Pennsylvania · Landscaping licensing · official-source guide
Pennsylvania licenses no landscaper or landscape contractor. The Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection, instead registers home improvement contractors under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, required of anyone performing at least $5,000 of home improvements a year. Registration costs $100 every two years and needs $50,000 personal injury and $50,000 property damage coverage.
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Pennsylvania has no state license for a landscaper, a landscaping company, or a landscape contractor. No board tests you on planting, grading, mowing, or hardscaping. The rule that reaches most residential landscaping firms instead comes from the Office of Attorney General. The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, Act 132 of 2008, requires every contractor who performs at least $5,000 worth of home improvements per year to register with the Attorney General's Office. The Bureau of Consumer Protection inside that office issues the certificate and the registration number. Three other state programs attach to specific parts of landscaping work. The State Board of Landscape Architects, inside the Department of State, licenses landscape architects and controls who may use that title. The Department of Agriculture certifies pesticide applicators and licenses the businesses that employ them. The same department certifies nurseries and nursery dealers under the Plant Pest Act, and it names landscape contractors as nursery dealers. None of those four programs is a landscaping license. Each one covers a slice of what a full service crew does in a week. A design build firm in Pennsylvania can easily need three of them at once: home improvement registration for the retaining wall and patio, a pesticide business license for the turf program, and nursery dealer certification for the plant material it buys and resells. The statute decides which ones apply to you, not the size of the company.
Sourcesattorneygeneral.gov 1legis.state.pa.us 2pa.gov 3pa.gov 4
The threshold is annual volume, not job size. A contractor who performs at least $5,000 worth of home improvements per year must register with the Attorney General's Office. The Act defines a contractor as any person who owns and operates a home improvement business or who undertakes, offers to undertake, or agrees to perform any home improvement. Subcontractors are included, and so is an independent contractor working through a home improvement retailer. Section 3 states that no person shall hold himself out as a contractor, nor shall a person perform any home improvement, without first registering. Holding yourself out counts on its own, so a company that advertises residential hardscaping is exposed before the first shovel moves. Home improvement itself is defined by a job level test. The listed categories apply when the total cash price of all work agreed upon between the contractor and owner is more than $500. Those categories include construction, replacement, installation, or improvement of driveways, patios, fences, gazebos, sheds, and landscaping that is not excluded elsewhere in the definition. New home construction is excluded. So is the sale of goods or materials by a seller who neither arranges nor performs any installation work. Work performed without compensation by the property owner is excluded. Commercial and business accounts sit outside the Act when the service takes place somewhere other than at a private residence, which is why commercial grounds maintenance contracts are not what triggers registration.
Pennsylvania wrote a landscaper exception into the Act, then wrote most hardscaping back out of it. The definition of home improvement does not include any work performed by a landscaper certified by the Department of Agriculture under the Plant Pest Act. That exception stops short at a list. It does not apply to the extent the work involves, at a private residence, the construction, replacement, installation, or improvement of buildings, driveways, swimming pools, porches, garages, roofs, siding, insulation, solar energy systems, security systems, flooring, patios, nondecorative fences, doors, lighting systems, concrete walkways, and windows. It also does not apply to the placement of retaining walls, fountains, or drainage systems. Read that list against a typical outdoor living quote. Paver patio, concrete walkway, segmental retaining wall, low voltage path lighting, and a french drain are all named. Each one pulls the job back under the Act even for a certified landscaper. What stays inside the exception is the planting and plant care side of the work along with decorative fencing. The practical reading for a Pennsylvania firm is simple. If you only plant, prune, mow, mulch, and maintain beds, and you hold Department of Agriculture certification, the home improvement registration may not reach you. The moment you sell a wall, a patio, a walkway, a drainage system, or outdoor lighting at a private residence, you are a home improvement contractor and you register. Companies that sell both should assume the registration applies and keep it current rather than sorting jobs one at a time.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us 1pa.gov 2
