What Georgia Law Says About Roofing Contractors
The short answer
Georgia does not license roofers, but it does regulate roofing contracts, and it puts a hard limit on what a roofer may do with your insurance claim.
There is no Georgia roofing contractor license. Roofing is a specialty trade exempt from the state's residential and general contractor licensing requirement. What Georgia does regulate is the contract: O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.12 gives you a five-business-day right to cancel after your insurer tells you a claim is not covered, requires specific notice wording in bold ten-point type, and prohibits a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating on your behalf on an insurance claim.
This page is information, not legal or insurance advice. We are roofers, not attorneys or licensed public adjusters. Everything below is quoted from or linked to the actual statute, regulator or state agency so you can read it yourself. For advice about your situation, your policy or a dispute, speak to a Georgia attorney or contact the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire.
We wrote this page partly because the published information on it is bad. Two of the best-ranking Georgia roofing pages on insurance law give conflicting dates for the same bill, neither links to it, and one has carried a garbled statute citation for long enough that it has clearly never been proofread. Roofing companies assert the law and ask you to take their word for it. We would rather give you the citation.
Georgia does not license roofers
Do roofing contractors need a license in Georgia?
No. Georgia issues no roofing contractor license. The State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors, administered by the Secretary of State, lists roofing among the traditional specialty trades — specifically “Flat Roofing,” “Sheet Metal Roofing” and “Shingles and Shakes” — and states that specialty contractors performing work within their specialty do not have to hold a residential or general contractor license.
The Georgia Attorney General's consumer guidance says the same thing in plainer language: general contractors, electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors must be licensed with the Secretary of State, while certain specialty occupations, roofers among them, are not required to be licensed by the state.
The licensing board does add a condition that gets less attention than it deserves. A specialty contractor must comply with any legal requirements that apply to their trade and with all applicable national, state and local codes. Exemption from licensing is not exemption from the building code.
Then what does “licensed and insured” mean on a roofing advert?
Not what most people assume. Since Georgia issues no roofing license, the word almost always refers to a local business license — a municipal tax registration that any business obtains by paying a fee. It is not a competency test, there is no exam, and it certifies nothing about whether the company can install a roof. The “insured” half of the phrase is the part with real content, and it is checkable.
We are saying this against our own marketing interest, and we are aware of that. It is still true, and a homeowner who understands it asks better questions.
What can I actually verify about a Georgia roofing contractor?
Three things, all documents rather than claims. A certificate of general liability insurance and a certificate of workers' compensation coverage, both issued by the insurer and naming you or your address as certificate holder. A local business license from the municipality they operate in. And a manufacturer certification number, if they claim one, which you can verify on the manufacturer's own contractor locator rather than on the contractor's word.
Workers' compensation is the one people skip, and it is the one that can reach you. If an uninsured roofer's employee is injured on your roof, the question of who carries that liability is not one you want to discover the answer to. Ask for the certificate, and ask for it from the insurer rather than as a photograph of a piece of paper.
The roofing contract statute
Georgia has a statute written specifically for residential roofing contracts. It sits inside the Fair Business Practices Act and most homeowners have never heard of it.
Who does the statute apply to?
It applies to residential roofing contractors working on residential real estate, which the statute defines as a new or existing building constructed for habitation by one to four families, including detached garages. It defines a “roof system” broadly — covering, sheathing, weatherproofing, framing, ventilation and insulation — so it is not limited to shingles.
The five-business-day right to cancel
You may cancel a written roofing contract before midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or any part of the claim or contract is not a covered loss. The clock does not start when you sign. It starts when the insurer tells you in writing that they are not paying. Cancellation must be in writing to the contractor at the address on the contract.
Read that trigger carefully, because it is the part that gets misdescribed. This is not a general three-day cooling-off period on any roofing contract. It is a specific protection for the situation where you signed expecting insurance to pay and then found out it will not. Without it, a homeowner could be contractually committed to a roof they only agreed to because they believed it was covered.
What the contract has to say
Before you sign, the contractor must give you a statement in bold type of at least ten-point size telling you about that cancellation right, in substantially the statutory wording. They must also give you a separate, detachable “NOTICE OF CANCELLATION” form in duplicate, in the same bold ten-point type, with blanks for your signature and the date.
A roofing contract with no cancellation notice in it is not complying with the statute. That is a concrete, checkable thing you can look for on the page in front of you before you put your name on it.
When the contractor may ask for money
Not until the five-day cancellation period has expired. The statute says a residential roofing contractor shall not require any payments from an insured until that window closes. There is one exception: emergency services, where the homeowner has acknowledged the need in writing, may be charged for immediately. If you do cancel, any fee provision other than that emergency work becomes unenforceable.
