New Hampshire · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
New Hampshire does not license roofing contractors, general contractors, or home improvement contractors; RSA Title XXX has no chapter for this trade. Roofers still must carry workers compensation insurance, follow the RSA 361-B home solicitation sales law for storm-related door-to-door sales, avoid unlicensed public adjusting under RSA 402-D, and give the RSA 359-G right-to-cure notice on residential jobs over $5,000.
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Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-18. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
New Hampshire does not issue a state roofing contractor license, a general contractor license, or a home improvement contractor registration. The New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification administers the boards created under RSA Title XXX, Occupations and Professions, and the full chapter list for that title, running from Chapter 309 through Chapter 332-N, contains boards for accountants, electricians, plumbers, real estate brokers, cosmetologists, and dozens of other trades and professions, but no chapter for roofing, general contracting, or home improvement contracting. A roofing company can begin operating in New Hampshire without sitting for a state trade exam, without filing a license application with any state board, and without paying a state licensing fee, because no such application or fee exists for this trade. This places New Hampshire among the states that leave residential and commercial roofing largely unregulated at the state level. That does not mean roofing work happens outside the law. Workers compensation coverage, the general consumer protection statute, a home solicitation sales law aimed at door-to-door and storm-related sales, and a residential construction defect notice law all apply to roofing contracts written in New Hampshire, and each carries real consequences for a contractor who ignores it. Because there is no roofing license, there is no reciprocity agreement for a roofer relocating from another state, no continuing education requirement tied to a roofing credential, and no state renewal cycle to track. A roofing contractor who also performs electrical or plumbing work as part of a broader remodeling business still needs the separate state license those specific trades require under RSA 319-C or RSA 329-A.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
Some states require a home improvement contractor or general contractor registration that reaches roofing work even without a trade-specific roofing license. New Hampshire has no such registration. The chapter list under RSA Title XXX runs from Chapter 309, Accountancy, through Chapter 332-N and includes no chapter titled home improvement contractor, residential contractor, or general contractor, and no chapter establishing a statewide contractor bond. A homeowner in New Hampshire cannot search a state contractor license database for a roofer, because the state does not maintain one for this trade. This is a real gap compared to neighboring states, and it means the burden of screening a roofing contractor falls more heavily on business registration records, insurance certificates, and references than on a state credential. It also means a roofing contractor cannot be disciplined, fined, or have a license suspended by a state licensing board, because no board has jurisdiction over roofing. The practical result is that the statutes covered later in this guide, the home solicitation sales law, the consumer protection act, the workers compensation law, and the residential construction defect notice statute, do the work that a licensing board would otherwise do in a state that regulates home improvement contractors directly. A roofing business that wants to demonstrate credibility to a homeowner in New Hampshire typically relies on manufacturer installer certifications, trade association membership, and its liability insurance certificate, since none of these carry the force of state law.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
To understand why roofing sits outside New Hampshire's licensing system, it helps to see what the state does regulate under the same Title XXX framework administered by the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. RSA Chapter 319-C establishes state licensing for electricians. RSA Chapter 329-A and RSA Chapter 330 govern plumbers and plumbing. RSA Chapter 310 and RSA Chapter 310-A establish the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification itself as the umbrella agency for these and dozens of other boards, from accountancy and land surveying to real estate appraisal. Each of these licensed trades has its own board, its own exam requirement, and its own renewal cycle set out in its chapter of the statutes. Roofing, framing, siding, general carpentry, and general contracting are conspicuously absent from this list. A contractor who installs a new roof as part of a larger remodeling project that also includes rewiring or new plumbing lines needs the state licenses those specific trades require, even though the roofing portion of the same job needs no state license at all. This split matters for a business that markets itself as a full-service roofing and remodeling company, because advertising or performing electrical or plumbing work without the license those chapters require exposes the company to enforcement by the relevant board, in a way that roofing work alone does not. Homeowners hiring a company for combined roofing and electrical work should ask to see the electrician's state license separately from any roofing-specific credentials the company may hold.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
Even though New Hampshire does not license roofing contractors as a trade, a roofing business still has to exist as a lawful legal entity before it can sign contracts, hire employees, or carry insurance in its own name. New Hampshire statutes provide the frameworks a roofing company chooses among: RSA Title XXVII covers corporations and associations, RSA Title XXVIII covers partnerships, and a separate chapter governs the use of trade names, sometimes called doing-business-as names, when a company operates under a name other than its legal owner's name. Every roofing business operating in the state, whether structured as a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a limited liability company, or a corporation, needs to satisfy the formation and registration rules that apply to that structure, and a company operating under a trade name needs to register that name. None of this paperwork is specific to roofing; it is the same business-formation law that applies to a plumbing company, a landscaping company, or a retail store. What makes it worth stating plainly here is that because there is no roofing license, this general business registration, together with the insurance and consumer protection obligations covered in the following sections, is the only paperwork trail a homeowner or a general contractor can use to confirm that a roofing company is a real, accountable business before signing a contract with it.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
