How to Get a Contractor License or Registration in Kansas

What Kansas actually says about contractor licensing

The State of Kansas answers this question directly on its own portal, and the answer is short. The Kansas Business Center is an inter-agency collaboration between the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and Revenue and the Secretary of State, and its construction and contracting starter kit states: "In addition to the general requirements for starting a business in Kansas, cities and counties set licensing requirements for construction or contracting businesses."

There is no second sentence pointing at a state board, because there is no state board. Kansas has no contractor licensing agency, no statewide general or specialty classification system, and no state examination for general contracting. It also has no state plumbing, electrical or HVAC contractor licence: the starter kit notes that "specific licenses may also be required for electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or other construction trades", and it says that in the same breath as the sentence about cities and counties, because those trade credentials are local too.

What Kansas does publish is a map to the local rules. The starter kit carries a list headed "City and County Contractor Licensing" naming roughly thirty jurisdictions that publish licensing information, including Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas City and Wyandotte County, Johnson County, Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, Manhattan, Hutchinson, Emporia, Dodge City, Garden City, Hays and Junction City. It then says that "if the city or county you are looking for is not listed, please refer to the city or county website links below", and links a county website index and the League of Kansas Municipalities city index.

Official sources: Kansas Business Center: Construction and Contracting Starter Kit; Kansas Business Center (Business One Stop)

How to find the rule that actually applies to your address

Because Kansas licenses locally, the only correct answer to "what licence do I need" is the one attached to the job address. The State of Kansas publishes the starting point itself: the Kansas Business Center construction starter kit carries a list headed "City and County Contractor Licensing" naming roughly thirty jurisdictions that publish contractor licensing information, among them Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas City and Wyandotte County, Johnson County, Topeka, Lawrence, Salina, Manhattan and Hutchinson.

If your city or county is not on that list, the same page tells you where to go next: "if the city or county you are looking for is not listed, please refer to the city or county website links below", and links a County Websites index and a "City Websites - League of Kansas Municipalities" index. Kansas is telling you plainly that the list is not exhaustive and that the absence of your town from it means nothing about whether that town licenses contractors.

Contractor Lane does not publish any Kansas city or county fee, insurance minimum, exam requirement or renewal date, and that is deliberate rather than an omission. Municipal rules in Kansas are set independently by each jurisdiction, they change on each jurisdiction's own schedule, and a figure copied from one Kansas city is evidence of nothing about the next one. Call the building department for the address you are actually working at, ask what class of licence the scope of work falls into, and ask whether a licence held in a neighbouring jurisdiction counts for anything there. Do that before you bid, because the answer can change what the job is worth.

Official sources: Kansas Business Center: Construction and Contracting Starter Kit; Kansas Business Center (Business One Stop)

The roofing registration, step by step

Roofing is the one credential a Kansas contractor gets from the state, and the act sets out the process in enough detail to plan around. K.S.A. 50-6,125(a)(1) requires an applicant who is at least 18 to submit an application under oath containing a statement of the applicant's experience and qualifications as a roofing contractor, the applicant's name, physical address, business name and address, information on any other person authorised to act for the business entity, and a phone number.

Two proofs go in with it. A certificate of liability insurance "shall be filed with the application and shall be not less than $500,000", and any insurer issuing such a policy is required to notify the Attorney General if it is cancelled or lapses. The applicant must also give the Attorney General satisfactory proof of "either workers' compensation coverage satisfactory under the workers' compensation act or an affidavit of exemption or self-insurance as authorized pursuant to the workers' compensation act". A current tax clearance certificate or letter from the Department of Revenue is required too: K.S.A. 50-6,125(b)(6) makes the failure to provide one a ground for refusing registration.

A felony conviction does not automatically stop you. K.S.A. 50-6,126(a) requires every application and renewal form to ask under oath whether the applicant has been convicted of a felony offence and its nature, and subsection (b) provides that "conviction of an offense shall not disqualify a person from registration as a roofing contractor under this act, provided the applicant has truthfully disclosed the conviction and nature of the offense." The disclosure is the requirement; concealing it is what ends the application.

On timing, K.S.A. 50-6,130 gives the Attorney General 60 calendar days from the date of application to either issue or deny, and provides that no certificate is issued until all documentation and fees are received. A certificate runs to the end of the current fiscal year ending June 30, "except that an initial registration certificate issued in May or June is valid until June 30 of the subsequent year." If you are applying in the spring, that carve-out is worth a fortnight of patience.

• Application under oath, applicant at least 18 years of age (K.S.A. 50-6,125).
• Certificate of liability insurance not less than $500,000, filed with the application.
• Workers' compensation coverage, or an affidavit of exemption or self-insurance.
• Current tax clearance certificate or letter from the Kansas Department of Revenue.
• Felony convictions disclosed under oath; disclosure does not itself disqualify.
• Attorney General issues or denies within 60 calendar days; certificate expires June 30.

Official sources: K.S.A. 50-6,125: Registration application requirements; K.S.A. 50-6,126: Criminal history record inquiry; K.S.A. 50-6,130: Application for registration, time limit for processing

Keeping a roofing registration alive, and what the fees can legally be

Renewal is annual and the date is fixed for everyone. K.S.A. 50-6,132(a)(1) requires a renewal application filed with the Attorney General "by June 30" together with the renewal fee, with statements under oath about any felony conviction since the last certificate and any adjudicated violation of the act. Subsection (a)(2) requires the renewal to carry a copy of the liability insurance certificate, proof of workers' compensation coverage unless exempt or self-insured, and a current tax clearance certificate or letter from the Department of Revenue.

