Does Alaska have a separate roofing license?
No. Roofing contractors register under the state's general Construction Contractors law, AS 08.18, as a specialty contractor in the Roofing Contractor trade category defined at 12 AAC 21.460.
Alaska · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
Alaska roofing license requirements.
Alaska requires roofing contractors to register as a specialty contractor with the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing under AS 08.18, the same law covering all construction contractors. Registration needs a $10,000 surety bond, liability insurance, and a biennial renewal; no trade exam or apprenticeship hours are required for the roofing specialty category itself.
State-level license
Yes
Public lookup
Not published
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-18. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Does Alaska License Roofing Contractors
Alaska does not issue a stand alone roofing license. Roofing work is regulated under the state's general Construction Contractors law, AS 08.18, administered by the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (CBPL) within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Anyone who bids on or performs roofing work in the pursuit of an independent business must hold a certificate of registration as a contractor before submitting a bid or starting work, under AS 08.18.011(a). The department recognizes Roofing Contractor as one of 37 named specialty contractor trades listed at 12 AAC 21.200, with its own defined scope of work at 12 AAC 21.460. A contractor who performs only roofing work registers in this single specialty category rather than as a general contractor. A firm that also frames, sides, or otherwise builds or alters structures beyond the roofing scope may need to register as a general contractor instead of, or in addition to, the roofing specialty. Because the underlying statute treats roofing as one line item inside a single statewide registration system rather than a separate licensing board, there is no roofing specific exam, roofing trade school requirement, or apprenticeship hour count set out anywhere in the statute or regulations. The registration functions mainly as a compliance and consumer protection mechanism: proof of bonding, proof of insurance, and a public record of who is authorized to contract, rather than a state administered test of roofing skill. This differs from Alaska's electrical and mechanical contractor categories, which require the contractor to employ a separately licensed administrator who has passed a trade exam under AS 08.40.
Registration Required To Work Or Bid
AS 08.18.011(a) states that a person may not submit a bid or work as a contractor until that person has been issued a certificate of registration as a contractor by the department. This applies to a roofing contractor exactly as it applies to any other construction trade covered by the chapter. A partnership or joint venture is considered registered if one of the general partners or venturers whose name appears in the business name is individually registered. The law also protects the registration system from the general contractor side: under AS 08.18.011(b), a general contractor may not use a bid or proposal from, award a bid to, contract with, or allow an unregistered person to work as a specialty contractor, including a roofing specialty contractor, on the general contractor's project. In practice this means a general contractor hiring a roofing subcontractor is expected to confirm that the roofing sub carries an active Roofing Contractor registration before using that sub's bid or putting the sub to work, since the general contractor shares exposure for using an unregistered specialty contractor. The registration requirement applies regardless of whether the roofing contractor is a sole proprietor, a partnership, or a corporation, though the specific information required on the application differs by business structure. There is no dollar threshold below which a roofing job is exempt from the registration requirement itself, although, as covered later in this brief, the bond and insurance amounts scale down for contractors who only take on small aggregate contract values.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Where Roofing Fits In The Registration System
Alaska organizes construction contracting into a small number of statutory categories rather than dozens of individual trade licenses. AS 08.18.171(7) defines a general contractor as a contractor 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. AS 08.18.171(17) defines a specialty contractor, other than a mechanical contractor, by reference to AS 08.18.024(b), which allows a specialty contractor to perform work requiring the use of not more than three trades. Roofing Contractor is one of 37 specialty trades the department recognizes for registration purposes, listed at 12 AAC 21.200(26) and defined in detail at 12 AAC 21.460. Other categories that sit alongside the specialty tier include the general contractor registration, the residential contractor endorsement (an add on for a general contractor who builds or alters privately owned residential structures of one to four units, under AS 08.18.025), the mechanical contractor registration (plumbing, heating, and related trades under AS 08.18.028), and a lower tier handyman contractor registration under 12 AAC 21.700 for contractors whose per project aggregate contract price stays at $10,000 or less. A roofing business that stays within the 12 AAC 21.460 scope of work registers as a Roofing Contractor specialty. AS 08.18.024(a) also lets the department allow limited use of another specialty's techniques or materials when they are a small, inseparable part of the roofing contractor's own work, without requiring a second registration for that incidental work.
