Original research · Licensing
The states with no remodeling contractor license
Eight states checked at the regulator or statute, the city rules that sit underneath, and what a homeowner can actually check and do when there is no state license to look up.
Written by HyreRemodel Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The finding
Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Oklahoma and Indiana issue no statewide license for residential general contractors, which we confirmed at each regulator’s own list or statement. Pennsylvania and Washington register contractors without an exam, and North Carolina licenses only jobs of $40,000 or more.
No state license does not mean unregulated. City registration, building permits, licensed trades, written-contract laws, bonds and attorney general complaints still apply, and they differ city by city.
Five limits to read before the table
The limits of this study sit here rather than in a footnote, because a row quoted without them misstates the finding.
City registration, building permits, written-contract laws and licensed trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC) can all apply in a state that issues no general contractor license.
A state is listed as having no statewide residential GC license only where we read the regulator’s own profession list or a clear statement on its site. Everything else is unverified. Published “no-license state” lists disagree with each other and are not a source here.
Record counts come from the HyreRemodel contractor store (Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Utah and North Carolina), measured September 5, 2026, and are titled to those states. National claims rest on statutes and board pages.
Our 955 Texas records are city registrations: 805 from San Antonio and 150 from El Paso. They do not apply in Houston, Dallas, Austin or an unincorporated county.
Licensing statutes are amended and city codes are local. Confirm the current rule with the issuing authority and the building department for your address before you sign.
Why published lists of “no-license states” disagree
Lists of states that “require no contractor license” give different totals because they count different things.
A state with a competency license and an exam, a state that registers contractors against a bond and insurance, a state that licenses only above a dollar figure, and a state that leaves everything to cities are four legal facts. One “no license” tally mixes them into a number no statute supports.
HyreRemodel analysis: the useful question is which regime you live under, because that decides what you can check before you hire and what you can recover afterward.
A Pennsylvania registration number is a real public record, not proof of an exam. A North Carolina license is real and does not apply to a $35,000 kitchen. A Texas TDLR search will never return a general contractor, and that is not evidence of a crime, because no state license exists to break.
Four words that get used as if they meant one thing
- License
- The state tested competence, by exam and in some states by experience, and lists the credential on a board register. Florida’s Construction Industry Licensing Board and California’s CSLB work this way. What each class covers is covered in the license classes study.
- Registration
- The state records that the business exists and can require a bond or liability insurance. Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act and Washington’s RCW 18.27 work this way. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General says registration is not an endorsement of competency.
- Threshold
- A statewide license exists, but only above a dollar figure. North Carolina’s board says a general contractor must be licensed if the project is valued at $40,000 or more. Below that, there is no board credential to check.
- Municipal
- The city or county issues a credential, or requires registration before it will issue a permit. San Antonio registers home improvement and residential building contractors, and requires neither of a commercial general contractor. Denver and Chicago issue contractor licenses the state never created.
Four regimes, not a yes-or-no map
HyreRemodel analysis, not a legal hierarchy: residential general contracting in the US falls under four different regimes. Ranking them by how much the state checks before someone may bid on a kitchen is our framing, not a claim about contractor quality anywhere.
Regime 1 is this page’s subject. Regime 2 is more useful than it sounds, because a registration number, a bond and an insurance certificate are things you can check.
Regime 3 is the North Carolina trap: a real board that a mid-size remodel may never reach. Regime 4 is the contrast, and its class-by-class detail is in the license classes study, which splits it into two levels.
