Do roofers have to be licensed in Missouri?

Not by the state. Missouri does not license or register roofing contractors at the state level, and we verified that against the Revised Statutes of Missouri rather than a trade guide. Kansas City and the City of St. Louis are reported to require credentials of their own, and most of the state requires none. Anyone who tells you they hold a Missouri state roofing licence is describing something that does not exist.

Can a Missouri roofer waive or cover my insurance deductible?

RSMo 407.725 subsection 2 says a contractor shall not advertise or promise to pay or rebate all or any portion of any insurance deductible as an inducement to a sale. The section defines that broadly enough to reach discounts against the fee, allowances, gifts, coupons, credits and referral fees. Subsection 7 makes a violation an unfair practice under the Missouri merchandising practices act.

Can my contractor negotiate with my insurance company?

Subsection 6 of the same section says a contractor shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on behalf of a property owner on any insurance claim connected with roof or exterior work. Offering counts, not just doing it. That is a job for you, or for a licensed public adjuster, or for your own advisor.

What if my insurer denies the claim after I have signed?

Subsection 3 gives you a cancellation right: you may cancel before midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or part of the claim is not a covered loss. Notice to the contractor must be in writing but needs no particular form, and if mailed it is effective on deposit. Under subsection 5 your payments come back within ten days, apart from emergency work you acknowledged in writing.

How long does a metal roof last compared with asphalt?

Longer, which is the entire economic argument in a state that gets both hail and tornadoes. The honest way to think about it is replacement cycles rather than a warranty number: if your asphalt is being replaced on storm timing rather than at the end of its life, the relevant question is how many of those cycles you avoid. Ask any professional for the manufacturer warranty on the specific system and gauge they are quoting, in writing, and read what it says about hail and cosmetic denting.

What does a metal roof cost in Missouri?

There is no published schedule for roofing prices anywhere, so every figure on every site including ours is a market observation rather than a verified number. Our cost guide is explicit about that, leads with what actually moves the price, and puts ranges in a labelled box. Get at least two written quotes and use any published range only to sanity-check them.

The Missouri Metal Roofing Guide

Everything a Missouri homeowner needs before quoting a metal roof: what the state does and does not require of whoever shows up, what the one relevant statute actually says about your insurance claim, what moves the price, and how to decide. We cite primary sources and date anything that moves.

Start here, because the first thing most people ask has a surprising answer

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

We checked that in the statute book rather than taking it from a trade guide. Chapter 324 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri is the occupations and professions chapter, where a roofing registration would live if one existed. It indexes 187 sections and contains none.

Worth knowing why that is easy to get wrong: Missouri has considered creating a roofing registration several times, and proposed bills are published on the legislature's own website where they look indistinguishable from law. A bill is not a statute. If anyone tells you they hold a Missouri state roofing licence or registration, that is not a thing you can be issued, and the useful follow-up is to ask what credential they actually mean.

Source: Revised Statutes of Missouri, Chapter 324, read at revisor.mo.gov. Status as of July 2026.

Stratified limestone bluff above summer hardwood forest in Missouri — Missouri limestone, the bluff bedding this site takes its look from. Illustrative image.

So what can you check?

It depends entirely on your address, and for most of Missouri the answer is that there is no credential to check, which changes what you should be asking for.

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.

The two city requirements above are marked as reported rather than confirmed on purpose. We have not yet read them at the cities' own sites, and given how this build started we are not going to state them as fact until we do. The verification guide goes deeper on what carries weight where nothing is on file.

The one Missouri statute that reaches almost every storm job

Missouri may not license roofers, but it does regulate how they behave once an insurance claim is involved, and in a hail state that covers a great deal of the work. RSMo 407.725 is the section, and it is short, specific and genuinely useful.

What Missouri law says about your roofer and your claim

Missouri has no roofing licence, but it does have one statute that reaches almost every storm-damage job in the state, and most homeowners have never heard of it. RSMo 407.725 governs how a contractor may behave on work paid under a property and casualty policy. Five things it does.

1

They cannot offer to cover your deductible

Subsection 2: a contractor shall not advertise or promise to pay or rebate all or any portion of any insurance deductible as an inducement to the sale of goods or services. The section defines that broadly, and it is worth reading the breadth: it includes granting any allowance or offering any discount against the fees to be charged, and paying you or anyone associated with the property any compensation, gift, prize, bonus, coupon, credit, referral fee, or other item of monetary value, for any reason.
2

They cannot handle the insurance company for you

Subsection 6: a contractor shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on behalf of an owner or possessor of real estate on any insurance claim in connection with roof systems or other exterior work. Note that offering counts, not just doing it.
3

Your contract must come with a detachable cancellation notice

Subsection 4 puts duties on the contractor BEFORE you sign. They must give you a statement in boldface type of at least ten points telling you about the cancellation right, and a fully completed form in duplicate, captioned NOTICE OF CANCELLATION, attached to the contract but easily detachable, also in boldface of at least ten points. This is the most checkable item on the list: look at the paperwork in front of you.
4

You can cancel if your insurer denies the claim

Subsection 3: if you signed a contract for work to be paid under a property and casualty policy, you may cancel before midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or part of the claim is not a covered loss. You cancel in writing to the contractor at the address in the contract. It does not have to take any particular form, and if mailed it is effective on deposit.
5

Your money comes back within ten days

Subsection 5: within ten days of cancellation the contractor must return payments, partial payments, deposits and any note or evidence of indebtedness. The one carve-out is emergency services you acknowledged in writing as necessary to prevent damage, for which they are entitled to reasonable value. A contract clause charging you a fee for anything other than emergency services is not enforceable against you if you cancelled under this section.

