Nevada · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
Nevada licenses roofing contractors through the Nevada State Contractors Board under the C-15 Roofing and Siding classification, with a C-15a roofing subclassification. Applicants need four years of qualifying experience, must pass a trade exam and the Business and Law exam through PSI Licensure, and must post a bond the Board sets based on financial responsibility and monetary limit. Active licenses renew every two years for a $600 fee.
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-18. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Roofing is licensed at the state level in Nevada, not by city or county. The agency that issues the license is the Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB), created and authorized under Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 624. The Board determines the qualifications of applicants before licensing, including written examinations, background investigations, and financial responsibility assessments, and it sets the conditions attached to a license, such as field and scope limitations, bond requirements, and contractual monetary limits. The Board also promulgates the regulations found in Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 624 that implement and enforce the statute, and it takes disciplinary action, including fines, suspension, or revocation, against licensees who violate the law. NSCB maintains two offices, one in Reno for northern Nevada and one in Las Vegas for southern Nevada, and licensing staff in either office can process an application regardless of where in the state the contractor will work. Under the Board's general licensing requirements, a contractor is defined as any person who undertakes or offers to construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, or improve a building or other structure, a definition that reaches roofing work directly. All contractors must be licensed before contracting, which the Board defines to include bidding on a job, offering to engage in the work, or negotiating a price, not only signing a contract. A roofing contractor who bids a reroof or repair job in Nevada without an active NSCB license in the correct classification is operating outside the law from the moment the bid or quote is made, regardless of whether any work has started.
Nevada licenses roofing work under a specialty classification designated C-15, Roofing and Siding, defined in Nevada Administrative Code section 624.320. The Board grants a classification C-15 license to qualified applicants in the specialty of roofing and siding, and a holder of the full C-15 classification may perform any of the work authorized under its four subclassifications. Subclassification C-15a, Roofing, covers the installation, application, alteration, and repair of watertight and weatherproof material used on roofs, including asphalt, pitch, tar, felt, flax, shakes, shingles, aluminum, tile, slate, urethane, and photovoltaic roof tiles intended to replace existing roofing material. It does not authorize a C-15a holder to install conduits, inverters, batteries, or electrical connections for a photovoltaic system, work that falls under a separate electrical classification. Subclassification C-15b, Siding, covers installation, alteration, and repair of siding material such as wood, aluminum, enameled steel, plastic, and glass. Subclassification C-15c, Insulation, covers installation of glass, metal, plastic, urethane, and other insulation material, and subclassification C-15d, Waterproofing, covers application of rubber, latex, asphalt, pitch, and tar coatings to prevent water penetration. A contractor can apply for the full C-15 classification or for only the specific subclassification that matches the work it performs, such as C-15a alone for a company that only installs and repairs roof coverings. NSCB's license classification page directs applicants to Chapter 624 of the Nevada Administrative Code for the official scope of work behind every classification and subclassification the Board issues.
Any business or individual that contracts, bids, or offers to perform roofing work in Nevada needs an active NSCB license covering that work. A specialty roofing company performing only reroofs, repairs, or roof coatings should hold a C-15 license, most commonly the C-15a roofing subclassification. A general contractor licensed in Nevada's Classification B, General Building, including the B-2 Residential and Small Commercial subclassification, may also perform roofing work as part of a broader construction or remodeling project, since general building classifications are not limited to a single trade. What a general building licensee may not do is hold itself out as a dedicated roofing specialist without also holding or subcontracting to a C-15 licensee, and a company that only performs roofing work, with no other classification, must hold C-15 in its own right. The license belongs to the business entity, not to the individual who qualifies it. NSCB requires every applicant business to designate at least one trade qualified individual, an owner, officer, member, manager, or employee who is a bona fide member of the company and who meets the experience requirement for the classification requested. A roofing crew working as a subcontractor to a general contractor still needs its own C-15 license; Nevada law does not allow an unlicensed roofing sub to work under a licensed general contractor's umbrella. Material suppliers who do not perform installation are excluded from the contractor licensing requirement, but any company that installs, alters, or repairs a roof for compensation falls within the definition of a contractor under NRS 624.020.