Eight states checked at the primary source
| State | Statewide residential GC | What a homeowner can look up | Substitute protection we verified | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | None. TDLR’s published program list does not include general contractors. | TDLR search for the licensed trades (electrician, ACR, mold). City register where the city has one. | Municipal registration (San Antonio, El Paso, Austin, Dallas). Homestead construction account above $5,000. Attorney-general consumer complaint. Deceptive Trade Practices Act (treble damages if knowing deception is proved). Licensed trades remain licensed. | TDLR; Texas AG; City of San Antonio DSD; City of El Paso Planning & Inspections |
| Illinois | None. IDFPR’s regulated-professions list includes Roofing Contractor and not general contractor. | IDFPR license lookup for roofing. City or county building department for everything else. | Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act (225 ILCS 335) for roofs. Home Repair and Remodeling Act (815 ILCS 513): written contract and consumer pamphlet for work over $1,000. City of Chicago Chapter 4-36 general-contractor license (Classes A–E) inside city limits. | IDFPR; Illinois General Assembly |
| Colorado | None. DPO’s occupational-professions list includes Electrical Contractor and Plumbing Contractor, and not general contractor. | DPO license lookup for electricians and plumbers. City or county building department for the GC. | State Electrical Board and State Plumbing Board remain in force. Denver issues its own contractor license (Class C residential, $250 / three years) after a supervisor certificate, a city credential the state DPO list does not contain. | Colorado DPO |
| Oklahoma | None. CIB states this affirmatively: “General Contractors are not currently required to have a state license in Oklahoma for general contracting.” | CIB licensee search for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, home inspectors and building inspectors. | Trade licenses for the named occupations. CIB tells contractors to contact local jurisdictions. Oklahoma City registers a “Building Contractor (Residential Only)” at $100 with $50,000 GL and $100,000 workers’ compensation, a city file, not a CIB license. | Oklahoma Construction Industries Board |
| Indiana | None on the IPLA professions list. Plumbing, Home Inspectors and Manufactured Home Installers appear; general contractor does not. | IPLA license search for plumbers and the other listed boards. City or county for the GC. | Statewide plumber licensing. Indianapolis Department of Business and Neighborhood Services licenses general, electrical, HVAC, wrecking and plumbing contractors inside the consolidated city (not Lawrence, Beech Grove, Speedway or Southport). | Indiana Professional Licensing Agency |
| Pennsylvania | Registration, not a license. HICPA requires registration with the Attorney General at $5,000 or more of home-improvement work in a year. | PA Attorney General home-improvement contractor search. The AG states that registration is not an endorsement of competency. | Liability insurance floor of $50,000 personal injury and $50,000 property damage. Written contract required above $500. Deposit cap of one-third on contracts above $5,000 (73 P.S. § 517.9(10)). Bureau of Consumer Protection helpline 1-888-520-6680. | Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General; 73 P.S. §§ 517.1 et seq. |
| Washington | Registration, not a license. RCW 18.27 requires every construction contractor to register with L&I. | L&I “Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business.” Registration number must appear in advertising. | Surety bond $30,000 (general) / $15,000 (specialty). Liability insurance $250,000 combined (or $200,000 / $50,000). Homeowner recovery program from July 1, 2026, capped at $25,000 per contractor per parcel (RCW 18.27.410). Unregistered contractor cannot sue to collect (RCW 18.27.080). | Washington L&I; RCW 18.27 |
| North Carolina | License, but only at $40,000 or more. Below that line: no NCLBGC credential. | NCLBGC public search, for projects at or above the threshold. | Below $40,000, the substitute is the same stack as a regime-1 state: permit, trade licenses, civil action. The board still takes complaints about unlicensed practice above the line. | NCLBGC; N.C.G.S. § 87-1 |
Checked at the statute or the licensing authority, retrieved September 5, 2026. “None” means the state issues no residential general contractor license; a city still can. Licensed states in our store (Florida, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah) are the contrast, not the subject.
Unverified is not “no license.” Connecticut, Iowa and Massachusetts (registration) and Tennessee ($25,000 threshold) are verified in the license classes study and not repeated here. Kansas, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Wyoming, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, Delaware and others were not confirmed at a primary source.
Texas: no state license, and our store is not one either
If you search a remodeler’s name on TDLR and get nothing, you have not caught an unlicensed contractor; you have used the wrong register.
