The trust guide

How to Verify a Metal Roofing Contractor in New York

New York State does not license roofers, and neither Clinton, Franklin, Essex, nor St. Lawrence county runs a contractor licensing program. So verification in the North Country rests on three checkable things: active insurance shown by a Certificate of Insurance, a written contract meeting GBL Article 36-A, and manufacturer certification for the standing seam system quoted.

That no-license fact surprises people, and it cuts both ways: a low barrier to entry means the burden of sorting professionals from trucks-with-ladders falls on the homeowner. This page is the sorting procedure.

First, clear away two myths

• "State licensed roofer" is not a thing here. Home improvement licensing in New York exists only at the local level, in New York City, Buffalo, and Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties. None of those is in the North Country. Anyone advertising as "New York licensed" for roofing in this footprint is claiming a credential that does not exist.
• There is no statewide registration or $20,000 bond. Search summaries repeat a "NY statewide Home Improvement Contractor registration under Article 36-A with a $20,000 bond." The bond belongs to New York City's DCWP licensing program. Article 36-A is a contract-terms law: it governs what a home improvement contract must contain, not who may operate.

Sources: NY Attorney General, contractors and home maintenance, which names the licensing jurisdictions including the City of Buffalo (ag.ny.gov, read 2026-10-08); NY GBL Article 36-A (nysenate.gov); NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection home improvement contractor license checklist, where the $20,000 surety bond sits as the alternative to Trust Fund enrollment (nyc.gov).

Check one: insurance, in writing, from the insurer

Ask for a Certificate of Insurance naming the business, and have it sent to you directly by the insurance agent, not photocopied from a truck binder. It should show current general liability coverage, commonly $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, and New York workers' compensation, which is mandatory for any business with employees and has no roofer exemption. Workers' comp is the one that protects you: an uninsured injury on your property becomes your problem.

Insurance: New York State Workers' Compensation Board, employer coverage requirements and the public employer coverage search (wcb.ny.gov). The coverage search is the only instrument in this market that shows a live policy rather than a promise. A roofing contractor also has to show proof of insurance under GBL 771-b(9), including workers' compensation coverage or form CE-200 where there are no employees. General liability limits are customary, not statutory.

Check two: the Article 36-A contract

For home improvement work over $500, New York's GBL Article 36-A requires a written, signed contract stating the contractor's name, address, and phone, approximate start and completion dates, and a description of the work and materials. Three protections deserve special attention, and the second one is the reason to read this page before you sign anything:

• The three-business-day cancellation. You may cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after signing (GBL 771). A contractor who pressures you to waive it has told you something.
• Deposits: a roofer may not require one. Roofing has its own section of Article 36-A, and most pages about New York contracts never mention it. GBL 771-b(5) says a roofing contractor "shall not require an owner to provide a deposit for the work and materials", and may not insist on a particular form of payment to start. Materials can be invoiced on delivery if the material cost was put in writing to you in advance, and the rest on completion. So the question is not how your deposit is protected. It is why a deposit is being asked for at all.
• If you do pay money up front anyway. Any payment taken before substantial completion has to go into an escrow account at a bank in New York State within five business days, or be covered by a bond, contract of indemnity, or letter of credit delivered to you within ten business days. That duty sits in Lien Law 71-a(4); Article 36-A's part is GBL 771(1)(e), which requires the contract to carry notice of it.

Sources: NY GBL 770, 771, and 771-b (nysenate.gov), read 2026-10-08; NY Lien Law 71-a(4) (nysenate.gov). Section 771-b was added by L.2019 c.550, signed November 25, 2019.

Check three: manufacturer credentials and snow-country references

Standing seam is a system trade. Panel manufacturers run installer training and certification, and certified installers can usually offer the manufacturer's system warranty on top of their own workmanship warranty. Ask which systems the contractor is certified on and which double-lock profiles they field-seam. Then ask for addresses of snow-country installs old enough to have seen real winters, and drive past one. A metal specialist will volunteer all of this; a generalist adding metal as a sideline will improvise, which matters on the details the panel and seam guide explains.

Three questions that do the sorting

1. "Can your agent send me a COI showing GL and workers' comp?"
2. "Walk me through the contract: cancellation window, start and completion dates, and what you bill when."
3. "Which standing seam systems are you certified to install, and where can I see one of yours that is five winters old?"

Every contractor gets held to this same standard by you, on purpose: the checklist is the credential in a no-license state. One local addition is worth knowing. In Plattsburgh, the City's Building Inspector's Office lists contractor registration and insurance among its own responsibilities, so inside the city line there is one more office that can tell you whether a roofer is registered with them. Call 518-563-7707 and ask. Elsewhere in the four counties, including Malone and the towns outside the city, the three checks above are the whole of it. The checklist pairs with the permit knowledge on the permits page and the full framework in The North Country Standing Seam Metal Roofing Guide.