Which license each job needs in Columbus
From the City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services (BZS) contractor license page, read 21 October 2026:
| License | What it covers | Requirements BZS lists | Search it as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Improvement Limited | One trade on homes: roofing, siding/windows/doors, decks, basement waterproofing, fireplaces, fencing, sidewalks, stucco, pools/spas, asphalt paving, irrigation, gypsum board | One year of experience in the specialty; board approval | HIC Limited |
| Home Improvement General | Structural additions, alterations or repairs to 1–3 family homes, plus accessory structures and garages | 70% or higher on the 767 Ohio Home Improvement Contractor exam, three years' experience, board approval | HIC General |
| General Contractor | New commercial or multi-family work; on 1–3 family homes, only coordinating subcontracted licensed trades | $25,000 bond, liability insurance naming BZS | General Cont |
| OCILB contractor | Electrical, HVAC, refrigeration, hydronics, plumbing | A current Ohio OCILB license in that trade first | Electrical Cont, Heating HVAC, Plumbing Cont, Hydronics Cont, Refrigeration |
| Demolition | Removing structures to grade, including 1–3 family homes | Three full years of demolition experience, board approval | Demolition Cont |
| Sewer, Water, or Sewer & Water | Sewer and water lines | $25,000 bond, insurance, Department of Public Utilities approval | Sewer/Water Cont |
| Fire | Fire protection work | Ohio State Fire Marshal registration, $25,000 bond | Fire Protect Co |
The trap is the General Contractor license. On a house, BZS says it covers only coordinating work subcontracted to licensed trades. A firm that will frame your addition itself needs the Home Improvement General license, and the roofer needs Home Improvement Limited.
How to run the lookup in five minutes
- Get the exact business name and both numbers (city and, for the five OCILB trades, state) from the quote.
- Open Search for Licensed & Registered Contractors, choose the license type from the table above and search the business name. The BZS FAQ says this search is under General Information, "Search for a Contractor", and lists contractors by trade with contact details.
- For an electrician, HVAC firm or plumber, search the same name at the OCILB lookup and confirm the status is active.
- Open the firm's page here to see its Columbus permits, finished share and days to final, or search by name.
- Once the job starts, search your address on the Citizen Access permit portal and check that the contractor on the permit is the firm you hired.
The city portal sometimes shows a loading error before the form appears; if the search does not run, call BZS at (614) 645-7433.
What 75,332 Columbus permits show
| Trade | Permits | Firms | Usual filed value | Reached final | Firms with an active OCILB license |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | 21,342 | 527 | not filed | 65.7% | 66.0% |
| Roofing, siding and windows | 19,187 | 815 | $11,726 | 38.3% | not an OCILB trade |
| Electrical | 13,769 | 499 | not filed | 77.7% | 68.7% |
| Plumbing | 13,097 | 357 | not filed | 67.8% | 68.1% |
| Remodel and alteration | 2,621 | 635 | $22,000 | 69.4% | not an OCILB trade |
| New home | 2,607 | 148 | $350,000 | 92.5% | not an OCILB trade |
| Basement waterproofing | 1,074 | 12 | $5,967 | 60.4% | not an OCILB trade |
| Deck and patio | 624 | 146 | $15,000 | 84.6% | not an OCILB trade |
| Addition | 329 | 179 | $113,269 | 86.0% | not an OCILB trade |
"Reached final" is the share of permits a year or more old that the city closed with a final. Three things stand out.
The OCILB trades match about two-thirds of the time. 68.7% of electrical firms and 68.1% of plumbing firms match an active state license; the rest are names we could not match, not firms the state lists as lapsed: 0 HVAC, 0 electrical and 0 plumbing firms matched a non-active record.
HVAC finish rates vary widely by firm. Among the 146 HVAC firms with 10 or more permits, the 10th-percentile firm finished 29.7% and the 90th-percentile firm 93.1%; 54 were under 70%. Read a furnace installer's own share before you sign.