Nevada does not require a roofing license applicant to complete any specific education program; there is no classroom or degree requirement to qualify. Instead, the person acting as the trade qualified individual for the license must show, within the fifteen years immediately before filing the application, at least four full years of experience as a journeyman, supervising employee, or contractor in the roofing classification requested. That qualifier can be an owner, officer, member, manager, or employee of the applying company, as long as the person is an actual, active participant in the contracting business. NSCB will accept several forms of documentation to prove the four years: four separate Certification of Work Experience forms, one for each qualifying employer or period, completed by people who can verify the work; a current master's certification issued by a government agency in a substantially similar trade; or proof of transferable military training and experience. Training received through an accredited college, university, or an equivalent program the Board accepts can substitute for up to three of the four required years, supported by documents such as apprenticeship certificates or college transcripts. Each trade qualifier must also submit a Resume of Experience, and an applicant relying on self-employment to prove experience must supply a list of customers with complete mailing addresses and phone numbers so the Board can verify the work. The four-years-of-work-experience certificates are waived for a qualifier who served as the qualified employee on another active Nevada license in the same classification within the last five years, or for an applicant who qualifies for waiver through licensure by endorsement from a state Nevada treats as substantially equivalent.
Sourcesnvcontractorsboard.com
A qualifying individual for a Nevada roofing license must pass two separate examinations unless the applicant meets the conditions for a waiver: the Business and Law examination, referred to by NSCB as the CMS exam, and the trade examination specific to the C-15 classification or subclassification requested. An applicant cannot schedule either exam until after the license application is submitted and the experience requirement has been verified; once that happens, NSCB issues an Examination Eligibility form with a Candidate ID number needed to book a test date. Nevada contracts with PSI Licensure to administer contractor licensing exams, and PSI operates three Nevada testing centers where the roofing trade exam can be taken: one in Las Vegas, one in Reno, and one in Elko. PSI also allows candidates to sit for Nevada-specific exams at its testing centers in other states, so an out-of-state applicant does not necessarily need to travel to Nevada to test. A candidate gets three attempts to pass each exam, and after a failed attempt must wait two weeks before retesting. If a candidate fails an exam three times, the application becomes void under Nevada Administrative Code section 624.600, and the applicant must reapply with a new application and fee no sooner than thirty days after the last exam attempt. Under certain circumstances NSCB will waive the trade exam and the related experience certification for an applicant, most commonly through licensure by endorsement or a qualifying NASCLA exam score; the current contractor's license application describes exactly which circumstances qualify for a waiver.
Every Nevada contractor license, including a C-15 roofing license, carries a monetary limit, the maximum size of contract the licensee may undertake on a single construction site or subdivision for one client. NSCB requires a current financial statement from every applicant regardless of the size of the monetary limit requested, and the required level of financial statement scales with that limit. For a requested monetary limit of $25,000 or less, an applicant may submit a statement prepared by an independent certified public accountant, a statement on a form the Board prescribes, or a self-prepared balance sheet built with accounting software and accompanied by a sworn affidavit, and any self-prepared or compiled statement must be current within six months of the application. For a monetary limit above $25,000 but below $500,000, the applicant needs a compiled statement from an independent CPA current within six months, or a reviewed or audited statement current within one year. For a monetary limit of $500,000 or more but under $1,000,000, the applicant needs a compiled statement with full disclosures, or a reviewed or audited statement, again on the same six month or one year currency rule. For a monetary limit of $1,000,000 or more, the applicant must submit a statement that is reviewed or audited by an independent CPA and current within one year. Every applicant must also submit a Bank Verification Form completed by its bank. Nevada also offers an indemnification option, letting the Board weigh the financial strength of another individual or entity alongside the applicant's own statement for a company that might not otherwise qualify at the limit it wants.
Sourcesnvcontractorsboard.com
NSCB requires every licensee to file a contractor's bond before the license is issued. The Board sets the exact bond amount at the time of license approval, and the amount can range from $1,000 to $500,000 depending on the classification, the requested monetary limit, and the applicant's past, present, or projected financial responsibility, experience, and character. The applicant only learns the required bond amount after the Board approves the license, and the bond or an equivalent cash deposit must be posted before the license is actually issued. A roofing contractor can satisfy this requirement with a surety bond bought from a company authorized to transact business in Nevada and rated A or better for long-term obligations, or with a cash deposit in the form of a cashier's check payable to the State Contractors Board for the full bonded amount. A licensee who posts a cash bond instead of a surety bond is charged a biennial administrative fee of $200. If a cash deposit is later released because the license terminates or the bond requirement ends, NSCB is required by statute to hold the deposit for an additional two years to cover the limitations period for filing claims against it. Every bond must be continuous, with no lapse in coverage; a surety company can cancel a bond only by giving NSCB sixty days written notice. Failing to keep a bond or cash deposit in full force is grounds for the Board to deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew the license. The consumer protection bond rules that apply to residential pool and spa contractors, with a $10,000 to $400,000 range, are a separate requirement that does not apply to a roofing-only license.
