Rhode Island · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Rhode Island regulates remodeling statewide through the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board, inside the Department of Business Regulation. It registers rather than licenses: no one may bid or perform remodeling work on a structure without a current certificate of registration. The fee is $150, and the board requires $500,000 combined single limit liability insurance, workers' compensation, and five hours of preregistration education.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Remodeling is regulated by one statewide body: the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board, which sits inside the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation. The board's authority comes from Chapter 5-65 of the Rhode Island General Laws, and its rules are promulgated under section 5-65-17. The board's own rule text states the purpose plainly: the Contractors' Registration Law requires every contractor, remodeler and most subcontractors in the business of building or repairing residential or commercial structures and their appurtenances to register with the board, so that claims filed against them can be heard and settled. Appurtenances are defined broadly in the same rule and include garages and carports, porches, patios, decks and deck steps, sheds, gazebos, walkways, fencing, driveways, swimming pools, sidewalks, stone and masonry walls, and parking areas. That matters for remodelers because a deck, a patio, a driveway or a pool enclosure is inside the board's reach, not outside it. The board is also the enforcement body. It publishes final orders, consent agreements and other disciplinary actions against named registrants under section 5-65-25, with registration numbers and order dates attached. Section 5-65-3(g) makes the chapter exclusive, so a Rhode Island city or town cannot issue its own contractor registration or charge a regulatory registration fee to a contractor the board already registers. A remodeler who works in Providence, Warwick, Cranston and Pawtucket holds one state registration, not four municipal ones.
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Rhode Island registers residential remodelers. It does not license them, and the state treats the difference as an advertising offense rather than a technicality. Section 5-65-3(l) says that use of the word license in any form of advertising, when the contractor is only registered, may subject the registrant to a fine of one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense at the board's discretion. Section 5-65-10(a)(13) then lists advertising with a license number when only registered as a separate ground for revoking, suspending or refusing to issue a registration. Both consequences exist at the same time, so the wording on a truck or a landing page is a compliance question, not a marketing preference. The practical rule for a remodeler is to describe the credential the state actually issued. A certificate of registration supports phrasing such as registered contractor, Rhode Island registration number, or registered with the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. It does not support licensed remodeler, licensed contractor, state licensed, or a license number label on an estimate. Some related credentials in Rhode Island genuinely are licenses, including the commercial roofing contractors license and the trade licenses held by electricians and plumbers, which is why the board polices the distinction. If a remodeler also holds one of those licenses, the license wording belongs only to the work that license covers. Everything else in the advertisement should carry the registration number and the registration language.
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Section 5-65-3(a) bars any person from undertaking, offering to undertake, or submitting a bid to do work as a contractor on a structure without a current, valid certificate of registration for all construction work issued by the board. Bidding counts, so the registration has to exist before the estimate goes out. A partnership, corporation, limited liability company or joint venture may hold the registration, but an individual must be designated as responsible for the entity's work, and the entity and that designee are jointly and severally liable for the fee and for every violation of the chapter. Discipline against one registration can also block future registrations held by any entity that shares a principal or responsible designee with the disciplined registrant. Section 5-65-2 sets the exemptions. They cover work on your own personal property, work on federal land, suppliers who do not install what they sell, employees of a registered contractor, and a person working on a single dwelling unit property that person owns. There is a small-job exemption for one structure or project where the price of all of that person's contracts for labor, materials and all other items is less than five hundred dollars ($500) and the work is casual, minor or inconsequential. The board's rule defines that as work not of a structural nature that cannot affect the health or safety of the owner or occupant. The exemption does not apply to anyone who advertises or puts out a sign, card or other device indicating to the public that the person is a contractor. Nonresident contractors must file a power of attorney appointing a registered agent for service of process before a registration is issued.
