Quick answer: every roofing contractor working on an existing Maryland home must hold an active MHIC license, and you can verify any roofer’s license for free in about two minutes on the Maryland Department of Labor’s public license search. If a roofer can’t — or won’t — give you an MHIC number you can look up yourself, stop the conversation there. It’s the single fastest background check in home improvement, and almost nobody uses it.
We’re a Maryland roofing company, so we’ll put our money where our mouth is: our license is MHIC #85703, and in this guide we’ll use it as the worked example so you can see exactly what a legitimate lookup result looks like. Run the same check on us, on the storm-chaser who knocked on your door, on your neighbor’s “guy” — on every contractor before a dollar changes hands.
What MHIC is and why roofers need it
The Maryland Home Improvement Commission (MHIC) sits inside the Maryland Department of Labor’s Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, and it licenses contractors who perform home improvement work on existing homes. Under Maryland’s home improvement law, that covers essentially all residential roofing: repairs, full replacements, gutters tied to roofing jobs, storm restoration — plus siding, windows, remodeling, and most other work on an existing house. (New-home construction falls under a different registration; the MHIC license is specifically about improving homes that already exist.) To get the license, a contractor has to pass a trade exam, show financial solvency, and carry required insurance, including general liability insurance. To keep it, they have to renew it and stay out of serious trouble with the Commission.
Two things make this license worth checking beyond “it’s the law”:
- The Guaranty Fund. Maryland maintains a Home Improvement Guaranty Fund that can compensate homeowners for actual losses caused by a licensed contractor’s poor or incomplete work. Hire an unlicensed roofer and that safety net generally isn’t available to you. Award limits and eligibility rules change, so confirm current details with the Commission — but the principle is simple: the fund follows the license.
- Complaint history lives with the Commission. MHIC investigates complaints from homeowners and takes disciplinary action against licensees — it can fine, suspend, or revoke a license. The public search itself shows active licensees; for disciplinary history, the Commission tells you to contact them directly — and they answer the phone (1-888-218-5925, weekdays). If a job goes badly wrong, that’s also where you file a complaint and, if it comes to it, a Guaranty Fund claim.
The same licensing framework applies statewide — the state license covers you whether the roof is in Baltimore, Montgomery County, or Anne Arundel County. A few Maryland counties layer their own local registration requirements on top for certain trades, but the MHIC license is the baseline every residential roofer must hold, everywhere in the state of Maryland.
Step-by-step: how to look up a roofer’s MHIC license
The lookup lives on the Maryland Department of Labor’s Public Query search (you’ll still see “DLLR” in the web address — that’s the department’s older name). Here’s the flow:
Step 1 — Get the MHIC number from the contractor
Ask directly: “What’s your MHIC number?” A legitimate Maryland roofer will rattle it off or point to it — it should already be on their website, their contract, their estimate paperwork, and by law in their advertising. Hesitation, a story about “operating under a partner’s license,” or “we don’t need one for roofing” are all answers, just not good ones. (Roofing on an existing home is home improvement; it needs the license.)
Step 2 — Open the Maryland Department of Labor license search
Search “Maryland home improvement license search” or go to the Department of Labor’s licensing queries page and choose the Home Improvement search. You do not need an account, and it costs nothing.
Step 3 — Search by license number (the clean way)
The search page offers several methods: contractor personal name, contractor trade name, contractor location (city or ZIP), salesperson name, and contractor license registration number. Use the license number search when you have the number — it removes any ambiguity about similar company names. Type the numeric part of the MHIC number and run the search.
Step 4 — No number? Search by trade name
If the roofer’s paperwork doesn’t show a number (already a yellow flag), use the trade name search with the company name, optionally narrowed by city. Watch for near-miss spellings: a company advertising one name but licensed under a completely different one deserves a follow-up question, because Maryland expects contractors to operate under the name on their license.
Step 5 — Read the result
A valid result shows the licensee, the license category and number, and status information. Here’s what checking us looks like as a worked example: search license number 85703 in the contractor search and you’ll find Exquisite Roofing and Exteriors LLC, our Millersville registration. That’s the whole exercise — under two minutes, and now you know the company is a real, currently licensed Maryland contractor rather than a truck with a magnet sign.
Step 6 — Match the details
Verify three things against the estimate in your hand: the business name matches the name on your contract, the license is active (not expired or inactive), and the location lines up with where the company says it’s based. A mismatch on any of the three is a conversation to have before signing — sometimes it’s innocent (a recent trade-name update), sometimes it isn’t.
