Alaska · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Alaska registers remodelers statewide. The Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development issues contractor certificates of registration under AS 08.18, and a general contractor also needs a residential contractor endorsement before bidding work on one to four unit homes. Registration requires a surety bond, liability insurance, and workers compensation coverage where employees are used.
State-level license
Yes
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Verified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Alaska regulates remodeling at the state level, not city by city. AS 08.18.011 says a person may not submit a bid or work as a contractor until the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development has issued that person a certificate of registration. The regulations name the same agency: 12 AAC 21.990 defines department as the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Registration sits with the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing inside that department. The definition of contractor in AS 08.18.171 is wide. It covers any person who, in the pursuit of an independent business, undertakes, offers to perform, claims the capacity to perform, or submits a bid to construct, alter, repair, move, or demolish a building or any type of fixed structure. A kitchen gut, a bathroom rebuild, a window replacement, an addition, and a deck tear off all land inside that language. The term includes general contractors, builders, mechanical contractors, specialty contractors, and subcontractors. Two state agencies enforce the chapter. AS 08.18.121(f) lets either the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development or the Department of Labor and Workforce Development give written notice prohibiting further work by a person operating in violation, and that prohibition runs until the person shows the violation is corrected. AS 08.18.131 lets either department sue in superior court for an injunction. A general contractor also carries a policing duty toward its trades. AS 08.18.011(b) forbids a general contractor from using or awarding a bid from, contracting with, or allowing work by a person who is required to register as a specialty contractor and has not.
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Alaska sorts contractors into categories rather than license grades. 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 any contractor other than a mechanical contractor whose operations are described in AS 08.18.024(b). A mechanical contractor handles plumbing, pipe fitting, sheet metal, heating, air conditioning, ventilating, and sprinkler and dry chemical fire protection work. 12 AAC 21.700 adds a handyman contractor registration for a contractor doing business as described in AS 08.18.071(b)(4). A handyman may bid only inside the scope of a contractor, may not perform or employ a person performing work that requires an electrical or mechanical administrator under AS 08.40, and may not perform or employ a person performing work that requires a residential contractor endorsement. Most remodeling firms pick between two routes. A firm that coordinates framing, drywall, finish carpentry, painting, and flooring on one job is using more than three trades, so it registers as a general contractor. A firm that stays inside one to three trades registers as a specialty contractor in those trades. Electrical and mechanical work carries an extra gate. AS 08.18.026 and AS 08.18.028 bar the department from issuing an electrical or mechanical contractor registration unless the applicant is, or employs, a person currently licensed as an administrator under AS 08.40. If the relationship with the only administrator ends, the registration goes void 30 days after the next regularly scheduled examination unless a replacement is hired.
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The residential contractor endorsement is the part of AS 08.18 that most affects remodelers. AS 08.18.025(a) bars a general contractor from undertaking the construction or alteration of a privately owned residential structure of one to four units, from submitting a bid to do that work, and from advertising or publicly representing that it may do that work in the state, without the endorsement. The same subsection defines alteration as changes that have a value greater than 25 percent of the value of the structure being altered. That 25 percent line is the trigger a remodeler has to watch on every estimate. A full gut of a modest house clears it easily. One bathroom in a large home may not. AS 08.18.171 defines residence as a single family home other than a mobile home, a duplex, triplex, or four-plex, or a residential townhouse or residential condominium unit. AS 08.18.025(b) lists what the department requires for the endorsement: a certificate of registration as a general contractor, a passing score on the residential contractor examination, an application filed within 12 months after passing it, satisfactory completion within the prior two years of the Alaska craftsman home program sponsored by the department or its equivalent or a postsecondary course in arctic engineering or its equivalent, a clean seven year record on forgery, theft in the first or second degree, extortion, conspiracy to defraud creditors, and felonies involving dishonesty, and payment of the fees. 12 AAC 21.680 requires the application to name the registered general contractor to whom the endorsement will be assigned. AS 08.18.121(h) suspends or revokes the endorsement automatically while the underlying registration is suspended or revoked.
