Alaska · Landscaping licensing · official-source guide
Alaska licenses this trade at state level. The Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing issues construction contractor registrations, and 12 AAC 21.370 makes Landscaping Contractor a named specialty trade. AS 08.18.011 bars bidding or working without a certificate. A specialty registration needs a $10,000 bond and the liability insurance set by AS 08.18.101.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Alaska regulates this work at state level. The Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, through its Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, issues construction contractor registrations. AS 08.18.011 says a person may not submit a bid or work as a contractor until the department has issued a certificate of registration. The definition in AS 08.18.171 reaches any person who, in the pursuit of an independent business, undertakes or offers to perform, claims the capacity to perform, or submits a bid for a project to construct, alter, repair, move or demolish a building, highway, road, railroad or any type of fixed structure, and that definition names excavation and site development inside it. Grading, drainage and hardscape work sits there. The department went further and created a named trade for this work. 12 AAC 21.370 defines the landscaping contractor trade, and 12 AAC 21.200 lists Landscaping Contractor as one of the trade designations printed on a specialty contractor certificate of registration. The duty is not only yours. AS 08.18.011(b) bars a general contractor from using a bid from, awarding a bid to, contracting with, or allowing an unregistered specialty contractor to work for it, so builders will ask for your number before they hand you a subcontract. No borough or city issues this certificate in place of the state. Municipalities run permit counters for the construction side of a project, and the Municipality of Anchorage does that through its Development Services office, but the registration itself comes from the state division.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2commerce.alaska.gov 3muni.org 4
12 AAC 21.370 draws the boundary. A landscaping contractor grades, fills and levels ground; hauls fill, gravel, topsoil, sand and similar construction materials; constructs water drainage systems, dewatering and ponds; performs hydro-seeding; or installs grass, shrubbery, trees, or other ornamental or decorative plants. Subsection (b) is the limit that matters on bids: a landscaping contractor does not prepare land for construction of a building or structure. Site prep ahead of a foundation belongs to the excavation contractor trade, which 12 AAC 21.330 describes as hauling and spreading material, digging and back-filling trenches, holes and ditches, drilling, blasting, land clearing, ground leveling, grading, filling and shaping, staking, culverts, railroad track grade and fill, and tunneling. Curbs, sidewalks, cast-in-place concrete and asphalt paving are the concrete and paving contractor trade under 12 AAC 21.270. Fencing is its own designation. Two rules keep you honest about scope. AS 08.18.024(b) says a specialty contractor may perform work that requires the use of not more than three trades. 12 AAC 21.110(a) says a registered specialty contractor may not undertake, offer to perform, claim the capacity to perform, or submit a bid for a project that requires a trade for which the contractor is not actively registered. Read together, a full design and build yard package that mixes planting, paving, fencing and retaining walls can push past what one specialty certificate authorizes, and that is a registration question to settle before you quote, not after.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
Alaska sorts contractors by how many trades the work needs. AS 08.18.171 defines a general contractor as one whose business operations require the use of more than three trades, or the use of mechanical or specialty contractors and subcontractors under that contractor's supervision. A specialty contractor is anything other than a mechanical contractor whose operations fit AS 08.18.024(b), which caps specialty work at not more than three trades. A mechanical contractor is defined by the plumbing, pipe fitting, sheet metal, heating, air conditioning, ventilating and fire protection trades, and that category carries an extra condition covered later on this page. There is a fourth option for small jobs. 12 AAC 21.700 lets a contractor doing business as described in AS 08.18.071(b)(4) register as a handyman contractor. That subsection describes work on one project with an aggregate contract price of $10,000 or less, including all labor, materials and other items, where the work is not part of a larger or major operation and has not been divided into smaller contracts to evade a higher bonding requirement. A handyman registration may not be used to perform, or to employ someone to perform, activities that require an electrical or mechanical administrator under AS 08.40, or activities that require a residential contractor endorsement. You are not locked in. 12 AAC 21.075 sets out the change of category application, and 12 AAC 02.180 prices it at $35 to move from one specialty to another and $75 to move between a specialty or mechanical registration and a general registration.