Scope Of A Roofing Contractor Registration
12 AAC 21.460 defines what a Roofing Contractor registration authorizes. A roofing contractor performs the following services on all types of roofs, using all types of roofing material: installation of roof sheathing; installation or application of roof weatherproofing and insulation; repair of structural damage to the roof support system, but not construction or installation of a new roof support system; extension of roof penetrations, vents, and drains on an existing structure, except electrical penetrations; and installation of skylights. This scope is written broadly enough to cover both residential and commercial roofing work, and it does not distinguish by roofing material, so shingle, metal, membrane, and other roof types all fall under the same specialty registration. The regulation draws a specific line at new roof support construction: a roofing contractor can repair structural damage to an existing roof support system but cannot build a new one, which typically falls to a framing or general contractor. Electrical roof penetrations are also carved out of the roofing scope, reflecting the separate electrical contractor licensing scheme under AS 08.18.026 and AS 08.40. A roofing contractor whose work regularly crosses into adjacent trades, such as full structural reframing, siding, or general building alteration, may need an additional registration category, either as a general contractor or as a second specialty contractor, depending on how many trades the business actually performs. Because the statute allows a specialty contractor to perform work in up to three trades under AS 08.18.024(b), a roofing contractor can typically add one or two closely related specialties, such as sheet metal or painting, without moving up to a general contractor registration.
Sourcescommerce.alaska.gov
Application Requirements
AS 08.18.021(a) sets out what an application for contractor registration must contain. The applicant submits the application under oath, on a form prescribed by the commissioner, and it must include the applicant's social security number; if applying as a contractor, the type of contracting activity, whether general or specialty, and if specialty, the type of specialty (in this case, Roofing Contractor); and, depending on business structure, the name and address of each partner if the applicant is a firm or partnership, the name and address of the owner if a sole proprietorship, or the name and address of the corporate officers and statutory agent if the applicant is a corporation. AS 08.18.021(b) makes the information in the application a matter of public record, open to public inspection. Notably, the statute does not require the applicant to demonstrate prior roofing experience, complete an apprenticeship, hold a trade school credential, or pass any competency exam in order to register as a specialty contractor. This is a meaningful difference from many other states: Alaska's general and specialty contractor registration is closer to a regulated business registration, backed by bonding and insurance, than to a skills tested trade license. The bond and insurance requirements covered later in this brief must be filed with the application before the department will issue the certificate of registration, and an application is not complete until those items, along with the correct fee, are on file with the department.
Fees
The department's centralized occupational licensing fee schedule, at 12 AAC 02.180, sets the following fees for general, mechanical, and all specialty construction contractors, a category that includes Roofing Contractor: a nonrefundable application fee for initial registration, $100; a certificate of registration and license enforcement support fee for all or part of the initial biennial registration period, $250; a biennial certificate of registration renewal and license enforcement support fee, $250; a fee for changing from one specialty to another specialty, or between specialty and mechanical contractor registration, $35; a fee for a doing business as name, owner, or entity change, $65; a bonding research fee, $30; and a fee for changing between a specialty or mechanical contractor registration and a general contractor registration, $75. These are the base fees that apply to a Roofing Contractor applicant; a general contractor seeking the separate residential contractor endorsement pays an additional initial endorsement fee of $250 and a biennial renewal fee of $250, along with smaller fees tied to continuing competency course approval, none of which apply to a roofing specialty registration on its own. All fees are set under the authority of AS 08.01.065 and AS 08.18.041, and the department periodically updates this fee schedule by regulation, so an applicant should confirm the current amount with the division before submitting payment. None of these state registration fees are related to, or capped by, any local municipal business license fee a roofing contractor may also owe in the city where the business operates.
Sourcescommerce.alaska.gov
Bond Requirement
AS 08.18.071 requires every applicant, at the time of applying for a certificate of registration, to file a surety bond running to the state. The bond is conditioned on the applicant's promise to pay taxes and contributions due the state and its political subdivisions, amounts owed to persons who furnished labor, material, or rented equipment, and amounts adjudged against the applicant for negligent or improper work, breach of contract, or damage to public facilities. AS 08.18.071(b) sets the bond amount by category: $25,000 for a general contractor; $20,000 for a general contractor with a residential contractor endorsement who performs exclusively residential work; $10,000 for a mechanical or specialty contractor, which covers the Roofing Contractor category, or for a home inspector; and $5,000 for a contractor whose work on any one project has an aggregate contract price of $10,000 or less, commonly registered as a handyman contractor. In place of a surety bond, an applicant may file a cash deposit or other negotiable security acceptable to the commissioner in the same amount, and the regulations describe an acceptable form as a time certificate of deposit from a bank or trust company authorized to do business in the state. The bond stays in effect until canceled by the surety, the principal, or the commissioner, and a claim against it must be brought within three years of cancellation. AS 08.18.061 separately bars a political subdivision, such as a city or borough, from requiring a contractor who is already registered with the state to post a second bond for a similar local license.