The statute set the application fee at $50 for a certificate or its renewal, with renewals on a biennial basis. That figure has been superseded. The Attorney General's Office states that due to a change in the Commonwealth Fiscal Code, 72 P.S. section 1603-U, the registration fee has been increased to $100 every two years, and that the increase applies to all new and renewal applications. The fee is non-refundable. There is no cost for updating existing registration information, and the Act confirms that no fee is required for updating an active registration, although a contractor must report any change in the application information within 30 days. Online credit card payment adds a $2 processing fee, while ACH payment adds nothing. A paper application takes a $100 check or money order payable to the Commonwealth. Insurance is the real gate. The application requires proof of liability insurance covering personal injury in an amount not less than $50,000 and insurance covering property damage caused by the work of a home improvement contractor in an amount not less than $50,000. The registration system repeats both figures and asks for commercial general liability proof at those limits. Self insurance is allowed. The Act permits proof attested to by an applicant that the applicant is self-insured, the bureau develops the forms, and the bureau may determine whether the self-insurance is sufficient. A self insured applicant files a self-insurance certificate, an attestation, and a member list. No bond is required.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us 1attorneygeneral.gov 2hic.attorneygeneral.gov 3
The Landscape Architects' Registration Law is blunt about the title. Section 3 states that it shall be unlawful for a person to practice landscape architecture or to use the term or title landscape architect unless duly licensed under the act. The State Board of Landscape Architects, inside the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs at the Department of State, regulates licensure and also regulates the unlicensed practice of the profession. The penalty sits in Section 11. Anyone who practices landscape architecture or holds himself out to be a landscape architect without being licensed and registered is guilty of a summary offense, and on conviction shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding $300 or undergo imprisonment not exceeding 90 days, or both. The same provision catches using an expired, suspended, or revoked certificate, and it separately catches using the term architect instead of the term landscape architect. The board may also levy a civil penalty of up to $1,000 on a current licensee who violates the act. Licensees carry a seal. Each registered person obtains a board authorized seal bearing the registrant's name and number and the legend Registered Landscape Architect, and that seal or a facsimile imprint is stamped on all plans, specifications, plates, and reports the landscape architect issues. Using a seal while a license is suspended or revoked is itself unlawful. For a landscaping company the lesson is about wording. Advertising design services is fine. Calling the person who draws your plans a landscape architect, when no license exists, is a summary offense.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us 1pa.gov 2
The Department of State publishes the requirements as a snapshot, and the path has four parts. Education comes first. An applicant must have an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from an approved institution and at least two years of practical experience after graduation, or that degree plus one year of graduate school in landscape architecture and one year of post graduation experience, or a graduate degree in landscape architecture together with an undergraduate degree in another subject and two years of post graduation experience. Experience must be of a grade and character satisfactory to the board. Professional experience means two years obtained under the supervision of a design professional. An applicant not supervised by a landscape architect must have the work product reviewed by a registered landscape architect every six months for two consecutive years. The examination is the Landscape Architect Registration Exam administered by the Council of Landscape Architects Registration Boards, and board preapproval is required before scheduling it. The initial licensing fee is $60. Renewal is biennial at $194. Continuing education runs 24 clock hours as a condition of biennial renewal, and a licensee is not required to complete continuing education during the biennium in which the license is first issued. Out of state licensees have two routes. Registration by endorsement takes an official certification of registration from the home state board stating the basis for registration and that it is in good standing. Act 41 gives all Pennsylvania boards authority to endorse licensees from jurisdictions with substantially equivalent requirements who are active, in good standing, and free of discipline or criminal conviction.
