What Are New Hampshire's Contractor Licensing Rules?

Is a contractor license required in New Hampshire?

Not for general construction, home improvement, or roofing — there's no statewide license or registration for any of those, so whatever applies comes from the city or town where the work happens. Electrical and plumbing/gas fitting are the real exceptions, and both go further than a simple personal credential: each has its own business-entity license, on top of the individual license, with a designated qualifying individual tied to that specific company. There's no universal statewide HVAC contractor license — fuel-gas fitting is licensed, but by specialty (service technician, installation technician, piping installer, domestic appliance technician, and hearth systems are each their own credential) rather than one broad mechanical license.

Which agency regulates it?

The Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) houses both relevant boards: the Electricians' Board licenses electricians and electrical businesses, and the Mechanical Licensing Board licenses plumbers, fuel-gas fitters, and their related business entities. They're independent boards under the same office, not one combined trades board, and there's no state board for general contracting or roofing, because neither is licensed at the state level.

Where can you find the actual laws?

Electrical licensing is New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA) Chapter 319-C — individual licensing requirements are § 319-C:7, corporate and partnership business licensing is § 319-C:10, and penalties are § 319-C:15. Plumbing and fuel-gas business entity licensing is RSA 153:29-a, with administrative rules in Mec 307.04. Unlicensed-practice enforcement across OPLC's boards generally runs through the general enforcement statute, RSA 310:13, rather than a trade-specific fine section — this matters because the former mechanical licensing penalty section, RSA 153:37, was repealed in 2023 and shouldn't be cited as current law. There's no statewide general contractor or home improvement chapter. The Electricians' Board and Mechanical Licensing Board each publish their own current licensing instructions directly.

What does it take to get licensed?

Electrical runs on a journeyman/master structure under § 319-C:7: both tiers require 8,000 hours of apprentice service (with credit available for approved field instruction or military experience), at least 600 hours of board-approved education, and a passing exam. A separate high/medium voltage electrician license covers installations on distribution systems over 600 volts. Plumbing works similarly, with published initial fees of $90 for an apprentice, $190 for a journeyman, and $310 for a master; individual and business licenses generally run two years. Fuel-gas fitting is split into several distinct specialty credentials rather than one general license — fuel gas trainee ($90), service technician, equipment installation technician, and piping installer (each $190), and domestic appliance technician ($170) — each with its own required education, field experience, and exam depending on the endorsement. Notably, § 153:36(VII) exempts certain heating, cooling, and air-conditioning work from the plumbing licensing requirement specifically, even though applicable codes and inspections still apply.

What are the penalties for operating without a license?

Electrical is unusually structured: § 319-C:15 makes unlicensed electrical installation, employing an unlicensed worker, or fraudulently obtaining a license a misdemeanor when committed by a natural person but a felony when committed by anyone else — meaning a business entity itself faces felony-level classification, a harsher structure than most states in this project, though the statute doesn't specify a dollar fine or jail term beyond that classification. A homeowner making electrical installations in their own owner-occupied single-family residence is explicitly exempted. Plumbing and fuel-gas fitting route through the general OPLC enforcement statute, RSA 310:13, rather than their own penalty section: after notice and a hearing, a board may impose a civil fine of up to $10,000 per offense or the violator's economic benefit from the violation, whichever is greater, with each violation treated as a separate offense; an injunction is also available to the board, the Attorney General, or a local prosecuting attorney. No statewide consumer recovery fund was found for either trade.

Does New Hampshire have reciprocity with other states?

Real for electrical, and it's an inbound-only list — what New Hampshire recognizes coming in, not necessarily what other states recognize from New Hampshire. The Electricians' Board's reciprocal application lists 13 states for journeyman reciprocity: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. That list narrows to just three at the master level: Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont — New Hampshire's closest regional neighbors. New Hampshire also belongs to the Multi-State Reciprocal Licensing Group (NERA) for journeyman licensing, which it joined in 2005. No current fixed reciprocity list was confirmed for plumbing or fuel-gas fitting; any licensing-by-endorsement route there should be treated as a substantial-equivalence determination rather than an automatic agreement.

Is it legal to rent or lease a license in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire breaks from Maine's pure-personal-credential model and lands closer to the employee-qualifier states like Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. For electrical, § 319-C:10 expressly lets a corporation or partnership get its own business license as long as a licensed master electrician is directly in charge of its business affairs — for a corporation, that person can be an officer or employee; for a partnership, a member. Ownership isn't required. § 319-C:7(III) ties the business license directly to that individual: it becomes void the moment the named master electrician dies or leaves the company, which forces a real, current employment relationship rather than a one-time credential rental. Plumbing and fuel-gas fitting work the same way under § 153:29-a: a business entity needs at least one "qualifier" — an officer, partner, managing member, or designee — holding an active license in the relevant specialty (master plumber, domestic appliance technician, fuel gas piping installer, and others), and the business has 30 days to notify the board and requalify if that person departs. Neither statute was found to explicitly cap a qualifying individual to a single company, though for electrical the requirement to be "directly in charge of the business affairs" of each company may constrain how many a given master electrician could realistically satisfy at once — that specific limit isn't settled by the statute and is worth confirming with the board before assuming it's unrestricted. General contracting and roofing have no qualifying role to rent out at all, since neither has a state license in the first place.

How do you find a qualifier or a business in New Hampshire?

findQualifier.com is a public, searchable board of licensed professionals advertising their availability to work as a qualifier, by state and trade. Browse available qualifiers in New Hampshire, browse New Hampshire businesses looking to hire, or post a listing.