Massachusetts · Checked October 22, 2026
Registration + endorsement. Massachusetts splits the credential in two. Anyone doing residential contracting on an existing one-to-four-family owner-occupied home must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) — no exam — and pay into the Guaranty Fund. Supervising roof-covering work takes a separate Construction Supervisor License, Specialty Roof Covering, which does require experience and an exam, and structural roof work needs a full or restricted CSL.
Checked in part. The load-bearing facts on this page (regime, threshold, exam) are sourced below, but one or more figures for Massachusetts could not be confirmed on a primary board or statute page in the October 22, 2026 pass. Anything unconfirmed is printed as “Not published” — never estimated. Confirm the open figures with the board before you file.
| Item | Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Regime | HIC registration for home work + Specialty CSL (Roof Covering) to supervise roof covering |
| Exam | Specialty CSL — Roof Covering exam (for the CSL; no exam for HIC registration) — pass mark 70%. Secondary exam-prep sources describe the Roof Covering exam as open-book, 35 questions, 120 minutes, 70% to pass. Exam vendor moved from Prometric to PSI effective Jan. 1, 2025 (secondary). Exam/license fee figures conflict between sources ($100 exam + $150 license in Harbor Compliance's agency listing; $65 test cost in one exam-prep listing) — see fees.notes. |
| Experience | For any CSL, including Roof Covering specialty: three years of full-time building construction or design experience within the previous 10 years, with education/military substitutions described in secondary sources. No experience requirement for HIC registration. |
| Application fee | HIC: $150 registration fee plus a Guaranty Fund payment by headcount — $100 (0-3 employees), $200 (4-10), $300 (11-30), $500 (more than 30) |
| License / registration fee | Specialty CSL Roof Covering: $150 license fee after passing (agency listing), in addition to the exam fee |
| Total state cost | HIC alone: $250-$650 depending on employees. HIC plus Roof Covering CSL: about $500-$900 before exam-prep and insurance costs — The CSL exam fee could not be settled from a primary page: Harbor Compliance lists $100 exam + $150 license, while an exam-prep source lists a $65 test cost — check the current Mass.gov / PSI CSL page for the live figure before budgeting. HIC fees are from Mass.gov. Registration and payment are online through the MA Contractor Hub; paper applications are no longer accepted. |
| Bond | No state bond minimum published |
| Insurance minimums | Workers' compensation proof is required to pull a building permit as a contractor. No state-set general liability minimum for roofers was published on the Mass.gov HIC pages checked — 'Not published' at state level; permits and customers commonly require certificates. |
| Who qualifies | For a corporation or partnership registering as an HIC, an individual must be designated as responsible for the registrant's work, and the entity and designee are jointly and severally liable (MGL c.142A §9(c)). The CSL itself is held by the individual supervisor. |
| Timeline | Not published for HIC registration. The CSL agency listing says the license issues in approximately 30 days after the passing score report and $150 fee are mailed in — secondary/agency wording, treat as approximate. |
| Renewal | HIC: every two years, $100 renewal fee (reapply at $150 plus the Guaranty Fund payment if it expires). CSL: first license is issued for three years, then renewed every two years ($100 renewal in agency listing); continuing education applies by CSL class (specialty is the lowest tier in secondary sources). |
| Credential | Scope | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) Registration | residential | Required for residential contracting services under MGL c.142A §9; registration number must appear on permits, contracts and advertising. Written contract required for work of $1,000 or more. No exam. |
| Construction Supervisor License — Specialty, Roof Covering | both | Authorizes direct supervision of installation, alteration, repair or removal of roof coverings on buildings under 35,000 cubic feet and on one- and two-family dwellings of any size. It does NOT authorize work on structural roof elements, including sheathing. |
| Construction Supervisor License — Unrestricted / Restricted (1- & 2-Family) | both | Needed where the job involves a building's structural elements — for example rebuilding roof structure or sheathing — rather than roof covering alone. |
License trigger: $1,000 — Written HIC contract required for work estimated at $1,000 or more (materials and labor). The $1,000 figure is the HIC written-contract threshold on Mass.gov, not a licence-exemption threshold. HIC registration itself is required to undertake residential contracting services, with no small-job dollar exemption stated on the registration page.
MGL c.142A §9(a) covers subcontractors expressly: no contractor OR subcontractor may undertake, offer to undertake, or agree to perform residential contracting services unless registered. A registered contractor is responsible for employees, salespersons and subcontractors within the scope of the contract.
Cities and towns issue the building permits. A permit generally requires a CSL holder for structural work, and permits must state that people who hire unregistered contractors have no access to the Guaranty Fund. Boston and other cities add their own permit and inspection steps on top of the state HIC/CSL layer.
No specific deductible-waiver statute found. No Massachusetts statute specifically barring a contractor from advertising, offering or paying a homeowner's insurance deductible was located in primary searching on 2026-10-22. General consumer-protection law (MGL c.93A) and insurance-fraud law may still apply to a deceptive deductible offer — do not read this as permission.
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