Sourcespa.gov 1legis.state.pa.us 2
Pennsylvania drew the line inside the statute rather than leaving it to argument. The definition of the practice of landscape architecture ends with a saving clause. It shall not be construed to prohibit those engaged in nursery occupations, or as gardeners or landscape contractors, from preparing planting plans and items incidental thereto. Section 8 lists the exemptions from licensure and registration in the same spirit. It exempts the practice of any agriculturists, horticulturists, foresters, garden or land caretakers, home builders and graders, or cultivators of land. It separately exempts the practice of any nurseryman, landscape nurseryman, gardener or landscape gardener, general or landscape contractor, as that practice pertains to planting design and its incidental items. Other exemptions cover an employee of a person lawfully practicing who does not assume responsible charge of design or supervision, a nonresident practicing not more than 30 days in the aggregate in one calendar year, an architect or professional engineer doing landscape architectural service incidental to their own services, and planning as customarily done by community and regional planners. The boundary that remains is the licensed definition itself, which covers consultation, investigation, research, planning, design, drawings and specifications, or responsible observation of construction where the dominant purpose is land use, natural land features, planting, aesthetic values, the shaping and contouring of land and water forms, the setting of grades, drainage and stormwater management, and erosion and sedimentation. Planting plans are yours. Grading and stormwater design presented as professional service is not.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us
The Department of Agriculture, not any contractor board, controls who sprays. A commercial or public applicator license is required to use pesticides on the property of another. It is also required to use restricted use pesticides on your own or your employer's property for a non-agricultural purpose. The department lists further triggers that apply even to general use products on your own or your employer's property: fumigation, golf courses, public or private parks, educational and research institutions, playgrounds and athletic fields, multifamily housing with four or more units, schools, and swimming pools. A landscaping company treating customer lawns falls under the first trigger on every visit. Getting the license takes two tests, one core exam and one or more category exams, and employment by a company that holds a pesticide business license. The core test costs $50 and each category test costs $10. The commercial license costs $40 per year and expires September 30. A public applicator working for a government agency or a school district pays $10 every three years. The categories are set in regulation. Category 6 is ornamental and shade trees, the use of a pesticide in the maintenance of an ornamental tree, shrub, flower, or other ornamental. Category 7 is lawn and turf, the use of a pesticide in the maintenance or production of lawn and turf. Most landscaping firms need both. After licensing there is a continuing education requirement, with update training for core and category topics available in person, on demand, and by webinar.
Sourcespa.gov 1pacodeandbulletin.gov 2pacodeandbulletin.gov 3
The individual license is only half of it. All businesses, non-profit and for-profit, and government agencies that need commercial or public applicators to apply pesticides must hold a pesticide application business license. The department lists three conditions: employ at least one certified applicator, meet the financial responsibility requirement, and pay a $35 application fee initially and annually. Financial responsibility is set by regulation. The minimum comprehensive general liability insurance is $100,000 for each occurrence of bodily injury liability and $100,000 for each occurrence of property damage liability, and a policy may be written with combined limits if those limits equal or exceed the sum of the individual limits. The certificate must indicate coverage for completed operations and must state that the coverage applies to pesticide application. The maximum deductible may not exceed $2,500 of the combined policy limits, and a business that has not satisfied a deductible on a prior claim may not carry a deductible at all. The business lists the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture as the certificate holder and sends a current certificate at each insurance renewal date. Self insurance is available by written proposal, backed by escrow deposits, irrevocable letters of credit, surety bonds, or other approved security. There is a cheaper path for crew members. Instead of putting every employee through the exams, an employer may run a training program and register employees as application technicians. The business must employ a certified applicator who has held certification at least one year, and employees are registered after training during a 30 day period. A commercial technician costs $30 per year.
This is the certification most Pennsylvania landscaping firms do not know they hold or need, and it is the same certification the home improvement exception keys on. Under the Plant Pest Act, nursery stock means all trees, shrubs, brambles, woody vines, woody florist stock, herbaceous perennials, vegetable plants, bedding and other annual herbaceous plants, and their roots, cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, fruit pits, seeds and parts for propagation, excluding bulbs and field crop, vegetable and flower seeds, regardless of where the material was grown. Growers of nursery stock are nurseries, a definition that takes in many greenhouse operations. Anyone buying and selling nursery stock without being primarily a grower is a nursery dealer, and the Department of Agriculture names landscape contractors first in its list of nursery dealers, alongside chain stores, garden centers, plant distributors, mail order firms, collectors, and conservation districts holding plant sales. Applying for certification is a verification that the dealer will buy and sell only inspected and certified plants, and a certificate of inspection must always accompany wholesale lots and out of state shipments. Registration costs $40 and the department describes it as an annual fee established by Act 67 of 1990. Apply on paper through a plant inspector or online through the PaPlants system with a credit card. Stock offered for sale is subject to inspection for injurious plant pests, and a stop sale order can follow a bad inspection. Samples go to a Bureau of Plant Industry laboratory in Harrisburg for diagnosis.
