Pac West Connect lists licensed installers of security systems, cameras and video doorbells, smart home automation, home networks and Wi-Fi, home theater and whole-home audio, lighting control, access control, locks and gates across all 39 Washington counties. It is free, has no ads and no paid placements, and is written from the homeowner’s side: who controls the system, where the video goes, and what keeps working when the internet or the company goes away.
Where the information comes from
Listings start from public state records: Washington L&I’s electrical contractor licenses and contractor registrations. Details about services, service areas, monitoring and ownership come from each company’s own website, much of it gathered by automated research agents. Every entry must cite its sources and show when it was last verified; entries that fail these checks are not published. We don’t copy manufacturer dealer locators, trade-association directories, Google Maps, Yelp or Angi.
We publish business contact details only. State records also name owners and the electricians behind each license; we don’t republish those, and we never publish a sole proprietor’s home address.
Licensing in Washington
There is no separate state alarm license, smart home license or locksmith license. Anyone paid to install or service wired security, camera, AV, lighting-control, smart home or network equipment needs an L&I electrical contractor license (with a $4,000 bond and a certified administrator) whose specialty covers the work:
- Limited energy (06): alarms, cameras, intercoms, whole-home audio, lighting-control keypads, automation and data cabling, in any building — but never the 120-volt circuit itself.
- Telecommunications (09): data, phone and video cabling, Wi-Fi infrastructure, and fixed cameras with no remote controls. It doesn’t cover alarms, access control, lighting control or stand-alone amplified sound.
- Residential (02): all of the above plus 120-volt wiring in houses, such as smart switches, dimmers and hardwired smoke and CO alarms.
- General (01): all electrical and low-voltage work.
- Doors and gates (10): electric gate and door operators, keypads, loop detectors and photo-eyes.
Locks and door hardware are construction work, registered with L&I as a contractor (locks and security equipment, specialty SQ); that registration alone doesn’t cover any alarm or camera wiring. Garage door companies are registered contractors too; a residential garage door opener’s low-voltage wiring is exempt from electrical licensing.
A listing only appears under a kind of work if it holds a license that covers it, and only companies that work in homes are listed. National companies appear only with a Washington office and a valid license, and are labelled.
What a handyman or “tech helper” may do
Without an electrical license, someone you pay may set up plug-in hubs, mesh Wi-Fi, plug-in cameras and smart speakers; mount and pair battery-powered cameras, doorbells, sensors and smart locks; configure apps, Home Assistant and your network; and wall-mount a TV with no in-wall wiring. They may not run cable inside walls (Ethernet, speaker, alarm or PoE camera wire), replace a wired doorbell, wire an alarm panel or an electric strike, or install smart switches or hardwired smoke alarms. This is our reading of the rules, not an L&I ruling. You can do electrical work on your own home yourself, but permits still apply.
Permits
Alarm, camera, audio and lighting-control wiring needs an electrical permit from L&I or your city; small jobs (up to 20 devices) can use a Class B permit with a random-inspection label. Network and phone cabling inside a house needs no permit. Some cities, such as Seattle and Tacoma, also license alarm companies and charge false-alarm fees.
How listings and guides are made
Research is done with the help of AI agents and then checked by automated rules before anything is published: every fact must cite a source, every entry shows the date it was last verified, and entries that fail the checks don’t go live. Each license is checked automatically with L&I before it is published and again every week: it must be active, of the type and specialty the listing claims, and have a current bond, an active electrical administrator for electrical licenses, and current insurance for contractor registrations. Addresses are matched to the U.S. Census Bureau’s geocoder before they appear on the map. Guides summarize published sources (state agencies, cities, regulators and manufacturers) and label any cost figures as indicative, with their source and date.
Each listing also shows the company’s Washington L&I public record — violations, lawsuits against its bond, tax warrants and suspensions — for the last five years. See how we list and rank.
We don’t accept payment for listings, rankings or guide mentions, and we don’t sell leads.
Corrections and listing requests
Spotted something wrong, or want your business added, updated or removed? Email hello@pacwestconnect.com with a link to the page and a source we can check (your website, a license record or similar). We correct verifiable errors promptly.
Reviews and ratings
We don’t collect, store or edit reviews. Listings link to each company’s own pages on review sites so you can read them there. Where available, a company’s Google rating and a few of its reviews load live from Google, credited to Google and the reviewers.
No paid placements
Listings are not endorsements, and nobody pays to be listed or ranked. Confirm an installer’s license type and bond with L&I before hiring.