Insurance Requirement
AS 08.18.101(a) requires each applicant, at the time of applying for registration or renewal, to file satisfactory evidence of two kinds of coverage. First, to the extent required under AS 23.30, the applicant must carry workers compensation insurance purchased from a private insurer admitted to do business in Alaska and showing coverage, employee classifications, and rates applicable in the state, or hold a valid workers compensation self insurance certificate from the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board. Second, the applicant must carry public liability and property damage insurance covering the applicant's contracting operations in the state, in amounts of 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. This liability insurance requirement does not apply to an applicant whose contracting operations are limited to 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) allows an applicant to satisfy the proof of insurance requirement by showing coverage under an employer's policy, at least to the extent required, rather than carrying a separate individual policy. Separately, AS 08.18.111 prohibits a contractor from advertising that it is bonded and insured simply because it has complied with the bond and insurance requirements of this chapter, since the statutory minimums are a floor for consumer protection and registration eligibility, not a guarantee of full financial protection on every job.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Renewal And Continuing Education
Contractor registration in Alaska, including the Roofing Contractor specialty, operates on a two year cycle. The fee schedule at 12 AAC 02.180 lists a certificate of registration fee for all or part of the initial biennial registration period, followed by a biennial certificate of registration renewal and license enforcement support fee, confirming the two year renewal period for general, mechanical, and specialty contractors. AS 08.18.031(a) requires that a certificate of registration be renewed under the same requirements that applied to the original registration, meaning the applicant refiles proof of an active bond, active insurance, and pays the applicable renewal fee. Unlike several other license types the department administers, general and specialty contractor registration, including the roofing specialty, carries no continuing education or continuing competency requirement in AS 08.18 or its regulations. Continuing education obligations exist elsewhere in the same chapter, but they attach to different categories: AS 08.18.031(c) requires home inspectors to complete at least eight hours of continuing competency activity each licensing period before their registration can be renewed, and a residential contractor endorsement holder must submit proof of continued competency under AS 08.18.031(c) and the related regulations at 12 AAC 21.660 through 12 AAC 21.665, which describe approved activities and how contact hours are calculated. Because a roofing contractor who registers only in the specialty category does not hold a residential contractor endorsement or a home inspector registration, none of those continuing education rules apply to that registration on its own.
Examination Requirements
Alaska sets no examination requirement for general or specialty contractor registration under AS 08.18.021, and this includes the Roofing Contractor specialty category. The application requirements in AS 08.18.021(a) cover identifying and business information only; nowhere in that section, or in the specialty contractor provisions at AS 08.18.024, does the statute require the applicant to pass a written or practical test. This stands in contrast to three other parts of the same chapter that do involve an exam. A general contractor who wants to construct or alter privately owned residential structures of one to four units must obtain a residential contractor endorsement under AS 08.18.025, which requires passing a residential contractor examination offered by the department at least once a year in each judicial district, and the regulations at 12 AAC 21.680 set a passing score of at least 70 percent on the exam administered by PSI Services LLC or another department approved exam. Home inspectors must pass a home inspection examination under AS 08.18.022, using the exam offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors or a similar national body for existing homes, or the International Code Council exam for new homes. Electrical and mechanical contractor registrations, under AS 08.18.026 and AS 08.18.028, require the contractor to employ or be a person separately licensed as an electrical or mechanical administrator under AS 08.40, which has its own exam process. A roofing contractor who registers only in the Roofing Contractor specialty and stays within the 12 AAC 21.460 scope of work does not sit for any state administered exam to obtain or renew that registration.
