WHO NEEDS A BUILDING CONTRACTORS LICENSE ?
Short answer- anyone making money working on a house or commercial
business. For a breakdown of the various licenses go to the Ordinance
section of this website, under Chapter 5.
WHAT ABOUT HOME OWNERS?
If you, as a homeowner, are building or renovating houses for the
purpose of making money and showing that income on your taxes filed with
the IRS as business income, then you need to be licensed as a
contractor. If you build or renovate houses that qualify as exempt from
business income according to the IRS then you do not need a contractors
license. The City code states you may build one house every two years
without a license. In any case, people performing structural
construction, or the covering up of structural construction for hire to
you the homeowner, do need to be licensed with the City of Buffalo.
DEVELOPERS
If a developer hires a general contractor to build homes and the general
hires all subcontractors, the developer needs no license. If a
developer however is hiring subcontractors themselves, then they are
acting as a general contractor and need to be licensed as such.