Maine · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
Maine does not license concrete, masonry or general contractors. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation lists no contractor trade, and the Attorney General confirms general contractors are not licensed or regulated. The binding rule is the Home Construction Contracts Act: any residential job over $3,000 in labor or materials needs a signed written contract, with deposits capped at 1/3.
State-level license
No — see local details
Public lookup
Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-26. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Maine has no state license for concrete contractors. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, the agency inside the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation that licenses trades, publishes a full list of the professions it regulates. That list runs from Accountants to Veterinary Technicians. It includes Electricians, Plumbers, Boiler Operators, Propane and Natural Gas Technicians, Oil and Solid Fuel Technicians, Elevator Inspectors and Mechanics, Architects, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. It does not include concrete finishers, masons, foundation contractors, excavators or general contractors. There is no board to apply to, no classification to hold, and no state exam to sit for before you pour a slab, set forms for a frost wall or lay block. The Attorney General states the same thing in plain words on its home construction page: in Maine, general contractors and trades such as roofing and framing are not licensed or regulated. The office adds that newcomers from states with strict regulatory regimes are often surprised by this. What replaces a license is contract law, building code enforcement at the town level, consumer protection enforcement by the Attorney General, and the ordinary obligations every Maine employer carries. A concrete contractor in Maine is therefore regulated by what is signed, what is permitted and inspected, and what is advertised, not by a wallet card. That changes how you sell. A homeowner in Bangor cannot look up your concrete license number because none exists, so the proof you offer has to be built out of paperwork you control.
States that license this work usually split it into tiers. A contractor holds a general building classification, or a specialty classification for concrete, masonry or excavation, and the classification caps the value of the job or the scope of the trade. Maine has none of that. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation list contains no contractor classification of any kind, so there is no monetary limit tied to a license, no step from residential to commercial, and no qualifying party requirement for the business entity. The practical effect is that a sole proprietor pouring garage pads and a company placing structural foundations for a multi unit building stand in the same position under state licensing law. Both can bid both jobs. Neither can point to a state credential to prove capability. Three licensed trades do overlap concrete work and are worth knowing, because the state does regulate them and the Attorney General names them. Plumbers and electricians are licensed and answer to their examining boards. Site evaluators who design septic systems must be licensed through the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, while septic system installers do not have to be licensed. So if your crew sleeves a slab for conduit or sets a sewer penetration in a foundation wall, the licensed trade has to do the licensed part of it. That is the real classification question in Maine. It is not which contractor tier you hold. It is which parts of your concrete scope belong to a licensed plumber, a licensed electrician or a licensed site evaluator, and which parts are yours free and clear.
Sourcesmaine.gov 1maine.gov 2
The Home Construction Contracts Act is the law that actually governs a Maine concrete contractor on residential work. Title 10, chapter 219-A, section 1487 says any home construction contract for more than $3,000 in materials or labor must be in writing and must be signed by both the home construction contractor and the homeowner or lessee. Both parties must receive a copy of the executed contract before any work is performed. The written contract must contain the entire agreement. The definitions in section 1486 are wide. A home construction contract means a contract to build, remodel or repair a residence, including structural work. Materials means all supplies used to construct, alter or repair a residence. A residence means a dwelling with 3 or fewer living units and garages, if any, and buildings used for commercial or business purposes are not subject to the chapter. Read together, a frost wall under a house addition, a replacement basement floor, a driveway rebuild on a two unit property and a garage slab all fall inside the Act once the price passes $3,000 in labor or materials. A pour at a retail plaza does not, because the building is commercial. Section 1489 lets the parties exempt themselves from the chapter, but only on strict terms. The contractor must specifically inform the homeowner or lessee of their rights under the chapter, and the parties must then mutually agree to a contract or change order that does not contain the required parts. The Attorney General stresses that a homeowner is not required to waive anything in order to hire a contractor. Treating a waiver as routine paperwork is how Maine concrete contractors get into trouble.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2legislature.maine.gov 3maine.gov 4maine.gov 5legislature.maine.gov 6
