New York · Landscaping licensing · official-source guide
New York licenses no landscaping contractor. The State Education Department's Office of the Professions licenses only landscape architects, and Education Law section 7326 leaves landscape contractors and gardeners outside that license while barring them from the title. What binds a landscaping firm is county and city home improvement licensing, pesticide applicator certification, and backflow tester rules.
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New York issues no state license for a landscaping contractor. The New York State Education Department, through its Office of the Professions, licenses landscape architects under Article 148 of the Education Law, and section 7326 of that article says in plain terms that it does not reach the business of a landscape contractor, landscape gardener, nurseryman, gardener, arborist or grader of land. A crew that lays out beds, installs plantings, builds a patio or sets a retaining wall needs no license from Albany to do the work. Three other layers of regulation apply instead, and all three can bite. The first is county and city home improvement licensing, which is where most New York landscaping firms are actually regulated. New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County each name landscaping or gardening inside the definition of the work their license covers, and Westchester County runs its own home improvement license as well. The second layer is statewide contract law. Article 36-A of the General Business Law lists landscaping in its definition of a home improvement, so the paperwork rules follow you into every county. The third layer is the activity licensing that attaches to particular tasks: pesticide applicator certification under Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law, and backflow prevention device tester certification under the state Sanitary Code once an irrigation system is tied to a public water supply. For a company going to market the consequence is direct. You cannot advertise a New York landscaping license, because the state issues none. You can advertise the county or city license you hold, the applicator certification your technicians carry, and a licensed landscape architect on staff if you have one.
Sourcesop.nysed.gov 1nyc.gov 2nassaucountyny.gov 3suffolkcountyny.gov 4nysenate.gov 5
Article 148 of the Education Law defines the practice of landscape architecture as services for the development of land areas where the dominant purpose is the preservation, enhancement or determination of proper land uses, natural land features, ground cover and planting, naturalistic and aesthetic values, the settings and approaches for structures, natural drainage, and the inherent problems of land relating to erosion, wear and tear and blight. The same definition carves out the design of structures with separate self contained purposes, which belongs to engineering and architecture, and carves out land surveys and final land plats for official approval or recording. Section 7322 states that only a person licensed or otherwise authorized under the article may practice landscape architecture or use the title landscape architect. Section 7326 then lists the people the article does not touch, and the fourth exemption is the one that matters to this trade: business conducted by any agriculturist, horticulturist, tree expert, arborist, forester, nurseryman or landscape nurseryman, gardener, landscape gardener, landscape contractor, garden or lawn caretaker, or grader or cultivator of land. The article also leaves alone the supervision by builders, or by superintendents employed by builders, of the installation of landscape projects, and the preparation of details and shop drawings by non licensees for use in executing their own work. Section 7327 adds the seal rule. Every licensed landscape architect has a board approved seal, and working drawings and specifications filed with public officials carry that seal and a personal signature. Section 7327 also limits which entities may offer the service, which is why a general business corporation cannot hold itself out as a landscape architectural firm in New York.
Sourcesop.nysed.gov 1op.nysed.gov 2
The exemption in section 7326 comes with a condition attached, and the condition is about words, not work. A landscape contractor, landscape gardener, nurseryman or lawn caretaker may run the business, but no such person may use the designation landscape architect, landscape architectural or landscape architecture unless licensed under Article 148. The same bar applies to architects, engineers and land surveyors licensed in New York: they may practice their own professions, but they may not call the result landscape architecture without the separate license. That makes three phrases off limits on your website, your proposals, your truck lettering and your paid ads unless a licensed landscape architect is responsible for the work. The penalty is not a parking ticket. Education Law section 6513 makes unauthorized use of a professional title a class A misdemeanor, and raises it to a class E felony for a person who knowingly aids or abets three or more people in using a title, or who knowingly employs three or more people who use it in the course of their employment. Education Law section 6512 covers the practice itself: a person not authorized who practices or offers to practice is guilty of a class E felony, and so is a person who aids or abets three or more unlicensed people. Offering to practice is included, which means the advertisement alone can be the act. Safe wording describes what you actually do. Landscape design, landscape contracting, planting design, hardscape construction and landscape installation are all available to an unlicensed firm. Landscape architecture, landscape architect and landscape architectural are not.