Step 7 — Ask MHIC about complaint history
The public search confirms licensing; it doesn’t display disciplinary records. The Commission’s own page says to contact them for information about disciplinary actions against a licensee — 1-888-218-5925 toll-free or 410-230-6231 in the Baltimore area, weekdays during business hours. For a $15,000 roof, that five-minute call is worth making on any contractor you’re serious about.
What each check tells you — and what it doesn’t
| Check | What it confirms | What it does NOT confirm |
|---|---|---|
| MHIC license search | Contractor is currently licensed to do home improvement work in Maryland; passed the exam; met financial and insurance requirements | Quality of workmanship, roofing specialization, complaint history |
| Call to MHIC | Disciplinary actions and complaint outcomes on record | Complaints that were never filed; how the roof actually turned out |
| Certificate of insurance (request it directly) | Active general liability and workers’ comp at the coverage levels shown | That coverage will still be active mid-job — you can ask to be a certificate holder |
| Manufacturer certification (GAF, CertainTeed) | Factory training and standing to offer enhanced warranties | Licensing — certification is not a substitute for MHIC |
| Reviews and local references | Pattern of real-world results over time | Legal standing to work on your house |
A license is the floor, not the ceiling
We want to be straight about what an MHIC license guarantees, because contractors sometimes wave it around like a quality award. It isn’t one. The license means the state vetted the business’s basics: trade knowledge, solvency, insurance. It does not mean the crew showing up knows ridge ventilation from a ridge cap. Plenty of licensed contractors do mediocre roofing work — legally.
So treat the lookup as the first gate, not the finish line. After the license clears, the questions that separate a good roofer from a merely legal one are about insurance certificates, manufacturer certification, who actually performs the work, payment schedule, and warranty terms — we’ve written a full breakdown in our guide to choosing a Maryland roofing contractor, and it pairs with this article: verify first, then interview.
Red flags the lookup catches (and a few it doesn’t)
- No MHIC number anywhere — not on the truck, website, or estimate. The most common storm-chaser tell in Maryland.
- A number that doesn’t come up in the search, or comes up expired or inactive.
- A number that belongs to a different company — “borrowing” a license is a real scheme, and the homeowner is the one left without Guaranty Fund protection.
- Name mismatch between the advertised brand and the licensed entity, with no explanation.
- What it won’t catch: a licensed contractor who subs your roof to an uninsured subcontractor crew, demands most of the money upfront, or vanishes at punch-list time. Those failure modes need the interview questions, references, and a contract you’ve actually read.
Frequently asked questions
How do I look up an MHIC license in Maryland?
Use the Maryland Department of Labor’s free public license search for home improvement contractors. You can search by contractor license number (cleanest), trade name, personal name, or city/ZIP. A valid result confirms the contractor holds an active Maryland home improvement license.
Do roofers in Maryland need an MHIC license?
Yes. Roof repair and replacement on an existing Maryland home is home improvement work, and contractors performing it must hold an active MHIC license. A contractor who tells you roofing doesn’t require a license in Maryland is wrong — and that’s worth noting about everything else they’ve told you.
What does an MHIC license guarantee?
That the contractor passed a trade exam, demonstrated financial solvency, and carries state-required insurance — and that you may have Guaranty Fund protection if a licensed contractor’s work causes you a loss. It does not guarantee workmanship quality, roofing specialization, or a clean complaint history; contact MHIC directly to ask about disciplinary actions.
Is the MHIC lookup free?
Yes — the public search on the Maryland Department of Labor site is free, requires no account, and takes about two minutes.
What if a contractor’s MHIC license is expired?
Don’t let them start work, and don’t accept “the renewal is processing” without proof. An expired license can mean an innocent paperwork lapse or a contractor who lost the ability to renew — either way, working with them can cost you the legal protections the license exists to provide. Ask them to resolve it with the Commission first.
How do I check complaints against a Maryland roofing contractor?
Call the Maryland Home Improvement Commission (1-888-218-5925 toll-free, weekdays) and ask about disciplinary actions against the licensee. The online search confirms licensing status; complaint and disciplinary details come from the Commission directly. Pair that with recent local reviews for the fuller picture.
Verify us first — then let’s talk about your roof
We put our MHIC number in this article on purpose: look up #85703 before you call us, exactly the way we just showed you. That’s the standard every Maryland roofer should be comfortable meeting. When you’re ready for an honest assessment of your roof — repair, replacement, or “you’ve got another five years, don’t spend the money yet” — reach out through our contact page or call (443) 233-1119. Family-owned, GAF Certified, MHIC #85703.
Talk to a Maryland roofer who tells it straight
Free inspection, photos of what we actually find, and an honest written estimate — whether the answer is a $600 repair or a new roof.
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