Pennsylvania issues no state irrigation contractor license and no state backflow tester license. That does not make an irrigation tap unregulated. The Safe Drinking Water regulations put the duty on the customer side of the meter. It is the responsibility of the customer to eliminate cross connections or provide backflow devices to prevent contamination of the distribution system from both backsiphonage and backpressure, and individual backflow preventers must be acceptable to the public water supplier. If the customer fails to comply within a reasonable period, the water supplier discontinues service after reasonable notice. At the direction of the Department of Environmental Protection, a public water supplier develops and implements a comprehensive cross connection control program and submits it for approval. The required elements include the methods and devices used to protect the system, legal authority for implementation such as an ordinance or rules, a schedule for inspecting nonresidential premises, recordkeeping, review of plans for new users so no new cross connections develop, and provisions for discontinuing service where cross connections exist. The practical effect for an irrigation installer is that the local water authority writes your rules. Device type, approval, testing interval, and who may test are set in that supplier's program, not in a statewide license. Plumbing itself is the other boundary. The home improvement registration statute says it does not affect existing licensing standards for electricians and plumbers and other trades where licensing is conditioned on testing requirements. Confirm with the water supplier and the municipal code office before you cut into a service line.
Pennsylvania gives this its own section of the statute, and it is wider than most contractors expect. Section 6 is titled Proof of registration. A contractor shall include its registration number in all advertisements distributed within this Commonwealth and on all contracts, estimates and proposals with owners in this Commonwealth. The Act then defines advertisement broadly: a statement promoting home improvement services in a newspaper, periodical, pamphlet, circular, billboard, sign, letterhead, business card or other printed materials, or in announcements to the public on radio, television or the Internet. A website is an announcement to the public on the Internet. So is a paid search ad, a service page, and a social profile that promotes services. Two narrow exclusions exist. Sponsorship or recognition of sponsorship of civic, charitable or nonprofit events, teams or purposes is not an advertisement. Neither are writings or graphics on promotional clothing, pens, pencils, notepads or similar items. A truck door sign is not on that exclusion list. The contract side carries its own teeth. A home improvement contract is not valid or enforceable against an owner unless it is in writing, legible, and contains the home improvement contractor registration number of the performing contractor. Omitting the number from an estimate breaks Section 6. Omitting it from the signed contract can cost you the right to enforce the agreement. Put the PA number on the website footer, every estimate template, every proposal, and every signed contract, and keep the digits current after renewal.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us
A Pennsylvania home improvement contract is unenforceable against the owner unless it meets a list. It must be in writing and legible, carry the contractor's registration number, be signed by the owner or an authorized party and by the contractor or a salesperson, contain the entire agreement with copies of all required notices attached, show the date of the transaction, and give the contractor's name, address and telephone number. A post office box alone does not count as an address. It must show approximate start and completion dates, describe the work, the materials, and a set of specifications that cannot be changed without a written change order signed by both parties, and state the total sales price. A time and materials provision is allowed with conditions: a written initial cost estimate before work starts, the dollar value of that estimate in the contract, a statement that the cost may not exceed 10 percent above it, the total potential cost in actual dollars, and a statement that the figure cannot rise further without a signed change order. Down payments and special order material advances must be listed separately. The owner may rescind the contract without penalty, regardless of where it was signed, within three business days of signing. On a contract priced above $5,000 the contractor may not take a deposit exceeding one third of the contract price, or one third plus the cost of special order materials designated in the written contract. A completed copy of the contract goes to the owner, free, at execution.
Sourceslegis.state.pa.us
Act 132 did something useful for contractors working across municipal lines. Registration under the Act precludes any requirement of payment of a fee, or registration or licensing of any home improvement contractor, by any political subdivision. Townships and boroughs may still require building permits and local enforcement of the building code, for which a reasonable fee may be charged, and the preemption does not disturb the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, the workers compensation obligations under section 302(e) of the Workers' Compensation Act, or licensing standards already in effect for electricians, plumbers and other trades conditioned on testing. Philadelphia shows how this works in practice. The Department of Licenses and Inspections issues a Contractor License for any business doing work that involves construction, demolition or repair and does not require a specialized company license. The city states that you do not need that license if your business only does work on existing one or two family dwellings and does no work needing a special trade license. Instead the company submits as a Home Improvement Contractor after registering with the state. A company that does take the city license files a Business Income and Receipts Tax ID and a Commercial Activity License, provides a certificate of insurance showing general liability of $500,000 per occurrence and automobile liability of $300,000, carries workers compensation at $100,000 per accident, $100,000 per employee and a $500,000 policy limit, names supervisors with OSHA 30 training completed within five years, and stays current on city taxes. Renewal is annual.