Section 1487 lists the parts a qualifying home construction contract must carry. Names, addresses and phone numbers of both the contractor and the homeowner or lessee. The location of the property where the work will be done. Both the estimated start date and the estimated date of substantial completion, which may shift for reasons beyond the contractor's control such as a job site that is not ready or materials that are not available. The total contract price including all costs to perform the work properly, or, on a cost plus formula, the agreed price plus an estimate of labor and materials. The method of payment. A general description of the work and materials. The statute then prescribes exact language in two places. The warranty paragraph must state that the contractor warrants the work will be free from faulty materials, constructed according to the standards of the building code applicable for the location, constructed in a skillful manner and fit for habitation or appropriate use, and that Uniform Commercial Code warranty rights and remedies apply. The dispute paragraph must offer the homeowner a choice among binding arbitration under the Maine Uniform Arbitration Act, nonbinding arbitration, or mediation, alongside the option of a small claims action. A change order paragraph in set wording is required as well. Further parts cover door to door sales disclosures, insulation disclosures where applicable, and a statement about the minimum energy efficiency building standards for new residential construction and whether the work will meet or exceed them. The contract must carry, as an addendum, a copy of the Attorney General's consumer protection information on home construction and repair, plus a clear and conspicuous notice pointing the consumer to the Attorney General's website and telephone number.
Two numbers in the Act change how a concrete contractor finances a job in Maine. First, section 1487 limits the initial down payment to no more than 1/3 of the total contract price. On a residential foundation job that means the ready mix, the rebar, the forms and the pump cannot be fully prefunded by the homeowner's deposit if the material package runs past a third of the price. You either carry the float, hold a supplier account, or schedule progress payments that are written into the contract. Second, section 1488 requires every change order to be in writing. A change order becomes part of the existing contract and must conform to it. All work is performed under the same terms and conditions as the original contract unless the parties stipulate otherwise. The change order must detail all changes that revise the contract price, and both the previous contract price and the revised price must be stated. Both parties must sign it. Concrete work generates change orders more than most trades, because what the excavator finds is not what the plan assumed. Ledge at 4 feet. A wet cellar hole that needs underdrain. Frost depth that forces a deeper footing. A subgrade that will not compact. In Maine none of those conversations count until they are written, priced against the old price, and signed. The Attorney General publishes a model home construction contract with the required addendum and a model change order, both as downloadable Word files on its home construction and repair page. Using those documents as the base for your own contract removes the argument about whether your paperwork met section 1487 and section 1488.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2maine.gov 3
Maine does not punish unlicensed concrete work, because no license exists. It punishes bad paperwork and deceptive conduct instead, and the exposure is real. Section 1490 says a violation of the Home Construction Contracts Act constitutes prima facie evidence of a violation of Title 5, chapter 10, which is the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. Each violation is also a civil violation for which a forfeiture of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 may be adjudged. No action may be brought for that civil violation more than 2 years after the date of the occurrence. A contractor is not liable under that subsection if the contractor shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the violation was unintentional and a bona fide error, despite procedures reasonably adopted to avoid such an error. Title 5, section 207 declares unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce unlawful. Section 213 gives a consumer who bought services primarily for personal, family or household purposes and suffered a loss of money or property a private action in Superior Court or District Court for actual damages, restitution and equitable relief including an injunction, with a right to jury trial in Superior Court. A written demand for relief must be mailed or delivered to the prospective respondent at least 30 days before an action for damages is filed. The Attorney General notes that a missing written contract does not automatically entitle a consumer to a remedy. The consumer still has to prove a substantial loss of money or property resulting from the failure. Courts may also find an implied agreement and compensate a contractor for work actually performed.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2legislature.maine.gov 3maine.gov 4
