives a proper electrical inspection applies here too: paperwork first, then evidence of competence.

Keep your expectations matched to the tool. The licence answers "is this business allowed to do this." Reviews and quotes answer "will they do it well."

How Everlook takes the paperwork off you

Chasing licence numbers, decoding activity lists and cross-checking expiry dates is a lot of admin for hiring one tradesperson. On Everlook, that work is done up front.

Contractors register with their DED licence number, which ties their profile to the service categories their licence actually permits, so a firm without a plumbing activity does not surface as a plumber. The team also reviews submitted licence documents before a provider is cleared to take jobs.

To be precise about what that is and is not: it is human vetting done before a contractor goes live, not automated real-time verification on every single booking, and there is no public "verified" badge to look for on the site. It simply means the licence-checking groundwork this article describes has largely been handled before you ever see a provider — for plumbing, AC and electrical work alike.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a contractor is licensed in Dubai?

Search their company by licence number or trade name against official Dubai DED data — the quickest route is a free licence-check tool that return s status, expiry and activities in one place. Confirm the status is active, the expiry date is in the future, and the registered activities cover the work you are hiring them for. A Dubai mainland search will not find free-zone or other-emirate firms.

Is it free to verify a Dubai trade licence?

Yes. Verifying a mainland Dubai trade licence is free through official channels, and Everlook's public licence-check tool is free to use. You do not need an account or the contractor's permission, and a licence number or company name is enough to pull the status, expiry date, category and registered activities.

What does a trade-licence activity mean?

An activity is a specific line of work the licence authorises, worded in official terms such as "Electrical Fitting Contracting" or "Plumbing and Sanitary Installation". A company may only legally perform the activities listed on its licence. If you want electrical work and electrical activity is not on the list, the firm is operating outside its licensed scope.

Why can't I find a contractor on the Dubai DED check?

A Dubai DED check only covers mainland Dubai companies. A blank result usually means the firm is licensed in a free zone, registered in another emirate such as Abu Dhabi (ADDED) or Sharjah, or working on an individual freelance permit. Ask which authority issued their licence and verify directly with that body before assuming anything.

Does a valid licence mean the work will be good?

No. A valid licence confirms the business is legally registered and authorised for those activities, and nothing more. It does not guarantee workmanship quality, the skill of the worker sent, or that the company is insured. Combine the licence check with recent reviews and a written, itemised quote before you commit.

Booking a vetted contractor on Everlook

Finding a contractor in Dubai who actually holds the right activity on the right licence, not just any licence, is harder than it sounds when you are new here and reading trade names you have never seen before. Everlook surfaces contractors whose DED licences are tied to the services they offer, with verified UAE experience and reviews from your neighbours, so the legwork in this article is largely done before you book.

Find your next pro on Everlook

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