TDLR’s program list (41 programs, retrieved September 5, 2026) covers air conditioning and refrigeration, electricians, elevators, industrialized housing, mold assessors and remediators, residential solar retailers and water well drillers. It does not include general contractors, home improvement contractors or remodelers.
All 955 Texas records in our store are city registrations: 805 from San Antonio Development Services (Contractor Connect) and 150 from El Paso Planning and Inspections (Accela Citizen Access). They are not a state license, and they do not apply in Houston, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth or an unincorporated county.
The Texas Attorney General describes two protections that have nothing to do with a license. A contract to improve a homestead must carry the statutory lien warning. If the homestead job exceeds $5,000, the contractor must deposit your payments in a construction account, and the AG tells you to ask for written proof of it.
An unpaid subcontractor or supplier can still place a lien on the property even though you never contracted with them.
HyreRemodel analysis: in Texas, “licensed and insured” means little until you know the city, which trade is opening the wall, and whether anyone pulled a permit.
TDLR is the right lookup for the electrician and the air-conditioning contractor, not for the person running the kitchen.
The four city rules in the next table are four different local facts under one empty state cell.
What a city does when the state will not
A regime 1 state is not a blank map. These are city credentials read at the city’s own pages. They do not apply outside the city, they are not a state license, and an unincorporated lot next door may have none of them.
| City | What the city requires of a remodeler | What it does not do | Authority, retrieved September 5, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Antonio, TX | Home-improvement contractor: FBI check, $150 / two years, $300,000 / $600,000 liability. Residential building contractor: ICC residential certification, $170 / two years, $500,000 / $1,000,000 liability. | Commercial general contractor: “There are no license or registration requirements,” on the city’s own page. Neither credential is a TDLR license. | City of San Antonio DSD, Building & Home Improvement |
| El Paso, TX | General contractor: $50,000 blanket building-construction bond and at least $100,000 general liability, city as certificate holder, annual filing to stay eligible for permits (Title 18 / § 18.02.104.5). | Does not examine remodeling competence. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing contractors register a state license rather than posting that bond. | City of El Paso Planning & Inspections, Contractor Registration Application |
| Austin, TX | One-time general-contractor registration through Austin Build + Connect before the GC can be assigned to a building permit. Trade contractors (MEP) register annually and must hold the state trade license. | No state GC license, and no annual GC license to renew. The city states that anyone, including a homeowner, can be a general contractor. | Austin Development Services, Contractor Registration |
| Dallas, TX | General contractors must register with Planning & Development before performing work that requires a permit. Homestead owners may claim an exemption and act as contractor for specified work, including interior remodeling, if they attest no one is paid to assist. | A Dallas registration is not a finding of competence. The homestead exemption is not a registration you can look up on the person you hired. | DallasNow Terminology Reference Guide (June 27, 2025); Homeowner’s Exemption from Registration (April 2, 2025) |
| Denver, CO | Two-step municipal license: hold (or employ someone who holds) a Denver supervisor certificate, then apply for a contractor license. Residential Contractor Class C: $250, renewed every three years. | Colorado DPO does not issue this credential. A Denver Class C does not authorize work in Boulder, Aurora or unincorporated Arapahoe County. | City and County of Denver, Community Planning and Development, Contractor Licenses and Fees |
| Oklahoma City, OK | “Building Contractor (Residential Only)” registration, $100, for anyone contracting a beneficial change to a structure that needs a building permit. Minimum $50,000 GL per occurrence and $100,000 workers’ compensation. Electrical, plumbing, mechanical, elevator, boiler, driveway and fire-specialist contractors must also register with the city on top of a CIB or Department of Labor license. | No written exam for the residential building-contractor registration. There is no separate commercial GC registration, commercial GCs pull permits per project. CIB still does not license general contracting. | City of OKC, Contractor Registration; Building & Trade Permits |