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Section 5-65-3(i) names the subcontractors who must hold a registration certificate before doing any work unless they are employees of a registered contractor. The list reads like the crew on a gut remodel: carpenters, including finish carpenters and framers; siding installers; roofers; foundation installers, including concrete installers and form installers; drywall installers; plasterers; insulation installers; ceramic tile installers; floor covering installers; swimming pool installers, both above ground and in ground; masons, including chimney installers, fireplace installers and general masonry erectors; hardscape installers; power washers who perform work on structures; and painters. The statute states that the list is not all inclusive, so a trade that is absent from it is not automatically outside the requirement. A subcontractor licensed by another in-state agency under section 5-65-2 does not have to register, provided the work stays within the purview of that license. That is how electricians, plumbers and similar licensed trades operate on a remodel. Those licensees are exempt from the rest of Chapter 5-65 but not from section 5-65-7, the insurance requirement, and the licensing agency must hold a valid certificate of insurance for the license term. The obligation runs uphill as well. Section 5-65-3(j) bars a contractor, including a general contractor, from hiring any subcontractor or other contractor who is neither registered nor exempt. Section 5-65-3(h) requires every contractor to maintain a list of all subcontractors and other contractors working on a structure with names, addresses and registration or license numbers, and to deliver it to the board within twenty-four hours of a request made during reasonable working hours. A fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) may be imposed for each offense.
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Rhode Island front-loads education instead of an entrance exam. Section 5-65-5(e) requires a new applicant to provide satisfactory proof of completing five (5) hours of preregistration education units as determined by the board. The board's rule adds the timing: the five hours must be completed within the twenty-four months before applying and must come from an approved provider. An applicant with earlier construction-related schooling may ask the board to accept it instead by submitting an original transcript with course detail and the school's accreditation information, and the board decides at its discretion whether that prior schooling counts. Section 5-65-5(f) requires satisfactory proof of two and one-half (2.5) hours of continuing education units for a renewal application, maintained by residential contractors as a condition of registration. The board's older rule text still describes five hours of approved continuing education with an approved provider during each two-year cycle, so a remodeler should confirm the current cycle requirement with the board before renewing rather than assume either figure. The same rule requires registrants to keep continuing education documentation for two registration cycles and produce it on request, and it allows one six-month deferral of the continuing education requirement within a two-year renewal cycle on request and payment of a one hundred dollar ($100.00) fee. Two exemptions matter. Contractors engaged only in commercial contracting work are exempt from the preregistration education requirement under the board's rule. Section 5-65-24 removes section 5-65-5(f) entirely for a contractor who does not regularly engage in construction activities on residential structures. An applicant must also be at least eighteen (18) years of age.
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There is no written examination for a Rhode Island contractor registration. Section 5-65-5(a) sets out what the application must contain, and it is a documentation list rather than a test: a legible copy of a valid government issued identification, workers' compensation insurance account number, unemployment insurance account number, state withholding tax account number, federal employer identification number where applicable, the names and business and residential addresses of each partner, owner, corporate officer, member or manager, a copy of the articles filed with the Rhode Island Secretary of State for a corporation or limited liability company, a statement about any prior application, and a valid insurance certificate for the type of work being performed. Post office boxes are not acceptable as the only address. Accuracy is enforced with money. Section 5-65-5(c) makes failure to provide information, or falsified information on an application or any document required by the chapter, punishable by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), denial or revocation of the registration, or both. Section 5-65-5(b) also allows the board to refuse or revoke where the applicant has unsatisfied or outstanding judgments from arbitration, bankruptcy, a court or an administrative agency relating to contracting work. A certification form must be signed by the registrant before a registration is issued or renewed. Other credentials under the same board do involve testing. The board's rules carry separate parts for contractors, underground utility contractors, commercial roofing installation contractors, home inspectors and associate home inspectors, and well drillers, pump installers and water filtration contractors. The commercial roofing part applies the examination section of the general rules, with a no-examination path for contractors who were registered and in good standing as of December 31, 2015.