Nevada Administrative Code section 624.130 sets the fee schedule NSCB charges for every stage of licensing. To issue or renew an active license costs $600, and to issue or renew an inactive license costs $300. Filing a renewal late for an active license adds a $150 late fee, and filing late for an inactive license adds a $75 late fee. A duplicate license costs $25 and a duplicate identification card costs $10. Changing the name of a licensee costs $250 to process, and a conversion of a licensee's business form under NRS Chapter 92A costs $300. Increasing a license's monetary limit for a single project costs $75, while a permanent increase or decrease of the monetary limit costs $250. Changing the qualified individual or another principal listed on a license costs $250, and broadening a license to add an entire classification or additional subclassifications, such as adding C-15b siding to an existing C-15a roofing license, costs $250. Applying for a license in a classification the applicant does not currently hold costs $300. A certificate of eligibility costs $500 to issue and $300 to renew. NSCB also charges $100 for a report on up to 500 current licensees and $200 for a larger report, $5 for a printed pamphlet of the governing statutes and regulations, $200 as an administrative fee for licensees using a cash bond deposit, and $25 for a returned check. These fees are set in regulation and are separate from the examination fees PSI Licensure charges to administer the trade and Business and Law exams.
Sourcesleg.state.nv.us
A Nevada contractor license, including a C-15 roofing license, is issued and renewed on a two-year, or biennial, cycle under Nevada Administrative Code section 624.630. NSCB mails a renewal application to each licensee's address of record, and the licensee must return the completed application by the last day of the month in which the license expires, along with the $600 renewal fee. If NSCB has asked the licensee to submit a financial statement with the renewal, that completed application, fee, and financial statement are due earlier, by the first day of the month in which the license expires. A licensee who misses the renewal deadline before the license expires owes the $150 late fee described above. A licensee who fails to attempt renewal within the first six months of the new license biennium will have the license denied, revoked, or refused renewal outright, and at that point must apply for an entirely new license rather than simply renewing the old one. If a renewal application and fee arrive on time but required information is missing, NSCB will conditionally renew the license while it waits for that information, and will deny the renewal if the information does not arrive within a reasonable time. A contractor can also apply to place a license on inactive status; an inactive license can be reactivated at the normal renewal date for the standard fee, but a license left inactive for more than eight years expires outright. Based on the license requirement pages and the renewals regulation reviewed for this brief, Nevada does not publish a continuing education requirement tied to renewal of a roofing contractor's license; renewal instead turns on the fee, any required financial statement, and good standing with the Board.
Nevada offers licensure by endorsement rather than blanket reciprocity: an out-of-state roofing contractor can have the state-specific trade exam and the experience certification process waived if the applicant is licensed in a state NSCB has determined has substantially equivalent requirements. To qualify, the applicant's trade qualified individual must have held an active license in the endorsing state, under the same qualifying individual, for the past four years, must not have been investigated for misconduct or had a license revoked, modified, limited, suspended, or otherwise disciplined by any state where the person is or was licensed, and must not have any disciplinary proceeding currently pending in any such state. The applicant's endorsing state must complete a Request for Verification of License form and submit it with the Nevada application. NSCB publishes a State License Equivalency Chart, checked state by state, that maps the endorsing state's classification and exam to the matching Nevada classification; if the endorsing state does not offer an equivalent trade exam, the applicant must still sit for Nevada's state-specific trade exam. Separately, an applicant who has passed the NASCLA Commercial General Building Contractor Examination can have the state trade exam waived for a general building classification application, verified by purchasing and electronically sending a transcript from NASCLA's National Examination Database. Licensure by endorsement only ever waives the trade exam and the experience certification; it does not waive any other part of the application, including the financial statement, the bond, and the fee, and the qualifying individual must still pass Nevada's Business and Law examination regardless of how long the applicant has held a license elsewhere.