Advertising And License Display Rules
AS 08.18.051 sets identification requirements that apply to every registered contractor, including a Roofing Contractor. Under subsection (b), all advertising, contracts, correspondence, business cards, signs, posters, papers, and documents a contractor prepares 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. The statute includes a website exception: an advertisement that directs potential customers to the contractor's website or a landing page satisfies this requirement if the advertisement states that the required information appears there and the website or landing page actually contains it. Subsection (a) also bars a contractor registered under one business name from acting as a contractor under any other, unregistered name, and subsection (c) requires individual contractors, partners, agents, salespeople, solicitors, officers, and employees to use their true names and addresses, and the true name of the contractor firm, at all times while acting in that capacity. Separately, AS 08.18.111 prohibits a contractor from advertising that it is bonded and insured simply because it has met the chapter's minimum bond and insurance requirements, since that framing can overstate the protection a customer actually has. The statute does not set out a distinct dollar penalty tied only to a missing registration number on an advertisement; a violation of AS 08.18.051 falls under the chapter's general violation provisions described in the next section, which can include administrative, civil, or criminal consequences depending on the facts.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Penalties For Unlicensed Or Non-Compliant Work
Alaska backs its registration requirement with layered administrative, civil, and criminal remedies. Under AS 08.18.125, the department may 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 (registration required) or AS 08.18.025 (residential contractor endorsement required). The department must issue written notice of the fine with a statement of reasons and an opportunity to request a hearing, and a person who does not request a hearing within 30 days waives the right to one. AS 08.18.125(e) carves out an exception: the department may not impose this administrative fine on a person acting as a contractor in an area with a population of 1,000 or less that is not connected by road or rail to Anchorage or Fairbanks. Separately, AS 08.18.131 allows the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development or the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to seek a court injunction against a person acting as a contractor in violation of the chapter, and the court may impose a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each violation, with each day an unlawful act continues counted as a separate violation. AS 08.18.141 makes a knowing violation of AS 08.18.011 or 08.18.025 a class B misdemeanor once the person has a qualifying prior conviction, citation finding, or administrative fine on the same section. Other violations of the chapter, apart from these two sections, are punishable as a lesser violation under Title 12.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Reciprocity
AS 08.18, the chapter governing construction contractor registration in Alaska, contains no reciprocity or license recognition provision for general, specialty, or mechanical contractors. An out of state roofing contractor who wants to register in Alaska completes the same application under AS 08.18.021, files the same $10,000 specialty contractor bond under AS 08.18.071, carries the same minimum liability and workers compensation insurance under AS 08.18.101, and pays the same fees under 12 AAC 02.180 as an Alaska based applicant, regardless of what license or registration the contractor holds in another state. This differs from the limited recognition the chapter does build in elsewhere: home inspectors can qualify by passing a national exam offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors or the International Code Council, which is a shared national testing standard rather than a state to state reciprocity agreement, and it does not extend to contractors. Because roofing sits inside the specialty contractor category, which itself requires no exam, an out of state roofing contractor's main practical task in entering the Alaska market is administrative: securing the bond, arranging the insurance, and filing the registration paperwork, rather than proving competency through a credentialing process the state would otherwise waive for a comparable license from another jurisdiction. A roofing contractor licensed in another state should not assume that license shortens or simplifies the Alaska registration process, and should plan for the same bonding and insurance lead time as a first time applicant.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Exemptions From Registration
AS 08.18.161 lists activities and people the chapter does not reach. Several are unlikely to affect a roofing business: authorized representatives of federal, state, or local government; court officers acting within their office; public utilities doing incidental construction or maintenance work regulated by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska; and work incidental to producing petroleum, gas, or minerals when done by an owner or lessee. Others are more directly relevant to roofing. AS 08.18.161(5) and (7) exempt a person who only sells or supplies finished products, materials, or equipment without fabricating them into a permanent part of a structure, meaning a roofing material supplier who does not install the product is not required to register as a contractor. AS 08.18.161(9) exempts a person working on an existing structure on that person's own property, and a person working on their own existing residence whether they own it or not, so a homeowner can replace their own roof without registering. AS 08.18.161(10) exempts an owner or tenant of commercial property who uses the owner's or tenant's own employees, rather than an outside contractor, to do maintenance, repair, and alteration work on that property. AS 08.18.161(11) sets out a narrower owner builder exemption: an owner acting as their own contractor on new construction, limited to one home, duplex, triplex, four-plex, or commercial building every two years, with a required department filing if the structure is advertised for sale or sold during or shortly after construction. None of these exemptions cover a roofing business performing paid roofing work for someone else's property.
Sourcesakleg.gov
City And Local Business Registration
Alaska licenses construction contractors, including roofing contractors, at the state level only; there is no separate city or borough roofing license layered on top of the CBPL registration. AS 08.18.061 reinforces this by barring a political subdivision, such as a municipality, from requiring a contractor already registered with the state to post a bond in order to obtain or hold a similarly purposed local license. That provision addresses bonding specifically; it does not exempt a roofing contractor from other, non-bonding local requirements a municipality may impose on any business operating within its boundaries, such as a general business license, a sales tax registration in municipalities that levy a local sales tax, or a building permit for a specific roofing job. Alaska has no state level sales tax, so any sales tax obligation a roofing contractor faces comes entirely from the municipality or borough where the work is performed, and rates and registration rules vary by jurisdiction. Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau are Alaska's three largest municipalities by population and each administers its own local business licensing and, where applicable, sales or bed tax programs separately from the state contractor registration system. This brief was not able to independently confirm the specific municipal business license fees, renewal cycles, or permit requirements those three cities apply to a roofing contractor, since that information sits outside the state statute and regulations reviewed here; a roofing contractor should confirm local business license and building permit requirements directly with the relevant city or borough clerk's office before starting work in that jurisdiction, in addition to holding the state Roofing Contractor registration.
