Somerville, MA contractor license lookup: HIC, construction supervisor, trade licenses and the permits

Which license each job needs in Somerville

The HIC rule covers contractors and subcontractors working "on an existing, owner-occupied residential property with one to four units", and "An HIC Registration is different from a Construction Supervisor License (CSL) and they are not interchangeable" (HIC Registration, read 22 October 2026). For buildings under 35,000 cubic feet a licensed construction supervisor or registered design professional must oversee construction, and "Massachusetts does not recognize out of state contractor licenses" (CSL page). Plumbers and gas fitters may not work unless "licensed by the examiners" (M.G.L. c. 142, s. 3).

The Guaranty Fund only works if the contractor pulled the permit

The HIC Guaranty Fund "Compensates eligible consumers for their actual loss up to $25,000", but only if the contractor was registered when the contract was signed, the contractor (not you) obtained the building permit, and the home is your primary residence of one to four units (Guaranty Fund claims). The usual Somerville remodel permit carries $36,497 and the usual addition $167,060, so on an addition the fund covers a fraction of the job. A contractor who asks you to pull the permit is taking even that away.

How to run the lookup in five minutes

1. Ask for four numbers: the HIC registration, the supervisor's CSL, and the electrician's and plumber's licenses.
2. HIC: search the Contractor Hub. The business on the result should be the one on your contract.
3. CSL: search OPSI's verification site by name or number.
4. Electrician, plumber, gas fitter: search eLIPSE.
5. Track record: open the firm on our Somerville electrician list, plumber list or remodeler list.

How to search Somerville permit records

The City says "You can research and apply for home and property permits online using the City of Somerville's CitizenServe portal" (Licenses and Permits, read 22 October 2026). The same applications are published as an open dataset, Applications for Permits and Licenses, one row per application handled through CitizenServe by Inspectional Services and the City Clerk. Inspectional Services is at 1 Franey Road, 617-625-6600 ext. 5600, isd@somervillema.gov (Building Division).

The portal is organised by application. Ours is organised by firm: each firm's or tradesperson's Somerville permits, the share closed and the days to close, on the Somerville permit statistics page and the compare lists.

What 11,222 Somerville permits show

"Closed" is the share of permits a year or more old the City marked closed. Electrical permits close most often (89.1%, the usual one in 112 days); roofing permits are often never formally closed, so the 38.8% there says more about paperwork than roofs. Among the 62 electricians with 10 or more permits, the 10th-percentile one closed 69.8% and the 90th 96.4%.

See every Somerville electrician by permits closed →

Red flags in Somerville

• No HIC registration on a firm working on your owner-occupied home, or an HIC number that belongs to a different business.
• A request that you pull a homeowner permit. You lose the Guaranty Fund and take on the work.
• A "license" from another state. Massachusetts does not recognise out-of-state contractor licenses.
• A plumber or gas fitter who cannot give a state license number.
• A firm that has gone quiet: 28 electricians, 16 gas fitters and 14 plumbers with 5+ permits filed none in the last 12 months of our data.

What this lookup does not tell you

Massachusetts publishes no bulk license list, so our Somerville pages show no license status; a blank there says nothing about the firm. We group permits by the name on them, so a firm filed under two spellings can appear twice. Plumbing and gas permits record no job cost. Our data stops at September 2026. Statewide rules, required contract terms and penalties are in How to check a contractor's license in Massachusetts.