Miss it and the clock is unforgiving. K.S.A. 50-6,132(c) provides that a contractor who fails to file by June 30 is deemed not in good standing, gets "a 30-day grace period after June 30 to renew such registration certificate without a late fee", and that "if the certificate is not renewed before July 31, the certificate shall be revoked." Thirty-one days, once a year, is the entire margin.

On money, this guide states caps and not prices, deliberately. The act sets the fees "by the attorney general" within statutory ceilings, and the Attorney General's own website was returning HTTP 403 to us when this guide was written, so we did not read a current published figure and will not invent one. What the statute allows is: an application fee "which shall not exceed $500 for the annual registration certificate" and an annual renewal fee that "shall not exceed $500" (K.S.A. 50-6,128); a late fee that "shall not exceed $300" (K.S.A. 50-6,132(c)); a name or address change fee "not to exceed $25" (K.S.A. 50-6,131); and a reinstatement fee for a revoked certificate "not to exceed $500 plus the fee established by K.S.A. 50-6,128" (K.S.A. 50-6,132(d)(2)). Treat every one of those as a ceiling, and get the actual number from the Attorney General before you write the cheque.

Two operating duties are worth building into your process on day one. K.S.A. 50-6,127(b) requires the registration certificate number to be submitted "when applying for any permit issued by the state, or any of its political subdivisions, for commercial or residential roofing services or projects", and to be written on each permit issued. K.S.A. 50-6,131 requires you to notify the Attorney General "not later than 10 days after the date of a change in a roofing contractor's name, address or legal service agent", and states that doing business under a new business name, or a change in the legal status of the business, "requires issuance of a new registration certificate" rather than an amendment.

Official sources: K.S.A. 50-6,132: Registration certificate renewal; reinstatement fee; K.S.A. 50-6,128: Fees; roofing contractor registration fund; K.S.A. 50-6,131: Notification of attorney general required, when; fees; K.S.A. 50-6,127: Duties of roofing contractor

The state credentials that do exist, and who they catch

Kansas has no general contractor licence, but it does run several statewide programmes that reach specific construction work, and a contractor who reasons from "Kansas does not license contractors" straight to "there is nothing at state level" will walk into one of them.

Roofing is registered statewide by the Attorney General under the Kansas roofing registration act. Water well work is licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, whose Water Well Program describes its purpose as "the licensing and regulation of water well contractors in Kansas" and requires a completed application, "successful completion of a written exam" and fees, followed by annual renewal, well records on form WWC-5 and continuing education. Elevator work is licensed by the State Fire Marshal, which states that "all elevator contractors, elevator mechanics and elevator inspectors are required to be licensed by the state" under the Kansas Elevator Safety Act enacted in 2022.

Lead work is the one that surprises remodellers. KDHE's Residential Lead Hazard Prevention Program regulates lead abatement, lead inspections, risk assessments, lead abatement project design and renovation activities "when performed in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities", requires individuals performing those activities to be certified, and requires any firm holding itself out as able to perform them to "be licensed as a Lead Activity Firm or Lead Renovation Firm". If your remodelling work touches painted surfaces in older Kansas housing, read that page before you quote.

Official sources: K.S.A. 50-6,121: Kansas roofing registration act, citation; KDHE: Water Well Program; Kansas State Fire Marshal: Elevator Safety Program; KDHE: Residential Lead Hazard Prevention Program licensing

The registration that is not a licence: nonresident contractors

One more Kansas registration trips up out-of-state contractors, and it is easy to mistake for a licence. It is not one. It is a tax measure, administered by the Department of Revenue rather than by any licensing authority, and it exists to secure payment rather than to certify competence.

KDOR Pub. KS-1525 states that "the Nonresident Contractors Act was passed to help insure payment of all Kansas taxes by nonresident contractors and nonresident subcontractors working in Kansas", and that such contractors "must register with the Director of Taxation for each contract performed in Kansas when the total contract price or compensation received is more than $10,000". The requirement "is waived if the nonresident contractor/subcontractor is a foreign corporation authorized to do business in Kansas by the Kansas Secretary of State", which is one practical reason an out-of-state company might register with the Secretary of State even where it would not otherwise have to.

The bond attaches to the contract, not the company: generally "8% of the total contract amount or $1,000, whichever is greater", or "4% of the contract amount or $1,000, whichever is greater" on a project covered by a Project Exemption Certificate. Registering the contract and posting the bond does not license you to perform construction anywhere in Kansas; you still need whatever the city or county requires.

Official sources: KDOR Pub. KS-1525: Business Taxes for Contractors, Subcontractors, and Repairmen; Kansas Secretary of State: Register a Business

Check the official page yourself before you file, bid or sign

Kansas spreads contractor rules across more agencies than most states, and no single page carries all of it: the Secretary of State for the entity, the Department of Revenue for tax registration and returns, the Attorney General for roofing registration, KDHE for water wells and lead, the State Fire Marshal for elevators, the Department of Labor for employer obligations, and then your own city or county for the licence itself. Each one changes on its own schedule.

Two Kansas agency sites were returning HTTP 403 to us when this guide was written: ag.ks.gov and dol.ks.gov. Nothing published by either is quoted here, which is why you will find no Attorney General roofing fee figure and no Kansas unemployment tax rate anywhere on this page. The statutory fee caps are stated because the statutes are readable on ksrevisor.gov; the actual current fees are set by the Attorney General and you have to get those from the Attorney General. Open the agency page yourself, keep a dated copy of what you read, and call before you pay anything non-refundable.

Official sources: K.S.A. 50-6,128: Fees; roofing contractor registration fund; Kansas Business Center (Business One Stop)