Maine carries a separate criminal statute aimed squarely at residential construction and repair. Title 17-A, section 908 makes a home construction or repair seller guilty of home construction or repair fraud if the seller knowingly enters into a written or oral agreement for home construction or repair services and, at the time of entering it, does one of several listed things. The listed conduct includes intentionally misrepresenting a material fact about the terms of the agreement, or misrepresenting a preexisting or existing condition of any portion of the property. It includes intentionally creating or reinforcing a false impression about the terms, or failing to correct an impression the seller previously created. It includes intentionally promising performance the seller does not intend to perform or knows will not be performed. It includes using deception, false pretense or false promise to secure the agreement. It also covers a seller who knows the property was previously damaged or destroyed by the seller in order to obtain the contract. Each of those is a Class D crime. Where the person has 2 or more prior convictions under the section, or for substantially similar conduct in another jurisdiction, the offense rises to a Class C crime. For a concrete contractor the most dangerous paragraph is the one about existing conditions. Selling a foundation repair by describing cracking or settlement that is not there, or overstating what a homeowner's slab is doing, is not a sales exaggeration in Maine. It is the conduct the statute names. The Attorney General also tells homeowners they can file a police report for home construction or repair fraud when a contractor took money and did no work.
Maine runs one statewide code rather than a patchwork of municipal codes. Title 10, section 9724 says the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code must be enforced in a municipality that has more than 4,000 residents, and must be enforced through inspections that comply with Title 25, section 2373. A municipality of up to 4,000 residents is not required to enforce it, but may not adopt or enforce any building code other than the Maine Uniform Building Code, the Maine Uniform Energy Code or the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code. For counting residents, people held at a correctional facility inside the municipality do not count. Section 9724 also voids any local building code ordinance inconsistent with the state code, while allowing local ordinances that set out provisions for local enforcement. The code does not apply to log homes, manufactured housing, post and beam or timber frame construction, or warehouses and silos used to store harvested crops. The code itself is maintained by the Technical Building Codes and Standards Board, established under Title 10, section 9722 and located within the Maine Office of Community Affairs. That board adopts, amends and maintains the code, resolves conflicts with the fire and life safety codes, and provides training for municipal building officials, local code enforcement officers and third party inspectors. Its 13 members include a residential builder recommended by a home builders association and a commercial builder recommended by a statewide association of general contractors. For concrete work this is the standard your footings, frost depth, reinforcement, anchor bolts and slab details are measured against. The Attorney General advises homeowners to insist the contract state that the work will be done in accordance with the code, so expect that clause to appear in contracts you are handed.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2legislature.maine.gov 3maine.gov 4
Because the state issues no contractor license, the town is where a Maine concrete contractor meets a regulator. Title 25, section 2373 sets out the inspection options a municipality may use to enforce the code. Building officials and local code enforcement officers. Interlocal agreements with other municipalities that share building officials certified in building standards under Title 10, section 9723. Contractual agreements with county or regional authorities that share certified building officials. Or reports from third party inspectors certified under section 9723, submitted to the building official before a certificate of occupancy is obtained, under contracts between the building owner and the inspector or the municipality and the inspector. That last option matters on foundation work. In a town that relies on third party inspection, the footing and foundation sign off may come from an inspector the owner retains, and the report has to reach the building official before occupancy. Scheduling that inspection before you backfill is your problem, not the owner's. Title 30-A, section 4451 requires that a municipality may not employ anyone to perform the duties of a code enforcement officer who is not certified by one of the named state bodies, now including the Maine Office of Community Affairs. A newly hired officer other than a plumbing inspector has 12 months to be trained and certified. Hardship waivers and temporary extensions of up to one year exist. Permit requirements, fee schedules and inspection sequencing are set town by town, so Portland, Lewiston and Bangor each publish their own. Confirm the footing, foundation and slab inspection points with the code office before the first pour, and confirm whether the town uses its own officer or third party reports.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2legislature.maine.gov 3