| Indianapolis, IN | Department of Business and Neighborhood Services licenses general, electrical, HVAC, wrecking and plumbing contractors inside the Consolidated City. New general contractors must complete an orientation within 60 days of issuance or the license lapses. | Does not cover the excluded cities of Lawrence, Beech Grove, Speedway and Southport, each of those has its own hall. Not an IPLA state license. | City of Indianapolis, Contractor Licenses; Licensed Contractors; General Contractor Orientation |
| Chicago, IL | Municipal general-contractor license under Municipal Code Chapter 4-36, Classes A–E, administered by the Department of Buildings. Class A is unlimited; Class E remains capped at $500,000. From January 6, 2026, Class C and D require $2 million coverage per occurrence. | Does not travel to Naperville, Aurora or unincorporated Cook County. IDFPR still does not issue a statewide GC license; the statewide construction credential it does issue is roofing. | City of Chicago Department of Buildings, General Contractor License Changes for 2026; Chapter 4-36 |
City credentials retrieved September 5, 2026. Each row is a city rule under a state that issues no residential GC license (for Illinois, no GC license but a roofing license). Houston is not in the table: its Permitting Center page could not be retrieved.
HyreRemodel analysis: the city layer is why “no state license” is not “unregulated.” It is also why a San Antonio registration, a Denver Class C and a Chicago Class E are not interchangeable, and why an unincorporated lot can fall outside every row.
Illinois writes a contract law. Colorado leaves the license to cities.
Illinois: a contract rule and a roofing license
IDFPR’s list of regulated professions includes Roofing Contractor, Home Inspection, Architect and Structural Engineer, and not general contractor, home improvement contractor, electrician or HVAC contractor. Its one statewide construction credential is roofing, under 225 ILCS 335.
The Home Repair and Remodeling Act does some of a license’s work. Before home repair or remodeling over $1,000, 815 ILCS 513/15 requires “a written contract or work order that states the total cost, including parts and materials listed with reasonable particularity and any charge for an estimate,” plus the business name and address.
Section 20 requires the “Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights” pamphlet. The Attorney General’s pamphlet adds three business days to cancel a contract signed at home, and warns that a mechanic’s lien can attach “even if you have fully paid the contractor” when subcontractors go unpaid.
The AG reports more than 20,000 complaints a year, about 20 percent of them disputes with home repair contractors. That describes complaint mix, not the size of the industry.
Inside Chicago, Municipal Code Chapter 4-36 licenses general contractors in Classes A to E. The Department of Buildings’ 2026 letter doubles the project limits for Classes B, C and D, keeps Class A unlimited and Class E at $500,000, and raises Class C and D insurance to $2 million per occurrence from January 6, 2026.
Colorado: the trades are state, the GC is Denver’s
Colorado’s Division of Professions and Occupations lists Electrical Contractor, Residential Wireman, Photovoltaic Installer, Plumbing Contractor and Residential Plumber, and not general contractor or home improvement contractor. General contractor licensing is left to cities.
Denver licenses contractors in two steps: the applicant holds a Denver supervisor certificate (or employs someone who does, or holds a Colorado electrical or plumbing license), then applies for the license. Classes A, B, C (Residential) and D each cost $250 and renew every three years; a supervisor certificate is $60 for three years.
Denver also lets owners of single-family homes pull residential permits without a contractor. No exam is needed for general construction or roofing and siding; electrical, plumbing or mechanical work needs a license in that field or an exam. The city tells homeowners who hire to “verify that your contractor has a current Denver contractor’s license.”
HyreRemodel analysis: Illinois and Colorado are both regime 1, and not the same for a homeowner.
Illinois wrote a contract law and left the GC license to Chicago; Colorado licensed electricians and plumbers and left it to Denver.
Kitchens in unincorporated Adams County and Will County have more in common than either has with one in Denver or Chicago.