The endorsement is a general contractor requirement, and the advertising half of it catches people out. AS 08.18.025(a) says a general contractor may not undertake the construction or alteration of a privately owned residential structure of one to four units, may not submit a bid to do it, and may not advertise or publicly represent that it may undertake work of that type in the state, without a residential contractor endorsement. The same subsection defines alteration as changes that have a value greater than 25 percent of the value of the structure being altered. A specialty landscaping registration that keeps to the yard does not pull you into this, but a company that also frames additions, builds attached structures or markets itself for residential building work does land inside it. Qualifying has four moving parts. 12 AAC 21.680 requires a complete application naming the registered general contractor the endorsement will be assigned to, the fees in 12 AAC 02.180, verification of a score of at least 70 percent on the residential contractor endorsement examination administered by PSI Services, LLC or another department approved examination obtained within the preceding 12 months, and verification of a program or course meeting AS 08.18.025(b)(4) completed within the preceding 24 months. That statute names the Alaska craftsman home program sponsored by the department, or its equivalent, or a postsecondary course in arctic engineering, or its equivalent. The endorsement is assigned to a person, not a shell: 12 AAC 21.690 requires a sole proprietor, a partner, or an employee, officer or authorized member of the entity.
AS 08.18.071 makes the bond part of the application, not an afterthought. Each applicant files with the commissioner a surety bond running to the state, conditioned on the applicant's promise to pay taxes and contributions due the state and its political subdivisions, persons furnishing labor or material or renting or supplying equipment to the applicant, and amounts adjudged against the applicant by reason of negligent or improper work or breach of contract in the conduct of the contracting business, or by reason of damage to public facilities occurring in the course of a construction project. The amounts are fixed by statute. A general contractor files $25,000. A general contractor with a residential contractor endorsement who performs exclusively residential work files $20,000. A mechanical or specialty contractor, which is where a landscaping registration sits, files $10,000. A contractor whose work on one project has an aggregate contract price of $10,000 or less files $5,000, provided the work is not part of a larger operation or divided to evade a higher requirement. In place of a surety bond you may file a cash deposit or other negotiable security acceptable to the commissioner in the same amount, and 12 AAC 21.120 requires the instrument to show the commissioner as payee and to run at least three years before maturity or renew automatically. Keep it whole. AS 08.18.121 suspends your registration if a judgment depletes the bond or deposit below the required amount, and revokes it outright if the bonding company cancels.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
AS 08.18.101 requires every applicant, at the time of applying and again at renewal, to file evidence that two coverages are in effect. The first is workers compensation insurance to the extent required under AS 23.30, purchased from a private insurer admitted to do business in Alaska and showing coverage in this state, appropriate employee classifications and Alaska rates, or a valid self-insurance certificate issued by the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board. The second is public liability and property damage insurance covering the applicant's contracting operations in Alaska in the sum of not less than $20,000 for damage to property, $50,000 for injury including death to any one person, and $100,000 for injury including death to more than one person. That requirement does not apply to an applicant whose contracting operations are limited to projects each having an aggregate contract price, including all labor, materials and other items, of $2,500 or less. Treat those figures as the floor for keeping a certificate active rather than as commercial cover. A single damaged irrigation main, a flooded basement from a regraded lot, or a tree dropped on a car runs past them quickly, and commercial and public owners set their own higher limits in the contract. Two mechanics matter day to day. AS 08.18.121(a) suspends the registration automatically for as long as the required insurance is not in effect. 12 AAC 21.070 lets the department require that renewal evidence of bonding and insurance be issued not earlier than 30 days before the renewal application is submitted, so a stale certificate can stall a renewal.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
The fee schedule for contractors is 12 AAC 02.180, and it applies to general, mechanical and all specialty construction contractors alike. The nonrefundable application fee for an initial registration or a residential contractor endorsement is $100. The certificate of registration and license enforcement support fee, covering all or part of the initial biennial registration period, is $250, and the biennial renewal of that certificate and support fee is also $250. A residential contractor endorsement costs $250 for all or part of the initial biennial endorsement period and $250 at each biennial renewal. Changing from one specialty to another specialty, or between specialty and mechanical, is $35. Changing between a specialty or mechanical registration and a general registration is $75. A doing business as name, owner or entity change is $65. Bonding research is $30. Approval of a residential endorsement continuing competency course costs $25 initially and $25 at renewal. The division also charges the administrative fees in 12 AAC 02.105, including $20 to verify or certify an Alaska license, registration or examination, $30 for a returned check, and a nonrefundable fingerprint processing fee of $75. Separately from any of this, AS 43.70.030 sets the Alaska business license fee at $50 a year, reduced to $25 for a sole proprietorship whose sole proprietor is 65 or older or a disabled veteran. Budget the bond premium and the insurance separately, because neither is a state fee and neither is set by the division.