There is one state license a concrete contractor in Maine can actually need, and it has nothing to do with the pour. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation licenses Door-to-Door Home Repair Sellers. The program defines a transient seller of home repair services as a home repair seller who engages in the business of door to door solicitations or sales of home repair services and who does not have, at the time of the solicitation or contract, a permanent place of business in the municipality where the solicitation or sale occurs. The rule is stated directly. A Door-to-Door Home Repair Seller must be licensed by the department before engaging in door to door sales of home repair services to fix, replace, alter, convert, modernize, improve or make an addition to real property primarily designed or used as a residence. Foundation repair, basement floor replacement, walkway and driveway work all sit inside that description. The published fees are a license fee of $30 plus a State Police criminal background check fee of $21. The term is annual, expiring April 30. Renewal is $30 annually on the same date. A late fee of $50 applies to licenses renewed within 90 days after expiration, and after that a new application is required. The application calls for a completed form, a photograph and a credit card authorization form, and can be filed online. The related Regulation of Transient Sales program covers sellers without a permanent place of business in Maine. It states that license verifications are available at no charge through its online licensing portal and that the office does not issue paper verifications.
Maine sets no statewide liability insurance minimum and no bond requirement for concrete or general contractors, because it issues no license to attach one to. Workers compensation is a different matter and it is not optional. Title 39-A, section 401 says every private employer, including an independent contractor who hires and pays employees, is subject to the Act and shall secure the payment of compensation with respect to all employees by purchasing a workers compensation policy or self insuring as set out in section 403. A private employer who has not secured that payment loses the defenses in section 103 in a civil action brought by an employee or the employee's representative for personal injuries or death arising out of and in the course of employment, and the employee may claim compensation under the Act instead of suing. Narrow exclusions exist for domestic service and for seasonal or casual agricultural and aquacultural labor on stated terms. Nothing in that list helps a finishing crew. The Workers Compensation Board runs an Insurance Coverage Unit out of its Augusta central office that handles insurance coverage verification, independent contractor status predetermination and waivers from workers compensation insurance. The predetermination process is the one to know if you use subcontract finishers or form setters and have been treating them as independent. The board also publishes employer resources covering coverage waivers, forms, insurance coverage and employer training, and points employers to the Bureau of Insurance guide to workers compensation insurance. General liability limits, equipment and pump coverage, and any bonding you carry on public concrete work are therefore driven by the owner, the general contractor or the lender, not by a state minimum.
Two filings sit under every Maine concrete business regardless of licensing. The first is entity formation with the Secretary of State. Its Corporations, UCC and Commissions division publishes a Forming a Business page covering business corporations, limited liability companies, nonprofit corporations, limited liability partnerships, limited partnerships and cooperatives, and directs people forming a sole proprietorship or general partnership, or using a trade name, to its trade name protection material. The office notes corporate filing processing time of 2 to 7 business days and offers a corporate name lookup to confirm a filing has been processed. The second is tax registration with Maine Revenue Services. The published rate table shows a general sales tax rate of 5.5 percent and a use tax rate of 5.5 percent, including the column effective 01/01/2026. Maine Revenue Services also publishes an instructional bulletin on contractors and subcontractors in its sales, use and service provider tax bulletin library, which is the document to read before you decide how to treat ready mix, rebar, forms, sealers and equipment rentals on a quote. Read it rather than assuming the treatment from another state, and ask Maine Revenue Services in writing where your job mixes a materials sale with installed work. Neither filing is a license to pour, and neither gives you a number a homeowner can look up as a credential. What they do give you is a clean entity name a customer can search, a registration your insurer and your suppliers will ask for, and a tax position that holds up when a commercial general contractor or a municipality reviews your bid documents.