New Hampshire's workers compensation law applies in full to roofing crews, and it applies at a low threshold. RSA 281-A:2, VIII defines an employer, for purposes of the workers compensation chapter, as a person, partnership, association, or corporation that employs one or more persons, in one or more trades, businesses, or locations. There is no small-business exemption that lets a roofing company with only one or two employees skip coverage; a single employee triggers the requirement. RSA 281-A:5 sets out how an employer satisfies this duty: by insuring and keeping insured the payment of compensation with a company licensed to write workers compensation insurance in New Hampshire and filing evidence of that coverage with the labor commissioner, by insuring domestic employees through a qualifying policy, or by furnishing the commissioner satisfactory proof of financial ability to pay compensation directly. Roofing is a fall-risk trade, and a roofing company that sends a crew onto a residential or commercial roof without active workers compensation coverage is operating in violation of RSA 281-A regardless of whether the state licenses the roofing trade itself. Because coverage is filed with the labor commissioner rather than published in a searchable public database in the same way a professional license is, a homeowner or general contractor who wants to confirm a roofing subcontractor's coverage should ask the roofer directly for a current certificate of insurance rather than expecting to look it up independently.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov 1gc.nh.gov 2
New Hampshire sets no statewide minimum general liability insurance amount and requires no surety bond specifically for roofing or general contracting work. This follows directly from the absence of a roofing or home improvement contractor license discussed above; because no statute creates a roofing license or registration, no statute attaches an insurance-minimum or bond condition to holding one. That leaves insurance requirements to private contract rather than state law. A general contractor hiring a roofing subcontractor, a property manager awarding a commercial reroofing job, a lender financing a renovation, or a municipality issuing a building permit may each set their own insurance requirements as a condition of the relationship or the permit, and those private or local requirements can vary from project to project and from city to town. A homeowner working directly with a roofing company has no state-mandated insurance floor to rely on and should ask for a certificate of insurance naming the specific coverage amounts before work begins, rather than assuming state law sets a minimum the way it does in states that license the trade. The same is true of bonding: without a state roofing license, there is no state-administered contractor bond a homeowner could claim against if a job goes wrong, which is part of why the consumer protection and home solicitation sales statutes covered later carry independent legal weight for roofing disputes in New Hampshire.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
Roof work in New Hampshire is regulated through the building permit process, and that process runs through cities and towns, not through county government and not through a single statewide permitting office. RSA Chapter 155-A establishes the New Hampshire building code, defined as the adoption by reference of the International Building Code, the International Residential Code, the International Existing Building Code, and several related model codes, as reviewed by the state building code review board and ratified by the legislature. RSA 155-A:1 defines a local enforcement agency as the official a municipality authorizes to issue permits, make inspections, and enforce these code requirements for construction, alteration, repair, or removal of a building or any appurtenance connected to it, language broad enough to cover a roof replacement or repair. RSA 155-A:3 gives the local legislative body of each municipality, not the county, the authority to establish that enforcement agency, to appoint a building official who issues permits and performs inspections, and to set a schedule of fees for permits and inspections. New Hampshire counties, as defined in this chapter, function as the local legislative body only for unincorporated towns and unorganized places, a small and unusual category, so for the overwhelming majority of the state's cities and towns, building permits for roofing work are a municipal function with locally set fees and locally appointed inspectors, not a county or state function.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov 1gc.nh.gov 2
Because RSA 155-A places permitting authority with each municipality rather than the state, a roofing contractor working across New Hampshire's largest cities, Manchester, Nashua, and Concord, deals with a separate building or inspectional services department, a separate permit application, and a separately set fee schedule in each city, all operating under the same statewide building code adopted through RSA 155-A:1. Each of these cities maintains its own building code enforcement office responsible for reviewing permit applications, performing roofing inspections, and enforcing the adopted edition of the International Residential Code and International Building Code within its borders, as RSA 155-A:3 requires of any municipality that establishes a local enforcement agency. What the state statute does not do is standardize permit fees, inspection scheduling, or documentation requirements across cities, so a roofing contractor that works in more than one New Hampshire market needs to confirm each city's current permit application and fee schedule directly with that city's building department rather than assuming Manchester's process matches Nashua's or Concord's. This guide was not able to confirm each city's current roofing permit fee amount from a working city website at the time of research, so no specific permit fee for any city is stated here; a contractor or homeowner should treat the exact fee as something to confirm with the relevant city building department before a project begins, rather than relying on a number that has not been verified against that department's own current schedule.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