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The headline number is small and set by statute. Section 5-65-9(a) requires each applicant to pay the board a fee of one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for an original registration or a renewal of registration. All fees and fines collected go into a restricted-receipt account for the exclusive use of supporting programs established by the chapter, which is also why the board files an annual report to legislative leaders detailing fines issued, the dollar amount levied, and the account balance. Section 5-65-9(e) allows new or renewal registrations to be filed online or with a third party approved by the board, with any additional cost borne by the registrant, so the out-of-pocket total can exceed the statutory fee. The board's rules list the other charges a remodeler may run into. A complaint form carries a twenty-five dollar ($25.00) fee. A late fee is fifty dollars ($50.00). An expungement request is twenty dollars ($20.00) for the first matter and five dollars ($5.00) for each additional matter made under the same request. A returned check fee is thirty-five dollars ($35.00). The one-time six-month continuing education deferral costs one hundred dollars ($100.00). Public record request fees follow Chapter 38-2. The board does not refund fees or civil penalties unless an administrative error occurred. Two charges apply to the training side rather than to contractors. New and renewal educational course provider permits cost two hundred fifty dollars ($250), and new and renewal course approvals cost one hundred dollars ($100) per course, waived for governmental organizations and nonprofit entities on sufficient proof of nonprofit status.
Insurance is the one coverage figure the statute fixes. Section 5-65-7(a) requires a contractor to have in effect, throughout the period of registration, public liability and property damage insurance covering that contractor's work in not less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) combined single limit, bodily injury and property damage. Section 5-65-7(b) requires workers' compensation insurance as required under Chapter 29 of Title 28, and states that failure to maintain required insurance does not preclude claims from being filed against a contractor. Proof is required twice. Section 5-65-7(c) requires the contractor to provide satisfactory evidence to the board, at the time of registration and at renewal, that both coverages have been procured and are in effect. The consequence is severe: failure to maintain insurance invalidates the registration and may result in a fine to the registrant, suspension or revocation. Section 5-65-10(a)(2) separately lets the board revoke, suspend or refuse a registration when the insurance required by section 5-65-7 is not currently in effect, and the board's own violation list includes lack of insurance policy or coverage and lack of workers' compensation coverage as distinct violations. An invalid registration is not a paperwork problem for a remodeler, because an unregistered contractor cannot legally bid, cannot be issued a building permit and cannot sue to collect. Chapter 5-65 does not set a surety bond amount for a residential contractor registration. The board's violation list does include lack of minimum bond or proof of bonding capacity, and its rules require a business entity's responsible person to provide evidence of required insurance and bond, which points at disciplines and project types with their own bonding requirements rather than at a flat bond for every remodeler.
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Section 5-65-8(a) states that a certificate of registration is valid for one (1) year from the date of issuance unless it is revoked or suspended under section 5-65-10, and that it may be renewed by the same procedure provided for an original registration, on application and submission of any additional supplemental information the board requires by rule. Section 5-65-8(c) lets the board vary renewal dates by giving written notice of the assigned renewal date and making appropriate adjustments to the renewal fee, so the anniversary a remodeler renews on is not always the one the first certificate carried. Section 5-65-8(e) requires a registrant who files in bankruptcy court to notify the board in writing and keep it informed until the case is dismissed, discharged or resolved. The board's rule text still says registrations and licenses are valid for two years from the date issued, which does not match the one-year term in the current statute. A remodeler should treat the renewal notice from the board as controlling and confirm the cycle before letting a certificate run. A lapse stops work entirely. Under the board's rules a registration is deemed lapsed when it has not been renewed on or before its expiration date, and during that time the person shall not solicit, perform, or offer to perform contracting services. Soliciting is named alongside performing, so advertising and estimating stop too. Reinstatement after a lapse requires the registration or license cards to be surrendered, and where claims or violations are pending they must be resolved before reinstatement. Registrants must also report an address change in writing within ten days, and for one year after the registration expires or becomes inactive.