Why this matters at the door. "We'll cover your deductible" and "we'll deal with the insurance company for you" are the two most common openers in storm-chasing sales. Missouri addresses both by name. A contractor who leads with either is telling you something before you have asked a single question.

Source: RSMo 407.725, read at revisor.mo.gov. Effective 2014-08-28 (L. 2011 S.B. 101, A.L. 2014 S.B. 610). Subsection 7 provides that a violation is an unfair practice under the Missouri merchandising practices act. Status as of July 2026. This describes what the section says and is general information, not legal advice; read the section yourself and take your own situation to your own advisor.

The most immediately actionable item is the third one. Subsection 4 requires the contractor, before you sign, to hand you a detachable NOTICE OF CANCELLATION form in boldface type of at least ten points. If you have a storm-damage contract in front of you right now, look for it. Its absence is a fact about the paperwork, not a matter of opinion. The hail claims guide walks the whole sequence.

Why metal, in this state specifically

Missouri sits in both the hail corridor and the tornado corridor. The practical consequence for a homeowner is that roofs here are often replaced on storm timing rather than at the end of their service life, sometimes more than once on the same house.

That is the real argument for metal and it is arithmetic rather than aesthetics: you are buying out of a replacement cycle. Whether it pays depends on how long you plan to own the house, what your carrier does with impact resistance, and what the alternative would have cost you across the same years.

We publish no storm statistics on this site. Not because they would not help, but because we have not verified any at a primary source, and a site whose entire pitch is "check things properly" cannot make up numbers to sound authoritative. If we verify a dataset later, we will add it and say where it came from.

Which system you are actually buying

Standing seam hides its fasteners under the seam. It is the premium residential system and what most people picture.
Exposed-fastener panel screws through the face of the metal. Cheaper, faster, and the sensible answer on a great many farm and rural buildings. The comparison guide is honest about where each wins.
Stone-coated steel is steel with a granulated surface, for owners who want metal performance without a metal look.

What it costs, and why we are careful with numbers

Roofing has no published price schedule. Every dollar figure on every website, ours included, is somebody's observation of a market rather than a verified fact. So the useful thing is what moves the number: system type and gauge, roof size and pitch, the number of penetrations, how much tear-off is involved, deck condition once it is opened up, and access.

The cost guide puts ranges around those and labels them for what they are. Get two written quotes that name the exact system and gauge, and make sure they are quoting the same job before you compare the totals.

An owner's decision checklist

Is this storm-driven or planned? If storm-driven, read the claims section above before signing anything.
Has the insurer put anything in writing yet about what is and is not covered?
Does the contract in front of you include the detachable cancellation notice the statute requires?
Which credential regime applies at your address, and have you asked the city rather than the contractor?
Will the agent, not the contractor, send you current liability and workers compensation certificates naming you?
What is the per-sheet price if the deck needs replacing, and do you approve it in writing first?
Which exact system and gauge, and can you see the manufacturer certification?
Do you plan to own the house long enough to skip a replacement cycle?

Where to go next

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Questions homeowners ask

Do roofers have to be licensed in Missouri?: Not by the state. Missouri does not license or register roofing contractors at the state level, and we verified that against the Revised Statutes of Missouri rather than a trade guide. Kansas City and the City of St. Louis are reported to require credentials of their own, and most of the state requires none. Anyone who tells you they hold a Missouri state roofing licence is describing something that does not exist.
Can a Missouri roofer waive or cover my insurance deductible?: RSMo 407.725 subsection 2 says a contractor shall not advertise or promise to pay or rebate all or any portion of any insurance deductible as an inducement to a sale. The section defines that broadly enough to reach discounts against the fee, allowances, gifts, coupons, credits and referral fees. Subsection 7 makes a violation an unfair practice under the Missouri merchandising practices act.
Can my contractor negotiate with my insurance company?: Subsection 6 of the same section says a contractor shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on behalf of a property owner on any insurance claim connected with roof or exterior work. Offering counts, not just doing it. That is a job for you, or for a licensed public adjuster, or for your own advisor.
What if my insurer denies the claim after I have signed?: Subsection 3 gives you a cancellation right: you may cancel before midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or part of the claim is not a covered loss. Notice to the contractor must be in writing but needs no particular form, and if mailed it is effective on deposit. Under subsection 5 your payments come back within ten days, apart from emergency work you acknowledged in writing.
How long does a metal roof last compared with asphalt?: Longer, which is the entire economic argument in a state that gets both hail and tornadoes. The honest way to think about it is replacement cycles rather than a warranty number: if your asphalt is being replaced on storm timing rather than at the end of its life, the relevant question is how many of those cycles you avoid. Ask any professional for the manufacturer warranty on the specific system and gauge they are quoting, in writing, and read what it says about hail and cosmetic denting.
What does a metal roof cost in Missouri?: There is no published schedule for roofing prices anywhere, so every figure on every site including ours is a market observation rather than a verified number. Our cost guide is explicit about that, leads with what actually moves the price, and puts ranges in a labelled box. Get at least two written quotes and use any published range only to sanity-check them.

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