New Hampshire's home solicitation sales law, RSA Chapter 361-B, directly addresses the pattern of door-to-door roofing sales that follows a hailstorm or wind event. RSA 361-B:1 defines a home solicitation sale as a sale of goods or services priced at $150 or more in which a seller solicits and completes the sale anywhere other than the seller's permanent place of business, language that covers a roofing contract signed at a homeowner's kitchen table after a storm-damage inspection. RSA 361-B:2 requires the seller to give the buyer a completed receipt or contract showing the seller's name and address and a boldface cancellation notice, in type at least 10 points high, stating that the buyer may cancel any time before midnight of the third business day after the transaction. If the buyer cancels within that window, RSA 361-B:2 requires the seller to return any payments, trade-in property, or notes given by the buyer within 15 days, and a 2010 amendment, RSA 361-B:2, I(b-1), specifically addresses roofing-style work: if the seller has already performed work that physically altered the buyer's property before the cancellation, the buyer is still entitled to a full refund of everything paid, and the seller cannot deduct the value of the work performed from that refund, though the buyer may instead demand the property be restored to its original condition if that is reasonably possible. RSA 361-B:3 makes any violation of this chapter an unfair or deceptive act under the state's consumer protection statute, RSA 358-A:2, opening the door to the penalties described later in this guide.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov 1gc.nh.gov 2
A roofing contractor who helps a homeowner deal with an insurance company after hail or wind damage needs to be careful about where ordinary customer service ends and licensed public adjusting begins under New Hampshire law. RSA Chapter 402-D governs public adjusters, and RSA 402-D:2 defines a public adjuster broadly as any person who, on behalf of an insured, directly or indirectly solicits the authority to negotiate or settle a claim under a fire or homeowner's insurance policy for a fee or compensation from someone other than the insurer, who negotiates or effects settlement of a first-party claim on the insured's behalf, or who advertises or holds themselves out as handling insurance claims for others. RSA 402-D:3 states plainly that a person may not act or hold themselves out as a public adjuster in New Hampshire without a public adjuster license, and violating that requirement is a class A misdemeanor. RSA 402-D:3, III lists a narrow set of exemptions from the license requirement, covering attorneys acting in their professional capacity, people who only gather facts or provide technical assistance to a licensed adjuster such as photographers or estimators, health care providers filing claim forms, and people who settle subrogation claims between insurers, and roofing contractors are not on that list. A roofing company that limits itself to inspecting storm damage, writing its own repair estimate, and communicating that estimate to the homeowner's insurer as part of the contracting relationship operates differently from a public adjuster, but a roofing company that charges a separate fee to negotiate or settle the claim itself risks crossing into public adjuster territory without the required license.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
New Hampshire requires homeowners to give a residential contractor, including a roofing contractor performing repair or replacement work, a chance to fix an alleged defect before suing over it. RSA Chapter 359-G, the Residential Construction Defects statute, defines a contractor broadly in RSA 359-G:2, IV as any person or business engaged in constructing, modifying, or repairing a residence or an appurtenance to a residence, language that covers roof replacement and roof repair on a house, duplex, or multifamily unit. RSA 359-G:4 requires a homeowner, no later than 60 days before filing a lawsuit or arbitration claim against a contractor, to serve the contractor with written notice describing the alleged construction defect. The contractor then has an opportunity to respond, propose an inspection, and make a settlement offer to repair the defect, pay for it, or both, before litigation can proceed. RSA 359-G:5 adds a related disclosure duty for the contractor's side: on a contract for construction, remodeling, or repair of a residence where the contract amount exceeds $5,000, the contractor must give the homeowner written notice, in the statute's own required language, explaining the homeowner's obligation to provide this 60-day written notice before filing suit and the contractor's right to inspect and make a repair offer first. For a roofing contractor, this means any residential job priced above $5,000 needs that written right-to-resolve notice included in the paperwork, and any homeowner considering legal action over defective roofing work needs to serve written notice and wait out the 60-day window before filing.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov
New Hampshire's general Consumer Protection Act, RSA Chapter 358-A, backs up the more specific roofing-related statutes described above and gives the state real enforcement tools against a roofing contractor that misleads a homeowner. RSA 358-A:2 makes it unlawful to use any unfair method of competition or any unfair or deceptive act or practice in trade or commerce, and lists examples including misrepresenting the quality, characteristics, or sponsorship of goods or services, and, under RSA 358-A:2, X-a, failing to disclose the legal name, street address, and telephone number of the business as required by RSA 361-B:2-a. RSA 358-A:4 assigns enforcement to the consumer protection and antitrust bureau within the New Hampshire Department of Justice, and gives the attorney general authority to sue a violating business in superior court for an injunction and restitution, with the court authorized to award the state civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation, determined by the number of unlawful acts rather than the number of people affected. A homeowner does not have to wait for the attorney general to act: RSA 358-A:10 lets any person injured by a violation bring a private lawsuit, and if the court finds for the homeowner, the award is actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, and if the violation was willful or knowing, the court must multiply that amount by at least 2 and may multiply it by as much as 3, on top of awarding the homeowner's attorney's fees and costs. These are the real penalties a roofing contractor in New Hampshire faces for deceptive sales tactics, even without a licensing board to discipline them.
