Missouri has no state roofing licence

There is no statewide licensing scheme for roofing contractors in Missouri. There is no state roofing board, no state examination, and no state issued number that a roofer in this county can be checked against. This surprises people, because roofing feels like exactly the sort of trade a state would license, and because plenty of advertising in this market is written to imply otherwise.

The legislative record

The Missouri legislature has been asked to create a licence three times in the last decade and has declined three times.

• SB 1022 in 2016. Introduced, did not pass.
• SB 153 in 2019. Introduced, did not pass.
• SB 326 in 2021. Introduced, did not pass. This one gets cited online as though it were law, and it is not law. It failed, like the two before it.

So when a company in this county says it is licensed, it is not referring to a state roofing licence, because that does not exist. It will be referring to a municipal business licence, which is a registration to trade in a particular city and is generally a matter of paperwork and a fee rather than a test of competence. Some municipalities in the metro do run their own contractor licensing with real requirements. Most do not.

Then what is actually worth verifying

The absence of a licence does not leave you without checks. It moves them.

1. General liability insurance. Ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly by the insurer or the agent, not a copy forwarded by the contractor. It should name the company you are contracting with, and the dates should cover your job.
2. Workers compensation. This is the one that reaches into your life if it is missing. If an uninsured person is injured on your roof, the question of who is responsible becomes your problem. Ask, and ask whether it covers subcontracted crews as well as employees.
3. The entity name. The name on the proposal, the name on the insurance certificate and the name registered with the Missouri Secretary of State should be the same name. Where they differ, ask why before you sign rather than after something goes wrong.
4. A physical address you can find. Not because a home address is a problem, it is not and it is common in this county, but because an address that does not resolve to anything at all is a different matter.
5. Manufacturer relationships, stated exactly. Ask which shingle lines a company installs and how it buys them. Keys installs Atlas and Malarkey, only those two, which is a narrow answer and a checkable one.

Two related things Missouri also does not have

A matching law. Missouri has no matching statute and no matching regulation for roofs. People cite a state regulation for this and the regulation they are citing governs automobile body parts, not buildings. Whether an insurer has to make an undamaged slope match a repaired one turns on the wording of your policy, not on state law. The Missouri case usually cited on the point is Alessi v. Mid-Century Insurance, 464 S.W.3d 529, Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, 2015.

A short deadline to sue an insurer. The limitation period for an action on a policy in Missouri is ten years under RSMo 516.110(1), and RSMo 431.030 makes a shorter contractual suit limitation clause null and void. A clause in a policy purporting to give you twelve months is not the last word on the subject.

Statutory references: RSMo 407.725; RSMo 516.110(1); RSMo 431.030; RSMo chapter 325 including 325.055. Bill history: SB 1022 (2016), SB 153 (2019), SB 326 (2021), all failed.