How to check a NYC home improvement contractor license
What the DCWP Home Improvement Contractor license covers, when it is required, how to look one up, and what an active license does and does not tell you.
In New York City, a contractor who sells or performs home improvement work on a residence generally needs a license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). Checking it takes a couple of minutes and is the single most useful thing you can do before signing a contract. This guide explains what the license covers and how to read the result.
When a DCWP license is required
Under the City's Home Improvement Business law (Title 20, Subchapter 22 of the Administrative Code), no one may solicit, sell or perform home improvement work on a residence without a license. The law covers construction, repair, replacement, remodeling and alteration of residential structures and the improvements next to them. It applies to buildings with no more than four dwelling units. New construction, sales of materials only, and work on government-owned property are outside it.
The requirement also applies to salespersons who solicit or sell home improvement contracts. There is an exemption for small jobs: work with an aggregate contract price of $200 or less is exempt, but the exemption does not apply where a larger job has been divided up to avoid the license. You can read the text on the NYC Administrative Code mirror or in the official City code library.
What the license is, and what it isn't
A DCWP Home Improvement Contractor license is a business license. The DCWP page for applicants says licenses run for two years and expire on February 28 of odd-numbered years, which is why nearly every active license in the open data shows a February 28, 2027 expiry today. Applicants must also give the department workers' compensation information, or a certificate of exemption, and can enrol in the Home Improvement Business Trust Fund, which is described in our trust fund guide.
The license does not authorise work that the law reserves for other licensed professionals. Plumbing must be filed and supervised by a NYC licensed master plumber and electrical work by a licensed master electrician, and many alterations also need Department of Buildings permits. See our permits and licenses guide. It also does not certify quality: it says the business is registered with the City, not that its work is good.
How to look a license up
- Ask the contractor for the business name exactly as licensed and the DCWP license number. It looks like 0673029-DCA. A legitimate contractor can give it to you at once, and it should appear on the contract and any advertising.
- Search on the City's DCWP check-a-license page, or find the business on this site, where each profile shows the license number, status and expiry taken from the DCWP file on NYC Open Data.
- Confirm the name, address and license category match what is on your contract. A license belongs to a specific business; a friend’s license does not cover another company’s work.
- Check the status is active and the expiry date has not passed. If a business appears with any other status, do not sign until you understand why. Ask the contractor and DCWP.
What this site checks
Our listings are pulled from the DCWP Issued Licenses dataset on NYC Open Data. We keep licenses in the Home Improvement Contractor category whose status is active with an expiry date on or after the day we checked. Businesses that are not shown may simply not have appeared in the file or may hold a different license type. We never label a named business as unlicensed. Always confirm on the DCWP site immediately before you sign, because a status can change between our weekly refreshes.
Businesses outside the five boroughs
Some licensed contractors are based in Westchester, Nassau, New Jersey and elsewhere and still hold the City license because they work in NYC. We list them under their own mailing city. A license held by an out-of-city business is the same license; the address is only where the business is registered.
Red flags
- The contractor can not or will not give a DCWP license number.
- The name on the contract or truck differs from the licensed name.
- You are asked to pay the full price up front, or to pay in cash only.
- You are pressured to sign the same day, or to skip permits.
Next, read our contract checklist. If a job has already gone wrong, the 311 portal is where complaints against licensed businesses are filed.