Sourcesnvcontractorsboard.com
Nevada treats unlicensed contracting as a criminal matter, not just a civil or administrative one. NRS 624.700 makes it unlawful for any person, or combination of persons, to engage in the business of, or act in the capacity of, a contractor in Nevada, or to submit a bid on a job located in the state, without holding an active license. NSCB's own summary of the statute states plainly that a first offense is a misdemeanor, a second offense is a gross misdemeanor, and a third offense is a Class E felony, an escalating criminal exposure that applies specifically to repeat unlicensed activity. Because the licensing requirement attaches at the moment of bidding, offering to engage in work, or negotiating a price, a roofer who quotes a job in Nevada without an active C-15 license has already committed the violation, independent of whether the job is ever performed or a contract is ever signed. The Board's investigations office handles complaints against both licensed and unlicensed contractors and can refer unlicensed activity for prosecution. This exposure sits on top of, not in place of, the civil consequences of operating without a license, such as the difficulty an unlicensed contractor has enforcing a contract or collecting on unpaid work in Nevada courts. A roofing company that is licensed in another state but has not yet obtained a Nevada C-15 license, or licensure by endorsement, is unlicensed for purposes of any Nevada job, no matter how long the company has operated legally elsewhere.
Nevada requires a contractor to put its license number on more than just paperwork. Nevada Administrative Code section 624.6932 sets out the informational disclosure a general building contractor must give a residential customer, and that disclosure states directly that a contractor is required to include the contractor's license number on all of his or her advertising, vehicles, bids, and contracts. This requirement is not limited to general building contractors; it reflects the standing rule NSCB applies to every classification, including C-15 roofing, and is the mechanism by which a homeowner comparing quotes or seeing a lettered truck can immediately check a company's status with the Board. The same disclosure tells consumers that they can verify whether a contractor holds a valid license, and the status of any disciplinary action against that license, through the Board's website or by phone, and that they can file a complaint through the same channels. Because the license number requirement is tied to the Board's licensing and advertising rules under NRS 624.600 and the related sections of NAC 624, a violation is handled through the Board's investigation and disciplinary process, which can include an administrative fine, alongside any other citation for deceptive or misleading advertising. This brief did not find a fixed dollar penalty specific to omitting the license number from an ad; NSCB's general administrative fine schedule instead sets a minimum and maximum fine range tied to the specific statute violated, decided case by case by the Board. A roofing contractor's marketing, trucks, door hangers, website, and every written estimate or bid should carry the current NSCB license number to stay on the right side of this rule.
Sourcesleg.state.nv.us
NSCB maintains a free, public online license search that anyone, homeowner or competitor, can use to check a Nevada contractor before hiring or bidding against it. The Contractor License Search tool, hosted on the Board's application portal, lets a user look up a company by license number or name and see the classifications and subclassifications the license covers, such as C-15 or C-15a for roofing, along with the license's current status and its monetary limit. The Board also operates a separate Discipline Search tool covering formal disciplinary actions taken against licensees, and a Contractor Listing search for browsing licensees more broadly. NSCB's informational disclosure language, which every general building contractor must give residential customers under NAC 624.6932, points consumers to this same lookup and to the Board's phone lines, Southern Nevada at 702-486-1100 and Northern Nevada at 775-688-1141, as the way to confirm a license is active and see whether any complaints or discipline are on file. Because roofing work in Nevada is licensed specifically under the C-15 classification, a lookup that shows only a general building B classification, with no C-15 entry, is a signal that the company is not independently licensed to perform roofing work in its own right, even if it holds a valid license for other construction work. Checking the lookup before signing a roofing contract, and again before final payment, costs nothing and takes only the company's name or license number.
