If you get caught driving without a license, you’ll get in trouble. But what about roofing without a license? Can a roofing contractor roof a house without a license?

It depends. Your state determines whether you need to have a license. And depending on the municipality, a company may have to get a permit.

Not everybody is scrupulous about these laws. We are, and there are plenty of other companies that are. But you’ll often see a wave after a heavy storm where a lot of people blow into the state that haven’t done their paperwork. Be careful.

How to tell if someone is licensed

Licensing requirements are different from state to state. If there is one, the state construction board usually keeps a list of licensed roofing contractors. Oklahoma updates its listing every week to make sure they don’t keep on people who are suspended or in bad standing. You can check the construction board listings to make sure your chosen roofing contractor is still good.

You’re supposed to have your registration number on your trucks, your business cards, and everything else that’s related to your business. Reregistration too. List is updated once a week for people who are suspended, don’t have license, etc.

The CIB has encouraged a lot more professionalism in the industry. There are a lot of good companies that are careful about keeping their paperwork up to date and ensuring that they’re in good standing with the state.

What goes into licensing

Each state is different, but in the state of Oklahoma there are a few important things that companies have to have to get licensed.

To get a residential roofing license, a company has to incorporate their business. That means becoming an LLC, C-corporation, S-corporation or some other legally-binding entity. After that they have to get general liability insurance and workman’s compensation. There’s a lot of information that has to be filled out on the application, but one of the most important things that’s mentioned is whether or not you have a criminal history. It also asks whether you’re registered in another state.

You don’t need to do a test for a regular roofing license.

Commercial roofing is a different and more intensive process. A residential roofing license is given an endorsement for commercial, much like a driver’s license that has a motorcycle endorsement. The business owner has to take a special test for it, and they have to retake the test every few years. Land Roofing is not currently a commercially-certified company, though we plan to be again soon.

When you register your company with the state, the date of renewal is your birth month. You have to file renewal paperwork every year or your company is not considered licensed. You also have to make sure that you file paperwork with the state every time you get a worker’s compensation claim, or your license will be pulled.