12 AAC 21.020 lists what a construction contractor application must contain: a complete application on a department form, the applicable fees established in 12 AAC 02.180, evidence of workers compensation insurance where AS 08.18.101 requires it, evidence of public liability and property damage insurance under AS 08.18.101, and evidence of bonding under AS 08.18.071, supplied either as a surety bond on the department's own form together with the surety's power of attorney, or as a negotiable security described in 12 AAC 21.090. Only an authorized officer, manager or member of a corporation or limited liability company, or a general partner of a limited partnership, may complete and sign the application for an entity. AS 08.18.021 adds that the information in the application is a matter of public record open to public inspection. Your business name is screened. 12 AAC 21.030 requires a name separate and distinct from every other registered contractor's name, and the department will refuse a name identical or so similar as to create confusion or mislead a reasonable person. A later name change needs its own application, a properly executed rider showing the surety has extended bond and insurance coverage to the new name, and the fee in 12 AAC 02.180, and 12 AAC 21.040 says you keep doing business under the old registered name until the new certificate arrives. Registration runs from the date the department issues it and cannot be backdated under 12 AAC 21.060. Renewal under 12 AAC 21.070 means the renewal form, the renewal and support fee, and current bond and insurance evidence.
This is the rule that decides whether a sprinkler installation is landscaping work or plumbing work. 12 AAC 21.540 puts water lines, septic tanks, and sanitary, storm or drain sewer lines more than five feet from a building in the water and sewer contractor trade. The same section then says a mechanical contractor registration under AS 08.18.028 is required before a person may install water lines, septic tanks, or sanitary, storm or drain sewer lines five feet or less from a building, or perform work covered by a plumbing or mechanical code identified in AS 08.18.171. A mechanical contractor registration is not something you simply buy. AS 08.18.028 says the department may not issue one unless the applicant is, or employs, a person currently licensed as a mechanical administrator under AS 08.40, and if the only administrator leaves, the registration goes void 30 days after the next regularly scheduled administrator examination unless a replacement is hired. AS 08.40.260 bars acting as a mechanical administrator without that license. There are carve outs in AS 08.40.390(b): installation of water lines or sanitary, storm or drain sewer lines more than five feet from a building; mechanical work costing not more than $50,000 on residences or small commercial establishments in communities under 5,000 population or more than 50 miles by air or water from a licensed administrator's business place; and mechanical installation on a single family or two family residence not intended for sale at the time of installation. 12 AAC 21.420 registers that exempt work under the trade designation mechanical, exempt.
An irrigation system fed from a public water main is the textbook cross connection, and Alaska's drinking water rules treat it severely. 18 AAC 80.025(a) says a person may not construct, install or use a cross connection in a public water system, or allow a water system that contains a cross connection to connect to a public water system. Subsection (b) sets the remedy: if the Department of Environmental Conservation determines that a facility has the potential to contaminate a public water system through backflow, the owner of the public water system shall install, maintain and test, on the water service line to and at other locations in that facility, a backflow prevention assembly conforming to the ANSI/AWWA standards adopted by reference in 18 AAC 80.010, which are C510 for a double check valve backflow prevention assembly and C511 for a reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly. The owner of the public water system may delegate installation, maintenance and testing of the assembly to the operator of the facility that poses the risk, and that delegation does not relieve the owner of responsibility. Read that carefully, because it tells you who to satisfy. The obligation runs to the water system owner, which in most Alaska communities is the local utility, so the utility decides which assemblies it will accept and whose test reports it will take. Ask the utility in writing before you cut into a service line, and keep the plumbing side legal: the device sits close to the building, which is mechanical contractor territory under 12 AAC 21.540.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
Spraying for hire is a separate state certification held by the Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Health, through its Pesticide Control Program, not by the contractor division. 18 AAC 90.300 requires certification before an individual may use or supervise the use of a restricted use pesticide, purchase one, act as a restricted use pesticide dealer, engage in or supervise the custom, commercial or contract use of a pesticide, act as a pesticide consultant, or use a pesticide at a school, licensed child care facility or public place, subject to narrow exceptions for general use antimicrobials, rodenticide in a tamper resistant bait station, and ready to use paste, foam or gel. The category that fits this trade is ornamental and turf pest control, which the regulation describes as individuals who apply pesticides to control pests in the maintenance and production of landscaping, ornamental plants, lawns and turf. Note the reach of the commercial trigger: applying a general use product for a paying client still needs certification unless you work under the direct, on the job supervision of an applicator certified in that category. 18 AAC 90.305 requires the applicant to be at least 18, attend approved training or complete an approved internet or correspondence course, and pass written core and category examinations; a certification is valid for no more than three years. 18 AAC 90.310 renews it with an application and a minimum of 12 approved continuing education hours. 18 AAC 90.860 sets a $25 fee before initial certification and at each annual renewal or recertification, with no extra fee for additional categories.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1dec.alaska.gov 2
Designing a yard is not the same thing in Alaska law as holding a protected design title. AS 08.48.281(a) says a person may not practice or offer to practice the profession of landscape architecture in the state, or use in connection with the person's name or otherwise assume or advertise a title or description tending to convey the impression that the person is a landscape architect, unless registered under that chapter. The registering body is the Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors, whose membership under AS 08.48.011 includes one landscape architect. AS 08.48.291 makes a false claim of registration, or use of an expired, revoked or nonexistent certificate, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. Getting registered is a long road. 12 AAC 36.068 pairs education with experience: an LAAB or LAAC accredited degree in landscape architecture with two years of work experience; a non accredited degree with four years; a certificate with six years; a postsecondary degree in another subject with six years; and no postsecondary education with eight years. Every path requires passing the LARE, not less than 24 months of responsible charge experience under a professional landscape architect registered in the United States, and the board approved cold regions design course required by 12 AAC 36.110. 12 AAC 02.110 charges $200 to apply, $100 for the initial biennial registration, $100 to renew biennially, $50 for the examination eligibility application and $50 as a late renewal penalty.
