South Dakota · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
South Dakota does not license roofing contractors at the state level. The state has no roofing board, exam or bond. Roofers must hold a contractor's excise tax license from the Department of Revenue, and residential roofers must follow Codified Laws 37-24-50 and 37-24-51, which ban deductible rebates and give homeowners seventy-two hours to cancel storm damage contracts.
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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.
South Dakota does not issue a state roofing contractor license. In the state sources checked for this page, the construction trades that carry their own state licensing bodies are plumbing and electrical. The South Dakota Plumbing Commission licenses plumbing contractors and plumbers, and the South Dakota Electrical Commission licenses electricians. Both sit inside the Department of Labor and Regulation. Roofing has no commission, no state exam, no state bond and no state renewal cycle that we could find in any of those pages or in the state consumer protection guidance. This page is therefore written for a roofing company that operates in South Dakota without a trade license, and it says so plainly. That matters for how you advertise. A roofer who writes state licensed roofer on a truck, a website or a yard sign is describing something the state does not issue. What South Dakota does require is a business tax license for construction work, issued through the Department of Revenue, plus compliance with a set of consumer protection statutes that name residential roofing directly. Those statutes cover storm damage contract cancellation, a ban on rebating insurance deductibles, and the general deceptive practices law. City governments, including the largest in the state, run their own contractor licensing and permit rules, and those sit outside the state layer described here. The sections below walk through each piece in the order a roofing owner meets them: the tax license, the storm damage rules, the advertising limits, the insurance claim boundary, the local layer, and how a homeowner checks you out. Where a fact could not be confirmed from a state agency page or the codified laws, this page leaves it out and lists it in the gap list at the bottom of the file.
Sourcesdor.sd.gov 1dlr.sd.gov 2dlr.sd.gov 3consumer.sd.gov 4
The closest thing South Dakota has to a required roofing credential is the contractor's excise tax license. The South Dakota Department of Revenue states that any person entering into a contract for construction services, or engaging in services that include the construction, building, installation or repair of a fixture to real property, must have a South Dakota contractor's tax license. A roof is a fixture to real property, so residential and commercial roofing contractors fall inside that language. The department applies a 2% excise tax to the gross receipts of construction projects, and how the tax applies depends on whether a project is a qualified utility project or a non-qualified utility project. Most roofing jobs on homes and businesses are non-qualified projects, where the prime contractor owes the tax on its gross receipts. The department also publishes a bid factor of 2.041%, which a contractor can use when building a bid so the full excise tax is collected, because the tax is owed on gross receipts that include tax collected from the customer. The department runs a bid factor calculator for this. Returns are due by the 20th of the month. Paper payments are also due on the 20th, and electronic payments are due by the 25th. The department describes this as a tax license, not a competency license. It proves you are registered to report construction receipts, and it does not test skill, require experience or require a bond. Do not describe it to customers as a roofing license. You can accurately say your company holds a South Dakota contractor's excise tax license if that is true, but the wording should stay tied to tax registration.
Sourcesdor.sd.gov
Roofing companies often work as subcontractors for a general contractor, a builder or a restoration firm. The Department of Revenue treats the two roles differently for excise tax. On a non-qualified utility project, the prime contractor owes contractor's excise tax on gross receipts, includes the value of material furnished by the owner in those receipts, and owes state plus applicable municipal use tax on materials furnished by the owner if sales or use tax was not documented as already paid. Except for qualified utility projects, the prime contractor is responsible for issuing a prime contractor's exemption certificate to each subcontractor for each project. If a subcontractor hires another subcontractor, the prime contractor must still issue the certificate. The certificate has to show the prime contractor's excise tax license number, the project location and a description of the project. A blanket certificate cannot be issued to a subcontractor, so each project needs its own. A subcontractor with no certificate on file for a project is treated as a prime contractor and is subject to the contractor's excise tax. The department recommends getting the certificate before work starts. For a roofing sub, the practical rule is simple. Ask the general contractor for a project specific certificate before the crew mounts a ladder, and keep a copy with the job file. For a roofing company that acts as prime on a re-roof it sold directly to the property owner, the certificate question does not arise, but the tax and license obligations do. The department also holds seminars on how and when to apply for the license, and its site lists a tax license application under online services.
