Alabama · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
The Home Builders Licensure Board licenses residential roofing in Alabama. A Residential Roofer's License is required once a job's labor and materials exceed 2,500 dollars, backed by a 10,000 dollar bond; an Unlimited Home Builders License also covers roofing. Commercial roofing at 100,000 dollars or more needs a General Contractor license from the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors.
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-18. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Alabama regulates roofing contractors through two state agencies, and which one applies depends on the size and type of the job. The Home Builders Licensure Board, created under Title 34, Chapter 14A of the Code of Alabama, licenses and regulates residential home building and residential roofing statewide. The board defines a residential roofer as a person who installs products or repairs surfaces on the external upper covering of a residence or structure that seals, waterproofs, or weatherproofs it. Once the cost of a residential roofing job, counting both labor and materials, exceeds 2,500 dollars, the person performing that work must hold a license issued by the board. For commercial and public construction, including reroofing of commercial buildings, the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors regulates licensure once a project reaches 100,000 dollars in labor and materials, or 5,000 dollars for swimming pool work. Both boards are separate agencies with separate applications, separate fee schedules, and separate license rosters. A contractor who works on both houses and commercial buildings may need to hold licenses from both boards depending on job size and job type. The Home Builders Licensure Board is headquartered at 445 Herron Street in Montgomery and can be reached at 334-242-2230. The Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors maintains its own office and license roster and reports more than 10,000 current licensees statewide. Neither board licenses roofing work performed by a homeowner on his or her own residence or other real estate holdings, which the statute exempts from the licensing requirement entirely.
Sourceshblb.alabama.gov 1hblb.alabama.gov 2genconbd.alabama.gov 3genconbd.alabama.gov 4
The Home Builders Licensure Board issues three categories of license that touch roofing, and the category held changes what a contractor may legally do. An Unlimited License is the broadest credential the board issues. A contractor who holds an Unlimited Home Builders License is automatically qualified to perform residential roofing and does not need to apply for a separate Roofers License. A Limited License, by contrast, does not cover roofing on its own. A contractor who holds only a Limited Home Builders License must obtain a separate Roofers License before performing residential roofing work. The Roofers License is a standalone credential for contractors whose work is limited to residential roofing rather than full home building or remodeling. All three license types can be issued to an individual, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability company, or a non-profit organization. When the applicant is not an individual, the entity must designate a Designated Qualifying Representative who personally meets the board's experience and ability requirements. That representative must be a general partner if the applicant is a partnership, an officer if the applicant is a corporation, a member if the applicant is a member-managed limited liability company, or a manager if the applicant is a manager-managed limited liability company. A licensee may also place an active license on inactive status by filing an inactive license application and paying the inactive license fee, which suspends the right to perform licensed work until the license is reactivated. Choosing the correct license type at the outset avoids the cost and delay of applying twice, since the Unlimited path and the Roofers or Limited path require different proof of qualification.
Alabama sets a lower licensing threshold for roofing than for other residential construction and remodeling work, and contractors need to know both numbers. For general residential construction, remodeling, repair, or reimprovement, a license is required once the cost of the undertaking, counting labor and materials together, exceeds 10,000 dollars. For residential roofing specifically, the statute lowers that threshold to 2,500 dollars. Any residential roofing job priced above that amount requires the contractor to hold a Home Builders license that covers roofing. The statute defines engaging in the business broadly. A person who engages in or merely offers to engage in these acts, through advertising or otherwise, for a fixed price, commission, fee, or wage, is deemed to have engaged in the business of residential home building even before a contract is signed. That means advertising or bidding roofing work above the 2,500 dollar threshold without holding the required license can itself violate the law, independent of whether the job is ever performed. The exemption for a homeowner working on his or her own residence, or on other real estate the homeower owns, still applies regardless of job cost. On the commercial side, the 100,000 dollar threshold under the general contractor law applies to the total cost of the undertaking, and a 5,000 dollar threshold applies specifically to swimming pool construction and repair. Contractors who bid both small residential repairs and larger reroofing or commercial roofing jobs should track both thresholds separately, since crossing either one changes which license, if any, is legally required for that specific job.