Roof, siding and window permits mostly show no final. Only 38.3% reached one. That looks like how this permit type is closed in the city's file rather than a city full of unfinished roofs, so compare exterior firms with each other, not with HVAC.
See every Columbus HVAC firm by finished share and OCILB status →
Permits: who pulls them and when they expire
BZS's FAQ answers the two questions that matter most when you hire. Homeowners may pull certain permits for their own work on the single-family home they live in, but "Property owners cannot purchase permits for work that they will hire a contractor to perform." And "a permit expires if work does not commence within 12 months of plan approval"; once work starts it cannot pause more than 6 months without an extension. A fence needs a building permit only over 6 feet, a shed only over 200 square feet, and a roof, siding, window or door replacement needs its own permit (BZS FAQ, read 21 October 2026).
What this lookup does not tell you
Neither search shows complaints, insurance or how a job went. Our license match covers only the OCILB trades: we have not joined the city's HIC list, so remodel, roofing and deck firms show no license status here, and you should run the city search yourself. The state guide, check a contractor license in Ohio, covers Cleveland and Cincinnati and the state rules. Our copy of the permit file updates about monthly; the portal is the live record.
How we know this
Permits are the City of Columbus building permit records for October 2023 to September 2026, grouped into the trades above. "Reached final" uses permits a year or more old; the HVAC percentile figures use firms with 10 or more HVAC permits. License status is matched by business name to the Ohio OCILB register for the electrical, HVAC and plumbing trades only. License types and rules are quoted from the Columbus BZS pages under Sources, read 21 October 2026.
Numbers come from City of Columbus Building & Zoning Services permits on 1-, 2- and 3-family homes (the city's Accela permit layer), data through October 18, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- Does Columbus license contractors?
Yes. Building and Zoning Services issues its own contractor licenses: General Contractor, Home Improvement General, Home Improvement Limited, Demolition, Sewer and Water, Fire, sign erectors and journeyperson plumbers. Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration firms must hold an Ohio OCILB license before the city will license them.
- How do I look up a Columbus contractor's license?
On the city's Citizen Access portal, open Search for Licensed & Registered Contractors, pick the license type (for example HIC Limited or Heating HVAC) and search by business name. For electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics and refrigeration, check the state license too at the OCILB eLicense lookup.
- Which license does a roofer, siding or deck contractor need in Columbus?
A Home Improvement Limited license. The city lists roofing, siding, windows and doors, decks, basement waterproofing, fireplaces, fencing, sidewalks, stucco, pools and spas, asphalt paving, irrigation and gypsum board among the trades it covers. Additions and structural work on a 1–3 family home need a Home Improvement General license.
- Can I pull the permit myself and hire a contractor?
No. The city says: "Property owners cannot purchase permits for work that they will hire a contractor to perform." Homeowners may pull certain permits only for work they do themselves on the single-family home they live in.
- When does a Columbus permit expire?
The city says a permit expires if work does not start within 12 months of plan approval, and once started, work cannot pause for more than 6 months without an extension. Extension requests go to expiredpermits@columbus.gov.
Build your own list
Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.
Related guides
- How to check a contractor's license in Virginia
- Wheaton, IL contractor license lookup: city registration, state licenses and the permit record
- How to check a contractor's license in Ohio
- Austin contractor license lookup: which license, where to search, and what the permits show
- Subcontractor vs general contractor: who does what, and the state rules on who must subcontract
- Contractor Licenses — City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Search for Licensed & Registered Contractors — Columbus Citizen Access (accessed 2026-10-21)
- BZS Frequently Asked Questions — City of Columbus (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Accela Citizen Access (permit search) — City of Columbus (accessed 2026-10-21)
- OCILB eLicense Center — License Lookup (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Verifying licensed contractors — Ohio Division of Industrial Compliance (OCILB) (accessed 2026-10-20)