Sourcesdor.sd.gov
South Dakota has a statute written specifically for storm damage roofing sales. South Dakota Codified Law 37-24-51 lets any person or entity that has entered into a written storm damage repair contract to obtain or provide residential roofing goods and services cancel that contract within seventy-two hours after entering into it. The customer gets a second window as well. The customer can cancel within seventy-two hours after being notified that the owner's property insurance carrier has denied coverage, in whole or in part, for the claim tied to the roofing work. Cancellation is evidenced by written notice to the contractor at the address stated in the contract. If the notice goes by mail, it is effective on deposit in a mailbox when properly addressed and prepaid. Any written expression of intent not to be bound is enough. Before entering the contract, the contractor must give the customer a statement in boldface type of at least ten points explaining the right to cancel, using substantially the wording the statute gives. The contractor must also give a fully completed Notice of Cancellation form in duplicate, attached to the contract and easily detachable, also in boldface type of at least ten points. The statute supplies the form wording, including a line for the date and the insured's signature. A hail season sales package that leaves out the bold statement or the detachable form does not follow this statute. Contractors who sell through door knocking, canvassing teams or insurance claim leads should build the notice and form into the contract template itself, so no salesperson can skip it.
The cancellation statute also sets out what each side owes when a homeowner cancels. Cancellation is subject to two payments. The first is the reasonable documented restocking fee charged by the third party supplier of the roofing materials. The second is the agreed upon or reasonable cost of any emergency repairs the contractor already performed. Those are the only two deductions the statute names. Everything else the homeowner paid for goods and services not actually performed has to come back. The statutory text says that within ten days after such a contract has been canceled, the contractor shall tender to the insured any payments made by the insured and any note or other evidence of indebtedness for goods and services not actually performed. The required Notice of Cancellation form itself tells the customer that payments for goods and services not actually performed will be returned within ten business days following receipt by the contractor of the cancellation notice. A cautious contractor plans around the shorter of the two readings, because the form language is what the customer holds in hand. There are practical consequences for cash flow and for materials ordering. If you order shingles or special order accessories the day a storm damage contract is signed, the supplier's restocking fee may land on the homeowner, but only if it is reasonable and documented, so keep the supplier paperwork. If you tarp a roof as an emergency repair, write down what you did, when, and what it cost, since that is the amount you can retain. Keep the signed notice, proof of the date it was received, and proof of the refund. Those three records answer most disputes before they reach the attorney general's office.
South Dakota Codified Law 37-24-50 says that no contractor providing residential roofing goods and services to any person or entity may advertise or promise to pay or rebate all or part of any applicable insurance deductible. The consequence is written into the same section: if a contractor violates it, any contract entered into between the contractor and that person or entity is null and void. That is a stronger remedy than a fine, because the contractor can lose the entire job. Codified Law 37-24-49 defines who counts as a contractor for this rule and for the cancellation statute. The term covers a residential building contractor who is providing roofing services, a residential remodeler who is providing roofing services, or a residential roofer. Commercial roofing contractors working on commercial buildings are not the target of this definition, although a company that does both residential and commercial work is covered on its residential jobs. The wording reaches advertising as well as performance. A yard sign, a Facebook ad, a flyer, a landing page or a door hanger that says we cover your deductible or you pay nothing out of pocket is an advertisement of a promise to rebate. So is a salesperson's verbal promise made at the kitchen table. For a roofing company's website and ad copy, the safe approach is to remove any language that promises to absorb, waive, discount or reimburse the deductible, and to train sales staff to explain that the homeowner is responsible for the deductible under the policy. Financing offers and honest price discounts are separate from this rule, but should never be framed as a deductible payment.
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Beyond the roofing specific statutes, South Dakota Codified Law 37-24-6 makes it a deceptive act or practice to knowingly use any deceptive act, fraud, false pretense, false promise or misrepresentation, or to conceal, suppress or omit a material fact, in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise. The statute says this applies regardless of whether any person has in fact been misled or damaged. The criminal grading is by amount. Each act in violation under one thousand dollars is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Each act over one thousand dollars but under one hundred thousand dollars is a Class 6 felony. Each act over one hundred thousand dollars is a Class 5 felony. The civil side has its own tools. Under Codified Law 37-24-23, the attorney general can bring an action to restrain a practice by temporary or permanent injunction and can recover reasonable attorney fees and costs as the prevailing plaintiff. Under 37-24-27, when a court finds a person intentionally used an unlawful practice, the attorney general may recover a civil penalty of not more than two thousand dollars per violation. An intentional violation means the party knew or should have known the conduct was a violation. Private customers have a route too. Codified Law 37-24-31 lets any person who claims to have been adversely affected bring a civil action for actual damages. For a roofer, this is the statute behind claims about license status, insurance, warranties, manufacturer certifications and the results of a roof inspection. A roof that is described as needing full replacement when a repair would do, or a warranty that is advertised but not honored, can be framed as a misrepresentation. Write ads and estimates you can back with documents.