Pennsylvania taxes lawn care as a service, and the regulation splits the work in a way that matters to how you write an invoice. The sale at retail or use of lawn care services performed in the Commonwealth is subject to tax. Taxable examples include fertilizing, mowing, trimming, cutting or edging lawns, dethatching, applying herbicides, insecticides or fungicides to lawns, raking grass, watering, liming, aerating, overseeding, sodding or grass plugging of existing lawns, and trimming or pruning shrubbery when performed with other lawn care services. Nontaxable examples include seeding, sodding or plugging to establish a new lawn, trimming, pruning or fertilizing trees, planting or removing shrubbery or trees, designing lawns, applying herbicides or fungicides to shrubbery, trees, flowers or vegetables, maintaining shrubbery, flower or vegetable beds by mulching, tilling, weeding or fertilizing, and separately stated leaf raking. Failure to state lawn care charges separately from other nontaxable charges on the same invoice requires charging tax on the whole invoice. Separate your line items. Verification runs through three public systems. The Attorney General operates a Home Improvement Contractor Search where anyone can look you up by registration number, business name, applicant, address or city. The Department of State operates PALS for licensed professionals, including landscape architects, and it also shows whether a licensee has faced disciplinary action. Philadelphia publishes its own licensed contractor lookup. Registration is not an endorsement, recommendation or approval of a contractor's competency or skill, and the Attorney General says so in writing.
Sourcespacodeandbulletin.gov 1hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov 2pals.pa.gov 3phila.gov 4attorneygeneral.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Pennsylvania, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Pennsylvania licenses no landscaper or landscape contractor at state level. If you perform at least $5,000 of home improvements a year at private residences, you register with the Attorney General's Office as a home improvement contractor instead. Pesticide, nursery dealer and landscape architect rules may also apply to parts of your work.
Maybe not. The Act excludes work performed by a landscaper certified by the Department of Agriculture under the Plant Pest Act. That exclusion stops at a list of hardscape items. Pure planting and plant care work can stay outside registration if you hold that certification.
The statute names driveways, patios, concrete walkways, nondecorative fences, porches, lighting systems, flooring, siding, roofs, buildings, pools, insulation, solar and security systems, doors and windows at a private residence. It also names the placement of retaining walls, fountains and drainage systems. Any of those triggers registration.
The Attorney General's Office states the fee was increased to $100 every two years under 72 P.S. section 1603-U, for new and renewal applications alike. Online card payment adds a $2 processing fee and ACH adds nothing. Updating information on an active registration is free.
Liability insurance covering personal injury of not less than $50,000 and insurance covering property damage caused by your work of not less than $50,000. The registration system asks for commercial general liability proof at those limits. Self insurance is permitted with a certificate, an attestation and a member list.
Only if that person holds a Pennsylvania license. Using the title without one is a summary offense carrying a fine not exceeding $300, imprisonment not exceeding 90 days, or both. Using the term architect in place of landscape architect is separately prohibited by the same section.
Yes. The statute says it may not be construed to prohibit those in nursery occupations, or gardeners or landscape contractors, from preparing planting plans and items incidental to them. Section 8 repeats the exemption for planting design. Grading, drainage and stormwater design sold as professional service is the licensed side.
A commercial applicator license for the person applying, and a pesticide application business license for the company. The license needs a core exam plus category exams, and employment by a licensed business. Category 6 covers ornamental and shade trees, category 7 covers lawn and turf.
The core exam is $50 and each category exam is $10. A commercial applicator license is $40 per year and expires September 30. The business license application fee is $35 initially and annually. A commercial registered technician costs $30 per year.
The Department of Agriculture treats anyone buying and selling nursery stock without being primarily a grower as a nursery dealer, and it names landscape contractors in that group. Registration costs $40 and is described as an annual fee. Apply on paper or through PaPlants.
In all advertisements distributed within Pennsylvania and on all contracts, estimates and proposals with owners. The Act's definition of advertisement covers signs, business cards, letterhead, printed materials, radio, television and announcements to the public on the Internet, which includes your website.
Not if the business only works on existing one or two family dwellings and does no work needing a special trade license. The city says such a company submits as a Home Improvement Contractor after registering with the state. Broader construction work needs the city Contractor License.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.