Kansas has no state roofing license and no state roofing exam. Every roofing contractor working in the state registers with the Kansas Attorney General instead, subcontractors and out-of-state crews included, and the application needs a certificate for at least $500,000 of liability insurance.
The Attorney General sets the registration fee by regulation, so get the current amount from the AG’s roofing registration page before you file. A city or county may run its own contractor license on top of the state registration, so call the building department in each town where you plan to work.
Kansas asks what experience you have and sets no minimum
The rules are in the Kansas Roofing Registration Act, K.S.A. 50-6,121 through 50-6,138, which you can read on the Kansas Revisor of Statutes site. The Attorney General runs the registration, may take applications online, and sets the fees and the insurance or bond amounts by regulation.
The application lists no test and no minimum years in the trade. It asks for a statement of your experience and qualifications “if any.”
Exam states ask for far more. Florida roofing applicants pass two exams and need 4 years of experience, with at least one year as a foreman. California’s C-39 license also takes 4 years of journeyman-level experience plus a trade exam.
Read sections 50-6,122 through 50-6,125 before you file, because they hold the definitions and the application.
Anyone who sells or does roofing work in Kansas has to register
The Act defines a roofing contractor as anyone, “including a subcontractor and nonresident contractor,” who does commercial or residential roofing for a fee in the ordinary course of business. Offering or soliciting the work counts on its own, so a company needs the registration before its first sales pitch in Kansas. The covered work is construction, installation, renovation, repair, maintenance, alteration and waterproofing.
The Act leaves out three groups:
- people doing demolition, or cleaning up debris that contains roofing material
- employees or day laborers working under the direct supervision of the registered roofer who hired them
- an “exempt general contractor”
Your own crew members don’t each register. A sub crew is a different case, because the Act names subcontractors as roofing contractors. Ask every sub crew for its registration certificate before it starts on one of your jobs.
An out-of-state company counts as a nonresident contractor if it claims residency in another state. It also counts if, in the past year, it kept no Kansas place of business as a roofer or filed no Kansas resident income tax return. Storm crews from outside Kansas fall into this group and register like anyone else, and a nonresident names the Kansas Secretary of State as its agent to receive legal papers.
A general contractor is exempt only if it can prove one of two setups when the AG asks. In the first, the GC meets all state and local requirements and does the roofing alongside other construction work, with roofing at or under 50% of the total project cost. In the second, the GC subcontracts the roofing to a separate registered roofer it does not supervise and keeps a copy of that roofer’s certificate on site during business hours. Its contract also has to make that roofer responsible for all the roofing. Neither route allows door-to-door sales.
If you sub roofing for a GC, give them a copy of your certificate for the job site and expect a contract that puts the whole roof on you.
The application needs proof of insurance, workers’ comp and paid-up Kansas taxes
You must be at least 18 and file the application under oath. It asks for:
- your name, physical address, business name and address, and phone number, plus details on anyone else authorized to act for the business
- a statement of your experience and qualifications, if you have any
- a certificate of liability insurance for at least $500,000
- proof of workers’ comp under the Kansas workers’ compensation act, or an affidavit of exemption or self-insurance as that act allows
- whether you have been registered or licensed as a roofer in another state, and whether that license is in good standing or has had any discipline
- a current tax clearance certificate or letter from the Kansas Department of Revenue
The AG must refuse an application that arrives without the tax clearance. The same goes for one with false, misleading or incomplete information, unpaid fees, or a suspended or revoked Kansas registration behind it. A nonresident whose roofing license in another state is suspended or revoked is refused too. The tax clearance rule covers renewals as well, so request a fresh letter each time.
After a denial the AG sends written notice and gives you 10 days to respond or fix the problem. After that you can appeal under the Kansas administrative procedure act or reapply after a 90-day wait. Application, renewal and reapplication fees are all non-refundable, so check every line before you send it.
Your insurer has to notify the AG if the policy is canceled or lapses for any reason, so a lapsed policy reaches the AG whether or not you report it. For what the coverage costs, see Roofing Workers’ Comp and General Liability: What It Costs and How Audits Work.
A registration that falls out of good standing stops your new sales
Kansas classes a registration as “not in good standing” when the roofer:
- lets its liability insurance or workers’ comp lapse
- lets its corporation, LLC or partnership go inactive with the Secretary of State
- fails to renew
- fails to report violations
- fails to file and pay Kansas taxes when due
- lets a required registration in another state lapse, for nonresidents
From the date of the notice, the roofer “shall cease soliciting or entering new roofing services and projects.” Jobs where physical work has already begun can be finished. You then have 30 days to fix the problem with proof the AG accepts.
Put your insurance renewal, workers’ comp renewal, Secretary of State filings and Kansas tax due dates on one calendar, with a reminder a month before each.
Working unregistered bars you from suing to collect in Kansas
The Act says: “No person shall engage in the business of or act in the capacity of a roofing contractor within this state without having a valid registration certificate.” An unregistered roofer also cannot “bring or maintain any claim, action, suit, or proceeding in any court of this state” related to the roofing business. If a homeowner stops paying on a job you did without a registration, you can’t take it to a Kansas court.
Working unregistered, or while your registration is suspended or revoked, also makes you liable for a civil penalty under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, K.S.A. 50-636(a). That penalty comes on top of any other relief, and homeowners keep their other remedies against you.
File before you pitch your first Kansas job.
Residential jobs across the Oklahoma line need an endorsement from 2028
Oklahoma, on Kansas’s southern border, created a Residential Roofing Endorsement. Its transition starts January 1, 2027, and from January 1, 2028 the endorsement is required for all residential roofing in Oklahoma. If you take work south of the line, start that process during the transition year. The details are in Oklahoma Roofing License: Requirements, Exam and Cost.
Google’s Local Services Ads ask for your state licensing, so keep the upload current
Google lists “Business license on state level” and “Owner license on state level” for roofing in Local Services Ads, where local law requires them. A Kansas roofer would show the AG registration there, along with any city license. One remodeler on r/smallbusiness said their Local Services account was suspended for a while because they did not submit new licensing in time. Upload each renewed certificate the day it arrives. Budgets and disputes are covered in Google Local Services Ads for Roofers: Budget, Cost per Lead and Disputes.
Have these ready before you file
- The current fee, from the AG’s roofing registration page
- Your business name, physical address and phone number, and the names of anyone authorized to act for the company
- A short statement of your roofing experience
- Your liability insurance certificate
- Proof of workers’ comp, or the exemption or self-insurance affidavit
- A current tax clearance letter from the Kansas Department of Revenue
- Any roofing license you hold in another state, and its standing
- Registration certificates from every sub crew, collected before they start
A registration makes it legal to sell roofs in Kansas, and homeowners still have to find you when they search. To see where you show up, run the free Google Maps heatmap: pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.