For contractors
DOB Licensing
We work out which DOB license your trade or your role on site needs, then prepare the application and its renewals with you.
When you need it
Registration covers the company, and a DOB license covers a person. Plumbing and gas work is done and filed under a Licensed Master Plumber, fire suppression piping under a Master Fire Suppression Piping Contractor, and electrical work under a licensed Master or Special Electrician. Riggers, hoisting machine operators, sign hangers, oil burning equipment installers and welders hold DOB trade licenses of their own. None of this work can be done under a General Contractor registration or under a Home Improvement Contractor license from DCWP.
Site safety has its own DOB credentials. A new building, an enlargement or a full demolition on a major building needs a licensed Site Safety Manager or Site Safety Coordinator for the job, and many other permitted jobs need a registered construction superintendent. Each credential belongs to the person who holds it. The applicant needs a DOB-approved 40-hour course taken within the year before applying, and the Site Safety Manager also passes a DOB exam.
New applications are filed online in DOB NOW. After that, each license has its own renewal date and paperwork, and some renewals ask for continuing education or a physical exam form. While a license is lapsed its holder cannot do or file that work, and permits that depend on it expire early.
What we do
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Identify the license
We work out which DOB license your trade or your role on site calls for, and what DOB asks of the applicant in training, experience and exams.
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Prepare the application
We help you gather the certificates and experience forms the application needs and put it together for you to submit in DOB NOW.
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Track the renewals
We track each license's renewal date and paperwork and prepare the renewal with you before the license lapses.
Questions
Which DOB licenses exist for trades and site safety?
For trades, DOB licenses Master Plumbers, Master Fire Suppression Piping Contractors, Master and Special Electricians, riggers, sign hangers, hoisting machine operators, oil burning equipment installers and welders, among others. For site safety, it licenses Site Safety Managers, Site Safety Coordinators and construction superintendents. Send us the work you do and we will tell you which apply.
How do I renew a DOB license?
Online, before the expiration date on your license. Master Plumber, electrician, fire suppression piping, site safety and construction superintendent renewals are filed in DOB NOW: Licensing, and rigger, sign hanger and oil burner renewals in DOB NOW: BIS Options. Renew the license before the permits that depend on it, because those permits expire with it.
Is a DOB license the same as contractor registration?
No. A license qualifies a person to do or supervise a type of work, and registration lets a company hold permits. Many businesses need both, and work on homes can also need a Home Improvement Contractor license from DCWP.
Can you take the licensing exam for me?
No. The exam, the training and the experience belong to the person applying. We tell you what the license asks for and prepare the paperwork with you.
Where are DOB license applications filed?
Online, in DOB NOW. Master Plumber, electrician, Site Safety Manager, Site Safety Coordinator and construction superintendent applications go through DOB NOW: Licensing. Others, such as rigger licenses and General Contractor registration, go through DOB NOW: BIS Options. DOB does not accept paper or walk-in applications.
Tell us about your project.
Send the address and what you plan to do. We tell you which permits and filings the work needs and what we would prepare. The review is free.