Sourceshblb.alabama.gov 1hblb.alabama.gov 2genconbd.alabama.gov 3
The Home Builders Licensure Board requires every applicant to satisfy it that the applicant, or the applicant's Designated Qualifying Representative, possesses the experience and ability to engage in residential homebuilding or roofing. The path to proving that differs by license type. An applicant for an Unlimited License must take and pass the Alabama Home Builders Exams, which are open to anyone without prior authorization from the board. An applicant for a Limited License or a Roofers License instead provides a copy of a business or occupational license as a contractor that the applicant currently holds, or held on or before one year prior to the date of the application, issued by a municipality, township, or county within Alabama. That local occupational license substitutes for the state exam on the Limited and Roofers path. Corporate, limited liability company, and limited partnership applicants must also provide a Certificate of Compliance from the Alabama Department of Revenue, and notarized minutes identifying the Designated Qualifying Representative as an officer, general partner, member, or manager as applicable. A foreign entity, meaning one organized outside Alabama, must also provide a Certificate of Existence from the Alabama Secretary of State. Every applicant, regardless of entity type, must provide proof of citizenship or lawful presence in the United States, through a driver license, birth certificate, passport, or another document accepted under the board's rules. The board's stated processing time for a complete application, including test scores, credit reports, or bond information where applicable, is approximately three to four weeks once the application is on file and deemed complete.
Only the Unlimited License path requires a state licensing exam. Alabama's Home Builders Exams are administered by an outside testing provider, PROV, and applicants register and find testing sites directly through PROV rather than through the board. The exam is split into two parts. The Alabama Business and Law Exam covers legal, contractual, and business-practice knowledge, and an applicant must score at least 70 to pass. The Alabama Skills Exam covers construction knowledge and trade practice, and an applicant must score at least 66 to pass. No prior authorization from the board is required before sitting for either exam, and the board directs all testing questions to PROV rather than answering them itself. Applicants pursuing a Limited License or a Roofers License skip both exams entirely. Instead, as described under qualification requirements, they qualify by submitting proof of a current or recent municipal, township, or county contractor occupational license. This means a residential roofer who already holds a local occupational license in an Alabama city or county can, in many cases, obtain a state Roofers License without sitting for either the Business and Law Exam or the Skills Exam. An applicant who already holds a current, valid residential builder's license in Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, or North Carolina may be exempt from the Skills Exam portion specifically, but is still required to take and pass the Business and Law Exam before receiving an Alabama license. The board's application package provides basic information and references to study materials, and independent vendors sometimes offer separate exam preparation classes.
The Home Builders Licensure Board publishes exact dollar figures for the Roofers License in its official new-application instructions. The annual license fee for a Roofers License is 150 dollars. A separate, non-refundable new license application processing fee of 100 dollars must accompany a new application. Combined, a new Roofers License application requires payment of 250 dollars, payable by check, cashier's check, certified check, or money order made out to the Home Builders Licensure Board. The board does not accept cash or credit cards for these payments. A different, smaller fee applies to simply requesting a paper copy of an application package by mail: the board asks for a 25 dollar check or money order to cover mailing an unlimited, limited, or roofers application packet. That 25 dollar payment is for obtaining the paper forms themselves and is separate from the license fee and the application processing fee described above, and an applicant who downloads the free package from the board's website avoids that mailing fee entirely. The board is also authorized by statute to charge inactive license fees, late fees, and fees tied to education requirements, though it may waive inactive fees for building officials. Beyond the license fee itself, licensees may be charged up to 60 dollars once a year, per license, for the board's property acquisition fund, though a licensee on inactive status is not required to contribute to that fund. The board has not published a specific fee schedule for its Unlimited or Limited, non-roofer licenses on the pages reviewed for this article, so those figures are not stated here.