With no concrete license in Maine, the words on your truck and website are regulated by what is true rather than by a number you must display. There is no state requirement to print a contractor license number on advertising, vehicles, estimates or a website, because there is no state contractor license number. Claiming one is the problem. Title 5, section 207 declares unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce unlawful, and the Attorney General may issue interpretive rules. Advertising yourself as a licensed, state certified or state approved concrete contractor in Maine describes a credential that does not exist, and section 213 gives a residential customer who lost money as a result a private action for damages, restitution and injunctive relief. One title is specifically protected. Title 32, section 1351 makes it unlawful for any person to practice or offer to practice the profession of engineering in the State, or to use in connection with the person's name or otherwise assume, use or advertise any title or description tending to convey the impression that the person is a professional engineer, unless licensed or exempted. Section 1256 makes a violation a civil violation for which a fine of not more than $10,000 may be adjudged, and the State may bring an action in Superior Court to enjoin the conduct. So a concrete contractor should not advertise engineered foundation design, structural engineering or stamped drawings as its own service unless a licensed engineer provides it. Describe the work instead. Years pouring in Maine, the mix designs you place, the frost depths you build to, the towns whose inspectors have signed off on your footings.
Sourceslegislature.maine.gov 1legislature.maine.gov 2legislature.maine.gov 3legislature.maine.gov 4
Maine does maintain a public license lookup, and it is worth knowing exactly what a homeowner will and will not find there. The state runs a license search at the Professional and Financial Regulation online portal, titled Search License Information. It covers licenses, registrations and permits managed by the State of Maine, with separate searches for individuals, companies, securities, worksite permits, events and other licenses or permits, plus a disciplinary actions search and searches for courses and course providers. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation links to it as Find a Licensee. A search there will return a Maine electrician, plumber, engineer, architect or Door-to-Door Home Repair Seller. It will not return a concrete contractor, a mason or a general contractor, because those are not licensed. So customers are pointed elsewhere. The Attorney General tells consumers they can contact the Consumer Protection Division by submitting an inquiry online or by phone to find out whether a particular contractor has been the subject of a consumer complaint, and notes that its Consumer Mediation Program receives more complaints about contractors than any other category of business. The Attorney General also publishes a list of home contractors the State has successfully sued or obtained civil judgments against for poor workmanship or failure to complete jobs, naming specific businesses including paving companies. Expect a Maine homeowner to check that list, call that line and ask for references. The sales answer is to hand over what the state will not vouch for: your certificate of insurance, your workers compensation coverage, your entity filing, the towns you have passed foundation inspections in, and a contract that already meets section 1487.
Concrete work in Maine almost always starts with exposed soil, and the state regulates that directly through the Erosion and Sedimentation Control Law administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. The requirement, as the department states it, applies to anyone filling, displacing or exposing soil or other earthen materials. That person must take measures to prevent unreasonable erosion of soil or sediment beyond the project site or into a protected natural resource such as a river, stream, brook, lake, pond or wetland. The department is explicit that no permit is required for this obligation. The duty attaches anyway. Erosion control measures must be installed before the activity begins, must be maintained, and must remain in place and functional until the site is permanently stabilized. That is a different standard from a permit condition, because there is no inspector scheduling a visit and no sign off releasing you. The obligation runs from the moment the cellar hole opens until the site is stabilized. For a foundation or flatwork crew that means silt fence or equivalent protection set before excavation, protection of catch basins near a driveway pour, and stabilization of the disturbed strip along a new walk or slab before you leave. The department notes that soil from nearby eroding sites is the leading pollutant in Maine's rivers, streams, brooks, ponds and wetlands, and publishes Maine Erosion and Sediment Control best management practices along with training through its Nonpoint Source Training Center, which offers certification in understanding and implementing effective erosion control. Separate shoreland and natural resource permitting can apply near protected resources, so check with the municipality and the department before pouring close to water.
