Rhode Island · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
Rhode Island does not issue a roofing license. The Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board registers roofing contractors under Chapter 65 of Title 5, and roofers must hold that registration before they bid or work. The headline requirements are a one hundred fifty dollar annual fee, five hundred thousand dollars of liability insurance, workers' compensation, and the registration number on every ad.
State-level license
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Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-28. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Rhode Island does not issue a roofing license. It requires roofers to hold a certificate of registration, and the statute treats that as a different thing. Chapter 65 of Title 5 of the Rhode Island General Laws, the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board chapter, says a person shall not undertake, offer to undertake, or submit a bid to do work as a contractor on a structure without a current, valid certificate of registration for all construction work issued by the board. The word contractor covers anyone who, in an independent business, builds, alters, repairs, or improves a structure or its appurtenances, and a roof is part of the structure. That is why the statute never lists roofing as a separate trade. Every contractor holds one general registration, and roofing falls under it. The section on subcontractors then names roofers directly, along with carpenters, siding installers, masons, and painters, and says roofers who are not employees of a registered contractor must obtain a registration certificate before conducting any work. For a roofing company the practical result is simple. You register with the state board, you carry the registration number, and you never call yourself licensed. The statute treats the word license as reserved, and section 5-65-3 allows a fine of one hundred dollars per offense for using it in advertising when you hold only a registration. This page uses the word registered throughout for that reason, and the licensed field in this file is set to false. Your customer, your permit office, and your insurer will all ask for the registration number, so treat it as the credential that opens every job.
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The Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board issues the registration. Section 5-65-1 defines the board as the body established under section 5-65-14, and it defines the office as the state building office. The chapter also refers to the department of business regulation, whose director designates the hearing officers who decide contested cases, fines, and enforcement matters. The board can adopt regulations under the rulemaking section of the chapter, and the statute repeatedly says that requirements are set by the board or the office through regulations. That matters to a roofer, because some operating details, such as the exact consumer disclosures that must appear in a contract, live in the board's regulations and not in the statute. This page cites only the statute text that was fetched from the legislature's own site, and it lists the regulation-level details it could not confirm at the end. The board holds jurisdiction over violations by all contractors required to be registered, including commercial contractors. Its dispute resolution process, though, applies only to residential structures, meaning buildings that contain dwelling units or the residential portions of other buildings. Registration is per business entity, not per owner. Section 5-65-1 states that a certificate of registration is necessary for each business entity even when the same individual owns several. A roofer who runs a residential company and a separate commercial company under one owner needs two registrations, two insurance certificates, and two fees. Discipline against one registration can also follow the individual principals to other entities they control.
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The registration duty is broad. It reaches anyone who bids, offers, or performs construction, alteration, repair, or improvement work on a structure. Section 5-65-2 lists the exemptions, and few apply to a working roofer. A person working on their own personal property is exempt. So is a person working on a single-dwelling-unit property they own, or on their own residence, unless they do it in the pursuit of an independent business to sell the structure. A person who performs the work as an employee of a contractor is exempt, which is why a crew of payroll employees works under the company's registration. A small-job exemption exists for work on one structure or project priced under five hundred dollars in total when the work is casual, minor, or inconsequential, but that exemption does not apply to anyone who advertises or puts out a sign or card suggesting they are a contractor. Work on federal sites is exempt. A person who only supplies materials and does not fabricate or install them is exempt, though that person must register to file a complaint. Businesses licensed by another state agency for a listed trade, such as a licensed electrician or plumber working within that license, are exempt from everything except the insurance requirement. Non-Rhode Island roofers should note the last subsection: no registration issues to a nonresident contractor until the contractor files a power of attorney appointing a registered agent to accept service of process in Rhode Island.