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Because South Dakota issues no state roofing license, there is no state license number that must appear on a truck, a website, an estimate or an ad. We found no state statute requiring one for roofers. The state Division of Consumer Protection tells homeowners that a written contract should include the contractor's name, address, phone and license number if required, which confirms the state treats license numbers as a case by case item and not a universal rule. The advertising risk runs the other way. Codified Law 37-24-6 prohibits knowing misrepresentation in the advertisement of merchandise, so calling your company a state licensed roofer would describe a credential that does not exist. Accurate statements are things like: registered with the South Dakota Department of Revenue as a contractor for excise tax purposes, insured, bonded if you carry a bond, and permitted with the city if the city registers you. The same statute has a rule that speaks directly to local search. It is a deceptive practice to knowingly advertise or cause to be listed through the internet or in a telephone directory a business address that misrepresents where the business is actually located, or that falsely states the business is in the same area covered by the telephone directory. A roofing company that lists a storage unit, a mail drop or a borrowed address on a map listing to look local to a town it does not serve is inside that language. Price reduction ads also carry rules: an advertisement must state the basis of the reduction, or the higher price must have been offered for at least seven consecutive business days during the prior sixty days. List the real address and the real service area.
Roofing contractors in hail country are constantly asked to talk to the insurance company for the homeowner. That is where the risk sits. We could not confirm from a primary source how South Dakota licenses public adjusters, so this page does not state a rule for them. What we did verify is narrower. South Dakota's insurance producer chapter, Codified Law chapter 58-30, defines negotiate as conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance about the substantive benefits, terms or conditions, when the person either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. That definition is about insurance sales, not claims. Our review of the chapter's section titles and of the definitions found no section that names a public adjuster, and the chapter states that an insurer's officers, directors and employees whose function relates to processing, adjusting, investigating or settling a claim need not hold a producer license. Codified Law 58-30-171 bars an insurer or producer from paying a commission, fee or other valuable consideration to an unlicensed person for selling, soliciting or negotiating insurance when a license is required. The safest operating rule for a roofer is to stay on the contractor side of the table. Inspect the roof, document damage, write your own estimate, and give the homeowner your documents to send to the carrier. Do not negotiate the coverage decision for a fee or a percentage of the claim, and do not sign a contract that ties your price to the claim outcome, until you have asked the Division of Insurance in writing what applies. The division's contact details are on its site.
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The South Dakota Division of Insurance publishes a one page guide called When Disaster Strikes for insured homeowners. It shapes what your customer already believes when you knock on the door, so a roofing company benefits from knowing it. The guide tells homeowners to contact their insurance company as soon as possible, take photos of the damage, and make temporary repairs to protect the property. It lists boarding up windows, tarping roofs, covering furnishings and drying out wet items as examples, and it tells homeowners to keep all bills and receipts from repairs. It tells them to keep the name and telephone number of their adjuster, to obtain a copy of the estimate report, and to ask questions if they do not understand it. One line matters most for roofers: it advises homeowners to obtain prior agreement from their insurance adjuster before they contract for repairs. It also tells homeowners to work with their insurance producer, insurance company and adjuster first, and says the division can help with general insurance questions, help obtain information and advise on how the process should work. Homeowners who have a problem with an insurance company can file a complaint electronically with the division. This has two practical effects on your sales process. First, expect customers to ask whether the adjuster has approved the work, so be ready with your documentation and a clear scope. Second, emergency tarping is treated in the guide as a normal temporary repair. That fits with the cancellation statute, which recognizes emergency repairs already performed. Pair every tarp job with dated photos, the scope and the cost, then hand copies to the homeowner for the claim file.
No state agency sets a roofing bond amount or a roofing liability minimum in South Dakota, and we found no statute that does. The Division of Consumer Protection instead advises homeowners to look for contractors with personal liability, workers compensation and property damage coverage, to ask for copies of insurance certificates, and to make sure the certificates are current. The consumer page warns that a homeowner could be held liable for injuries and damages that occur during a project when a contractor lacks coverage. It also tells homeowners to check that subcontractors have current insurance coverage and licenses, if required. The Department of Labor and Regulation says there is no law in South Dakota requiring any employer to carry workers compensation insurance, though it is highly recommended, and it adds that an uninsured employer may be sued in civil court by an injured worker. Roofing is high fall risk work, so that civil exposure is real. The department runs a workers compensation coverage verification service for the public, which means a customer or general contractor can check whether your company shows coverage. For your sales process, the takeaway is that certificates work as a marketing asset even where no rule forces them. General contractors, property managers and commercial owners routinely ask for certificates before letting a roofing crew on site, and homeowners are told by the state to ask. Keep a current general liability certificate and a workers compensation certificate ready as PDFs, and put a plain statement of your coverage on your site, without dollar figures you cannot prove.
