How to Check a Contractor's ROC Licence Before They Touch Your Land

Every post on this site that names a contractor ends the same way: ask for the ROC number and check it. This is the post that explains how, what you are looking at, and what the licence is actually worth if the job goes wrong. It is less than it sounds, and still worth the five minutes.

When a licence is required

Arizona requires a licence for contracting work unless an exemption applies. The one everyone has heard of is the handyman exemption, and it is narrower than its reputation.

Under A.R.S. § 32-1121(A)(14), work is exempt when it is "of a casual or minor nature" and the price, "including labor, materials and all other items", is less than $1,000. The same paragraph then takes most of that back:

• It does not apply if the work requires a local building permit.
• It does not apply where the work is part of a larger operation, or a job is split into contracts under $1,000 "for the purpose of evasion of this chapter or otherwise."
• It does not apply to anyone whose advertising fails to include the words "not a licensed contractor."

So a $3,000 lot clearing is not handyman work. It is over the threshold, it is not minor, and quoting it as three $900 days does not change that. The Registrar's consumer notice says the same: licensed if the total, labour and materials, exceeds $1,000 or the work needs a permit.

The other exemption that matters is § 32-1121(A)(5), the owner-builder: you may work on your own property without a licence if it is for your sole occupancy and not for sale or rent. That covers you clearing your own lot. It does not cover a neighbour with a skid steer doing it for cash.

How to run the search

The licence database is at azroc.my.site.com, reached from roc.az.gov, searchable by licence number or business name. Confirm three things:

1. Status. The Registrar's advice is to make sure the licence "is current on the day you sign the contract." Not last year.
2. Name. The entity on the licence should be the entity on your contract and on the cheque.
3. Classification. A licence is for a scope of work, not for everything. This is the one people skip.

The Registrar also takes calls on 1-877-692-9762.

What the classifications mean

Arizona issues commercial (A- and C-), residential (R-) and dual (CR-) licences. The classifications a Cochise County landowner meets most often:

Note that "clearing" and "grubbing" do not appear in the CR-2 scope; it is written in terms of moving earth. In practice machine clearing is done under CR-2 or a general licence; if a contractor says otherwise, ask the Registrar.

What the bond is, and is not

Every licensee posts a surety bond under A.R.S. § 32-1152. For a specialty residential contractor it is between $1,000 and $7,500; for a general residential contractor, $5,000 to $15,000. Commercial amounts scale with volume. A dual CR- licensee posts one bond with separate residential and commercial portions, so the residential portion behind your job is in that $1,000 to $7,500 range.

The residential bond covers the Registrar, people who furnished labour or materials, and owners described in the Recovery Fund statute. Notice the size: a $7,500 bond behind a $20,000 pad-and-driveway job is a floor shared with every other claimant that year, not insurance.

The Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund

Under § 32-1152(C), a residential or dual licensee must either post an additional $200,000 bond or pay into the Recovery Fund; the Registrar says most choose the fund. Under § 32-1132, the fund compensates people damaged by a licensed residential contractor's violation of the licensing law, provided the contractor was licensed when the contract was signed, when the first payment was made, or when work began. Payment is capped under § 32-1133(E) at $30,000, after anything recovered elsewhere, including the bond, is subtracted.

Getting to the fund is a process. The Registrar's Recovery Fund page says a claim may be filed only after discipline is obtained through a complaint and the bond claim has been fully processed, and within two years after all proceedings and appeals on the Registrar's order end. The civil route in § 32-1133 has its own two-year clock.

What the contract must say

A.R.S. § 32-1158(A) applies to any contract over $1,000 between a contractor and a property owner and requires it to be in writing with:

1. The contractor's name, business address and licence number.
2. Your name and mailing address, and the jobsite address or legal description.
3. The date of the contract.
4. The estimated completion date.
5. A description of the work.
6. The total price, including taxes.
7. Any advance deposit.
8. Any progress payments and the stage at which each is due.
9. A notice, in at least ten-point bold type, that you have the right to file a written complaint with the Registrar within the time allowed, with the Registrar's phone number and website.

Both parties sign, and you get a legible copy and a written receipt for any cash. For a lot clearing, item 5 is the one that matters: acres, what stays, where the material goes, haul-off included or not. "Clear lot" describes nothing. A contract missing these things is still a contract, § 32-1158(C) says so, but a contractor who leaves out their licence number has told you something.

If the job goes wrong

The licence buys you access to the Registrar's complaint process, which is free. For remodels and repairs, where site work falls, a complaint "must be filed within two years from the date work was last performed." You file through the online portal and an investigator contacts you. The Compliance Department also investigates unlicensed contracting, so a complaint against someone who should have had a licence is still worth filing, though there is no bond or fund behind them. If you are chasing money the order is complaint, discipline, bond claim, then Recovery Fund. Keep the contract, the scale tickets, the photographs and every text message.

The short version

Over $1,000 or needs a permit means licensed, and a $3,000 clearing is both. Search the name at azroc.my.site.com on the day you sign; check status, name and classification: CR-2 or a general licence for dirt work, CR-41 for septic, CR-53 for the well. Expect a $1,000 to $7,500 bond and a $30,000 Recovery Fund cap that may not reach bare land. Get the nine contract items in writing. You have two years from the last day of work to complain.

When a contractor calls you through this site, they have been asked for their ROC number and told you will check it. Do. Tell us the parcel and the job and a licensed local contractor will call you to quote it. Our owner-builder post covers what you may do yourself.