How to check a contractor's license in Arizona before you hire

In Arizona, remodeling work beyond a small repair needs a license from the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC). Checking a contractor's license takes a couple of minutes, and it is the first thing to do with any bid, before anything is signed or paid.

Look the license up

The ROC keeps a public contractor search. Search by the company's name or its license number. The record shows the business name, the license number and its classification, whether the license is active, and the qualifying party: the person whose experience qualifies the company for that license.

You shouldn't have to hunt for the number. Arizona law asks a licensed contractor to show it, after the letters "ROC", on written bids and estimates, on published advertising and letterheads, and posted in a conspicuous place where the work is being done (A.R.S. § 32-1124). Ours is ROC #358030, a B General Residential Contractor license, and it is at the bottom of every page of this site.

Match the license to the work

ROC licenses come in classifications, and the one on the record should fit the job. For remodeling a house, the usual one is B, General Residential Contractor. The state's rules say it allows the licensee "to construct and repair all or any part of a residential structure or appurtenance" (Ariz. Admin. Code R4-9-103).

The same rule lists the work a B contractor has to subcontract to an appropriately licensed contractor: electrical, plumbing, air conditioning systems, boilers, swimming pools, spas and water wells. A remodel that moves a sink or adds lighting includes those trades, and they are licensed separately.

There is also a narrower B-3, General Remodeling and Repair license, for remodeling and repairing existing homes, with the same kind of subcontracting rules.

Where the handyman exemption stops

Arizona exempts small jobs from licensing. The exemption in A.R.S. § 32-1121 covers work where the whole price, labor and materials included, is less than $1,000. It does not apply:

when the work needs a local building permit
to anyone whose advertising leaves out the words "not a licensed contractor"

A kitchen, a bathroom or new flooring through a house is far past that line.

Who the Recovery Fund protects

Arizona keeps a Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund for homeowners harmed when a licensed residential contractor fails to build or improve their home adequately. Three points from the statutes:

The contractor must have been licensed. The license had to be valid on the date the contract was signed, the first payment was made or the work first began (A.R.S. § 32-1132).
The home must be lived in. An individual owner qualifies when they occupy the home, or intend to, as their primary residence. So does an LLC that owns the home when one of its members lives there, and a revocable living trust when all its trustors do. Some lessees and homeowners' associations qualify too.
Awards are capped. One claimant can be awarded at most $30,000 (A.R.S. § 32-1132.01), and the fund pays no more than $200,000 in all against any one residential license (A.R.S. § 32-1139).

The fund only helps people who hired a licensed contractor, which is one more reason to check first. And if you are an investor, a flip or a rental that nobody in the owning household lives in generally falls outside those owner categories, so the license check and the written bid matter even more.

Before you sign

Look the license up and check that the name on it matches the company on your bid.
Check that the classification fits the work you are hiring for.
Get the bid in writing, with the ROC number on it.