Rhode Island regulates what goes on a remodeler's advertising in two statutes and one rule. Section 5-65-3(l) requires the registration number of each contractor to appear in any advertising by that contractor, and prohibits advertising in any form by an unregistered contractor, including alphabetical or classified directory listings, vehicles, business cards and all other forms of advertisements. Violations may bring a penalty assessed by the board under its administrative procedures. Section 5-65-22 widens the surface: all contractors subject to the chapter must include their certificate of registration number on all advertising proposals, contracts and invoices, displayed in a conspicuous manner. The board's rule spells out the modern channels. Registrants must display the registration or license number conspicuously on all forms of advertising, including pamphlets, telephone directory space ads, online ads, website ads, social media ads, business vehicles and display ads. There is no carve-out for a social profile or a paid search ad, so the number belongs in the footer of the website, on the estimate template, on the invoice and on the truck. Two penalties sit on top. Use of the word license in advertising when only registered can bring a one hundred dollar ($100) fine for each offense. Where fraudulent advertising is used to entice an individual to hire an unregistered contractor, section 5-65-10 allows a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000). The board's violation list treats improper advertising, no registration number on a contract and no registration number in an advertisement as three separate violations, and the board may publish revoked and suspended registrations, with the suspension or revocation date, on a quarterly basis.
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Section 5-65-3(o) requires all work performed, including labor and materials, in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000) to be accompanied by a contract in writing. That contract must include the consumer disclosures and information required by the board's regulations and a specific notice to the homeowner captioned NOTICE OF POSSIBLE MECHANIC'S LIEN, which names the owner, lessee or tenant, states the address, and warns that the contractor and anyone else who provides labor and materials under contract with the contractor may file a mechanics lien on the land in the event of nonpayment. Failure to follow the subsection may result in a one thousand dollar ($1,000) fine against the contractor, and it does not cut off anyone else's lien rights under Chapter 28 of Title 34. A notice given in accordance with section 34-28-4.1 satisfies the requirement. A contractor who fails to give the notice must indemnify and hold the owner harmless from payments or costs incurred on lien claims by parties not in privity with the owner, unless the owner never paid the contractor. Section 5-65-3(p) requires the contractor to stipulate in the contract whether or not all the proper insurances are in effect for each job contracted. Section 5-65-3(k) requires a summary of the chapter, prepared by the board and provided at cost to registered contractors, to be delivered by the contractor to the owner when work begins on a structure, and failure to comply may result in a fine. Section 5-65-3(m) puts the permit duty on the contractor: permits required by the state building code must be secured on behalf of the owner before the work starts, with the contractor's registration number affixed to the permit.
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Section 5-65-3(p) requires contracts entered into to contain notice of the right of rescission as stipulated in all pertinent Rhode Island consumer protection laws and section 5-65-27 where applicable. Two separate cancellation rights can apply to a remodeling sale. Section 5-65-27 covers in-home solicitation of an elderly person. Where a contract originates from an in-home solicitation of an elderly person, and there is no emergency as defined in that section, the consumer has three (3) days to cancel. In-home solicitation includes transactions made at the consumer's primary residence, including telephonic or online, except transactions the consumer initiated, and a consumer response to an advertisement is not an in-home solicitation. The notice must appear in the agreement under the conspicuous caption Notice of Cancellation and must tell the consumer that cancellation must be mailed by registered or certified mail not later than midnight three days after signing, excluding Sunday and any holiday on which regular mail deliveries are not made. If the agreement fails to conform and the consumer gives notice by registered mail with return receipt requested, the contractor must return any deposit within twenty (20) days, and failure to return it lets the consumer recover double damages. Chapter 6-28, the door-to-door sales law, applies to consumer goods or services of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or more where the seller personally solicits and the buyer's agreement is made away from the seller's regular place of business. The buyer may cancel by registered or certified mail posted by midnight three days after signing, on the same excluded-days rule, and the agreement needs a ten point bold face notice above the signature line. Violation of the chapter is a misdemeanor.