12 AAC 21.200 lists the specialty trades the department recognizes, and the list reads like a remodel punch list: Carpentry Contractor Finish, Carpentry Contractor Rough, Drywall Contractor, Floor Covering Contractor, Painting Contractor, Roofing Contractor, Glazing Contractor, Tile and Terrazzo Contractor, Wallcovering Contractor, Acoustical and Insulation Contractor, and Demolition Contractor, among others. The trade printed on the certificate is the trade you may sell. The trade definitions are specific. 12 AAC 21.240 puts interior wooden trim, cabinets, built-in shelving, interior stairs and banisters, laminated countertops, doors and door hardware, windows and sills, moldings, and hardwood flooring and floor refinishing inside finish carpentry. 12 AAC 21.250 puts framing, concrete form work, siding, roof shingles, sheathing, subflooring, decks, metal doors and frames, and overhead door installation inside rough carpentry. 12 AAC 21.460 lets a roofing contractor repair structural damage to a roof support system but not construct or install a new one. 12 AAC 21.300 limits a drywall contractor to installation of gypsum board, taping, and joint preparation. The ceiling on a specialty registration is firm. AS 08.18.024(b) says a specialty contractor may perform work that requires the use of not more than three trades. AS 08.18.024(a) gives one narrow allowance: the department may authorize limited use of specific construction techniques or materials from another specialty when they are a small but inseparable part of completing the registered specialty's work. 12 AAC 21.110(a) closes the loop. A registered specialty contractor may not undertake, offer to perform, claim the capacity to perform, or submit a bid for a project requiring a trade it is not actively registered for.
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The residential contractor examination is the only trade examination AS 08.18 puts in front of a remodeling business. AS 08.18.025(b)(2) requires the department to offer it at least once each year in each judicial district. The statute allows a written or practical format and says it may test competence in relation to arctic structural and thermal construction techniques and other matters the department sets in consultation with representatives of the construction industry. 12 AAC 21.680 fills in the mechanics. An endorsement applicant must verify a score of at least 70 percent on the residential contractor endorsement examination administered by PSI Services, LLC, or another examination approved by the department, obtained within the 12 months immediately preceding the application date. AS 08.18.041(b) makes a person who fails the examination pay the examination fee again to retake it. The coursework sits apart from the test. AS 08.18.025(b)(4) requires satisfactory completion, within the two years preceding the application, of either the Alaska craftsman home program sponsored by the department or its equivalent, or a postsecondary course in arctic engineering or its equivalent. 12 AAC 21.680 repeats the requirement as a program or course completed within the 24 months immediately preceding the application. There is no general contractor or specialty contractor trade examination in AS 08.18. A specialty, mechanical or handyman registration turns on the application, the bond, and the insurance rather than on a test, as 12 AAC 21.020 shows. Passing the residential examination also earns 16 contact hours of continuing competency credit under 12 AAC 21.665(a)(5), which covers a full renewal cycle.
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12 AAC 02.180 sets the state fees for general, mechanical, and all specialty construction contractors. The nonrefundable application fee for an initial registration or for 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. The biennial certificate of registration renewal and license enforcement support fee is also $250. The endorsement carries its own line items. The residential contractor endorsement fee for all or part of the initial biennial endorsement period is $250, and the biennial endorsement renewal fee is $250. A remodeler running a general registration plus an endorsement therefore pays two $250 cycle fees, not one. Change fees are small and worth knowing before you restructure. A change from one specialty to another, from specialty to mechanical, or from mechanical to specialty costs $35. A change from a specialty or mechanical registration to a general registration, or from a general registration back to specialty or mechanical, costs $75. A doing business as name change, owner change, or entity change costs $65. Bonding research costs $30. Course providers pay separately. An initial residential endorsement continuing competency course approval application costs $25, and the renewal of that course approval costs $25. These are the department's fees only. The surety bond premium, the liability premium, the workers compensation premium, the fee the testing vendor charges, and the state business license fee under AS 43.70.030 all sit outside 12 AAC 02.180.
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AS 08.18.071(a) requires every applicant to file a surety bond running to the state at the time of applying for a certificate of registration. The bond answers for taxes and contributions due the state and its political subdivisions, for persons furnishing labor, material, or rented equipment, and for amounts adjudged against the contractor for negligent or improper work, breach of contract in the conduct of the contracting business, or damage to public facilities during a construction project. The amounts in AS 08.18.071(b) are set by category. A general contractor posts $25,000. A general contractor with a residential contractor endorsement who performs exclusively residential work posts $20,000. A mechanical or specialty contractor posts $10,000. A contractor whose work on one project has an aggregate contract price of $10,000 or less, including all labor, materials, and other items, posts $5,000, and the statute blocks dividing a larger operation into smaller contracts to reach that lower tier. The residential only reduction matters to remodelers. A general registration, plus an endorsement, plus work that stays exclusively residential, puts the bond at $20,000 instead of $25,000. AS 08.18.071(c) allows a cash deposit or other negotiable security acceptable to the commissioner in place of the bond, in the amount specified for bonds, and bars an action on the bond more than three years after cancellation. 12 AAC 21.090 describes acceptable securities, including a time certificate of deposit in the face amount of $5,000 for a handyman contractor. AS 08.18.121(b) suspends a registration when a final judgment drops the bond below the required amount, and AS 08.18.121(c) revokes it when the surety cancels.