Sourceshblb.alabama.gov 1hblb.alabama.gov 2hblb.alabama.gov 3
Alabama ties its roofing-specific financial responsibility requirement to a surety bond rather than a credit check. To receive a Roofers License, an applicant must arrange for a 10,000 dollar License and Permit Bond that names the Home Builders Licensure Board as the obligee. The bond must be submitted to the board directly by the surety company that issues it, not simply provided by the applicant, and it must accompany the application. If the board denies the license application after the bond has been issued, the board is not responsible for the cost of the bond, so an applicant bears that risk if the application is ultimately rejected. This bond requirement is specific to the Roofers License path. Applicants for an Unlimited or a non-roofer Limited License instead satisfy the board's financial responsibility requirement by having a current credit report on the individual or business sent directly to the board from a credit-reporting agency, rather than by posting a bond. The board's website offers a bond form for the applicant's convenience, and the bond is typically arranged through the applicant's own insurance company or a surety agency rather than through the board. This bond protects consumers and the state by giving the board a financial backstop tied to the roofing license specifically, separate from any general liability insurance the contractor may or may not carry. Contractors who plan to apply for both a Roofers License and a broader Unlimited or Limited License should expect to satisfy two different financial responsibility tests, one bond-based and one credit-based, depending on which license they are pursuing.
The Home Builders Licensure Board's own guidance states plainly that the law regulating residential home builders, which includes residential roofers, does not itself address whether a licensee must carry general liability insurance or workers compensation coverage for employees. The statute does give the board rulemaking authority to require proof of, and ongoing maintenance of, insurance as a qualification for licensure, and to establish or adopt education requirements as well, but the pages reviewed for this article did not identify a specific, currently effective insurance minimum imposed by board rule. Because the underlying law is silent on a specific coverage amount, roofing contractors in Alabama should not assume the state license itself substitutes for general liability insurance or workers compensation coverage. Separate Alabama laws outside the home builders statute may still require workers compensation coverage once a roofing business reaches a certain employee count, and property owners, general contractors, and insurers frequently require proof of insurance as a condition of hiring a subcontractor even where the state license law does not mandate it. A roofing contractor should confirm current insurance obligations with a licensed insurance agent or attorney rather than relying on the licensing statute alone, since insurance requirements can come from multiple sources beyond the Home Builders Licensure Board, including client contracts, workers compensation law, and municipal permitting offices. This article does not state a specific liability insurance minimum for Alabama roofers because no primary source confirming one was located during research; any figure quoted elsewhere should be verified directly with the board or a licensed Alabama insurance professional before being relied upon.
Home Builders Licensure Board licenses run on a calendar-year cycle rather than an anniversary date. By statute, the license fee period is twelve months beginning January first of each year, and all licenses are issued or renewed upon payment of the annual license fee to the board. The board sets the exact annual fee amount itself after considering its cost of operation, and the statute requires that the fee be set high enough to cover the salaries, costs, and expenses the board incurs enforcing the law and protecting consumers, though it may also be adjusted up or down from year to year. The board is separately authorized to charge late fees when renewal is not timely, and inactive license fees for licensees who choose to place their license on inactive status rather than let it lapse. A licensee on inactive status may not perform any act that requires a license until the license is reactivated. On continuing education specifically, the statute gives the board authority, by rule, to establish education requirements and to approve, administer, or financially support residential construction education programs. That is an enabling provision rather than a fixed hour requirement written into the statute itself, and this article does not state a specific current continuing education hour count because no primary source confirming one was located during research. Licensees should confirm current continuing education obligations directly with the Home Builders Licensure Board before each renewal cycle, since the board can add or change education requirements by rule without a corresponding change to the underlying statute.
Sourceshblb.alabama.gov
Alabama does not offer blanket reciprocity that lets an out-of-state roofing license substitute entirely for an Alabama one. Every applicant, regardless of where they are already licensed, must still file an application with the Home Builders Licensure Board. Alabama does grant a narrower exam exemption to applicants coming from five neighboring and nearby states. An applicant who holds a current and valid residential builder's license in Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, or North Carolina may be exempt from the Skills section of the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board Exams. That exemption applies only to the Skills Exam. The same applicant is still required to take and pass the Business and Law section of the exam before Alabama will issue a license. This reciprocity provision applies to the Unlimited License exam path. It does not change the separate qualification route available for a Limited License or a Roofers License, where an applicant instead relies on proof of a current or recent Alabama municipal, township, or county contractor occupational license rather than any exam or out-of-state credential. A roofing contractor relocating a business to Alabama from a state not on this list should expect to complete the full Alabama exam process, including both the Business and Law Exam and the Skills Exam, along with the rest of the standard application requirements such as the bond or credit report and proof of citizenship or lawful presence. Contractors should confirm their eligibility for the exemption directly with the board before scheduling any exam, since the exemption depends on the applicant's home-state license remaining current and valid at the time of the Alabama application.