South Dakota draws its clearest roofing line between residential and commercial work. The roofing specific consumer statutes, Codified Laws 37-24-50 and 37-24-51, apply to a contractor defined as a residential building contractor providing roofing services, a residential remodeler providing roofing services, or a residential roofer. The ban on rebating deductibles and the seventy-two hour storm damage cancellation right are therefore residential rules. A commercial roofing company reroofing a warehouse, a strip mall or an apartment complex is not the target of those two sections. The tax side does not split the same way. The Department of Revenue's contractor's excise tax license requirement covers any person entering into a contract for construction services or repair of a fixture to real property, with no residential or commercial distinction, and the 2% rate applies to gross receipts on construction projects. The general deceptive practices statute also applies to both, since it covers the sale or advertisement of merchandise without limiting the customer type. Commercial buyers do not receive a statutory cancellation notice, so the cancellation terms are whatever the contract says. Commercial work more often runs through a general contractor or property owner, which puts the prime contractor's exemption certificate in play. If you serve both markets, use two contract templates. The residential storm template needs the bold statement and the detachable notice. The commercial template does not need them, and adding them to a commercial contract could give a commercial customer contract rights you did not intend to grant. Have counsel review the template before you use it, since the definitions turn on the type of work and the customer.
State law leaves the permit and local licensing layer to cities and counties, and South Dakota's larger cities run their own contractor programs. Sioux Falls and Rapid City both maintain building services offices that handle contractor licensing and permits. We tried to read the roofing and contractor licensing pages for both cities directly, and both city websites refused automated access, so this page does not state their license classes, fees, bond amounts, insurance minimums, exam rules or renewal dates. That absence is deliberate. Publishing a number from a search result snippet would put an unverified figure in front of a contractor who might rely on it. What you can do is take three steps before bidding in a city. First, call the city's building services office and ask whether roofing contractors must be licensed or registered, and under which classification residential re-roofing falls. Second, ask whether a permit is required for tear-off and re-roof work and who may pull it. Third, ask for the current fee schedule and any insurance or bond certificate requirement in writing, and keep the reply with your files. Suburbs and smaller towns often have their own rules, or defer to the county, so a license that works in one place may not cover the next town over. If you work across several jurisdictions after a hail event, keep a one page table for each city with the office phone number, the rule, and the date you confirmed it. The state does not compile this information for roofers, and the Department of Revenue tax license does not substitute for a city license or permit.
Sourcesconsumer.sd.gov
A roofing company that only installs roofing needs no plumbing or electrical license. The moment it offers work that touches those trades, South Dakota's separate licensing systems apply. The South Dakota Plumbing Commission licenses plumbing contractors, plumbers and third year apprentice plumbers. Its site states that plumbing licenses expire annually on December 31, and that plumbing contractors, plumbers and third year apprentice plumbers licensed by exam must provide proof of continuing education before a renewal is processed. The South Dakota Electrical Commission administers the state's laws and regulations concerning electrical wiring, inspects wiring installations, investigates complaints and licenses all electricians in the state. A roofing business that adds solar installation, roof mounted equipment with wiring, or any electrical scope should confirm with that commission who must hold the license and who may perform the work. The same caution applies to roofing companies that expand into siding, gutters or general remodeling. The consumer protection division's guidance says a home improvement contractor's licenses should be checked where required, and homeowners are told to ask for those credentials. The rule for advertising follows directly. If your company holds a state plumbing or electrical license, you can advertise that specific license accurately. You cannot let it imply that your roofing work is separately state licensed. Where you subcontract plumbing or electrical scopes, ask the subcontractor for the license and the insurance certificate, and tell customers which company holds which credential. That keeps your marketing accurate and your job files clean when an inspector or a customer asks who did what.
There is no statewide roofing license lookup in South Dakota, because there is no statewide roofing license. Customers who want to check a roofer use pieces of the system instead. The Division of Consumer Protection tells homeowners to check with friends and neighbors, look at online reviews, ask how long a contractor has been in business, ask for references, ask for insurance certificates, and check for qualifications like licensing. It also lists a phone number for questions about the laws in this area, 1-800-300-1986. The Department of Labor and Regulation offers a workers compensation coverage verification service. The Division of Insurance offers a license lookup through its state based system, but that lookup verifies insurance producers, agencies and insurance companies, not roofing contractors, so a roofer should not point customers to it as proof of anything. The Department of Revenue issues the contractor's excise tax license number, which appears on prime contractor exemption certificates, and general contractors will ask a roofing subcontractor about it. Homeowners can also check permits and registration with the city building office where the work is happening. From your side, make verification easy. Put your legal business name, real street address, phone number, insurance status and excise tax license status on a contact or about page. Add a plain sentence saying South Dakota issues no state roofing license and explaining what you hold instead. That sentence is honest, it answers a question homeowners are told to ask, and it separates you from crews that claim a license the state never issued.