AS 08.18.101(a) requires evidence of insurance at application and again at every renewal, and it names two coverages. The first is workers compensation insurance, to the extent AS 23.30 requires it, purchased from a private insurer admitted to do business in the state and showing coverage in this state with the appropriate Alaska employee classifications and rates, or a valid workers compensation 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 the state. The statutory floors are 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. Those are statutory minimums only, and they sit far below what a homeowner, a lender, or a general contractor will ask a remodeler to show on a certificate of insurance. AS 08.18.101(a)(2) exempts an applicant whose contracting operations are for work on projects where each project has an aggregate contract price, including all labor, materials, and other items, of $2,500 or less. AS 08.18.101(b) lets an applicant satisfy the proof requirement with evidence of coverage under an employer's policy, at least to the extent the statute requires. A lapse bites immediately. AS 08.18.121(a) suspends the registration of a contractor whose required insurance ceases to be in effect, and the suspension runs until the insurance is reinstated. 12 AAC 21.020 and 12 AAC 21.070 both list current insurance evidence as part of a complete initial and renewal application.
Registration runs on a two year cycle. 12 AAC 02.180 prices the certificate of registration for all or part of the initial biennial registration period and prices a biennial renewal, and the endorsement follows the same two year rhythm. 12 AAC 21.070(a) lists what a renewal or reinstatement application must carry: the renewal form, the registration renewal and license enforcement support fee, evidence of current bonding under AS 08.18.071, evidence of current public liability and property damage insurance, and workers compensation evidence where it applies. 12 AAC 21.070(b) lets the department require that the bonding and insurance evidence be issued no earlier than 30 days before the renewal application is submitted. AS 08.18.031(a) renews a certificate under the same requirements as an original registration. Continuing competency attaches to the endorsement, not to the base registration. 12 AAC 21.650(a) requires 16 contact hours of acceptable continuing competency activity for an endorsement renewal. 12 AAC 21.650(b) softens a first renewal to eight contact hours for each complete calendar year the applicant held the endorsement during the concluding period, and requires none if the endorsement was held less than one complete calendar year. 12 AAC 21.650(f) caps business related topics at eight contact hours per period. 12 AAC 21.665 explains how hours are earned: one contact hour per consecutive 50 minute block of classroom instruction, 15 hours per academic semester credit, ten per quarter credit, and no more than two hours for a first aid or CPR class. 12 AAC 21.695 renews an endorsement lapsed up to two years, requires a fresh 70 percent examination score between two and five years, and bars reinstatement at five years.
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AS 08.18.051(b) is the advertising rule a remodeler has to build into every piece of marketing. 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. Advertising and contracts must also include the contractor's registration number. Alaska wrote a modern carve out into the same subsection. An advertisement that directs potential customers to a contractor's website or landing page satisfies the requirement if the advertisement states that the required information is on that website or landing page and the page actually contains it. AS 08.18.171(12) defines 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. A truck wrap or a paid search ad can point to the site, but the site has to carry the name, mailing address, place of business, and registration number. AS 08.18.051(a) bars a registered contractor from acting under any other name unless that name is also registered, and 12 AAC 21.030 requires the registered name to be separate and distinct from every other registered contractor's name. AS 08.18.051(c) requires partners, associates, agents, salesmen, solicitors, officers, and employees to use their true names at all times. 12 AAC 21.110(c) restricts vocabulary. Without a corresponding active registration, a business or individual may not use builder, contractor, general contractor, mechanical contractor, residential contractor, specialty contractor, or handyman to describe itself. AS 08.18.111 bars advertising that you are bonded and insured simply because you complied with this chapter.
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Alaska attaches several separate consequences to unregistered contracting. AS 08.18.125(a) 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. The notice arrives in writing with hearing instructions, and AS 08.18.125(c) waives the hearing right if no request arrives within 30 days of the notice date. AS 08.18.131 adds a court track. Either department may sue in superior court to enjoin a person from acting in the capacity of a contractor in violation of the chapter, and the court may impose a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation. Each day that an unlawful act continues counts as a separate violation. AS 08.18.117 lets either department issue a citation on probable cause, and each day a violation continues after the citation is a separate violation. AS 08.18.141(a) makes a knowing violation of AS 08.18.011 or AS 08.18.025 a class B misdemeanor where the person was previously convicted of the same, found guilty under a citation issued under AS 08.18.117, or fined under AS 08.18.125. Other violations of the chapter are punishable under AS 12. The quiet penalty costs the most. AS 08.18.151 bars a person acting in the capacity of a contractor from bringing an action in an Alaska court to collect compensation for work, or for breach of contract, without alleging and proving registration at the time of contracting. AS 08.18.125(e) carves out areas of 1,000 people or fewer with no road or rail link to Anchorage or Fairbanks.
