How to check a Missouri roofer

Almost every guide to hiring a roofer starts with "make sure they are licensed and insured". In Missouri the first half of that is close to meaningless, and following it will give you false confidence. This is what to do instead.

Everything below reflects the sources as of July 2026. Jurisdictions change requirements. Confirm with the issuing authority before you rely on it.

There is no Missouri roofing licence, and that is verifiable

Missouri does not license or register roofing contractors at the state level. No licence, no registry, no exam, no number.

We checked in the statute book rather than in a trade guide. Chapter 324 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri is the occupations and professions chapter, the place a roofing registration would live. It indexes 187 sections, from 324.001 to 324.1800, and contains no roofing registration. The 324.1100 range, which is sometimes cited in this context, is the private investigator and private fire investigator examiners statute.

Missouri has considered creating one more than once. Bills get published on the legislature's own website, where they look indistinguishable from law, and a bill is not a statute until it is in the code. So if a contractor tells you they are "state registered" in Missouri for roofing, the useful follow-up is not scepticism but a question: registered as what, with whom?

Source: Revised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 324, read at revisor.mo.gov.

What exists instead: a two-city patchwork

What can you actually check, where you live?

Missouri does not license or register roofing contractors at the state level. There is no state credential to look up, so what you can verify depends on your address. Three cases cover the state.

Kansas City

Reported requirement, confirm with the city

Kansas City is reported to require a Residential Building Contractor licence, obtained by passing an International Code Council exam, through the city. If your address is inside the city limits, ask for that licence number and check it with the city directly.

City of St. Louis

Reported requirement, confirm with the city

The City of St. Louis is reported to require a Construction Industry Contractor graduated business licence. Note this applies to the city, which is a separate jurisdiction from St. Louis County. Confirm which one governs your address before you rely on it.

The rest of Missouri

No roofing-specific credential exists, which covers most of the state. A roofer working without one here is not doing anything wrong, so the useful move is to change instruments: verify insurance, the contract and the manufacturer certification instead.

Where no credential exists, check these instead

• Current general liability and workers compensation certificates, sent to you directly by the insurance agent rather than forwarded by the contractor.
• A written contract with a deck change-order process: what happens if the deck needs replacing, at what price per sheet, and whether you approve it in writing first.
• Manufacturer certification for the exact panel system and gauge going on your house, not a brochure.
• Local references with addresses you can drive past.

Status as of July 2026. The absence of a state licence was verified against the Revised Statutes of Missouri. Jurisdictions change requirements, so confirm with the issuing city before you rely on any of this.

Note carefully how those two city entries are labelled. They are reported requirements, from trade sources, and we have not read either at the city's own site.

We are being fussy about that for a specific reason. This site was originally planned around a Missouri state roofing registration, complete with an effective date and an expiry date, that turned out never to have been enacted at all. We caught it before publishing because we went looking for the statute rather than trusting the summary. Having made that mistake once in private, we are not going to make the smaller version of it in public by promoting two trade-sourced city requirements to verified fact. When we read them, the labels come off.

The four things that actually carry weight

In most of Missouri there is nothing to look up, so this is the real checklist. It works everywhere, including in the two cities that do have a credential.

1. Insurance, from the agent, naming you

Ask for current general liability and workers compensation certificates, sent directly to you by the insurance agent, with you named as certificate holder.

The distinction matters more than it sounds. A PDF the contractor forwards proves a policy existed on the day that document was issued. A certificate the agent sends, naming you, proves it exists now and means you get notified if it lapses. Workers compensation is the one that protects you specifically: without it, an injury on your roof can become your problem.

2. A written contract with a deck change-order process

Nobody knows the condition of a roof deck until the old roof is off. That is not a failing, it is the nature of the job, and the fix is contractual rather than optimistic. The contract should state:

• A per-sheet price for deck replacement, agreed before work starts.
• That you approve any deck work in writing before it proceeds.
• That you get photographs of anything they say needs replacing.

Those three lines convert the most common cost blowup in roofing into a known, pre-priced contingency. A contractor who will not put them in writing is asking you to sign an open cheque.

3. Manufacturer certification for the exact system

Not a brochure, not a logo on a truck, not "we use good metal". The document naming the product and gauge being installed on your house. Metal systems frequently have manufacturer-specific installation requirements, and the warranty usually depends on them being followed.

4. Local references with addresses

Roofs you can drive past, ideally ones that have been through a Missouri storm season. Ask who handles a warranty callback in five years and whether that person is based here.

Storm crews, and the honest version of that warning

Significant hail brings out-of-area crews into Missouri within days. The usual advice is "only hire local", which is too blunt: legitimate companies travel to storm work, and plenty of local outfits are mediocre.

The useful filter is whether the four things above survive contact. A crew that cannot produce agent-issued certificates, will not put a deck change-order process in writing, cannot name the exact system with manufacturer documentation, and has no local addresses to show is a poor bet whether they are from Springfield or out of state.

Missouri also gives you something specific here, and it is the sharpest tool on this page. RSMo 407.725 bars a contractor from offering to cover your deductible and from negotiating your claim on your behalf, and requires them to hand you a detachable cancellation notice before you sign. A crew that opens with either of the first two is telling you how carefully they treat Missouri's requirements, before you have asked anything. See the hail claims guide.

A checklist to take to a quote

• Which jurisdiction governs my address, and does it require anything of roofers?
• If it does, can you show me that specific credential, by number?
• Will your agent send me current liability and workers compensation certificates naming me?
• What is the per-sheet price if the deck needs replacing, and do I approve it in writing first?
• Which exact system and gauge, and can I see the manufacturer certification?
• Where can I drive past three of your roofs?
• Who handles a warranty callback in five years, and are they based here?
• Is there a detachable cancellation notice attached to this contract?

Once you know what to ask, the Missouri Metal Roofing Guide covers the rest of the decision: which system, what moves the price, and whether metal is the right call for how long you are staying.

Questions homeowners ask

Is there a Missouri state roofing licence?

No. The Revised Statutes of Missouri contain no roofing licence or registration. Chapter 324, the occupations and professions chapter where one would sit, indexes 187 sections and none of them is roofing. If someone tells you they hold a Missouri state roofing licence, they are describing something the state does not issue.

Is it legal to hire a roofer with no credential?

Where none is required, yes, and that covers most of Missouri. This is the part people get wrong in both directions: an uncredentialed roofer in most of the state is not operating illegally, and a credential from another jurisdiction does not make one more legitimate at your address. The credential question is only meaningful in the places that have one.

What is the single most useful thing to ask for?

Current general liability and workers compensation certificates, sent to you directly by the insurance agent rather than forwarded by the contractor. A forwarded PDF proves a policy existed on the day it was issued. A certificate sent by the agent, naming you as certificate holder, proves it exists now.

Why do you say Kansas City and St. Louis are only reported requirements?

Because we have not read them at the cities' own sites. Both come from trade sources. This site was originally planned around a Missouri state roofing registration that turned out never to have been enacted, and the standard we took from that is to label anything we have not personally verified. When we read them, the label comes off.

How do I check whether my address is inside the city?

Ask the jurisdiction rather than inferring from the mailing address. This matters most around St. Louis, where the City of St. Louis is an independent city separate from St. Louis County, and around Kansas City, where the city crosses four counties and the state line runs through the metro.

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