Sourceshblb.alabama.gov
Alabama treats unlicensed residential roofing above the licensing threshold as a criminal offense, not merely a civil or administrative matter. Under the penalties section of the home builders statute, any person who undertakes or attempts to undertake the business of residential home building, which by definition includes residential roofing above 2,500 dollars, without holding a current and valid license issued by the Home Builders Licensure Board is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. The same Class A misdemeanor applies to anyone who knowingly presents false information to the board to obtain a license, or who violates a law or code adopted by a county commission under the home builders chapter. The statute also authorizes injunctive relief, meaning the board or another authorized party can seek a court order stopping continued unlicensed activity rather than waiting for a criminal case to run its course. On the commercial side, the general contractor statute imposes its own penalties. When a contract of 100,000 dollars or more, or 5,000 dollars or more for swimming pool work, is awarded to an unlicensed contractor, or an unlicensed subcontractor is allowed to begin work on such a project, the awarding authority, the contractor, and the subcontractor can each be found in violation and subject to penalties under that separate law. A prime contractor who awards a subcontract on a covered project itself becomes an awarding authority for purposes of that duty, meaning the responsibility to verify licensure cascades down the contracting chain rather than resting only with the original property owner or developer. These penalty provisions give both the residential and commercial license requirements real legal weight beyond a simple licensing formality.
Roofing work on commercial and public buildings follows a different licensing path once the job gets large enough. The Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors, established under Chapter 8 of Title 34, requires a General Contractor license for any project, including construction, alteration, maintenance, repair, or rehabilitation work such as commercial reroofing, where the cost of the undertaking, counting labor and materials, is 100,000 dollars or more, or 5,000 dollars or more for swimming pool construction specifically. That threshold applies to prime contractors. Subcontractors performing a minimum contract of the same size under a licensed prime contractor must also be licensed by that board before beginning work, even though a prime contractor may accept a bid from an unlicensed subcontractor before work starts. Awarding authorities, meaning the property owners, architects, engineers, and agencies that hire the work out, carry their own duty under the statute to confirm a contractor is duly licensed before allowing that contractor to submit a bid on a covered project, and bid specifications must notify bidders that a general contractor's license is required. There is a grandfather rule connecting the two licensing systems. Anyone holding a General Contractor's License issued with a license number from 1 through 18907, meaning it predates the 1992 law that created the Home Builders Licensure Board, may still engage in residential construction under that older license. Anyone whose General Contractor's License carries a number of 18908 or higher must separately hold a Home Builders License to perform residential construction or roofing. A roofing company that bids both large commercial reroofing jobs and residential jobs should expect to maintain licenses with both boards.
Alabama's home builders statute reaches advertising directly. A person who engages in or merely offers to engage in residential roofing or home building acts, through advertising or otherwise, for a fixed price, commission, fee, or wage, is deemed to have engaged in the business of residential home building under the law, even before a contract is signed. Practically, that means marketing or bidding roofing work above the 2,500 dollar residential threshold without holding the required license can itself be a violation, independent of whether any specific job is ever performed. The board's own published pages, reviewed for this article, do not set out a separate statutory requirement to display a license number on advertising, vehicles, websites, or written estimates, the way some other states do; no such display mandate was confirmed from a primary Alabama source during this research. On storm and hail restoration specifically, and on public adjusting, Alabama regulates insurance claim adjusting separately from roofing contractor licensing. Under the Code of Alabama, an adjuster who ascertains and determines the amount of a claim, loss, or damage under a property insurance contract, or who settles such a claim, for compensation, generally must hold a license from the Alabama Department of Insurance. That licensing structure covers adjusters working on an insurer's behalf. Research for this article did not locate an Alabama statute specifically naming roofing contractors, or specifically addressing storm-chasing solicitation, deductible waivers, or public adjusting duties performed by a roofing contractor for a homeowner's benefit. Roofing contractors who discuss, estimate, or negotiate storm or hail insurance claims with a homeowner's insurer should confirm with an attorney or the Alabama Department of Insurance whether that specific activity requires a separate adjuster license, since this article cannot confirm a roofing-specific rule on that point.