The practical version: on an insurance job, a contractor who wants a deposit before your insurer has decided is not following the statute. Emergency tarping after a storm is a different thing and is expressly carved out, provided you acknowledged the need in writing.
What your roofer may not do with your claim
Can my roofer handle my insurance claim in Georgia?
No, not in the sense of representing you. O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.12(e) states that a residential roofing contractor shall not represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on behalf of an owner or possessor of residential real estate on any insurance claim in connection with the repair or replacement of a roof system. The only exception is a public adjuster licensed under Chapter 23 of Title 33.
Note what that prohibits. Not just doing it — offering or advertising to do it. “We handle your insurance claim” on a roofing website is the advertising the statute names.
This is widespread in metro Atlanta roofing marketing, and it is the single most common way Georgia roofing companies are out of step with the statute written for them. We are not in a position to tell you whether any particular company is breaking the law — that is for a court — but you can read the subsection and read their website and form your own view.
So what can a roofer legitimately do?
Plenty. A roofing contractor can inspect your roof and document what they find, photograph every slope, write a report describing the damage, prepare a scope of work and a price for the repair, be present when the adjuster inspects, point out damage the adjuster may not have seen, and supply the carrier with their own measurements and documentation. What they cannot do is act as your representative in the claim — negotiating the settlement amount or advocating on your behalf as your agent.
The line is between supplying information about the roof, which is a roofer's job, and representing your interests in a negotiation, which under Georgia law is a licensed public adjuster's job. A good contractor works entirely on the first side of it and is useful there.
What is a public adjuster, and do I need one?
A public adjuster is licensed by the state to represent policyholders in insurance claims, and they work for you rather than for the carrier. They are the people Georgia law permits to negotiate a claim on your behalf. Whether you need one depends on the size and difficulty of your claim, and it is a decision to make on your own judgement — not on a roofer's, including ours.
If you engage one, verify the license with the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire before signing anything. The same caution applies to a public adjuster as to a roofer: the credential is checkable, so check it.
Can a roofer pay or waive my deductible?
Is it illegal for a Georgia roofer to cover my deductible?
The Georgia Attorney General's consumer guidance warns homeowners directly that a contractor offering to cover your deductible is a fraud risk that can implicate you as well as them. The mechanism is Georgia's general insurance fraud statute, O.C.G.A. § 33-1-9, which makes it an offense to make or assist in making a false statement of material fact for the purpose of procuring payment of a claim. Conviction carries two to ten years' imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Here is the part other pages leave out. Section 33-1-9 does not mention deductibles, roofs or contractors anywhere in it. It is a general fraud statute. The reason a waived deductible is a problem is arithmetic, not a bespoke roofing rule: if the invoice submitted to the carrier says $15,000 but the homeowner only ever pays $13,000 because the contractor absorbed the $2,000 deductible, then the amount represented to the insurer was not the price of the work. That is the false statement.
Where we depart from what you will read elsewhere. Several Georgia roofing pages attribute the deductible prohibition to a bill they call HB 423, and cite it alongside an Insurance Commissioner bulletin. Those pages give materially different dates for the same bill — one says 2012, another says 2024 — and none of them links to it. We could not verify the bill's date, session or codified section from a primary source, so we are not repeating the claim as fact. What we can source is the Attorney General's warning and the text and penalties of § 33-1-9, and those are above. If we later verify the bill, we will add it and say so.
What is not prohibited?
A genuine discount is not fraud, provided the price represented to the insurer is the price actually charged. Neither is offering financing so that a homeowner can pay their deductible over time, provided they genuinely owe and pay it. The problem is never that the number is low; it is that the number on the claim and the number you pay are different numbers.
If a contractor proposes anything in this territory, the safe question is simple and it is worth asking out loud: will the invoice sent to my insurer show exactly what I am actually paying? If the answer involves any hesitation, you have learned what you needed to know.
Does Georgia have a matching law?
If my shingles are discontinued, must my insurer replace the whole roof?
Georgia has no statute requiring insurers to replace undamaged roof sections so that the repair matches. A bill that would have required it — House Bill 1310, introduced in February 2022 — would have obliged insurers to replace items in an area to conform to a reasonably uniform appearance where new materials did not match in quality, color or size. It stalled in committee and did not become law.
That is the statutory answer, and it is not the whole answer, because three different things get blurred together in this question and they have three different answers:
- Statute. Georgia has no matching requirement. Verified.
- Your policy. Some policy forms contain language about uniform appearance. That is a contractual obligation between you and your carrier, and it exists independently of whether the state requires it. Read your own policy, or ask your carrier to point to the clause.