Sourcesconsumer.sd.gov 1dlr.sd.gov 2dlr.sd.gov 3dor.sd.gov 4
Storm season is when a roofing company's sales volume, its legal exposure and its marketing all peak in the same few weeks, so a short checklist earns its place. First, confirm the company holds a South Dakota contractor's excise tax license, and file returns by the 20th of the month, or pay electronically by the 25th. Second, build the storm damage contract with the bold ten point cancellation statement and the detachable Notice of Cancellation form described in Codified Law 37-24-51, and train every canvasser to hand both over before the customer signs. Third, scrub all ads, signs, scripts, texts and social posts for any promise to pay or rebate an insurance deductible, since Codified Law 37-24-50 voids the contract if you make one. Fourth, keep your claims about licensing accurate, and never advertise a state roofing license. Fifth, make sure every map listing and directory entry shows a real business address in the area you actually serve. Sixth, do not negotiate the coverage dispute for a fee. Give the homeowner a documented estimate and photos instead. Seventh, keep emergency repair records, supplier restocking documents and refund proof, since the cancellation statute keys deductions to those items. Eighth, call the city building office in every city you canvass and confirm license and permit rules in writing. Ninth, carry current insurance certificates and be ready to send them. Tenth, keep a file of every statute you rely on, with the date you last read it, because legislatures amend these sections. This page reflects the sources listed for it as of the verification date, and it is not legal advice.
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These are common details other guides publish about South Dakota, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No state roofing license was found. South Dakota licenses plumbers and electricians through separate commissions, but roofing has no state commission, exam or bond. Roofers still need a South Dakota contractor's excise tax license from the Department of Revenue and must follow the state consumer protection statutes.
Yes. The Department of Revenue says anyone contracting for construction services, or for repair of a fixture to real property, needs a South Dakota contractor's tax license. The excise tax is 2% of gross receipts on construction projects, with returns due by the 20th of the month.
No. Codified Law 37-24-50 bars a contractor providing residential roofing from advertising or promising to pay or rebate any part of an insurance deductible. A contract made in violation is null and void.
Yes. Under Codified Law 37-24-51 you can cancel a written storm damage roofing contract within seventy-two hours of signing, or within seventy-two hours of learning your insurer denied coverage in whole or in part. Give written notice to the contractor at the address in the contract.
The contractor must give a boldface statement of at least ten points explaining the seventy-two hour cancellation right. It must also give a completed Notice of Cancellation form in duplicate, attached to the contract and easily detachable, using the wording the statute provides.
Codified Law 37-24-51 says the contractor must tender payments for goods and services not performed within ten days after cancellation. The statutory notice form tells customers the return comes within ten business days after the contractor receives the notice. Two documented deductions are allowed.
Only two items: the reasonable documented restocking fee charged by the third party roofing material supplier, and the agreed or reasonable cost of emergency repairs the contractor already performed, such as tarping. Everything paid for work not performed must be returned.
We could not confirm a South Dakota public adjuster rule from a primary source. Contact the Division of Insurance for the current answer. The safe course for a roofer is to document damage and give the homeowner an estimate, not to negotiate the claim for a fee.
No. South Dakota issues no state roofing license, so that claim describes a credential that does not exist. Codified Law 37-24-6 prohibits knowing misrepresentation in advertising. Say what is true, such as holding a Department of Revenue contractor's excise tax license and carrying insurance.
The Department of Labor and Regulation says no South Dakota law requires an employer to carry workers compensation insurance, though it recommends coverage. An uninsured employer can be sued in civil court by an injured worker, and customers are told to ask for certificates.
Under Codified Law 37-24-6, each act under one thousand dollars is a Class 1 misdemeanor, with felony grades at higher amounts. The attorney general can also seek an injunction and civil penalties of up to two thousand dollars per intentional violation.
No statewide roofing license lookup exists. Ask for insurance certificates and references, use the Department of Labor and Regulation coverage verification service, and call the city building office about permits. Consumer Protection takes questions at 1-800-300-1986. The Division of Insurance lookup covers insurance producers only.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.