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Remodeling gets sold in the customer's living room, which puts AS 45.02.350 in play. A contract for the purchase of goods or services in the amount of $10 or more from a person soliciting a door to door sale must, as a condition of taking effect, require that the purchaser may revoke the offer to buy within five business days of entering into the contract. The seller must also give the purchaser written notice of that right to revoke at the time of the sale. The definition reaches further than the phrase suggests. AS 45.02.350(c) says a door to door sale occurs when the seller, or a representative of the seller, personally solicits the sale and the purchaser's agreement or offer to purchase is made at a place other than the seller's place of business. AS 45.02.350(d) defines personally as in person or by telephone. A canvasser who knocks, a rep who signs a contract at the kitchen table after a storm, and a phone solicited agreement all fall inside it. Five exclusions sit in AS 45.02.350(c): prior negotiations during the buyer's visit to a fixed permanent retail establishment, buyer initiated contact where the goods or services meet a bona fide immediate personal emergency, a transaction conducted and consummated entirely by mail, a buyer initiated request that the seller visit the home to repair or maintain the buyer's personal property, and a sale conducted at the purchaser's place of business. AS 45.02.350(a) makes revocation effective on tender of rejected goods or on posting a registered rejection letter. AS 45.02.350(b) puts the cost of returning rejected goods on the seller.
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AS 09.45.881 through AS 09.45.899 give an Alaska remodeler a statutory chance to fix a problem before a lawsuit starts. AS 09.45.899(4) defines construction professional as a registered contractor, architect, or engineer engaged in the business of designing, constructing, or remodeling a dwelling. AS 09.45.899(7) defines remodel as a change to a dwelling with a value more than 25 percent of the value of the structure being changed, which matches the endorsement trigger in AS 08.18.025. AS 09.45.881(a) requires a claimant to serve written notice of the claim at least 90 days before filing the action. The notice must describe the claim in reasonable detail sufficient to show the general nature of the alleged defect and the results of the defect if known. On the contractor's request, the claimant must hand over evidence depicting the nature and cause of the defect and the extent of repairs needed, including expert reports, photographs, and videotapes. AS 09.45.882 gives the contractor 21 days after service to serve a written response choosing one of three paths: offer to inspect the dwelling within a specified time, offer to settle by paying money without inspecting, or dispute the claim. Silence forfeits the process, because AS 09.45.883 lets the claimant sue at once if the contractor disputes the claim or misses the 21 day window. If the claimant accepts an inspection, AS 09.45.885 requires reasonable access during normal working hours. AS 09.45.886 then gives the contractor 14 days after the inspection to serve a written offer to repair the defect at no charge, with an inspection scope report, findings, a description of the repairs, and a completion schedule, or to offer money, or to decline.
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Alaska makes the registration file public by statute. AS 08.18.021(b) states that the information contained in a contractor registration application is a matter of public record and open to public inspection. AS 08.18.021(a) lists what that file holds, including whether the applicant registered as a general or a specialty contractor and, for a specialty, the type of specialty, plus the names and addresses of partners, the owner, or the corporate officers and statutory agent. The Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing inside the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development runs the public license search a homeowner uses to check a registration number and status. A homeowner comparing remodeling bids should check three things: that the registration is active, that the category and trade on it cover the work in the bid, and that a residential contractor endorsement is attached when the job alters more than 25 percent of the home's value. When work goes wrong, the bond is the fund. AS 08.18.081(a) lets a person with a claim covered by AS 08.18.071 sue on the bond in the district court where venue lies, with a copy of the complaint served on the commissioner, who keeps a record of all suits commenced available for public inspection. When pending claims exceed the bond, AS 08.18.081(a) satisfies them in order: labor including employee benefits, then taxes and contributions due the state, city, and borough, then material and equipment, then claims for breach of contract, then repair of public facilities. Neither AS 08.18 nor 12 AAC 21 creates a contractor recovery fund. The bond and the insurance are the recovery route.
