New York roof replacement: in New York City the DCWP licence's general clause — 'construction, repair, remodeling, or other home improvement work to any residential land or building in New York City' — reaches the roof even though the checklist's illustrative list names driveways, fences, pools and terraces instead; behind it sits the DOB permit gate ('Permits for renovation work are only issued to a Licensed General Contractor'). Outside the five boroughs the Attorney General's county ring answers: Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Putnam and Rockland license home improvement contractors, with every per-county figure withheld by name this pass. Every claim sourced and dated.
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
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
Five counties license home improvement contractors; every county figure withheld by name — New York Attorney General verbatim: 'Home improvement contractors must be licensed in New York City, Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties.' Beyond that sentence the official county sources were unreachable this pass — suffolkcountyny.gov and ecode360.com returned 403 — so no county fee, term or entry requirement is stated here; each county's amounts are LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED by name (research, Withheld by name). S-NY-AG-FS
Home improvement licensing exists in exactly six jurisdictions — New York City and five counties (AG) — New York Attorney General verbatim, stated identically in the Fact Sheet and in Hiring a home-improvement contractor: 'Home improvement contractors must be licensed in New York City, Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties.' The same publication adds: 'A contractor must also continue to comply with any local licensing laws.' New York City splits its own regime in two: the DCWP Home Improvement Contractor licence and the DOB General Contractor Registration plus trade licences. S-NY-AG-HIRE
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-DCWP-HIC
NY-DOB-GC-REGISTRATION
NY-COUNTY-LICENSING
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.