The Office of the Professions scores education and experience in units, where one unit equals one year, and your combined total must reach at least 12 units. A degree from a four year program accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board is worth 8 units, a five year accredited program 9 units, and a graduate degree in landscape architecture on top of an accredited undergraduate degree 9 or 10 units. A four year degree outside the field plus an accredited graduate degree is 9 units. An accredited engineering or architecture degree is worth up to 7 units, a two year landscape architecture related technical program up to 4 units, an associate degree outside the field 3 units and a bachelor degree or higher outside the field 4 units. A certificate of study or individual courses earn nothing. The rest has to be full time diversified general practice, with defined minimum durations served directly under a lawfully practicing landscape architect. Work under a licensed architect or engineer, teaching in an accredited program, or employment by planning firms, government agencies, landscape contractors and general contractors on work directly related to landscape architectural construction each count for no more than half the required duration. An applicant with no college degree may use the all experience pathway, which takes 12 years of verified experience with at least 7 of those years under a lawfully practicing landscape architect. The exam is the LARE, administered through CLARB. Candidates whose eligibility the Department determines need combined education and experience totaling 8 units before they can sit for it.
Sourcesop.nysed.gov 1op.nysed.gov 2
The Office of the Professions publishes the fee for licensure and first registration as a landscape architect at $294. A limited permit with a three year registration is $249, and the limited permit portion is not refundable. The route for a candidate with ten years of lawful practice as a principal and shareholder who never took the CLARB exam carries a $399 licensure and first registration fee, and that candidate also has to pass a practical examination by presenting and discussing three of their own projects with the State Board for Landscape Architecture. Education Law section 7324 sets the underlying statutory schedule at $220 for admission to a Department conducted examination and an initial license, $115 for each reexamination, $115 for an initial license where no Department examination is needed, and $155 for each triennial registration period. Section 7325 sets the fee for each limited permit at $70. The Office of the Professions notes that fees are subject to change and that the fee due is the one in law when the application arrives. Registration runs in three year periods, and section 7328 attaches continuing education to it. Each triennial registration requires a minimum of 36 hours of acceptable continuing education, of which at least 24 hours must be in health, safety and welfare. Up to half of the total hours may be non course activities, and hours cannot be carried from one triennium to the next. A landscape architect is exempt for the triennial period in which they are first licensed. A licensee who has not met the requirement cannot be issued a registration certificate and cannot practice unless a conditional registration is issued.
Sourcesop.nysed.gov 1op.nysed.gov 2
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection requires a Home Improvement Contractor license for construction, repair, remodeling or other home improvement work on any residential land or building in the city, and its own description of who must hold one lists landscaping by name alongside basements, driveways, fences, garages, patios, porches, sidewalks, swimming pools and terraces, plus other improvements upon land next to a home or apartment building. The checklist is long. You supply a sales tax identification number or application confirmation number, proof of business address, proof of home address for every individual on the application, and workers compensation coverage evidenced by a certificate naming the Department as certificate holder at 42 Broadway, or a Certificate of Attestation of Exemption from the Workers Compensation Board. ACORD forms are not accepted as proof of New York State coverage. You submit EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting and lead abatement certifications, or a signed affirmation that the work you perform does not require them. You either enroll in the Home Improvement Business Trust Fund for $200 or file a copy of a properly signed $20,000 surety bond naming the Department as certificate holder. You sign a contractual compliance agreement. One principal, partner, officer, director, member or shareholder holding 10 percent or more of the stock takes the Home Improvement Exam, which is 30 questions with 21 correct required to pass, scheduled through ExamBuilder within 60 days; the application fee covers two attempts and a further $50 buys two more. Principals are fingerprinted. The license period is two years and expires February 28 in odd years, with the fee set by filing date at $200, $150, $100, $50 or $250.
