Eighteen people were arrested in American Canyon this week in a sting operation targeting those who to do home repairs without a license.

A total of 175 people were caught Wednesday and Thursday in undercover operations in seven cities throughout the state, the California Contractors State License Board disclosed Friday. American Canyon’s was the only undercover operation in Napa County.

The suspects were arrested after they offered bids on projects valued at more than $500 to undercover agents posing as homeowners.

In American Canyon, people were asked to visit a vacant home in the city. Most of the suspects who kept their appointments had advertised their services in local papers, including the Napa Valley Register and the Times-Herald, according to the board.

Of the 18 men arrested in American Canyon, eight were from Napa, three from American Canyon and five from Vallejo, according to the state investigators. One person came from Fairfield and another from Benicia.

One man who showed up at the door lived down the street, said Doug Ropel, a state investigator. Another came with a laborer carrying marijuana, he also said.

The men were arrested after bidding on jobs that included repairing a fence that fell during a storm, painting the outside walls of the vacant house and in some cases, landscaping the yard, explained Ropel. They received a notice to appear in Napa County Superior Court and were released.

The men face up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine on suspicion of bidding on contracting jobs worth more than $500 without a license, a misdemeanor, according to the board. Had the men been arrested for the same offense for the second time, they would have been sent to jail for 90 days.

Other suspected unlicensed operators who had been contacted as part of the sting operation did not show up, Ropel also said, avoiding arrest.

Ropel said the sting was set up through the city’s code enforcement division. The other sting operations were in El Dorado, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Tulare counties.

Dennis Corbett, the city’s chief building official, said the city’s police department assisted the investigators.

Corbett, who has worked with the city for two years, does not believe there are more unlicensed operators in American Canyon than in other cities.

“This occurs statewide,” Corbett said.

There are  310,000 licensed contractors  permitted to work in 43 different categories, from fence repairs to painting, according to the Contractors State License Board.

Licensed contractors have to take tests, including one on contractors law, and pass a background check.

Rick Lopes, a spokesman for the board, said homeowners take many risks by hiring unlicensed operators, including getting shoddy work and allowing someone with criminal background inside their homes.

Among those arrested this week in other sting operations were five people with arrest warrants and an unregistered sex offender, he noted.

Corbett said the city cannot enforce the state’s contractors laws because they are outside the city’s jurisdiction.

City staffers can only refer complaints to the board, Corbett said. The staff does not distribute lists of licensed contractors to maintain a sense of independence. However the city does have booklets from the Contractors State License Board on how to select a contractor.