How to check a contractor's license in Utah

Which license does the contractor need in Utah?

Utah licenses contractors by "classification", which "identifies the work you can do" (DOPL contractor application, version 30 September 2026). The ones a homeowner meets most:

Sources: DOPL application; R156-55a-301 from Cornell LII's copy (last amended there 3 January 2023), because the state's rule site would not load as text. Read 20 October 2026.

Two things follow. An R101 firm cannot take a $60,000 kitchen, and cannot move a bearing wall at any price. And a B100 or R100 general contractor still needs a licensed electrician and plumber for those parts of the job. The statute lets a B100 or R100 building homes of up to four units do the mechanical work and hire a licensed plumber or electrician as an employee. Ask for every license number on the job, not just the general contractor's.

Every licensed contractor must carry general liability insurance of at least "$1,000,000 for each incident and $2,000,000 in total", with DOPL listed as certificate holder (DOPL application, citing R156-55a-302d). A firm with employees also needs workers' compensation. Ask for the certificate and phone the insurer named on it.

The handyman exemption: $7,000, not $1,000 or $3,000

Until 1 May 2024 the limit was $3,000, and the insurance affirmation started at $1,000; H.B. 483 (2024) raised them to $7,000 and $3,000. Under Utah Code 58-55-305(1)(h), no license is needed for:

• alteration, repair, remodelling or improvement of a building "with a contracted or agreed value of less than $7,000, including both labor and materials, and including all changes or additions to the contracted or agreed upon work".
• Excluded at any price: electrical and plumbing systems, gas appliances, HVAC, water-based fire sprinklers, alarm systems, and radon mitigation. Each still needs the licensed trade.
• Over $3,000, the handyman must have filed "a one-time affirmation" with DOPL that they carry public liability insurance and, if they have employees, workers' compensation.

The test in the statute is price and trade. It does not mention building permits. "Including all changes" means a $6,500 bid that grows to $9,000 is outside the exemption, and so is one job split into two $4,500 invoices.

How to look a contractor up, step by step

1. Ask for the license number. Springville City's building division notes that contractor license numbers end in -5501 (Springville).
2. Open Verify a License. Choose "License Number", or "Name and Profession" with the business name on the quote and the profession narrowed to CONTRACTOR.
3. Open the record. Check that the status is active and the expiry date is after your finish date.
4. Read the Classifications line against the job: R100 or B100 for a house or an addition, S280 for a roof, S202 or an electrical class for solar. Springville's advice: if a correctly spelled name returns nothing, the person "is not licensed to work in Utah".
5. Search the same name and number on DOPL's Disciplinary Actions and Citations page, which finds "any disciplinary actions and/or citations connected to an individual or entity".
6. For a phone number or email to confirm who you are dealing with, use DOPL's free Construction Business Registry (launched January 2023). Licensees choose what contact details to add.
7. Stuck? DOPL answers on (801) 530-6628, 8am to 5pm on weekdays.

The search page shows the date its data is current to ("Information Current as of 10/19/2026" when we read it on 20 October 2026).

Penalties for unlicensed contracting in Utah

Acting as a contractor without a license or an exemption is unlawful under 58-55-501(1), and under 58-55-503 it is "a class A misdemeanor".

Source: Utah Code 58-55-503(2), (3) and (5)(h), read 20 October 2026.

The Residence Lien Recovery Fund no longer pays

This fund was Utah's backstop for homeowners who paid a contractor in full and then had a subcontractor or supplier lien the house. DOPL's page now says: "The LRF is currently unable to pay new claims", because in 2018 the Legislature stopped the fees that funded it (DOPL). The department announced it "Officially Depleted" on 12 June 2026: "The remaining $2 million LRF balance had been winding down over the last decade and is now gone" (Commerce).

The protection that is left is a Certificate of Compliance from DOPL. Once it is issued, the lienholder must remove the lien within 15 days (Commerce, June 2026). For a contract over $5,000 you need:

• a written contract with a licensed contractor (or a real estate developer or factory-built housing retailer)
• proof you paid in full
• the home occupied as a primary or secondary residence within 180 days of completion

Source: DOPL LRF page, read 20 October 2026. So the license check is part of your lien protection: an unlicensed contractor on a job over $5,000 leaves you without the certificate. For contracts of $5,000 or less, an oral or written contract plus an undisputed Affidavit of Compliance is enough.

What changes on 1 January 2027

H.B. 40 (2026), signed in March 2026 (LegiScan), rewrites the Construction Trades Licensing Act from 1 January 2027 (its Section 72). The section numbers above will move. The handyman exemption becomes 58-55-110(2)(n), still "less than $7,000". Over $3,000, the handyman will register with the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code and send DOPL proof of insurance. The misdemeanor moves to 58-55-602 and the citation fines to 58-55-604. The fines stay at $1,000, $2,000 and $2,000 a day. Apart from the new registration step, the rules above carry over; the section numbers do not, and 58-55-501 and 58-55-503 will hold different text.

What the license does not tell you, and what Provo's file shows

A DOPL record says the firm may do the work. It does not say whether the firm's permits were inspected and closed. Provo City publishes that:

The usual job in every one of these trades is above the $7,000 handyman limit, so in Provo the firm on a typical permitted job needs a DOPL classification, not the handyman exemption. For remodels, 112 of the 150 firms pulled exactly one permit in three years. For most remodelers, then, the permit history is too thin to judge, and the DOPL lookup is the check that counts.

The limit of our data: no Provo firm page shows a license status. Provo's permits carry no license number, and DOPL publishes no free bulk license file; its lookup returns one record at a time. That is a gap in our data, not a finding that any firm is unlicensed. Utah law makes it unlawful to issue a building permit without "evidence of a current license or exemption" (58-55-501(5)), and Provo's permit system has an "Invalid License" status. We leave those permits out of the counts.

The five-minute version: run the firm through Verify a License and the discipline search, check its classification against your job, then open its Provo page with us and compare its finished share with the 66.7% for remodels city-wide.

Red flags on a Utah license record

• A classification that does not fit the job: an R101 quoting work on a bearing wall, or a roof-only S280 quoting a kitchen.
• An R100 bidding a commercial building over three storeys or 20,000 square feet.
• A handyman quoting $6,900 for work that includes moving an outlet or replacing a water heater.
• Any entry in the Disciplinary Actions and Citations search.
• A license number that does not end in -5501, or that returns a different business name.
• A contractor who offers to write two invoices to stay under $7,000.

See every Provo remodeler by their permit record →