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Section 5-65-5 lists what a roofing company submits to register. The application requires a legible copy of valid government-issued identification. It asks for the workers' compensation insurance account number, or the company name if no number has been issued yet, along with the unemployment insurance account number, the state withholding tax account number, and the federal employer identification number where they apply. It requires names plus business and residential addresses for each partner, owner, officer, member, or manager, and a post office box is not acceptable as the only address. Corporations and limited liability companies must include the articles filed with the Rhode Island secretary of state. The applicant must state whether they or their principals previously applied for registration, and must attach a valid insurance certificate for the type of work being performed. The applicant must be at least eighteen years old. The statute also allows the board to prohibit registration or renewal, or to revoke or suspend a registration, when the applicant has unsatisfied outstanding judgments from arbitration, bankruptcy, courts, or administrative agencies relating to contracting work. False or missing information on an application carries a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars, denial or revocation, or both. A certification form must also be signed at registration and at each renewal so the contractor confirms awareness of key provisions of the law. The statute text read for this page lists no trade exam and no years-of-experience requirement among the application items.
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Rhode Island ties entry and renewal to education hours, not to a written trade exam in the statute. Section 5-65-5 requires new applicants to provide proof of five hours of preregistration education units, as determined by the board under its regulations. For renewals, the statute requires proof of two and one-half hours of continuing education units that residential contractors must maintain as a condition of registration, again as determined by the board under its regulations. Because the hours are set by the statute and the course content is set by regulation, a roofer should confirm which providers and course topics the board currently accepts before paying for a class. The board can also order education as a penalty. Under the discipline section, a hearing officer, the board, or the office may require a registrant to attend continuing education courses in addition to or in place of a fine, and failure to follow that order may result in immediate revocation of the registration. The statute text does not describe an examination, a minimum number of years working as a roofer, or a reference requirement. If the board's regulations add any of those, they were not confirmed in the sources used here and are listed as unsourced. The clean way to read the requirement is this: a new roofing company completes five hours of education, registers, and then completes two and one-half hours every renewal cycle if it does residential work. The renewal hours are described in the statute as a residential contractor requirement.
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The registration fee is one hundred fifty dollars, both for original registration and for renewal. That figure comes from section 5-65-9. The same section says new or renewal registrations may be filed online or through a third party the board approves, and any added cost of that third party is borne by the registrant. A certificate of registration is valid for one year from the date of issuance unless it is revoked or suspended, and it can be renewed by the same procedure as the original application, with any supplemental information the board requires by rule. The board may vary renewal dates by giving the registrant written notice of the assigned renewal date and by adjusting the renewal fee to match. A roofer whose registration lapses is treated as unregistered for work done during the gap. Section 5-65-4 bars a contractor from filing a lien, filing a claim with the board, or suing in a court of this state for compensation unless the contractor was registered when the bid or contract was made and stayed registered continuously while performing the work. A court may decline to apply that bar if it would produce a substantial injustice, but a roofer should not plan around that exception. If a registrant files in bankruptcy court, the statute requires written notice to the board and updates on the case until it is dismissed, discharged, or resolved. All fees and fines the board collects go into a restricted-receipt account used to support the programs the chapter creates.
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Section 5-65-7 sets the insurance floor. Throughout the period of registration, a contractor must carry public liability and property damage insurance covering the work subject to the chapter, in not less than five hundred thousand dollars combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage. On top of that, every contractor must carry workers' compensation insurance as required under chapter 29 of title 28. The contractor must give the board satisfactory evidence at registration and at renewal that both coverages are in effect. Failure to maintain the coverage invalidates the registration and can bring a fine, suspension, or revocation. The statute adds that a failure to maintain required insurance does not stop claims from being filed against the contractor. Two related rules matter in the sales process. Under section 5-65-3, the contractor must stipulate in each contract whether or not all the proper insurances are in effect for that job. And the application section requires an insurance certificate valid for the type of work being performed, so a roofing company should make sure its policy classifications actually describe roofing before it uploads a certificate. For commercial and hail-restoration crews, the roofing risk profile is heavy on falls, so the workers' compensation line is not a formality. This page found no separate state bond requirement for registration in the chapter text read, and it does not state one. Any surety bond a specific project, bid, or municipality demands would come from that project or entity, and is listed under unsourced.