Sourcesmaine.gov
Without a license to lose, a Maine concrete contractor's strongest pressure point on a slow paying job is the mechanic's lien, and the statute is unusually explicit about this kind of work. Title 10, section 3251 gives a lien to a person who performs labor or furnishes labor or materials, including repair parts of machines used, or who performs services as a surveyor, architect, licensed forester or engineer, or as an owner renter, owner lessor or owner supplier of equipment used in erecting, altering, moving or repairing a house, building or appurtenances. The same section covers work on a wharf or pier and any building on it, and it expressly includes the surveying, clearing, grading, draining, excavating or landscaping of the ground adjacent to and upon which such objects are constructed. The lien attaches to the building, the land it stands on and the owner's interest in it, with costs. Public buildings owned by a city, town, county or school district are named as well. Section 3255 sets the clock. The lien may be preserved and enforced by an action against the debtor, the owner and other interested parties, filed with the Superior Court or District Court clerk in the county or division where the property sits, within 120 days after the last of the labor or services are performed or the labor, materials or services are furnished. Where the work was not performed under a contract with the owner, the claimant may not serve the complaint and summons on the owner until 30 days after filing, and the deadline for a return of service is tolled for 30 days. A bona fide purchaser for value takes title free of the lien on stated conditions. Track your last day on site. In Maine that date starts the 120 days.
These are common details other guides publish about Maine, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation publishes the full list of professions it regulates and no concrete, masonry, foundation or general contractor category appears on it. The Attorney General states plainly that general contractors and trades such as roofing and framing are not licensed or regulated in Maine.
Title 10, section 1487 requires a written contract signed by both the contractor and the homeowner or lessee for any home construction contract over $3,000 in materials or labor. Both sides must get a copy before work begins, and the written document must contain the entire agreement between them.
Not under a contract governed by the Home Construction Contracts Act. Section 1487 limits the initial down payment to no more than 1/3 of the total contract price. Parties can agree to waive that under section 1489, but only after the contractor specifically informs the homeowner of their rights.
Section 1490 makes the violation prima facie evidence of a Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act violation and a civil violation carrying a forfeiture of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000. A bona fide unintentional error is a defense. The homeowner must still prove actual loss to recover damages.
Usually yes above a certain size of town. Title 10, section 9724 requires enforcement of the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code in municipalities over 4,000 residents. Title 25, section 2373 lets a town use its own code officer, shared officials, county arrangements or certified third party inspectors.
Any municipality with more than 4,000 residents, not counting people held at a correctional facility inside it. Smaller towns need not enforce the code but cannot adopt a different one. Log homes, manufactured housing, post and beam or timber frame construction and crop storage buildings are excluded.
Yes, if you lack a permanent place of business in that municipality. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation licenses Door-to-Door Home Repair Sellers before any door to door sale of home repair services. The license fee is $30 plus a $21 State Police background check fee, expiring annually April 30.
No, because the state issues no such license, so the claim describes a credential that does not exist. Title 5, section 207 makes deceptive practices in trade unlawful and section 213 gives a residential customer who lost money a private action for damages, restitution and injunctive relief.
Yes. Title 39-A, section 401 requires every private employer, including an independent contractor who hires and pays employees, to secure payment of compensation through a policy or approved self insurance. Skipping it strips you of defenses under section 103 if an employee sues over an on the job injury.
Maine runs a Search License Information portal through Professional and Financial Regulation covering individuals, companies and permits, plus disciplinary actions. A concrete contractor will not appear there because none is licensed. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division can tell a caller whether a contractor drew complaints.
The Department of Environmental Protection says no permit is required, but the duty applies anyway to anyone filling, displacing or exposing soil. Controls must be installed before work begins, be maintained, and stay functional until the site is permanently stabilized so sediment does not leave the site or reach protected waters.
Title 10, section 3255 gives 120 days after the last labor, materials or services are furnished to file an enforcement action with the Superior Court or District Court clerk in the county where the property sits. Section 3251 expressly covers grading, draining and excavating adjacent ground.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.