There is a common misunderstanding worth clearing up before anything else. New Jersey does not license roofers the way it licenses electricians or plumbers. There is no roofing trade exam and no roofing license. What the state does instead is register home improvement contractors, and that registration is the thing you can actually check.
It takes about ten minutes to verify that the person quoting your roof is who they say they are. Here is what to look at.
The 13VH number
Any contractor performing home improvement work in New Jersey has to register with the Division of Consumer Affairs and is issued a registration number beginning with the characters 13VH. That number is not decorative. It is required to appear on contracts and on advertising, which means a company that does not show one anywhere is either newly registered, not registered, or hoping you will not ask.
Ask for the number directly, then verify it yourself rather than taking a photograph of a certificate at face value. The Division of Consumer Affairs publishes an online verification tool where you can search a registration and see whether it is active and who holds it. Two things are worth checking while you are there: that the registration is current rather than expired, and that the business name on the registration matches the name on the estimate. A number registered to a different entity is a meaningful red flag.
Registration is a floor, not a standard
It is important to be honest about what registration proves. It proves the business exists, has filed with the state, has paid a fee and has met the insurance minimum. It does not mean anyone inspected their work or tested their knowledge of roofing.
So treat it the way you would treat a driving license: necessary, and nowhere near sufficient. The rest of the checking is on you.
The insurance that matters, and the one everybody quotes
Registration requires a contractor to carry commercial general liability insurance with a minimum of five hundred thousand dollars per occurrence. That covers damage to your property.
The coverage that most people forget to ask about is workers compensation, and on a roof it is the one that matters most. If an uninsured worker is injured on your roof, the exposure can land on your homeowners policy. General liability does not cover that. Ask specifically whether the company carries workers compensation for everyone who will be on your property, including any subcontracted crew.
Then ask for the certificate of insurance to be sent to you directly by the insurance agent, not forwarded as a PDF by the contractor. It is a routine request, agents do it every day, and it eliminates the single easiest document to alter. A certificate that arrives from the agent also shows you the policy dates, so you can confirm coverage will still be live on the day the crew arrives.
What a compliant New Jersey contract has to contain
Home improvement contracts over five hundred dollars must be in writing in New Jersey, and the written contract has to include some specific things. Before you sign, check that all of the following are actually on the page:
- The contractor legal name, business address and telephone number, and the 13VH registration number.
- A description of the work and the materials, with enough detail that a second contractor could read it and understand the same scope.
- The total price and the payment schedule.
- Start and completion dates.
- The notice of your right to cancel within three business days.
- Signatures of both parties.
A one-page quotation with a price and nothing else is not a contract, and it is the document most disputes start from. If a roofing estimate does not say what underlayment is being used, how many layers are coming off, whether the drip edge is being replaced, and what happens if rotten decking is found, then the scope is undefined and the price is not comparable to anyone else.
Permits are part of the check
Roofing work in New Jersey generally requires a municipal permit, and the permit is pulled by the contractor. A contractor who suggests skipping it to save money is moving risk onto you: unpermitted work can complicate an insurance claim, and it reliably resurfaces at closing when you sell. We wrote separately about how NJ roofing permits work and what the process involves, and it is worth knowing who is responsible for what before the job starts rather than after.
Manufacturer credentials are a different thing entirely
Shingle manufacturers run their own contractor programs, and those certifications appear on a lot of roofing websites. They are worth something: they usually require training, a verified installation history and proof of insurance, and they are often what makes an extended manufacturer warranty available on your roof at all.
What they are not is a government credential. A manufacturer certification does not replace state registration, and state registration does not qualify anyone for a manufacturer warranty. You want both, and they answer different questions. Ours are listed on our certifications page if you want to see what the distinction looks like in practice.
Warning signs that have nothing to do with paperwork
Most bad outcomes are visible before any money changes hands.
- Knocking on doors after a storm. Legitimate companies do this occasionally. Companies that only do this are working the weather.
- A discount for paying cash and skipping the permit. You are buying an unrecorded roof.
- A large deposit before materials are ordered. A reasonable deposit is normal. Half the contract price before anyone has been on the roof is not.
- A price that expires today. Roofs do not go on sale for one afternoon.
- No physical address. A mobile number and a magnetic sign is a company that can be gone by spring.
- Reluctance to put the warranty in writing, or a verbal promise of lifetime workmanship coverage that does not appear anywhere in the contract.
A ten-minute routine
Put together, the check is short. Get the 13VH number and verify it online. Have the certificate of insurance emailed by the agent, and confirm workers compensation is on it. Read the contract for the required elements and for a scope specific enough to compare. Confirm who is pulling the permit. Ask what manufacturer credentials they hold and what warranty that makes available.
Any established company will answer all five without friction, and the ones that hesitate have told you something useful. We have been working on roofs in Monmouth and Ocean counties since 1972 and are happy to answer every one of those questions before you ask them. If you want to know who you would actually be dealing with, our about page is a reasonable place to start.