New Hampshire does not require a roofing contractor to print a state license number on trucks, contracts, or advertisements, because there is no roofing license number to display. What state law does require is more basic business transparency. RSA 361-B:2-a states that any person advertising or offering consumer goods or services who lists a post office box, a mail-drop street address, or an answering-service phone number in advertising or solicitations must clearly disclose the legal name under which the business operates, a complete street address where the business actually conducts operations, and a telephone number for customer inquiries and complaints, unless the business sells from a regular public storefront or the mail-drop information is only incidental to the sale. RSA 358-A:2, X-a folds a violation of that disclosure duty into the general Consumer Protection Act, exposing the business to the penalties described above. In practical terms, a homeowner verifying a roofing contractor in New Hampshire cannot check a state license lookup for the roofing trade, because none exists, but can confirm the business's legal name and physical address as disclosed under RSA 361-B:2-a, ask for a certificate of workers compensation and general liability insurance, and, if the company or its crew also performs electrical or plumbing work, check that specific tradesperson's license through the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification's lookup for those separately regulated trades. Confirming a real, fixed business address matters more in New Hampshire's roofing market than in a state with a roofing license, precisely because no state board stands behind the company's name.
Sourcesgc.nh.gov 1gc.nh.gov 2
These are common details other guides publish about New Hampshire, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. New Hampshire has no state roofing contractor license. The chapter list under RSA Title XXX, which covers every state-licensed trade and profession, has no chapter for roofing, general contracting, or home improvement contracting, so a roofing business can operate without a state trade license or exam.
No. Unlike some neighboring states, New Hampshire has no general contractor license and no home improvement contractor registration of any kind, so there is no statewide registration for a roofing company to hold even though it does home improvement work.
Cities and towns issue building permits under RSA Chapter 155-A, which lets each municipality's local legislative body set up its own building code enforcement agency, appoint a building official, and set permit fees. New Hampshire counties do not administer building permits except for unincorporated places.
Often yes. RSA 361-B, the home solicitation sales law, covers any sale of $150 or more solicited away from the seller's permanent place of business, which includes a roofing contract signed at the homeowner's house, and gives the buyer until midnight of the third business day to cancel in writing.
RSA 361-B:2 requires the seller's name and address, the date of the transaction, and a boldface cancellation notice, in type at least 10 points high, telling the buyer they may cancel any time before midnight of the third business day after signing.
Generally no. Under RSA 361-B:2, I(b-1), if the seller already performed work that physically altered the property before a timely cancellation, the buyer still gets a full refund of everything paid, and the seller cannot deduct the value of that work from the refund.
A roofer can prepare and submit its own repair estimate as part of the contracting relationship, but RSA 402-D requires a separate public adjuster license for anyone who, for a fee from someone other than the insurer, solicits authority to negotiate or settle a first-party insurance claim on a homeowner's behalf.
Yes. RSA 402-D:3 makes it unlawful to act or hold yourself out as a public adjuster in New Hampshire without a public adjuster license, and RSA Chapter 402-D classifies unlicensed public adjusting as a class A misdemeanor.
Yes, once a roofing company has even one employee. RSA 281-A:2, VIII defines an employer as anyone who employs one or more persons, and RSA 281-A:5 requires that employer to secure workers compensation coverage through a licensed insurer or approved self-insurance.
RSA 359-G requires a homeowner to serve the contractor with written notice of the alleged construction defect at least 60 days before filing a lawsuit or arbitration claim, giving the contractor a chance to inspect and offer a repair or settlement first.
Yes, if the advertising lists a post office box, mail-drop address, or answering service. RSA 361-B:2-a requires disclosure of the legal business name, a real street address where business is conducted, and a customer service phone number, and skipping this is an unfair practice under RSA 358-A:2.
There is no state roofing license to look up. A homeowner can confirm the business's legal name and street address as required by RSA 361-B:2-a, ask for current workers compensation and general liability certificates, and, for any electrical or plumbing work included in the job, check that tradesperson's separate state license through the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification.
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