Sourcesnyc.gov
New York City is explicit about what a licensed home improvement contractor has to show the public, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection inspection checklist for the trade cites the rule for each item. Advertising must include the contractor's DCWP license number, under section 2-222(a) of Title 6 of the Rules of the City of New York. The same subchapter bars advertising claims about benefits that are not based on known and provable facts, which is the rule that catches percentage savings promises on irrigation retrofits or drainage work. The contract carries the number too. Under 6 RCNY section 2-221(a)(1) the agreement must contain the date, the contractor's name, office address, telephone number and DCWP license number. The contract has to be in writing, signed by the consumer and the contractor, legible and in plain English, with a copy handed to the consumer when it is signed and before any work begins. If the deal was negotiated in another language the consumer gets copies in both languages. Change orders have to be in writing and signed by both sides, and they must state the cost of the extra work, the new contract price and the date payment is due. A written estimate goes to any consumer who asks for one, under section 20-395 of the city code. Records of contracts and other business documents are kept for six years. The checklist warns that each missing contract requirement is a separate violation carrying its own penalty, so a template that omits the license number is not one problem on one job, it is one problem on every job.
Sourceshome4.nyc.gov 1nyc.gov 2
Nassau County licenses home improvement businesses through its Office of Consumer Affairs, and its published definition of home improvement reaches gardening and landscaping when the gardener or landscaper uses their own equipment in the business and their own vehicle to transport that equipment. The county's list of covered areas of work also includes lawn irrigation contractors, retaining wall contractors, fences and railings, masonry work, paving and driveway seal coating, power washers and sandblasters, tree surgery and swimming pool building, installing and maintenance. The published fee schedule sets a new home improvement business license at $650 plus a one time restitution fund fee of $50. Renewal of all business licenses is $650, the late fee for a renewal is $110, and a duplicate home improvement license is $60. Every licensed home improvement contractor must be fingerprinted, and the county states that fingerprinting is done at IDENTOGO rather than at a police station. Lead certificates must come from an EPA accredited training program under 40 CFR Part 745.225. The county rules then govern how you present yourself. All display advertising and promotional literature must contain the licensee's license number as printed on the license and the licensee's full company name as printed on the license. Every contract, memorandum or agreement must carry the contractor's name, office address, telephone number and Nassau County license number legibly printed or stamped on it, plus the printed name of the salesman. A copy of the license must be available at every job site and in each vehicle at all times. On the arrest of an unlicensed contractor the Commissioner may seize the vehicle and its contents pending forfeiture to the county.
Sourcesnassaucountyny.gov 1nassaucountyny.gov 2nassaucountyny.gov 3nassaucountyny.gov 4
Suffolk County's home improvement licensing law defines home improvement contracting to include repair, remodeling, alteration, conversion and modernization of or addition to residential property, and says the term includes other improvements to structures or upon land that are part of residential property, including landscaping and arboriculture, which the law defines as tree sprayers, tree pruners, tree stump removers and all other tree services. Electrical and plumbing work is excluded and licensed separately, and construction of a new home is outside the article. The fee structure is set in the law itself: an application fee of $200 accompanies each application for a home improvement contracting license, and the fee for the license or its renewal is $200 per annum. An identification card for a salesman is $50 per annum, and a temporary license is $50 per annum. Licenses other than temporary ones run for two years from the date of issuance, and renewals run for two years as well. The Director may require a licensee to post a surety bond in an amount not to exceed $100,000, and to furnish certificates of public liability and property damage insurance in the amount of $500,000 per occurrence combined single limit, with a $2,000,000 aggregate limit specified for certain added services. Section 563-15.1 requires the licensee to give the consumer, in writing on the contract or paid receipt, the service employee's name and the business name, address, telephone number and county license number, and the same details for any subcontractor's employees. Doing licensed business without a license is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or up to one year in jail, with each violation a separate offense, on top of civil penalties the law caps at $750 for a first violation and $1,500 after that.