AS 08.18.051(b) is unusually broad. All advertising, contracts, correspondence, cards, signs, posters, papers and documents prepared by a contractor for the contracting business must show the contractor's name, mailing address and the address of the contractor's principal place of business, and advertising and contracts must also include the contractor's registration number. The statute gives one shortcut built for digital ads: an advertisement that directs potential customers to your website or landing page satisfies the requirement if the advertisement states that the required information is contained on the website or landing page and that page actually contains it. AS 08.18.171 defines a landing page as a single web page that appears in response to clicking a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email or online advertisement, so a paid click target counts. Subsection (a) adds that a contractor registered under one name may not act as a contractor under any other name unless that name is also registered. Vocabulary is regulated too. 12 AAC 21.110 says a business or individual may not perform, advertise, or claim to have the capacity to perform construction contracting services without a corresponding active registration, and may not use the words builder, contractor, general contractor, mechanical contractor, residential contractor, specialty contractor or handyman to describe itself as doing that work. AS 08.18.025(a) separately bars advertising residential capacity without the endorsement, and AS 08.18.111 bars advertising that you are bonded and insured simply because you met the chapter's bond and insurance requirements.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
Alaska enforces this chapter through four separate levers, and they stack. AS 08.18.125 lets the department impose an administrative fine of not more than $1,000 for a first violation and not more than $1,500 for a second or subsequent violation of AS 08.18.011 or AS 08.18.025, with written notice and 30 days to request a hearing before a hearing officer. AS 08.18.117 lets either the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development or the Department of Labor and Workforce Development issue a citation on probable cause, and says each day a violation continues after a citation has been issued is a separate violation. AS 08.18.131 lets the superior court enjoin a person from acting as a contractor and, in addition to other relief, impose a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation, again counting each day separately. AS 08.18.141 makes a knowing repeat violation of AS 08.18.011 or AS 08.18.025 a class B misdemeanor where the person has already been convicted, found guilty under AS 08.18.117, or fined under AS 08.18.125. The quietest penalty is the most expensive. AS 08.18.151 says a person acting as a contractor may not bring an action in an Alaska court to collect compensation for the work, or for breach of the contract, without alleging and proving that the contractor was registered at the time of contracting. An unregistered job is an unbillable job if the client decides not to pay. AS 43.70.020(e) adds a civil fine of up to $300 for knowingly doing business without a state business license.
Sourcesakleg.gov 1akleg.gov 2
Treat contractor registration as Alaska only. AS 08.18 sets no comity or reciprocity route for a general, mechanical or specialty contractor: the chapter conditions a certificate on the application, the bond running to the State of Alaska and the Alaska insurance evidence, and AS 08.18.031(a) renews a certificate under the same requirements as an original registration. A registration from Washington or Oregon does not carry over, and neither does an out of state bond. Two adjacent credentials do travel. For landscape architects, AS 08.48.191(d) allows registration of a person holding a certificate from another state, territory, possession, the District of Columbia or a foreign country issued under requirements comparable to Alaska's, and separately allows registration of a holder of a certificate of qualification issued by the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards. 12 AAC 36.109 sets the mechanics: a comity application with the 12 AAC 02.110 fees, verification of a current registration based on substantively equivalent education, experience and examination requirements, and either verification of not less than 24 months of responsible charge experience or, for an applicant practicing five years or more, two signed and sealed letters of reference, plus the cold regions design requirement and a board jurisprudence questionnaire covering AS 08.48. A CLARB council record may verify examinations, education and other registrations. For the plumbing side, AS 08.40.270(b) directs the department to waive the mechanical administrator examination for an applicant already licensed as an administrator or the equivalent by another state who meets department qualifications and passed an equivalent examination.