Holding a state Home Builders or Roofers License, or a General Contractor license for larger commercial work, does not by itself satisfy every local requirement a roofing contractor will face in Alabama's largest cities. Alabama's biggest metro areas, including Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, and Mobile, each operate their own municipal business licensing systems separate from the state boards described elsewhere in this article. In practice, a roofing contractor doing business inside city limits typically needs a local business or privilege license from that city's revenue or licensing department in addition to the state license, and each city sets and collects its own license fees. Beyond the business license, a roofing contractor pulling permits for individual jobs in these cities will typically go through that city's or county's building or inspections department, which may require proof of the current state license, proof of insurance, or a copy of the local business license before issuing a building permit for reroofing or new roof installation. This article does not state specific city business license fee amounts, permit fee amounts, or local bonding requirements for Birmingham, Montgomery, or Huntsville, because those figures were not confirmed from each city's own primary source during research for this article. A roofing contractor planning to work in a specific Alabama city should contact that city's business license or revenue office, and its building or permits department, directly to confirm current local requirements before bidding work there, since those requirements sit on top of, rather than in place of, the state licensing requirements described in the rest of this article.
Alabama gives consumers and other contractors a direct way to check whether a roofing business holds a current state license before hiring or subcontracting with it. The Home Builders Licensure Board maintains an online Licensee Search tool, described on the board's own website as its License Verification site, where a user can search by licensee name, with a sounds-like matching feature for names, among other search fields. The board's site notes that Home Builders and Roofing licenses are both issued to individuals and corporations and appear in that same search tool. The board cautions that the database reflects information as of the time and date the search is performed, may not include recently submitted but not yet processed applications, and should be treated as not official; a caller who is unsure about a result, or cannot find a licensee, is directed to call the board directly at 1-800-304-0853 to confirm. For commercial general contractor licenses, the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors provides its own separate License Verification Search, hosted on the state's licensesearch.alabama.gov portal, which lists licensee name, license number, city, state, licensed specialty, and phone number, and allows downloading the full roster as a spreadsheet file. Because roofing work in Alabama can fall under either board depending on job size and job type, a homeowner or general contractor verifying a roofer's credentials on a large commercial project should check the general contractors board's roster, while a homeowner hiring residential roofing work should check the Home Builders Licensure Board's search tool instead.
These are common details other guides publish about Alabama, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Home Builders Licensure Board licenses residential roofing once a job's labor and materials exceed 2,500 dollars, and commercial roofing at 100,000 dollars or more falls under the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors instead.
For residential roofing, a license is required once the cost of the job, counting labor and materials together, exceeds 2,500 dollars. General residential construction uses a higher 10,000 dollar threshold.
An Unlimited Home Builders License already covers residential roofing, so its holder does not need a separate Roofers License. A Limited Home Builders License does not cover roofing, so its holder must obtain a separate Roofers License to do that work.
No. Roofers License and Limited License applicants qualify by submitting proof of a current, or recently held, municipal, township, or county contractor occupational license instead of taking the state exam. Only the Unlimited License path requires passing the Business and Law and Skills exams.
The annual license fee is 150 dollars, plus a non-refundable 100 dollar new application processing fee, for a total of 250 dollars on a new application, payable to the Home Builders Licensure Board by check or money order.
Yes. A Roofers License applicant must submit a 10,000 dollar License and Permit Bond naming the Home Builders Licensure Board as obligee, sent directly to the board by the surety company.
The home builders statute itself does not set an insurance requirement; it only lets the board require proof of insurance by rule. No specific current insurance minimum for roofers was confirmed from a primary source for this article.
Once a commercial or public roofing project's labor and materials reach 100,000 dollars, a General Contractor license from the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors is required, along with licensure for any subcontractor performing work of that size.
Not automatically. Applicants with a current residential builder's license in Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, or North Carolina may skip the Skills Exam, but must still pass the Business and Law Exam and file a full Alabama application.
Undertaking residential roofing above the licensing threshold without a valid Home Builders or Roofers License is a Class A misdemeanor under Alabama law, and the board can also seek an injunction to stop the work.
Use the Home Builders Licensure Board's online Licensee Search for residential roofing licenses, or the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors' License Verification Search for commercial general contractor licenses.
Typically yes. Cities such as Birmingham, Montgomery, and Huntsville generally require their own local business or privilege license and a building permit for each roofing job, on top of the state Home Builders, Roofers, or General Contractor license.
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