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Commercial roofers are inside the registration system. Section 5-65-1 defines structure to mean any commercial building, or any building containing one or more residences and its appurtenances, and the contractor definition covers work on both. A commercial roofing company therefore needs the same certificate of registration as a residential roofer. The statute then eases some duties for contractors who do not regularly work on residential structures. Under section 5-65-24, a contractor who does not regularly engage in construction activities on residential structures is not subject to several provisions, including the contract rescission-notice subsection, the subsection requiring delivery of the board's chapter summary to the owner, the rule barring suits and claims by unregistered contractors, the complaint procedures in sections 5-65-11 and 5-65-12, the mechanics' lien notice section, and the continuing education subsection for renewals. Joint and several liability of corporations, partnerships, and their designees still applies, as does the rule on violating a board order to the extent that order is not based on an inapplicable provision. Bidding is also regulated. Section 5-65-23 says whenever the state, a municipality, or a private party solicits a bid in Rhode Island, a bidder who must be registered shall provide the registration number, and the bid form or proposal must show both the bid price and the registration number. A commercial roofer who leaves that number off a bid is exposed to a violation. If your company does both residential and commercial work, assume the full residential rules apply to you, because the exception only covers contractors who do not regularly do residential work.
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Rhode Island requires a written contract for any work, labor plus materials, over one thousand dollars. Section 5-65-3 says the contract must include the consumer disclosures the board requires by regulation, plus a statutory Notice of Possible Mechanic's Lien addressed to the owner. That notice tells the owner that the contractor and anyone supplying labor or materials under the contractor may file a lien if they go unpaid, and that the owner should make sure those people are paid. Leaving out the notice can bring a one thousand dollar fine and requires the contractor to indemnify the owner against lien claims from people not in privity with the owner, unless the owner failed to pay them. Section 5-65-18 separately requires written contracts to state that the contractor, subcontractors, or materialpersons may file a lien under chapter 28 of title 34, and it lets the board suspend a registration when liens are filed and the issue is simply nonpayment, until the liens are satisfied. Contracts must also contain the notice of right of rescission required by Rhode Island consumer protection law or section 5-65-27 where it applies. On permits, section 5-65-3 makes the contractor responsible for seeing that permits required by the state building code are secured on behalf of the owner before work starts, with the registration number affixed to the permit. A contractor must also keep a list of subcontractors with names, addresses, and registration numbers, and deliver it to the board within twenty-four hours of a request or face a twenty-five dollar fine per offense.
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This is the section most roofing marketers need. Section 5-65-22 says all contractors subject to the chapter must include their certificate of registration number on all advertising, proposals, contracts, and invoices, displayed in a conspicuous manner. Section 5-65-3 repeats the rule from the other direction: the registration number of each contractor shall appear in any advertising by that contractor, and advertising in any form by an unregistered contractor is prohibited, including alphabetical or classified directory listings, vehicles, business cards, and all other forms of advertisement. So the number belongs on your website, your ads, your yard signs, your proposals, your contracts, and your invoices, and an unregistered company may not advertise at all. Wording matters too. Use of the word license in any advertising when only registered can bring a fine of one hundred dollars per offense at the board's discretion, and the discipline section lists advertising with a license number when only registered as grounds for action. Write registered, not licensed. Misrepresenting a registration as valid when it is suspended, revoked, invalidated, inactive, or nonexistent is also a listed ground. Two more penalties bite. Anyone who uses another contractor's registration or lets another person use theirs fraudulently can face a fine up to ten thousand dollars, and fraudulent advertising used to entice a person to hire an unregistered contractor can draw a fine up to ten thousand dollars against the unregistered contractor. The board may publish suspensions and revocations quarterly.