Alaska publishes the check. The division runs Search Professional Licenses, where anyone can look you up by license number, program, license type, doing business as name, owner or entity name and city, and the same page links disciplinary action reports from 2017 forward. AS 08.18.021(b) backs that up by making the information in a contractor registration application a matter of public record open to public inspection. Since AS 08.18.051(b) already requires your registration number on advertising and contracts, assume a homeowner comparing three bids will paste it into that search, and make sure the name on your estimate matches the name on the certificate, because 12 AAC 21.030 and 12 AAC 21.040 require the registered name to be distinct and kept current. Two other filings sit underneath the registration. AS 08.18.101 requires workers compensation to the extent AS 23.30 demands it, which is tied to having employees rather than to the contractor chapter. AS 43.70.020 requires a state business license for the privilege of engaging in business in Alaska, naming the primary and secondary line of business and the business name used, at the $50 annual fee in AS 43.70.030, and AS 43.70.020(d) lets the department align that license's expiration with a registration issued under AS 08. The local layer is permits rather than licensing: the Municipality of Anchorage handles building and site permits through its Development Services office, and a registration from the state does not substitute for a permit.
Sourcescommerce.alaska.gov 1akleg.gov 2akleg.gov 3muni.org 4akleg.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Alaska, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Planting and installing grass, shrubs and trees is inside the landscaping contractor trade defined by 12 AAC 21.370, and AS 08.18.011 bars working or bidding as a contractor without a certificate of registration. Routine mowing is maintenance rather than construction, so ask the division how it classifies your specific service mix.
A specialty contractor registration with the Landscaping Contractor trade designation under 12 AAC 21.370 covers grading, filling and leveling ground, hauling fill and topsoil, and building drainage systems and ponds. If the job needs more than three trades, AS 08.18.024(b) pushes you toward a general contractor registration instead.
The endorsement under AS 08.18.025 applies to general contractors constructing or altering privately owned residential structures of one to four units, where alteration means changes worth more than 25 percent of the structure's value. Yard work outside the structure normally falls outside it, but residential building work does not.
AS 08.18.071 sets $10,000 for a mechanical or specialty contractor, which is the category a landscaping registration sits in. A general contractor files $25,000, and a contractor limited to single projects of $10,000 or less files $5,000. A cash deposit may be filed instead of a surety bond.
AS 08.18.101 requires public liability and property damage insurance covering your Alaska contracting operations of at least $20,000 for property damage, $50,000 for injury or death to one person and $100,000 for injury or death to more than one person, plus workers compensation to the extent AS 23.30 requires it.
Under 12 AAC 02.180 the nonrefundable application fee is $100, the initial certificate of registration and license enforcement support fee is $250, and biennial renewal is $250. A residential contractor endorsement adds $250 initially and $250 per renewal. The Alaska business license is $50 a year under AS 43.70.030.
Only if you hold the right registration. 12 AAC 21.540 requires a mechanical contractor registration under AS 08.18.028 for water lines five feet or less from a building or for work covered by a plumbing code, and that registration requires a licensed mechanical administrator under AS 08.40.
18 AAC 80.025 puts the duty to install, maintain and test a conforming backflow prevention assembly on the owner of the public water system when the department finds a contamination risk. The owner may delegate the work to the facility operator, so the local utility sets the practical requirements.
Yes in most cases. 18 AAC 90.300 requires certification to engage in the custom, commercial or contract use of a pesticide, and the ornamental and turf pest control category covers applications to landscaping, ornamental plants, lawns and turf. 18 AAC 90.860 sets a $25 fee at initial certification and each renewal.
Not without registration. AS 08.48.281 bars using a title or description tending to convey the impression that you are a landscape architect unless you are registered with the Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors. AS 08.48.291 makes a false claim of registration a misdemeanor with a fine up to $10,000.
AS 08.18.051(b) requires your name, mailing address, principal place of business address and registration number on advertising and contracts. An advertisement may point to your website or landing page if it says the required information is there and the page carries it. 12 AAC 21.110 also restricts the word contractor.
They use the division's Search Professional Licenses page, searching by license number, program, license type, doing business as name, owner name or city, and it also links disciplinary action reports from 2017 onward. AS 08.18.021(b) makes contractor application information a public record open to inspection.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.