How to check a contractor's license in New Mexico

Which license does the contractor need in New Mexico?

CID licenses businesses by classification. The letters give the field and the number gives the trade, so GB-2 means General construction, Building, Residential (14.6.6.8 NMAC). For home jobs these are the classifications to look for on the record:

The rule sets the scope of each class, not a dollar limit. Two rules matter on a mixed job. A firm may bid as prime contractor only if "the major portion of the work, based on dollar amount" falls in its classification, and work outside it must go to a firm "validly licensed in the appropriate classification(s)" (14.6.6.8 B NMAC). A pool, for example, needs a GS-25 for the shell, an MM-1 for its plumbing and an electrical license for the pump circuit. Each license holder works under a qualifying party, a person CID has certified in that classification. If the qualifying party leaves and nobody replaces them, the license "will be automatically cancelled" for that classification (14.6.3.8 K NMAC).

How to look a contractor up, step by step

1. Ask for the CID license number, and for the number of each subcontractor who will do electrical, plumbing or gas work.
2. Open public.psiexams.com/search.jsp. The RLD's online services page lists this as CID's "Verify a license" link.
3. Under Search Company, set Select Company Type to "Contractor". Enter the License Number, or the Business Name. The form says you must type at least the first word of the name, including symbols, such as "B & H". Search terms need at least three characters, and you have to fill in the captcha.
4. Open the record. Check that the business name matches the one on your quote, then read the status and the expiration date.
5. Check that a classification covers your work, for example GB-2 for a kitchen or ER-1/EE-98 for a panel upgrade. If the record does not list classifications, ask CID before you sign.
6. To check the person who will do the work, use Search Individual with their certificate number or name. Qualifying parties and journeymen hold certificates, not company licenses.
7. Save or print the page, and check again before you pay a deposit.

The handyman exemption: $7,200 a year, no wiring or pipes

Under 14.6.2.8 NMAC, a handyman works without a contractor license only if all of these apply:

So a handyman can fix a door or patch drywall. They cannot add an outlet, move a pipe or connect a gas range, at any price. A handyman whose sign or card presents them as a contractor has lost the exemption.

What the $10,000 bond covers

Every CID license applicant must post "a bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000)" for the whole license period (14.6.3.8 C NMAC). What it covers is narrow:

• It pays "to cure division certified code violations caused and not corrected by the licensee". The trigger is a code violation that CID has certified, not a contract dispute or a lost deposit.
• Claims must be made within two years of final inspection or certificate of occupancy, whichever comes first.
• Any person harmed by the code violation is an obligee alongside the state (CID bond form, citing §60-13-49 NMSA).
• If the bond is cancelled and no new bond is filed, "action shall be taken immediately for cancellation of the license".

CID also says "Workers Compensation coverage is required for all licensed entities" (Apply for a license). Ask for the certificate. The license record does not prove the coverage is current.

Penalties for unlicensed contracting in New Mexico

Source: CID's Unlicensed Violations page, read 20 October 2026. CID says it may "stop the construction project and file a criminal charge" in Metropolitan or Magistrate Court. To report someone, use CID's request for investigation. The RLD's Albuquerque office is at 5500 San Antonio Dr.

What the license does not tell you, and what our file can

The CID record tells you what work the firm is licensed for. It does not tell you whether the firm's Albuquerque permits were closed out. The city publishes that, and here is what it shows:

Two things follow. First, 64.4% of remodel firms filed exactly one permit in three years. For most remodelers, the city file is a single job, and the CID record is the main thing you can check. Second, the usual new-home, remodel and pool jobs are far above the $7,200 handyman limit, and a solar install involves electrical wiring, which the exemption excludes at any price. Anyone quoting one of those needs a CID license. 14.6.6 NMAC names no classification for rooftop solar panels; we read them as electrical wiring under EE-98 or ER-1. Ask CID which classification it expects before you sign.

Limits of our data, stated once. Albuquerque publishes building, solar and pool permits only; electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits are not in the city's file after 2016, so we cannot show them. Many permits end "Expired" rather than "Complete"; only 28.7% of remodel permits are Complete. Many of those expiries are city bookkeeping, including a block of older permits expired in a 2025 records change, so the finished shares above run low and are not a count of abandoned jobs. We found no free bulk license file from CID, and its lookup returns one record at a time, so no Albuquerque firm page shows a license status. That reflects our data, not a finding that firms are unlicensed.

Red flags on a New Mexico license record

• A business name on the record that differs from the one on your contract.
• A status other than Active, or an expiration date before your finish date.
• No classification covering the work, such as a GS-14 window firm bidding a kitchen remodel, or a GS-25 pool firm offering to wire the pump.
• A "handyman" quoting more than $7,200, or quoting any electrical, plumbing or gas work.
• A contractor who says the bond will refund your deposit. It covers certified code violations, not deposits.
• No license number for the electrician or plumber on a job that needs one.

See every Albuquerque remodeler by their permit record →