Sourcesakleg.gov
Hail, Storm Restoration, Public Adjusters, And Verifying A License
AS 08.18, Alaska's construction contractor statute, does not contain a roofing specific hail or storm restoration provision, and it does not include a statutory bar on a roofing contractor acting as, or being paid like, a public adjuster on an insurance claim. This is a meaningful contrast with several other states that have enacted roofing specific storm chasing, assignment of benefits, or public adjuster restriction laws; nothing comparable turned up in AS 08.18 or its implementing regulations at 12 AAC 21 during this review. Insurance claims adjusting itself is regulated separately, under Alaska's insurance producer and adjuster licensing statutes in Title 21, which apply to anyone who adjusts or negotiates an insurance claim for a fee on behalf of a policyholder, regardless of whether that person also happens to be a roofing contractor; a roofing contractor who wants to represent a homeowner in negotiating directly with an insurer, rather than simply performing repair work the homeowner's insurer has already agreed to pay for, should confirm separately whether that activity requires an adjuster license under Title 21. On verification, CBPL maintains records of registered contractors as public information under AS 08.18.021(b), and the division's website advertises an online license search tool; this brief could not independently confirm that search tool's exact web address at the time of writing, so no lookup URL is included here. In its absence, a customer can call the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing directly and ask the division to confirm a roofing contractor's registration number, bond status, and insurance status before signing a contract, and can cross check that registration number against the one the contractor is required to display on its advertising and contracts under AS 08.18.051.
Sourcesakleg.gov
What we could not confirm
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.
- The exact web address of CBPL's online contractor license verification/search tool (search results point to it but automated status checks returned 403, not a confirmed 200)
- Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau specific municipal business license fees and renewal requirements for roofing contractors
- The dollar cap for a general Title 12 'violation' penalty applied to non-08.18.011/08.18.025 violations of AS 08.18
- Typical CBPL processing time for a new contractor registration application
- The state business license (AS 43.70) fee amount applicable to a roofing contracting business
Alaska roofing licensing questions
Who issues roofing contractor registration in Alaska?
The Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (CBPL), part of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.
How much is the roofing specialty contractor surety bond?
$10,000, the amount AS 08.18.071(b)(3) sets for mechanical and specialty contractors, a category that includes Roofing Contractor.
What insurance does a registered roofing contractor need?
Workers compensation insurance as required under AS 23.30, plus public liability and property damage insurance of at least $20,000 for property damage, $50,000 for injury to one person, and $100,000 for injury to more than one person, under AS 08.18.101.
Is there an exam to become a roofing contractor in Alaska?
No. AS 08.18.021 sets no exam requirement for general or specialty contractor registration; only the residential contractor endorsement and home inspector registration involve a state recognized exam.
How often does an Alaska contractor registration renew?
Every two years. The fee schedule at 12 AAC 02.180 lists a biennial certificate of registration renewal fee separate from the initial registration fee.
What must appear on a roofing contractor's advertising?
The contractor's name, mailing address, and business address on all advertising, contracts, cards, and signs, plus the registration number on advertising and contracts, under AS 08.18.051.
What happens if someone does roofing work without registering?
The department can impose an administrative fine of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $1,500 for later violations under AS 08.18.125, and a court can enjoin the work and impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each day the violation continues under AS 08.18.131.
Does Alaska recognize a roofing license held in another state?
No formal reciprocity provision appears in AS 08.18. An out of state roofing contractor completes the same Alaska application, bond, and insurance steps as any other applicant.
Can a homeowner install their own roof without registering?
Generally yes. AS 08.18.161(9) exempts a person working on an existing structure they own or occupy, and a separate owner builder exemption applies to new construction, subject to limits on how often an owner can use it.
Does Alaska have hail or storm restoration rules specific to roofing?
The construction contractor statute, AS 08.18, contains no roofing specific storm or hail restoration provisions and no roofing specific bar on acting as a public adjuster; general insurance producer and adjuster licensing under Alaska's insurance statutes governs anyone adjusting claims for a fee.
Can a city require a separate bond for a state registered roofing contractor?
No. AS 08.18.061 bars a political subdivision from requiring a contractor already registered with the state to post a bond for a similar local license, though local business licensing can still apply.
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