The C-15 roofing license issued by NSCB is a statewide license; Nevada does not layer a separate city or county trade license for roofing on top of it. What the state's largest metro areas do add is an ordinary local business license requirement that applies to any business, contractor or otherwise, operating within city or county limits. A roofing company based in or working jobs within Las Vegas, Henderson, Reno, or unincorporated Clark or Washoe County should expect to register for a local business license with that city's or county's business licensing office before starting work there, separate from and in addition to the NSCB contractor license. This brief did not find a primary-sourced, roofing-specific fee schedule or licensing procedure published for any of these cities as part of this research pass, so no city business license fee is stated here; a contractor should confirm current requirements and fees directly with the relevant city or county business license division before bidding local work. Nevada's contractor renewal system also depends on a Nevada Business ID issued by the Nevada Secretary of State: NSCB's online renewal portal requires a contractor to enter both its NSCB license number and its Nevada Business ID, and a contractor that does not yet have a Business ID must obtain one from the Secretary of State and file it with NSCB before completing an online renewal. Every roofing contractor operating in Nevada should treat the state contractor license, the Nevada Business ID, and the applicable local business license as three separate registrations, not a single filing.
Some states have added roofing-specific statutes covering storm chasing, hail damage sales tactics, or a bar on contractors acting as public insurance adjusters. For this brief, Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 624 and Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 624, the contractor licensing statute and its implementing regulations, were searched directly for language addressing storm damage, hail claims, public adjusters, or insurance claim assignment, and no such roofing-specific provision was found in either source. That does not mean no rule exists anywhere in Nevada law; public adjusters themselves are licensed and regulated in Nevada by the Division of Insurance under a separate insurance statute, not by NSCB, and this research pass did not fetch or verify the Division of Insurance's own rules on adjusters or on a contractor's role in the claims process. Rather than state an unverified rule, this section is intentionally left general: a Nevada roofing contractor working storm or hail damage claims remains bound by the ordinary NSCB licensing, advertising, and consumer disclosure rules described elsewhere in this brief, including the requirement to display its license number and the general prohibition on deceptive advertising practices found in NAC 624.694, which bars a licensee from misrepresenting the standard, quality, or availability of the work or materials advertised. Any Nevada-specific restriction on a roofing contractor negotiating, adjusting, or settling an insurance claim on a homeowner's behalf, if one exists, would need to be confirmed directly with the Nevada Division of Insurance before being relied upon, and that confirmation is listed as a gap in this brief rather than presented as a sourced fact.
These are common details other guides publish about Nevada, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Nevada State Contractors Board licenses roofing under Classification C-15, Roofing and Siding, with a C-15a subclassification specifically for roofing work, under Nevada Administrative Code section 624.320.
C-15 is NSCB's Roofing and Siding classification. It covers four subclassifications: C-15a roofing, C-15b siding, C-15c insulation, and C-15d waterproofing, and a full C-15 license authorizes work under all four.
At least four full years of experience as a journeyman, supervising employee, or contractor in the roofing classification, earned within the fifteen years before the application is filed, documented through NSCB's Certification of Work Experience process.
The qualifying individual must pass the Business and Law exam and the C-15 trade exam, both administered by PSI Licensure, unless the applicant qualifies for a waiver through licensure by endorsement or a NASCLA transcript.
NAC 624.130 sets the fee to issue or renew an active license at $600, with a $150 late fee for a missed active renewal deadline and a $300 fee to issue or renew an inactive license.
Nevada contractor licenses, including C-15 roofing licenses, run on a two-year biennial cycle under NAC 624.630, with renewal due by the last day of the month the license expires.
NSCB sets the bond amount individually for each license, ranging from $1,000 to $500,000 based on the classification, monetary limit, and the applicant's financial responsibility, rather than a fixed amount for all roofing licensees.
Not automatically. Nevada offers licensure by endorsement, which can waive the trade exam and experience certification for applicants from states NSCB treats as substantially equivalent, but the Business and Law exam and the bond and financial statement requirements still apply.
Under NRS 624.700, a first offense is a misdemeanor, a second offense is a gross misdemeanor, and a third offense is a Class E felony; the violation attaches as soon as an unlicensed person bids or offers to do the work.
Yes. NAC 624.6932 states that a contractor is required to include the contractor's license number on all advertising, vehicles, bids, and contracts, a rule NSCB applies across classifications, including C-15 roofing.
NSCB's free Contractor License Search tool, linked from the Board's website, shows a company's license status, classifications such as C-15, and monetary limit, and a separate Discipline Search tool shows any formal disciplinary history.
No roofing-specific storm, hail, or public-adjuster provision was found in NRS or NAC Chapter 624 during this research; public adjusters are separately licensed by Nevada's Division of Insurance, and that agency's specific rules were not verified for this brief.
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