What our seven-state store shows
The HyreRemodel contractor store, measured September 5, 2026, holds 23,756 companies and 22,183 license records in seven states, and anything built on it is titled to those states. The bars show our research effort, not the size of each state’s industry.
Five of the seven issue a statewide residential general contractor license or its equivalent: Florida (DBPR, 7,130 records), Arizona (Registrar of Contractors, 4,932), California (CSLB, 4,820), Nevada (State Contractors Board, 3,494) and Utah (DOPL, 703). Those credentials differ, as the license classes study shows, but all are state licenses.
Texas is the gap: 955 records, all from cities. North Carolina is the threshold case: 149 records under a $40,000 trigger. HyreRemodel analysis: a low North Carolina count fits a high threshold and a capped harvest; it is not evidence that the state has few contractors.
License records in the HyreRemodel store by issuing authority, measured September 5, 2026. Texas is city-level. North Carolina is threshold-gated. Neither bar is a market size.
Disciplinary actions in this snapshot are filled in only for Utah. An empty field elsewhere means we did not retrieve it, not a clean record.
The threshold trap: North Carolina’s $40,000 line
North Carolina does license general contractors. Its Licensing Board for General Contractors says on its homepage: “If a project is valued at $40,000 or more, your general contractor must have a license issued by the state. It’s the law.” The board’s consumer FAQ repeats the trigger.
G.S. 87-1, on the General Assembly’s statute page, defines a general contractor as one who, for pay, bids on, builds or manages the construction of any building or improvement “where the cost of the undertaking is forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more.”
S.L. 2023-108 (H.B. 488), enacted August 16, 2023, raised that figure from $30,000 to $40,000 in G.S. 87-1(a), with a matching change in G.S. 87-14, which bars a building inspector from issuing a permit at that threshold unless the applicant is licensed or exempt.
The owner-builder exception in G.S. 87-1(b)(2) covers someone building or altering a building on their own land for their own occupancy.
If they do not live in it for at least 12 months after completion, the statute presumes the exception was not intended.
G.S. 87-14 requires a sworn affidavit, and the board can have the permit revoked if the exemption was invalid.
HyreRemodel analysis: a kitchen remodel can land on either side of $40,000 depending on finishes. “Yes, I’m licensed” does not tell you whether this job needs the license, and “I don’t need one under $40,000” is true of the board and silent on the permit, the electrician and the plumber.
Splitting one project to stay under the line is a separate legal question this page will not coach. The 149 NCLBGC records in our store are firms that meet the line, not a count of everyone who remodels in North Carolina.
A registration is a public record. It is not an exam.
Pennsylvania: HICPA
The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (73 P.S. §§ 517.1 et seq.) requires anyone in the home improvement business in Pennsylvania to register with the Attorney General, unless they do less than $5,000 of work a year or qualify as a large retailer.
Registration asks for contact details, prior businesses, bankruptcies, criminal convictions and proof of liability insurance of at least $50,000 for personal injury and $50,000 for property damage. The fee is $100 every two years (72 P.S. § 1603-U). There is no exam or experience requirement.
Contracts above $500 must be in writing, signed by both sides, with the work, approximate start and finish dates, total price and the right to cancel. On contracts over $5,000, 73 P.S. § 517.9(10), as amended by Act 52 of 2011, bars a deposit above one-third of the price, or one-third plus designated special-order materials.
The AG’s public search says: “Registration under HICPA is not an endorsement, recommendation or approval by the Office of Attorney General of the contractor’s competency or skill.” It tells you whether someone is registered, not how good the work is. The consumer helpline is 1-888-520-6680.
Washington: RCW 18.27
Washington requires every construction contractor to register with Labor & Industries and to be bonded and insured “to protect the public.” The chapter is titled “Registration of contractors.” L&I does not test general or remodeling work; plumbing, electrical, elevators, boilers and asbestos have their own exams.
