“What do I need to work on homes in Massachusetts?” Usually two things from two different offices. The Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration, run by the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation under chapter 142A of the General Laws, is about who you contract with: the owner, or a tenant the owner has authorized, of an existing home of one to four units that the owner lives in. The Construction Supervisor License (CSL), run by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards under its building code regulations, 780 CMR, is about who supervises work the building code regulates. A remodeler, a roofer or a deck builder often needs both. This is Massachusetts in detail; the method for checking any state is in Do I Need a Contractor License?
The HIC registration: who must register
Chapter 142A, section 9: “No contractor or subcontractor shall undertake, offer to undertake, or agree to perform residential contracting services unless registered therefor” with the approval of that office. The definitions in section 1 decide whether that is you. “Residential contracting” is the reconstruction, alteration, renovation, repair, modernization, conversion, improvement, removal or demolition of, or an addition to, a pre-existing, owner-occupied building of one to four dwelling units, and the structures next to it. The regulation, 201 CMR 18.01, names garages, sheds, cabanas, pool houses and gazebos as examples, and defines owner-occupied as occupied or intended to be occupied by the owner as a primary residence.
So the HIC rule starts from the customer and the building, not the trade. New construction is outside it, and so is a rental property the owner does not live in. A subcontractor working for a registered contractor on an owner-occupied home is inside it: the law covers “contractor or subcontractor.”
Who is exempt from HIC registration
201 CMR 18.01(6), as amended in June 2025, lists who need not register. The ones that matter to a small contractor:
“Exclusively” is the word to watch. A painter who also replaces rotted trim and a window on an owner's home is no longer doing only interior painting.
HIC fees, terms and what you agree to
The guaranty fund, and what working unregistered costs
The Residential Contractor's Guaranty Fund pays an owner who has won a court judgment or arbitration award against a registered contractor that the contractor did not pay. Under section 7 it pays no more than $25,000 or the owner's actual loss, whichever is less, to one claimant, and no more than $150,000 on account of one contractor in twelve months. It is not free money for the contractor: under section 8 the contractor owes the fund back, with interest, and the attorney general may sue to recover it. Every building permit must state that people who hire unregistered contractors have no access to the fund (section 13(b)).
Working without a registration is a prohibited act under section 17, and so is advertising without your number. Section 19 sets a fine of up to $5,000, up to two years in prison, or both, for knowingly, willfully or negligently operating without a required registration. Section 18 lets the director suspend or revoke a registration and assess up to $2,000 per violation. And section 17 makes any violation of the chapter an unfair or deceptive act under chapter 93A.
The Construction Supervisor License
The CSL comes from the building code, not the consumer law. Under 780 CMR 110.R5.1.3.1, individuals “supervising persons engaged in construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, removal or demolition involving any activity regulated by any provision of 780 CMR, shall be licensed” under the construction supervisor rules. The code defines a construction supervisor as someone qualified to directly supervise that work, and the term also covers “persons supervising themselves.” A one-person outfit still needs one.
| License | What it covers |
|---|---|
| CSL (formerly “unrestricted”) | Buildings of any use with less than 35,000 cubic feet of enclosed space; one- and two-family dwellings of any size; agricultural buildings; retaining walls under ten feet |
| CSL, one- and two-family dwellings | One- and two-family dwellings and their accessory buildings |
| Specialty: roof covering | Roof covering work, including the repair and replacement of 25 percent of sheathing and 25 percent of sistering roof rafters |
| Specialty: window and siding | Doors, windows and siding, including repair of damaged window or door framing |
| Specialty: masonry, demolition, insulation, solid fuel-burning appliances | Each limited to its own kind of work |
The code's exemptions include homeowners doing permitted work on their own one- or two-family home (110.R5.1.3.1), swimming pools, signs and tents, and “the practice of any trade licensed by agencies of the Commonwealth” within that license, such as wiring, plumbing, gas fitting and HVAC (110.R5.1.3.2).
Getting and keeping a CSL
On the job, the license travels with the permit. Every building permit application must name the construction supervisor, with license number and category, and if that person stops supervising, “the work shall immediately cease” until a successor is on file (110.R5.2.16). The supervisor or a licensed designee must be on site at some point to approve foundation work, the structural frame, insulation and air barriers, smoke and carbon monoxide detection, and chimneys and retaining walls over four feet (110.R5.2.12). Keep the license on you during the work, as the code requires (110.R5.2.13); a building official may ask to see it on site at any time (110.R5.2.14). Work performed without a building permit is grounds for reprimand, suspension or revocation of a CSL (110.R5.2.8).
Which do you need? Three examples
Say a roofer reroofs owner-occupied homes. Roofing is not on the HIC exemption list, so the roofer registers as an HIC. Where a reroof needs a building permit, the permit names a supervisor holding at least the roof covering specialty CSL.
Say a painter does only interior painting. That work is exempt from HIC registration when done exclusively. The day the painter takes on carpentry for an owner-occupant, check the list again.
Say a deck builder works for homeowners. Decks supported above ground are carved out of the patio exemption, so HIC registration applies; a deck that needs a building permit needs a construction supervisor named on it.
The same chapter sets the contract rules for this work: under section 2, an agreement over $1,000 must be in writing with set contents, and the deposit is capped. Those are covered in What a Home Improvement Contract Must Say and How Big a Deposit Can You Legally Ask For?
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.