Quick facts: the July 2026 numbers
- WA state filing fee
- $180 for the Certificate of Formation, plus the Secretary of State's online processing fee if you file online. File the initial report with the formation and there is no separate filing fee; defer it and it is due within 120 days for $10. Paid to the state no matter who files it
- Bizee
- $0 + state fee to form; registered agent free the first year, then about $149/yr at renewal
- Northwest
- $39 + state fee to form; registered agent free the first year, then $125/yr
- Do it yourself
- $200 total; you can be your own registered agent for $0
- Either way
- Washington's $70 annual report is yours to pay every year; no service removes it
Prices checked July 19, 2026. Both companies change pricing and run promotions; verify the current number on their sites before you buy. Nobody paid to be in this comparison, and these are plain links, not affiliate links. If that ever changes, we will say so right here on the page.
If you have decided to form an LLC for your contracting business, the next question is who actually files it: Bizee, Northwest Registered Agent, or you. All three get you the same LLC. The state of Washington does not care which door you walked through, and neither does L&I. What changes is what you pay this year, what you quietly pay every year after, and whose name and address end up in the public record.
Here is the honest version of that comparison, written for someone about to register a contracting business in Washington, not for someone shopping for the biggest signup bonus.
The LLC is step one of a much longer chain: UBI, business license, bond, insurance, L&I registration. Build your free Contractor Lane roadmap and see the whole order before you spend anything.
What you are actually buying
A formation service does two things. It files your Certificate of Formation with the Washington Secretary of State, and it acts as your registered agent, the person or company legally required to be available at a physical Washington address during business hours to receive lawsuits and official state mail on your behalf. That second job is the recurring one, and it is where all of these companies actually make their money. The filing is the loss leader; the registered agent renewal is the subscription.
Keep that frame and both pricing pages start making sense.
Bizee: cheapest year one, watch the checkout
Bizee, which used to be called Incfile, charges $0 for its basic formation package. You pay only Washington's state fee, so your first-year cost is about $200, and that includes a full year of registered agent service for free. As of July 2026 the registered agent renews at about $149 per year after that, and the renewal price has moved around over the years, so check it before you buy rather than trusting an old review, including this one.
The honest catch with Bizee is not the price, it is the checkout. On the way to your $0 filing you will be offered an EIN for roughly $70, compliance packages, expedited filing, business banking, and more. The EIN upsell is the one that matters: the IRS issues EINs for free, online, in minutes. A contractor who says no to every add-on gets a genuinely cheap formation. A contractor who clicks yes a few times pays more than Northwest would have cost, for things that were free or unnecessary.
Northwest: a little more up front, calmer after that
Northwest Registered Agent charges $39 plus the state fee, so about $239 in year one for a Washington LLC, also with the first year of registered agent service included. After that the registered agent is $125 per year, and Northwest advertises that number as locked, meaning it does not creep at renewal the way many competitors' prices do.
Two things genuinely distinguish Northwest for a contractor. First, privacy: they put their own address on your public filings wherever the state allows it, instead of yours. If you run your business from your house, and most new contractors do, that keeps your home address out of the public record that every marketer and door-knocker scrapes. Second, restraint: the checkout has far fewer upsells, and their support is staffed by actual humans who answer questions without pushing packages. You pay about $39 more in year one for a quieter experience and a lower, flatter renewal.
The do-it-yourself option nobody sells you
You can file the Certificate of Formation yourself through the Washington Secretary of State's online filing system for $200 and serve as your own registered agent for free. It is a real option and plenty of contractors take it. The requirements are that you have a physical Washington street address, not a PO box, and that someone is actually available there during normal business hours to receive legal mail. The tradeoffs are that your name and address go in the public record, and that if a process server shows up with a lawsuit while you are on a roof in the next county, that paperwork still counts as delivered. Miss it and a default judgment can happen without you ever knowing you were sued.
If you are rarely home during business hours, that risk is the strongest practical argument for paying $125 to $149 a year for a professional registered agent, stronger than any convenience argument about the filing itself.
The math, year by year
Year one: DIY $200. Bizee about $200. Northwest about $239. All three include the state fee; the first two include or skip nothing else.
Year two and after: DIY $0 if you stay your own agent. Northwest $125. Bizee about $149. Every option also pays Washington's $70 annual report to the Secretary of State, because that fee belongs to the state, not the service, no matter what a checkout page implies.
Over five years the gap between the two services is small, roughly a hundred dollars. This is not a decision worth agonizing over. Pick on fit, not on a coupon.
Which one fits a Washington contractor
If your priority is the absolute cheapest year one and you trust yourself to decline every add-on and get your EIN free from the IRS, Bizee does the job. If you work from home and want your address off the public record, or you just want the lower locked renewal and a quieter checkout, Northwest is usually the better fit for a contractor, and it is the one we would point a friend to first. If you have a business address where someone is reliably present and you are comfortable with state websites, filing it yourself is completely legitimate and saves the most money.
The traps, so you do not learn them the expensive way
Do not buy an EIN, from anyone, ever. It is free at irs.gov. Do not let a registered agent renewal auto-bill without checking the price that year. And do not assume a formation service has "set up your business," because it has not. The LLC is one link in the Washington chain. You still need your UBI and business license through the Department of Revenue, your bond, your insurance, and your L&I contractor registration before you can legally advertise or bid a single job. Formation services stop at the LLC and none of them tell you loudly enough that the hard part comes after.
That chain, in the right order, is exactly what Contractor Lane does. Build your free roadmap and see every step that comes after the LLC.
Where Contractor Lane comes in
Contractor Lane is the front door for starting a contracting business in Washington. Whether you form your LLC through Bizee, Northwest, or the state website yourself, the roadmap picks up from there and walks you through the UBI, the business license, the bond and insurance, and the L&I registration in the order that avoids rework. The free roadmap builder shows you the path; the paid roadmap walks it with you, step by step, with the current fees verified.
Ready to launch?
Pick your filing door, skip the upsells, and get moving. Build your free Contractor Lane roadmap and make sure the LLC is the start of a clean setup, not the end of one.
General educational information for people starting a business in Washington. Requirements and fees change. Contractor Lane is not a law firm or tax advisor.