Check a contractor's license in New York

How to look one up

1. Find out whether your city or county licenses home improvement contractors. New York City, Nassau and Suffolk post online lookups; for Westchester or anywhere else, ask the county consumer protection office.
2. In New York City, run the company through DCWP's License Search before you sign, and glance at DCWP's Wall of Shame list of unlicensed contractors. DCWP's online Search Business tool shows whether a business or individual holds a DCWP license, without logging in, and can be searched by name or DCWP license number.¹
3. On Long Island, use the Nassau or Suffolk lookup. Nassau's results also show which kinds of work the contractor's insurance covers and which it excludes.
4. Ask for the license number in writing. State law puts it on the contract whenever a license applies.
5. Make sure the name on the license, the contract and the insurance disclosure is the same business.

Is there a New York State contractor license?

No. New York State does not license home improvement contractors, but some local governments do, including New York City, the City of Buffalo, and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties; where a local license is required, the Department of State says to hire only a licensed contractor.² In a town that sits outside those local programs, there may be no home improvement license to check at all, which puts more weight on references, insurance papers and the contract itself.

What does reach every corner of the state is the home improvement contracts article of the General Business Law. Under New York's General Business Law, home improvement means repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, modernizing or adding to residential property, and a home improvement contract is one whose total price for labor, services and materials is more than $500.³

Inside New York City, the city adds a license on top of that. New York City requires a Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Home Improvement Contractor license for residential construction, repair or remodeling work that costs more than $200; new construction, plumbing and purely electrical work are not covered.⁴

What a New York City license and a state-compliant contract involve

• To get a New York City Home Improvement Contractor license, an owner, officer or principal of the business must pass DCWP's Home Improvement Exam, and the business must show workers' compensation coverage or a state exemption certificate.⁵
• A New York City home improvement contractor must either pay $200 into the Home Improvement Business Trust Fund or post a $20,000 surety bond with DCWP.⁵
• New York City Home Improvement Contractor licenses run for two years and expire on February 28 of odd-numbered years.⁵
• Every New York home improvement contract, and every amendment, must be in writing and signed by all parties, and must give the contractor's name, address, phone number and license number if one applies, the approximate start and substantial completion dates, and a description of the work and materials, including make and model, with the agreed price.⁶
• A New York home improvement contract must warn the owner, in bold type, that an unpaid contractor, subcontractor or supplier may file a mechanic's lien against the property.⁶
• Before starting work, a New York home improvement contractor or subcontractor must disclose in the contract the property or casualty insurance policy that covers the job, with the insurer's phone number and address.⁶
• None of this grades workmanship. A license or a well-drafted contract shows who you are dealing with and what they promised, not whether the finished bathroom will be done well.

How these rules protect a New York homeowner

• A New York homeowner may cancel a home improvement contract until midnight of the third business day after signing, by written notice that shows they don't intend to be bound; the right doesn't apply when the owner called the contractor for a bona fide emergency and signed a handwritten waiver.⁶
• New York City's Home Improvement Contractor Trust Fund can pay a homeowner only if the contractor held a DCWP license when the contract was signed and paid into the fund for that license, and every payout is at DCWP's discretion after review.⁷ Through its claim process the fund can pay up to $20,000⁷, and through its standard process, which starts from a court judgment or a similar decision, up to $40,000⁷. Hire an unlicensed company in the city and that fund is off the table.
• If a New York home improvement contract has progress payments, it must list each payment in dollars and cents and the stage of work it pays for, and each payment must bear a reasonable relationship to the work done, materials bought or expenses owed at that point.⁶
• A New York owner who was induced to sign a home improvement contract by false written statements can sue the contractor for a $500 penalty plus reasonable attorney's fees, on top of any damages.⁸
• Under New York law a roofing contractor may not require a deposit, may bill for materials only once they are delivered, and may bill the rest only after all the contracted work is finished.⁹

Plumbers and electricians around New York

• Which office licenses the plumber or electrician depends on where the house is.
• In New York City, the Department of Buildings licenses master plumbers and master electricians, and its License Search confirms a license's status and any disciplinary actions.¹⁰
• Westchester County's Department of Consumer Protection licenses home improvement contractors and requires plumbers and electricians to hold a county trade license to work in the county.¹¹
• Nassau County's Office of Consumer Affairs does not license electricians or plumbers and sends residents to their local building department for those trades.¹²

County and city licensing in New York

• Nassau County's Office of Consumer Affairs licenses home improvement contractors, and its daily-updated lookup shows each license's status and what work the contractor's insurance does and doesn't cover.¹²
• Suffolk County's License and Complaint Violation Look Up searches county license records, including home improvement, master plumbing and master electrical licenses, by license number, name, business name, phone or address, along with complaint and violation information.¹³
• DCWP's Wall of Shame lists businesses cited for doing home improvement work without a DCWP license in the past 12 months that are still unlicensed, and the agency updates it monthly.⁴
• The Department of State's list of places with local licensing also takes in Putnam and Rockland counties and the City of Buffalo. Call that county or city's consumer office to confirm a contractor's license there.