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Rhode Island stacks three kinds of consequence on unregistered work. The first is administrative. Section 5-65-10(c) provides that, only for nonregistered contractors, a fine of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) for a first offense and up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each subsequent offense shall be imposed. For registrants, a violation of a particular section of the chapter or a board rule carries a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), and a subsequent violation carries a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Allowing another person to use a registration fraudulently can bring a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000). The second is criminal. Section 5-65-19 makes failure to register, as adjudged in a final order of the board and after proper written notification, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both, for a first or second offense. A third or subsequent violation is a felony punishable by up to two (2) years, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or both. Violating a final order of the board is a misdemeanor where the monetary total is not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) and a felony, carrying up to ten years and a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000), where it is five thousand dollars ($5,000) or more. Violations across three or more separate contracts with three separate aggrieved parties within a twenty-four month period are prosecuted as a felony. The third is commercial. Section 5-65-4 bars an unregistered contractor from filing a lien, filing a claim with the board, or bringing suit for compensation or breach of contract, unless a court finds that applying the bar would be a substantial injustice.
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Section 5-65-11 requires the board and office to accept and consider complaints to determine whether registered contractors, or people required to be registered, have violated the chapter or its regulations. The complaints it names include claims by the owner of a residential dwelling unit asserting negligent work, improper work, breach of contract or contract disputes; claims by an owner to discharge or recoup funds spent discharging a mechanics lien under Chapter 28 of Title 34; claims between registered contractors, including claims for furnishing labor, material or equipment; and claims by an employee of a registered contractor. The same section states that the board and office will not adjudicate complainant claims, causes of action, or contractual rights and remedies, and will not order payment of monetary damages or other monetary relief. The board's rules add a threshold. Where an investigation determines that potential monetary damages or restitution exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), the board may refuse to continue processing the claim and refer the complainant to Superior Court, citing section 5-65-12(b). Section 5-65-12.1 is the parallel route: a person with a claim of the type described in section 5-65-11 may sue in Superior Court in the county where the complainant resides or where the contractor resides or has its principal place of business, either in place of or as a supplement to board proceedings. If the plaintiff prevails the court may require treble damages, reasonable attorney's fees and the costs of the action. Chapter 5-65 creates no homeowner recovery or guaranty fund. Fees and fines collected by the board are deposited into a restricted-receipt account used to support the board's own programs and enforcement, not to pay consumer claims.
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The municipal layer in Rhode Island is thinner than in most states, and the statute says so. Section 5-65-3(g) makes the provisions of Chapter 5-65 exclusive: no city or town shall require or issue any registration or license, or charge any fee, for the regulatory registration of a contractor registered with the board. The same subsection preserves two municipal powers. A city or town may still levy and collect a general, nondiscriminatory license fee imposed on all businesses, and it may still tax business conducted within its jurisdiction where state law permits. So a remodeler working in Providence, Warwick, Cranston or Pawtucket does not buy four contractor licenses, but may still owe a general business license or local tax. Permits are where the city touches the job. Section 5-65-3(c) bars a city, town or the state from issuing a building permit to anyone required to be registered who lacks a current, valid registration or license, and requires every permit applicant to be registered as a condition of issuance, giving the registration number and stating it is in full force and effect, or listing the basis for an exemption. The municipality must list the contractor's registration number on the permit. Where a homeowner pulls the permit, the building inspector or official must ascertain the registration numbers of each contractor on the premises and inform the board of any nonregistered contractors working at the site. Section 5-65-3(d) adds that any city or town requiring a business license for a regulated business must require each licensee and applicant to file a signed statement that the licensee is registered and that the registration is in full force and effect.