Under RCW 18.27.040 the bond is $30,000 for a general contractor and $15,000 for a specialty contractor, amounts in effect since July 1, 2024 (2023 c 213). A homeowner can sue on the bond within two years of substantial completion or abandonment.
L&I also requires liability cover of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined, with L&I as certificate holder, plus a Model Disclosure Statement on residential jobs of $1,000 or more.
RCW 18.27.080 bars an unregistered contractor from suing to collect payment. From July 1, 2026, the homeowner recovery program (RCW 18.27.410) can pay unpaid actual damages from a final judgment on a primary residence, after the bond, up to $25,000 per contractor per parcel. The statute says eligibility does not create a right to payment.
What you can do when there is no state license to check
| Tool | What it does | What it does not do | Where we verified it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal registration / permit | Stops (or should stop) the unregistered contractor from pulling a permit. Creates a public record at the building department. Austin will not assign a GC to a building permit until they have an AB+C registration; Dallas will not let an unregistered contractor perform permit work; Oklahoma City will not let an unregistered residential building contractor pull the permit. | Does not travel to the next city. Does not grade workmanship. A commercial GC in San Antonio needs neither, on the city’s own page. A homestead owner in Dallas can be exempted from registration for specified work. | San Antonio DSD; El Paso Planning & Inspections; Austin Development Services; DallasNow / Homeowner’s Exemption; Oklahoma City Contractor Registration; Denver CPD; Indianapolis BNS; Chicago DOB Chapter 4-36 |
| Attorney-general consumer complaint | Puts the conduct on a public record the AG can use to spot patterns. In Texas, under the Open Records Act, the complaint is public; the AG’s own complaint page says you may not be contacted again, that the complaint number is not a case, and that staff review complaints “for informational purposes.” | The Texas AG cannot represent you in court and says so. A complaint is not a refund. The Illinois AG pamphlet restates the same limit: check the AG and the building department, then hire a lawyer if you need one. | Texas AG Consumer Rights and File a Consumer Complaint, retrieved September 5, 2026; Illinois AG Home Repair pamphlet |
| Written-contract statute | Creates a paper you can take to court. Illinois requires a written contract enumerating cost and materials for home repair or remodeling over $1,000, plus the “Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights” pamphlet (815 ILCS 513/15 and 513/20). Pennsylvania requires a written, signed contract above $500, with start and completion dates, total price and a cancellation notice. Washington requires a Model Disclosure Statement on residential jobs of $1,000 or more. | A contract clause is not a license. It does not keep an incompetent contractor off the job. It gives you something to enforce. Illinois also gives a three-business-day cancellation right when the contract is signed at the home, a consumer-protection rule, not a licensing rule. | 815 ILCS 513/15 (ilga.gov statute text); Illinois AG pamphlet; 73 P.S. § 517.7; L&I Model Disclosure Statement / RCW 18.27 |
| Deceptive-practices statute | In Texas, the DTPA lists false, deceptive or misleading practices. If you win and prove the defendant knowingly deceived you, you may recover up to three times your damages. | You need a private lawyer. The AG will not take your individual case. Knowing deception is a higher bar than a job going late. | Texas AG Consumer Rights, citing Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.41 et seq. |
| Surety bond / recovery fund | A bond is a financial backstop up to a stated amount. Washington’s $30,000 general-contractor bond is a real claim route, with a two-year window for a residential homeowner. From July 1, 2026 the homeowner recovery program can pay up to $25,000 of unpaid actual damages after the bond, per contractor per parcel. El Paso’s $50,000 city bond is the municipal version of the same idea. | A bond can cover only a fraction of a remodel’s cost. It is not a quality assessment. Texas has no statewide GC bond because it has no statewide GC license. Washington’s recovery program is discretionary, capped, and closed to attorneys’ fees, the statute says eligibility does not create a right to payment. | RCW 18.27.040, .410; El Paso Title 18 bond on the city’s application |