Sourcessuffolkcountyny.gov
Westchester County law requires home improvement contractors to hold a county license, issued by the Department of Consumer Protection, which also maintains the list of licensed contractors and a separate list of renegade renovators that consumers are told to avoid. The county publishes its own fee schedule and raised it effective January 1, 2026: a home improvement license application fee of $750, an expedited processing fee of $100, a renewal application late fee of $50, a vehicle decal fee of $10 for each decal, and a certificate replacement or duplicate fee of $50. The vehicle decal line is worth noting for a company that runs several trucks, because the per decal charge means the fleet is part of the licensing cost rather than an afterthought. The county also makes a financing disclosure its own requirement: a contractor who directly or indirectly arranges or facilitates the financing of a home improvement contract must complete a disclosure form explaining the connection to that financing. The department publishes the licensing law, the fillable application in English and Spanish, and a sample home improvement contract, and it carries the EPA lead rule advisory for contractors performing renovation, repair and painting work that disturbs lead based paint in homes built before 1978. Questions on the application go to the Office of Consumer Protection at (914) 995-2155. Because the county ordinance text itself was not retrieved for this page, treat the question of exactly which landscaping tasks fall inside Westchester's definition as one to confirm with the department before you bid work there.
Sourcesconsumer.westchestergov.com 1consumer.westchestergov.com 2consumer.westchestergov.com 3
Article 36-A of the General Business Law governs home improvement contracts everywhere in New York, licensed county or not. Section 770(3) defines home improvement as the repairing, remodeling, altering, converting or modernizing of, or adding to, residential property, and the list of included work names landscaping along with driveways, swimming pools, terraces, patios, fences, siding, insulation and roofing. Subdivision 6 sets the threshold: a home improvement contract is one whose aggregate price for labor, services and materials exceeds $500, which catches almost every planting or hardscape job. Section 771 then sets out what the contract must do. It has to be evidenced by a writing signed by all parties, and the owner gets a copy before any work starts. It must state your name, address, telephone number and license number if applicable. It must give approximate or estimated start and substantial completion dates, any contingencies that would materially change them, and whether a definite completion date is of the essence. It must describe the work and the materials, including make, model number or other identifying details, and the agreed price. It must carry the mechanic's lien notice in clear and conspicuous bold face type. Payments taken before completion must go into a deposit under Lien Law section 71-a(4) unless you post a bond, indemnity contract or irrevocable letter of credit instead, and the contract must say so. Any progress payments need a dollar schedule tied to the stage of work. Since April 23, 2022 the contract must disclose property or casualty insurance covering the work, with the insurer's telephone number and address. The owner may cancel until the end of the third business day after signing.
Sourcesnysenate.gov 1nysenate.gov 2
Irrigation is where a landscaping company runs into drinking water law. Section 5-1.31 of Title 10 of the state codes, part of the State Sanitary Code, requires that all protective devices be inspected and tested by a certified backflow prevention device tester at the time of initial installation, after each repair, and annually thereafter, with records made available to, reviewed by and maintained by the supplier of water. All protective device tests and inspections must be conducted by a certified tester. The certification itself no longer comes from the state directly. The Department of Health states that revisions to subdivisions 9 and 10 of section 225 of the Public Health Law removed its obligation to issue backflow tester certifications, and that it stopped issuing initial certifications on March 1, 2011 and renewal certifications on May 1, 2011. Under the current procedure, initial and renewal certifications are issued by a Department approved entity when the applicant proves satisfactory completion of a Department approved training course, and the Department publishes the list of approved training providers. A tester's certification is valid for three years. Renewal means completing a renewal training course before the expiration date, and the Department advises starting at least three months out. A certification that lapses for less than a year can be reinstated through the renewal course, with the resulting period running to the fixed three year cycle. A lapse of more than a year means repeating the entire initial course. The Department has authority to require a written, oral or practical skills examination, and can suspend or revoke a certification for fraud, gross incompetence or gross negligence. The Department does not have reciprocity with any other state, and it publishes a public list of certified testers.