- Carrier practice. Some adjusters approve full-slope or full-roof replacement on a matching argument even absent an obligation. This varies by carrier, by adjuster and by claim.
Anyone who tells you flatly that Georgia does or does not require matching is collapsing those three into one. The honest answer is that the statute does not require it, your policy might, and it is worth reading before you concede the point.
The practical background is the Atlas Chalet shingle, discontinued and widely installed across metro Atlanta, which is why this question comes up here more than in most markets. If your roof has them, the matching question is likely to be central to your claim.
Questions about Georgia roofing law
Do roofers have to be licensed in Georgia?
No. Georgia issues no roofing contractor license. The Secretary of State's licensing board lists flat roofing, sheet metal roofing, and shingles and shakes as traditional specialty trades, and specialty contractors working within their specialty are not required to hold a residential or general contractor license. The Attorney General's consumer guidance confirms that roofers are not required to be licensed by the state. Local business licensing and the building code still apply.
Can a roofing company negotiate with my insurance company for me?
Not in Georgia. O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.12(e) prohibits a residential roofing contractor from representing or negotiating — or offering or advertising to represent or negotiate — on a homeowner's behalf on any roofing insurance claim. Only a public adjuster licensed under Chapter 23 of Title 33 may do that. A roofer can still inspect, document, photograph, produce a scope and price, meet your adjuster on the roof and supply their findings to the carrier.
How long do I have to cancel a roofing contract in Georgia?
Until midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or part of the claim or contract is not a covered loss. The trigger is the insurer's written denial, not the date you signed. Cancellation must be in writing to the contractor at the contract address, and the contractor is required to have given you a detachable notice-of-cancellation form in duplicate to make that easy.
Can a roofer ask for a deposit before my insurance claim is decided?
The statute says a residential roofing contractor shall not require any payments from an insured until the five-day cancellation period has expired. Emergency services are carved out where the homeowner has acknowledged the need in writing, which is how storm tarping is handled. A deposit demanded on an insurance job before the carrier has decided is not consistent with the statute.
What should be in a Georgia roofing contract?
At minimum, the statutory cancellation statement in bold ten-point type and the detachable duplicate notice-of-cancellation form. Beyond what the statute requires, a contract worth signing names the specific materials and colors, the scope including tear-off and decking replacement terms, the permit and who pulls it, the warranty and who honors it, the payment schedule, and the cleanup and disposal arrangements. If the price can change once work starts — and on decking it often can — the contract should say exactly how.
Is there a Georgia law about roofers knocking on doors after a storm?
The Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division publishes specific guidance about post-storm door knocking and contractor fraud. Its consistent advice is to get a written contract, never pay in full up front, be wary of cash-only demands, and be skeptical of anyone who appeared at your door after a storm and wants a signature today. Separately, the roofing contract statute's cancellation right exists precisely because post-storm signatures are often taken before anyone knows whether insurance will pay.
What do I do if I think a roofer has broken one of these rules?
The Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division handles contractor complaints, and the Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire handles insurance conduct, including unlicensed adjusting. If money is in dispute or a contract is involved, a Georgia attorney is the right call rather than a roofing company. We can tell you what the statute says; we cannot tell you what to do about your situation.
Sources
Read on September 18, 2026. Where we could not verify a claim, we said so in the text rather than quietly repeating it.
Statutes
- O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.12 — contracts with residential roofing contractors: definitions, the five-business-day cancellation right, the bold ten-point notice and duplicate cancellation form, the restriction on demanding payment, the emergency-services exception, and subsection (e) on representing or negotiating insurance claims.
- O.C.G.A. § 33-1-9 — Georgia insurance fraud: false or fraudulent statements of material fact made to procure payment of a claim; penalties of two to ten years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
State agencies
- Georgia Secretary of State — State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors, traditional specialty contractors policy statements.
- Georgia Secretary of State — residential and commercial general contractors FAQ: licenses are not required for specialty trade work.
- Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division — storms and contractor fraud.
- Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division — roofers, deductibles and post-storm door knocking.
- Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire — insurance regulation and adjuster licensing.
Legislation that did not pass
- Insurance Journal — Georgia House Bill 1310, the roof matching bill: introduced February 2022, requirement for a reasonably uniform appearance, stalled without a committee hearing.
What we could not verify
- The date, legislative session and codified section of the bill commonly cited in Georgia roofing marketing as “HB 423” in connection with insurance deductibles. Published sources give conflicting dates and none links to the bill. We have not repeated the claim as fact.
- Whether § 10-1-393.12 carries its own penalty provision. The text we read sets out duties and unenforceability consequences; we did not find an explicit criminal or civil penalty clause within the section.
- Georgia's position in the widely referenced fifty-state insurance matching chart, which we could not read.
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