AS 08.18.161 lists who the contractor chapter does not reach. Among the exemptions a remodeler meets in the field: the sale or installation of finished products, materials, or articles of merchandise that are not actually fabricated into and do not become a permanent fixed part of a structure, construction or repair of personal property, a person who only furnishes materials or equipment without fabricating them into the work, an owner who contracts for a project with a registered contractor, and a person working on an existing structure on that person's own property. The owner builder exemption has a hard limit. AS 08.18.161(11) lets an owner act as its own contractor, perform the work or hire workers and subcontractors, buy materials, and pay for all labor and materials, but caps that owner at construction of one home, duplex, triplex, four-plex, or commercial building every two years. An owner who advertises the structure for sale, or sells it during construction or within two years after construction begins, must file a notice with the department stating that the owner is not engaged in a business requiring contractor registration. Separate from AS 08.18, AS 43.70.020(a) requires a state business license before engaging in a business in Alaska, and AS 43.70.030(a) sets the fee at $50 a year, or $25 for a sole proprietor who is 65 or older or a disabled veteran. AS 43.70.020(e) allows a civil fine of up to $300 for knowingly engaging in business without one. On the local layer, AS 08.18.061 protects a state registered contractor from being required to give a bond when applying for or holding a license issued by a political subdivision for a similar occupation. Building permits and inspections from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, or a borough still apply on their own terms.
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.
Yes. AS 08.18.011 bars anyone from submitting a bid or working as a contractor before the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development issues a certificate of registration. A remodeler altering a one to four unit home by more than 25 percent of its value also needs a residential contractor endorsement under AS 08.18.025. Registration is statewide.
It is an add on to a general contractor registration. AS 08.18.025 requires it before a general contractor undertakes, bids, advertises, or publicly represents that it can construct or alter a privately owned residential structure of one to four units. Alteration means changes with a value greater than 25 percent of the value of the structure being altered.
AS 08.18.071(b) sets $25,000 for a general contractor, $20,000 for a general contractor with a residential endorsement doing exclusively residential work, $10,000 for a mechanical or specialty contractor, and $5,000 where one project's aggregate contract price is $10,000 or less. A cash deposit in the same amount may replace the surety bond.
AS 08.18.101 requires public liability and property damage coverage of at least $20,000 for property damage, $50,000 for injury including death to one person, and $100,000 for injury including death to more than one person, plus workers compensation where AS 23.30 applies. Projects with an aggregate price of $2,500 or less each are exempt from that liability requirement.
Yes. AS 08.18.051(b) requires advertising and contracts to carry the registration number along with the contractor name, mailing address, and address of the principal place of business. An ad may instead point to a website or landing page if the ad says the required information is there and that page actually carries all of it.
AS 08.18.125 allows an administrative fine up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $1,500 after that. AS 08.18.131 allows a superior court injunction plus a civil penalty up to $1,000 per violation, counted daily. AS 08.18.151 also blocks an unregistered contractor from suing in Alaska to collect payment for the work.
Only if the job stays inside three trades. AS 08.18.024(b) limits a specialty contractor to work requiring not more than three trades, and 12 AAC 21.110(a) bars bidding or performing any trade the contractor is not actively registered for. Work needing more than three trades calls for a general contractor registration under AS 08.18.171.
12 AAC 02.180 sets a $100 nonrefundable application fee, a $250 certificate of registration and license enforcement support fee for the initial biennial period, and $250 at each biennial renewal. A residential contractor endorsement costs $250 for the initial period and $250 to renew. Category changes run $35 to $75, and a name or entity change costs $65.
Only for the residential contractor endorsement. 12 AAC 21.650(a) requires 16 contact hours of acceptable continuing competency activity per renewal, with a reduced first renewal of eight hours for each full calendar year held. Business related topics are capped at eight hours. The base contractor registration itself carries no continuing competency requirement.
No such fund appears in AS 08.18 or 12 AAC 21. The surety bond is the recovery route. AS 08.18.081 lets a claimant sue on the bond in district court and ranks competing claims: labor including benefits first, then taxes and contributions, then material and equipment, then breach of contract, then repair of public facilities.
AS 45.02.350 gives a purchaser five business days to revoke an offer to buy goods or services of $10 or more solicited door to door, and requires the seller to give written notice of that right at the time of sale. Telephone solicited agreements count as personal solicitation. Several exclusions are listed in the statute.
Yes. AS 09.45.881 requires written notice of the claim at least 90 days before an action is filed against a construction professional. AS 09.45.882 gives you 21 days to respond by offering an inspection, offering money, or disputing the claim. AS 09.45.886 allows 14 days after an inspection to offer a free repair.
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