Sourcesregs.health.ny.gov 1health.ny.gov 2health.ny.gov 3health.ny.gov 4
Lawn and ornamental treatment work puts a landscaping company under Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law. Section 33-0905 requires that any person engaged in the commercial or private application of pesticides, or the sale of restricted use pesticides, be certified by the commissioner, and that the certified person hold a valid identification card. The section excepts residential application of pesticides and private application of a general use pesticide. Commercial and other non private certifications are valid for three years; private applicator certifications run five years. Certified applicators must keep records available for inspection, and must give the occupant or owner a copy of the product label information before applying pesticides in a dwelling or other premises. Section 33-0907 requires a pesticide business or agency to register with the commissioner on a prescribed form, requires applicants to meet standards the commissioner sets on knowledge and experience concerning the proper use and application of pesticides, and states that a business or agency registration is valid for three years. Section 33-0911 sets the money. The examination fee for any applicant for pesticide applicator certification is $100 for each examination. Commercial pesticide applicator certification is $450 for one individual category, plus $150 for each additional category and $150 for each additional sub category. Private applicator certification is $25 for the initial certified private applicator and $5 for each subsequent applicator on the same farm or business, at initial certification, renewal or recertification. Pesticide business registration is $900, and a business with more than one business address in the state may be required to pay for each address. State agencies, municipal corporations, public authorities and colleges are exempt from the registration fee.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance treats landscapers as contractors for sales tax purposes, and its bulletin for the trade, TB-ST-505, turns on one question: is the work a capital improvement to real property, or is it repair, maintenance or installation work. Capital improvement work is not taxed to the customer. On that work the landscaper should obtain a properly completed Form ST-124, Certificate of Capital Improvement, from the customer, which relieves the landscaper of liability for tax on the job, and should keep it in the records; where no certificate is received, the contract and project records can still establish that the work was a capital improvement. Removal of shrubs and trees counts as a capital improvement only when it is done in conjunction with another capital improvement project, or when the end result is a new planting; removal to improve the grounds without replacement is maintenance and is taxable. The bulletin lists mowing lawns, painting or repairing an existing fence, snow removal, reseeding bare spots on a lawn, repairing or opening and closing sprinkler systems, trimming hedges and trimming trees as taxable repair and maintenance services. Materials bought for use in landscaping are taxable whether the landscaper, a subcontractor or the customer buys them, and the tax paid becomes an expense the landscaper may pass through as part of the overall charge. Landscapers normally cannot use Form ST-120, the resale certificate, because they do not sell materials without installation, though Form ST-120.1 applies in certain circumstances. On a capital improvement job the general contractor gives the subcontractor a copy of the customer's certificate.
Sourcestax.ny.gov
Every license that applies to this trade in New York has a public lookup behind it, and homeowners use them. The Office of the Professions runs a verification search that returns professional verification and enforcement actions, which is where a prospect confirms that the person you call your designer really holds a landscape architect license. New York City points consumers to a Check License page that sends them to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection's license search, where a Home Improvement Contractor license can be confirmed without creating an account. Westchester County publishes a find a licensed contractor tool and, separately, a list of renegade renovators. Nassau County links a home improvement contractor license lookup from its licensing page. The Department of Health publishes a public list of New York State certified backflow testers. Treat all of that as a marketing asset rather than a compliance chore. The display rules already force the license number onto your advertising in New York City and into all display advertising and promotional literature in Nassau County, and onto the contract or paid receipt in Suffolk County, so put the number where a buyer can act on it: the site footer, the estimate header, the proposal cover, the truck panel. Pair it with the name exactly as printed on the license, which Nassau County requires anyway, so the lookup returns a match on the first try. A homeowner who can verify you in under a minute is a homeowner who stops shopping, and in a trade with no state license to point at, the county number plus a verifiable applicator certification is the strongest proof you own.