| Deposit cap (where a statute sets one) | Pennsylvania bars a deposit above one-third of a home-improvement contract priced over $5,000 (or one-third plus designated special-order materials). That is a statutory ceiling, not a custom. | A deposit cap is not a license and is not a refund mechanism by itself. Texas has no statewide GC deposit cap because it has no statewide GC license; the AG’s advice is not to pay in full up front, which is guidance, not a ceiling. | 73 P.S. § 517.9(10), as amended by Act 52 of 2011; Texas AG home-improvement-scam page |
| Small claims / civil action | You can sue for breach of contract, poor workmanship or unpaid refund in the court that has jurisdiction over the amount and the defendant. In Washington an unregistered contractor is barred from suing you to collect (RCW 18.27.080). In Illinois, a mechanic’s lien can still attach even if you fully paid the contractor, if the subcontractors were not paid, the AG pamphlet says so. | You still have to find the defendant, prove the claim, and collect. An AG complaint does not do this for you. Washington’s collection bar protects you from the unregistered contractor’s lawsuit; it does not get your deposit back. | RCW 18.27.080; Illinois AG Home Repair pamphlet; Texas AG directs individual DTPA suits to private counsel |
| Secretary of state / entity search | Shows whether the business entity is in good standing and how long it has existed, and names a registered agent. | An active LLC is not a license and is not a track record of finished kitchens. | Texas AG Consumer Rights (directs closed-business complaints to the Secretary of State) |
| The licensed trades on the job | Electrical, plumbing and HVAC work can be licensed at state level even where the GC is not. TDLR, Colorado DPO, Oklahoma CIB and Indiana IPLA all license some of those trades. | A licensed electrician does not make the unlicensed GC licensed. Ask who is doing the trade work, not only who is on the contract. | TDLR program list; Colorado DPO occupational professions; Oklahoma CIB; Indiana IPLA |
Substitute protections verified at the cited primary source. A deposit cap, an insurance minimum and a city registration are three different tools, and none is a state GC license.
HyreRemodel recommendation: work this list from the top. The building department and permit record are local and quick to check; an AG complaint creates a public record but collects nothing; a lawsuit is the last tool, not the first.
How to check a remodeler when the state has no license
Ask which city or county they are registered with, under which category, and the number. Then check that register yourself. In San Antonio, home improvement and residential building are different credentials with different insurance minimums.
Whoever pulls the permit is who the building department holds responsible. A contractor who asks you to pull it is shifting that responsibility to you. Look up your address in the city’s permit portal, and make sure the permit is closed with a final inspection.
If the job opens a wall, ask for the electrician’s and plumber’s license numbers and look them up with the board that issues them (TDLR, Colorado DPO, Oklahoma CIB). The general contractor and the licensed electrician are two different people, even in the same van.
Ask for one dated inside your project window. San Antonio and El Paso require the city as certificate holder, and Washington requires L&I. A certificate naming only the contractor is not the document those rules ask for.
Illinois requires one over $1,000, with a three-day cancellation right when signed at home. Pennsylvania requires one over $500 and caps deposits at one-third above $5,000. Texas’s AG says not to sign blanks or pay in full up front. Put scope, dates, materials and payments tied to inspections in writing everywhere.
The secretary of state shows whether the company exists and since when. The attorney general takes complaints; in Texas a complaint is a public record, not a case. In Pennsylvania, a deposit above one-third of a contract over $5,000 is against the statute.
States we have not verified, and will not guess
Secondary round-ups add states such as Kansas, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Wyoming, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, Delaware, Idaho, Nebraska, Montana and New Jersey to their “no state license” lists. Some register, some leave the field to cities, some have changed their rules. We did not retrieve a primary source for them.
Connecticut, Iowa and Massachusetts appear on those lists too. The license classes study verified them at the regulator as registration states, and Tennessee as a $25,000 threshold state.