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Rhode Island gives consumers a public search. The board's consumer pages include Search a Registrant/Licensee, hosted at crb.ri.gov, which lets a homeowner check a registrant or licensee and review enforcement actions. The Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board and the State Building Office are both named on those pages, and the Department of Business Regulation separately publishes a table of enforcement actions against named contractors, listing registration numbers, action types such as final orders and consent agreements, dates and order numbers, under section 5-65-25. The board's rules describe what an inquiry returns, which is useful for a remodeler who wants to know what a prospect sees. Records of registration and licensing include the business name and type of entity, the personal names of owners, partners or corporate officers, the last known address, the expiration date or the date the registration became inactive and why, the date the person first became registered, the status of the registration, and records of proposed orders, final orders, claims, violations and notices of hearings. If no claims or violations have been recorded, or if the person being asked about is unregistered or unlicensed, the requesting party is told that directly. The board also issues a certification of registration on request. For a remodeler, this cuts both ways and both ways are useful. A homeowner who looks up a clean registration number sees a current status with no claims attached, which is worth putting in front of them. The same search shows a lapsed expiration date or a pending claim, so keeping the renewal and any open complaint resolved is part of closing work, not just paperwork.
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These are common details other guides publish about Rhode Island, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. Section 5-65-3(a) bars anyone from undertaking, offering to undertake, or bidding work as a contractor on a structure without a current, valid certificate of registration from the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. The board's own rule names remodelers directly. Bidding counts, so registration must be in place before you send an estimate.
No. Rhode Island issues a registration, not a license, for residential remodeling. Using the word license in advertising when you are only registered can bring a one hundred dollar fine for each offense, and advertising with a license number when only registered is a listed ground for suspending or revoking the registration. Say registered contractor instead.
In any advertising, on advertising proposals, contracts and invoices, displayed conspicuously. The board's rule names pamphlets, telephone directory space ads, online ads, website ads, social media ads, business vehicles and display ads. Your registration number also has to be affixed to the building permit pulled for the job.
Any work, including labor and materials, in excess of one thousand dollars must be accompanied by a written contract. It has to carry the board's required consumer disclosures, the NOTICE OF POSSIBLE MECHANIC'S LIEN language, and a statement of whether the proper insurances are in effect for that job. A noncompliant contract risks a one thousand dollar fine.
The statutory fee is one hundred fifty dollars for an original registration or a renewal. Section 5-65-8 sets the term at one year from issuance, though the board's older rule text still says two years, so treat the board's renewal notice as controlling. Filing online or through an approved third party can add cost.
Public liability and property damage insurance of not less than five hundred thousand dollars combined single limit, bodily injury and property damage, in effect throughout the registration, plus workers' compensation insurance. You must show evidence of both at registration and at renewal. Letting coverage lapse invalidates the registration and can bring fines, suspension or revocation.
No examination is set for a contractor registration. Instead, a new applicant proves five hours of preregistration education, and the board's rule requires those credits within the twenty-four months before applying. Renewal requires continuing education. Other credentials under the same board, such as the commercial roofing contractors license, do apply an examination requirement.
Yes, unless they are your employees. Section 5-65-3(i) names painters, ceramic tile installers, carpenters, drywall installers, plasterers, roofers, masons, hardscape installers and others who must register. You also cannot hire an unregistered subcontractor, and you must hand the board your subcontractor list within twenty-four hours of a request.
Nonregistered contractors face a fine of up to five thousand dollars for a first offense and up to ten thousand dollars for each later one. Failure to register after a final order is a misdemeanor, and a third offense is a felony. You also cannot get a building permit, file a lien, or sue to collect.
No. Section 5-65-3(g) makes the state chapter exclusive, so no Rhode Island city or town can issue a contractor registration or charge a regulatory registration fee to a board-registered contractor. Cities may still charge a general business license fee that applies to all businesses, and they still run the building permit process.
Two situations. A contract that originates from an in-home solicitation of an elderly person, absent an emergency, carries a three day cancellation right with a Notice of Cancellation caption. A door-to-door sale of twenty-five dollars or more, solicited away from your place of business, carries a parallel three day right with its own bold face notice.
Chapter 5-65 creates no recovery or guaranty fund. Fees and fines go into a restricted-receipt account supporting the board's own programs. A homeowner's routes are a complaint to the board, which does not order money damages, and a Superior Court action under section 5-65-12.1, where treble damages and attorney's fees are possible.
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