Sourcesop.nysed.gov 1nyc.gov 2a866-dcwpbp.nyc.gov 3consumer.westchestergov.com 4nassaucountyny.gov 5health.ny.gov 6nyc.gov 7nassaucountyny.gov 8suffolkcountyny.gov 9
These are common details other guides publish about New York, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. New York issues no state license for a landscaping or landscape contracting business. Section 7326 of the Education Law expressly leaves landscape contractors, landscape gardeners, nurserymen and lawn caretakers outside the landscape architecture license. What you may still need is a county or city home improvement license, plus activity certifications for pesticides and backflow testing.
No. Education Law section 7326 bars an unlicensed landscape contractor or gardener from using the designation landscape architect, landscape architectural or landscape architecture. Section 6513 makes unauthorized use of a professional title a class A misdemeanor. Landscape design, landscape contracting and hardscape construction are all wording you can use freely.
New York City names landscaping in the work its Home Improvement Contractor license covers. Nassau County includes gardening and landscaping when the landscaper uses their own equipment and vehicle. Suffolk County includes landscaping and arboriculture in its home improvement contracting definition. Westchester County licenses home improvement contractors through its Department of Consumer Protection.
The license period is two years, expiring February 28 in odd years, and the fee depends on when you file: $200, $150, $100, $50 or $250. Add $200 to join the Home Improvement Business Trust Fund, or file a $20,000 surety bond instead. A failed exam twice more costs $50.
In New York City, yes. Rule 6 RCNY section 2-222(a) requires the contractor's DCWP license number in advertising. Nassau County requires the license number and the full company name as printed on the license in all display advertising and promotional literature. Suffolk County requires the number on the contract or paid receipt.
Environmental Conservation Law section 33-0905 requires certification by the commissioner for anyone engaged in commercial or private application of pesticides, along with a valid identification card. Commercial certifications are valid three years. Section 33-0907 also requires the pesticide business itself to register, and that registration is valid for three years.
Only the person testing the device does. Section 5-1.31 of Title 10 requires protective devices to be tested by a certified backflow prevention device tester at installation, after each repair and annually after that. Certification comes from a Department of Health approved training provider and is valid for three years.
Tax Bulletin TB-ST-505 treats landscapers as contractors and turns on whether the work is a capital improvement or maintenance. Capital improvement work is not taxed to the customer, and you should collect Form ST-124 from them. Mowing, snow removal, hedge trimming and opening or closing sprinklers are taxable services.
Suffolk County's law makes conducting a licensed business without a license a misdemeanor, punishable on conviction by a fine of up to $5,000 or up to one year of imprisonment, or both, with each violation a separate offense. Civil penalties the law caps at $750 for a first violation and $1,500 afterward can apply too.
Suffolk County licenses run two years from issuance, and renewals run two years. The New York City license period is also two years, expiring February 28 in odd years. Nassau County charges $650 to renew a business license, with a $110 late fee. Westchester charges a $50 renewal application late fee.
General Business Law section 771 requires a signed writing for work over $500, with your name, address, telephone and license number if applicable, start and substantial completion dates, a description of work and materials, the price, a bold mechanic's lien notice, a deposit notice under Lien Law section 71-a(4), and a three business day cancellation right.
Through public lookups. The Office of the Professions verification search confirms a landscape architect license. New York City's Check License page leads to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection license search. Westchester publishes a find a licensed contractor tool. The Department of Health lists certified backflow testers statewide.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.