The gaps are specific. The Kansas Attorney General roofing page denied access. Missouri’s professional registration page and New York’s Department of State pages did not load.
Ohio’s code chapters 4740 and 4722 did not load, so claims about an Ohio registration for jobs over $25,000, or a 2024 bill, are not asserted here. New Jersey’s and Massachusetts’ home improvement pages returned nothing usable.
Two rows rest on official pages we could not load directly. Indiana’s profession names were read from the IPLA page’s search-indexed text, with Indianapolis retrieved as the city substitute. Pennsylvania’s HICPA figures were read from the AG’s indexed pages, its application PDF and 73 P.S. as published by the General Assembly.
HyreRemodel analysis: an eight-row table with named gaps is more useful than a long list copied from other lists. States are added as each is retrieved and dated.
How we built the table
Which states issue no statewide residential general contractor (or home improvement) license, which only register, which license only above a dollar figure, and what protection a homeowner has in the first group?
For each state we found the agency that would license residential general contracting, read its list of regulated occupations or a clear statement on its site, and recorded the retrieval date. “No license” is recorded only from that list or statement (Oklahoma’s CIB says it outright), never from a failed search.
Each requirement or protection is verified present, verified absent, or not verified. An unchecked cell is never shown as a “no.”
City rules come from the city’s own registration, licensing or permit page, or a current city form or guide. Houston is left out because its page could not be retrieved.
Counts come from the HyreRemodel contractor store, measured September 5, 2026. Texas records are stored against the cities that issued them. Disciplinary fields are filled in only for Utah.
Published lists of “no-license states” disagreed with each other on Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington. That disagreement is why unverified states stay out.
Questions
Which states do not require a contractor license?
Does Texas require a contractor license?
If there is no state license, is the work unregulated?
What is the difference between a contractor license and a registration?
What can I do if an unlicensed remodeler takes my deposit in Texas?
Does North Carolina require a license for a kitchen remodel?
Are the Texas contractors in HyreRemodel’s store state-licensed?
Is a Pennsylvania home improvement registration the same as a license?
Where can I look up a remodeler if my state has no GC license?
How do Austin, Dallas and San Antonio differ?
Does Washington’s contractor registration include a recovery fund?
Does Pennsylvania cap a remodeler’s deposit?
Does HyreRemodel do remodeling work?
Written and audited by
HyreRemodel Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a remodeling contractor and not a sales floor.
We read the statute, the licensing register or the municipal fee schedule ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify.
This program is new, and the counts below are small: they are what we have actually published, not what we intend to.
- 7
- studies published
- 7
- states in the contractor store we measure against
- 264
- source documents linked from these pages, 101 of them on .gov domains
- 22,183
- license records measured September 5, 2026
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Licensing facts come from the issuing board or the statute that creates the credential. Permit-fee facts come from the municipality that publishes the schedule. We do not cite an article that cites a source; we open the source and record the date.
- Our own store is titled to the states it covers. We hold verified contractor records for seven states. An asset that rests on those records is titled to those states. National claims rest on federal or state-agency data (Census, BLS, EPA), never on our counts.
- Absence of a record is not a finding about the company. A board that does not publish disciplinary history in a form we retrieved is excluded from any “clean record” claim. Unable to verify is not unlicensed. Not required is not not carried.
- Fact, calculation, analysis and recommendation stay labelled. A statute is a source fact. A count we derived from our store is a HyreRemodel calculation. What that count means is analysis. What a homeowner should do next is a recommendation.
- We do not remodel homes, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Data as of September 5, 2026 (regulators, statutes and city pages; store counts). Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
Planning a remodel of your own?
A state license, a city registration and a trade license are three different things, and in Texas the first does not exist. Check the permit and the trades, and tell us about the project when you are ready.
HyreRemodel does not do remodeling work and has no commercial tie to any board, city or contractor named here. Nothing on this page is a license check for your job or legal advice. If a state’s entry is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it in place and say so.