Where a Vermont residential contractor license transfers

Vermont does not license residential contractors, but since April 1, 2023 it has registered them. Under 26 V.S.A. chapter 106, added by Act 182 of 2022, "a person shall register with the Office of Professional Regulation prior to contracting with a homeowner to perform residential construction in exchange for consideration of more than $10,000.00, including labor and materials." Residential construction means building, demolishing or altering a dwelling unit or a building with four or fewer dwelling units, and expressly includes interior and exterior construction, renovation and repair, painting, paving, roofing, weatherization, and installing or repairing heating, plumbing, solar, electrical, water and wastewater systems. The registration is a consumer-protection credential rather than a competency one, and the statute says so: mandatory registration "is intended to protect against fraud, deception, breach of contract, and violations of law but is not intended to establish standards for professional qualifications or workmanship." There is accordingly no examination, no experience or apprenticeship requirement, no education requirement, no qualifying party and no bond - only a $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate liability policy, a written contract, a name registered with the Secretary of State's Corporations Division, and a fee of $75 for a self-employed individual or $250 for a business organization, renewable every two years. A contractor with employees registers the business and those employees work under it; a self-employed contractor registers as an individual. Registration is not needed by an employee of a registered business, by a Department of Public Safety licensed tradesperson, licensed architect or professional engineer acting within scope, by a subcontractor hired by another contractor rather than by the homeowner, or by an owner working on their own property. The statute also authorizes optional, voluntary certifications in particular specialties, which the Office says it is establishing through rulemaking.