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Working unregistered in Rhode Island costs money, court access, and possibly freedom. Under the discipline section, a violation of section 5-65-3 by a nonregistered contractor draws an administrative fine of up to five thousand dollars for a first offense and up to ten thousand dollars for each subsequent offense. Other first violations by any contractor carry fines up to five thousand dollars, which the board can reduce when corrective work is finished or restitution is made, and subsequent violations of the same subsection can draw up to ten thousand dollars. Section 5-65-19 adds criminal exposure. A person who fails to register, as adjudged in a final board order after written notice, commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine up to one thousand dollars, or both, for a first or second offense. A third or later violation for failure to register is a felony, with up to two years and a fine up to two thousand dollars. Violating a final board order worth five thousand dollars or more is a felony carrying up to ten years and a fine up to ten thousand dollars. Three or more violations with three separate aggrieved parties inside twenty-four months can be prosecuted as a felony. The civil side is just as harsh. Section 5-65-4 bars an unregistered contractor from filing a lien, filing a claim with the board, or suing for payment, and section 5-65-12.1 lets a claimant seek treble damages, attorney's fees, and costs in superior court.
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Rhode Island is unusual because the state preempts local contractor registration. Section 5-65-3 states that the provisions of the chapter are exclusive, and that no city or town shall require or issue any registrations or licenses, or charge any fee for the regulatory registration of any contractor registered with the board. Cities and towns keep the right to levy a general, nondiscriminatory business license fee on all businesses, or a tax based on business conducted, if state law permits. So a roofer who registers with the state does not need a second contractor registration in Providence, Warwick, Cranston, or any other municipality, and a local office that demands one is outside the statute. Local offices still control building permits, and the statute gives them a policing role. A city, town, or the state may not issue a building permit to anyone required to be registered who lacks a current, valid registration. Each permit applicant must give the registration number and state that it is in full force, or list the basis for an exemption. The issuing office must list the registration number on the permit. If a homeowner pulls the permit, the building official must check the registration numbers of each contractor on the premises and report unregistered contractors to the board. Cities and towns that require a business license must also require a signed statement that the applicant is registered. Fees, inspection scheduling, and roof-specific permit rules differ by municipality, and those local details were not confirmed here.
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Storm work often starts with a knock on a door, and Rhode Island regulates that sale. Chapter 28 of Title 6, the Door-To-Door Sales chapter, covers a sale of consumer goods or services of twenty-five dollars or more in which the seller personally solicits the sale and the buyer's agreement is made at a home other than the seller's or somewhere other than the seller's regular place of business. Under section 6-28-3, the buyer may cancel by mailing written notice, by registered or certified mail, no later than midnight three days after signing, excluding Sunday and holidays without regular mail delivery. A violation of the chapter is a misdemeanor under section 6-28-8. The chapter has exclusions, including a buyer-initiated emergency where the buyer gives the seller a separate, dated, handwritten and signed statement describing the emergency and waiving the right to cancel. A separate rule protects older homeowners. Section 5-65-27 gives an elderly person three days to cancel a contract that came from an in-home solicitation of a contractor's services, absent an emergency, and requires a notice headed Notice of Cancellation in the agreement. If the agreement does not conform and the consumer cancels by registered mail, the contractor must return the deposit within twenty days or face double damages. A consumer's response to an advertisement is not an in-home solicitation under that section. Contracts must also carry rescission notices where the law requires them, so build them into your storm-season template.
