New York home addition — the stacking case in full: the DOB says verbatim 'All contractors who build one-, two-, and three-family homes must register with the Department to obtain New Building permits' ($300 / $240 renewal / 3-year term, form LIC6), and renovations and alterations of 1–4 family homes need the DCWP Home Improvement Contractor licence 'in addition to' the General Contractor credential — TWO requirements, not either/or. The contractor's place of business must sit inside New York City (AC §28-401.18), permits run at most two years against $1,000,000-per-occurrence general liability, and licence numbers must appear on trucks, cards and advertisements (AC §28-418). Every claim sourced and dated.
DOB General Contractor Registration — verbatim permit gate for 1–3 family homes (AC §28-418) — NYC DOB verbatim: 'All contractors who build one-, two-, and three-family homes must register with the Department to obtain New Building permits.' Registration costs $300 new, $240 renewal, $50 late renewal, for a 3-year term on form LIC6; new applications have been filed online through DOB NOW since September 7, 2021. The DOB residential page adds verbatim: 'Permits for renovation work are only issued to a Licensed General Contractor', and AC §28-418 is the Administrative Code section that requires General Contractors to register. S-NYC-DOB-GC
HIC and GC stack: renovations of 1–4 family homes and apartments need DCWP HIC IN ADDITION TO DOB GC — DOB residential registrant page verbatim: 'renovations and alterations of 1, 2, 3 and 4 family homes and individual apartment units require Home Improvement Contractors (HIC) license issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs in addition to General Contractor (GC) license.' The two credentials gate different things: DCWP licenses the price and the contract, DOB gates the permit and the trade. S-NYC-DOB-RES
NYC DCWP Home Improvement Contractor licence — scope with NO dollar threshold (verified absence) — DCWP application checklist verbatim: 'A person or business must have a Home Improvement Contractor license to do construction, repair, remodeling, or other home improvement work to any residential land or building in New York City' — including basements, driveways, fences, garages, landscaping, patios, porches, sidewalks, swimming pools, terraces and other improvements on land next to a home or apartment building. No dollar threshold appears anywhere in the DCWP text: the licence reaches the smallest job (verified absence over the checklist, the NYC Business portal, and the DOB pages read). S-NYC-HIC-CHECK
Licensed contractors must keep a place of business inside New York City (AC §28-401.18) — DOB residential page, citing AC §28-401.18: licensed contractors must keep a place of business in New York City — the out-of-city firm cannot hold the DOB credential at all. S-NYC-DOB-RES
In New York City several rows read may_require at once: the DCWP licence and the DOB registration are stacked requirements, not alternatives (DOB verbatim: "in addition to").
03 Deterministic rules applied
NY-DOB-GC-REGISTRATION
NY-DOB-STACKING
NY-DCWP-HIC
NY-DOB-INSURANCE
04 What it costs
Fee
Amount
Source
HIC new licence — filed March 1 to August 31 of an ODD year (covers ≤24 months)
New York State charges no fee for this work (verified absence). County licence fees, permit fees and the IdentoGO fingerprint fee are LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED and are not published here.
05 What this page cannot tell you
Per-county figures — Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland license home improvement contractors (Attorney General verbatim), but every county fee, term and entry rule is withheld by name: the official county sources returned 403 this pass.
Which work skips the DOB permit — the checklist says "most home improvements need a DOB permit"; which do not is DOB's call, and the tracking-number carve-out exists precisely for the limited-work case.
Unresearched trade channels — the DOB issues more than 30 licence types; this chapter researched the plumbing, electrical and oil-burning channels by name. An unlisted trade may still apply to this project.