The honest answer is that verifying a roofer's license and insurance takes about 15 minutes — and the contractor pays nothing for you to do it. The work is three lookups: the state contractor licensing board, the Certificate of Insurance fetched directly from the carrier, and the workers compensation coverage confirmed through the state department of insurance. Each takes 5 minutes, and skipping any one is the gap that produces the lawsuit on your kitchen counter.
Lookup #1 — state contractor licensing board
Pull the license number from the contractor's business card, contract, or website. Go to your state contractor licensing board's online lookup tool — most boards expose this publicly.
Confirm five things on the lookup result:
- The license is active. Not "expired pending renewal," not "suspended," not "voluntarily inactive."
- The classification covers roofing. Many states issue category-specific licenses; confirm the license actually permits roofing.
- The legal entity matches. The contract should be in the same legal name as the license. A contract from "ABC Roofing LLC" against a license held by "ABC Construction Inc" usually means the licensed entity sub-contracted to an unlicensed one.
- No pending disciplinary action. Pending complaints aren't always disqualifying, but unresolved or repeated complaints are.
- The expiration date is at least 90 days out. A license expiring next month means renewal hasn't been processed yet — flag it and confirm the contractor isn't operating on a lapsed license at job-start.
State licensing varies. Three patterns: state-level (most common), county-level (Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New York), and none (Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming). In none-license states, verification shifts to municipal licensing and to the reference + insurance steps.
Lookup #2 — Certificate of Insurance direct from the carrier
This is where most homeowners get the verification half-wrong. The contractor will hand you a Certificate of Insurance — a one-page PDF showing the carrier, policy number, dates, and limits. The certificate looks official. It might still be wrong.
A contractor-supplied COI can be expired (the policy lapsed last week), canceled (the carrier dropped the contractor mid-month), or fabricated entirely. The COI is a point-in-time document; it doesn't update when the policy underneath it changes.
The fix: call the carrier directly. The COI shows the carrier's name and phone number. Call that number, give them the policy number, and ask three questions. Is the policy currently in force? Are the limits at least $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate? Is the contractor (by exact legal name) the named insured?
The call takes 5 minutes. The carrier doesn't charge you for it. They confirm or deny the policy on the spot. If the policy is current, you have your verification. If the policy is canceled, expired, or in someone else's name, you've just learned why the contractor's deposit ask felt high.
How to read a COI
A real COI lists, at minimum:
- Carrier name and address. Travelers, Acuity, Cincinnati, Hartford, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide. Regional carriers are also fine.
- Policy number. A unique alphanumeric string — call it in to the carrier to verify.
- Named insured. The contractor's exact legal entity. Match against the contract.
- Effective and expiration dates. The policy must cover the entire job window.
- Coverage type. "Commercial general liability" (CGL) is the common label. Some COIs also list workers compensation on the same form.
- Limits. $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate is the common floor; significantly lower means the contractor is undercapitalized for serious-claim exposure.
- Additional insured. Worth requesting on jobs over $25,000 — the COI should include endorsement language naming you.
- Authorized representative signature. A signature or stamp from the carrier — not from the contractor.
Lookup #3 — workers compensation coverage
Workers comp is the lookup most homeowners skip and most plaintiff's lawyers find first. If a worker falls off your roof and the contractor lacks workers comp, the medical claim can be filed against your homeowners policy. Your premium goes up, and you're potentially liable for the difference.
Most state departments of insurance maintain a workers comp verification tool. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) covers a majority of states; California's WCIRB and a few other independent state boards cover the rest. Search "[state name] workers compensation verification."
Confirm coverage in the contractor's exact legal name — the same name on the license and the COI. If the contractor says "all our crew are 1099 subcontractors," ask for that arrangement in writing and confirm the GL policy covers subcontractor injury. Most don't.
When the verification doesn't match the bid
If the license is in the wrong name, the COI doesn't match the carrier's records, or the workers comp lookup turns up nothing, move to the next bidder. The contractor who passes verification on the first call is the one worth working with.
This is reference, not a quote — but the 15-minute verification work is the difference between a clean replacement and a five-year insurance dispute. Run the lookups on every roofer in your shortlist, regardless of how good the first conversation felt. Storm-related verification has additional layers — see storm-chaser warning signs.