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A roofer who helps with a hail or wind claim should know where contracting ends and public adjusting begins. Chapter 10 of Title 27 covers claim adjusters. Section 27-10-1.2 says a person shall not act or hold themself out as a public, company, or independent adjuster in Rhode Island unless licensed under the chapter. Section 27-10-1.1 defines a public adjuster as a person who, for compensation or any other thing of value on behalf of the insured, acts or aids in negotiating or effecting the settlement of a first-party property claim, advertises for employment as a public adjuster, or solicits business or represents themself to the public as one. Read together, a roofing company that negotiates the claim amount with the insurer for the homeowner, and takes anything of value for doing it, is at risk of acting as an unlicensed public adjuster. So is a company that markets itself as handling insurance claims for homeowners. The chapter exempts, among others, people employed only to obtain facts surrounding a loss or furnish technical assistance to a licensed adjuster, including photographers and estimators. Nothing in the text read gives roofers a separate carve-out. Under section 27-10-11, acting as an adjuster without a current license draws a cease and desist order and a fine or penalty set under section 42-14-16. Safe practice is to inspect, document, and price your own repair scope, and to send the homeowner to a licensed adjuster for claim negotiation.
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Rhode Island builds verification into the paperwork, so your credentials get checked in several places. Section 5-65-3 requires permit offices to record the contractor's registration number on each permit and to confirm that it is in full force, so a homeowner can read the number off the permit. Section 5-65-22 puts the number on your advertising, proposals, contracts, and invoices, and section 5-65-23 puts it on bid forms. Section 5-65-3 also says the board may publish suspensions and revocations quarterly, and it requires contractors to keep a list of subcontractors with registration numbers and deliver it to the board within twenty-four hours of a request. General contractors and prime contractors may not hire a subcontractor unless that subcontractor is registered or exempt, which means your roofing company will be asked for its number by anyone who subcontracts you. Complaints go through the board's process for residential structures, and section 5-65-12.1 gives a claimant a separate route in superior court. This page could not confirm the address of the board's online registration search, because the state's contractor board and business regulation sites returned access blocks to automated requests during research, so lookupUrl is null and the gap is listed below. Customers who want to check a roofer should ask for the registration number, confirm it with the board, and compare the entity name on the certificate to the name on the contract. Registration is per business entity, so a mismatch is a red flag.
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These are common details other guides publish about Rhode Island, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Rhode Island requires roofers to hold a contractor certificate of registration from the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. The statute names roofers as subcontractors who must register, and it bars anyone from bidding or working on a structure without a current registration.
No. Using the word license in advertising when you hold only a registration can bring a fine of one hundred dollars per offense at the board's discretion. Say registered, and print your registration number.
The fee is one hundred fifty dollars for original registration and for renewal, under section 5-65-9. The certificate lasts one year. Using an approved online or third-party filing channel can add cost that the registrant pays.
Public liability and property damage coverage of not less than five hundred thousand dollars combined single limit, plus workers' compensation insurance. Evidence of both is due at registration and renewal, and lapsed coverage invalidates the registration.
The statute text read for this page lists no trade exam. It requires five hours of preregistration education for new applicants and two and one-half hours of continuing education at renewal, with details set by board regulation.
On all advertising, proposals, contracts, and invoices, in a conspicuous manner, and on bid forms and permits. Advertising by an unregistered contractor is prohibited, including directory listings, vehicles, and business cards.
Fines of up to five thousand dollars for a first offense and ten thousand dollars for later ones, possible misdemeanor and felony charges after a final board order, and loss of the right to file a lien or sue for payment.
No. The statute says it is exclusive, and no city or town may issue contractor registrations or charge a regulatory registration fee to contractors registered with the board. Local business license fees and permits still apply.
Yes. The definition of structure includes commercial buildings. Contractors who do not regularly work on residential structures are excused from certain residential provisions, but they still register and must show the number on bids.
Under the Door-To-Door Sales chapter, a buyer may cancel by certified or registered mail by midnight three days after signing, with listed exclusions. Elderly persons get a three-day cancellation right on in-home solicitations under section 5-65-27.
Only with an adjuster license. Acting for compensation to negotiate a first-party property claim on behalf of the insured, or advertising as a public adjuster, requires a license under chapter 10 of Title 27.
Yes, if labor and materials exceed one thousand dollars. The contract must carry the board's required consumer disclosures and the Notice of Possible Mechanic's Lien, and a missing notice can bring a one thousand dollar fine.
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