Do siding, window and deck contractors need a license in Pennsylvania?

Updated November 10, 2026 · KeystoneProGuide editorial team

Is there a state license for exterior remodeling?

No. Pennsylvania has no state license for siding, window, door, deck or porch contractors. What it has instead is a mandatory registration, and this is the trade the registration law was written around. The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act names porches, siding, doors and windows, storm windows and awnings in its definition of a home improvement, for any job at a private home where the agreed price is more than $500.

The Department of Labor and Industry confirms the wider picture: the Commonwealth has no licensure or certification requirements for most construction contractors. The exceptions it lists include home improvement contractors, who register with the Attorney General, and asbestos and lead removal contractors, whom the department certifies.

Who has to register?

Under the act itself, no one may hold himself out as a contractor or perform a home improvement without first registering with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Two groups are left out: a person whose home improvement work came to less than $5,000 in the previous year, and a retailer worth more than $50 million.

The Attorney General's questions and answers add points that matter for this trade:

Subcontractors must register even if they never sign a contract with a homeowner. That covers the crew a large retailer sends to hang your siding or set your windows, because the act counts a retailer's installer as a contractor whatever the retailer's size.
A store that only sells you windows or a door does not have to register. One that installs them, itself or through others, does.
There is no grandfather clause for long-established businesses, and out-of-state contractors working here must comply.

Registration lasts two years. Applicants must show liability insurance of at least $50,000 for personal injury and $50,000 for property damage, and disclose past convictions for home improvement fraud or theft.

How do you check a registration?

A registered contractor must print its number, written as PA followed by digits, on every advertisement, contract, estimate and proposal, including an ad on a truck. You can look the number up on the Attorney General's contractor search, which can be filtered by county and by type of work. Its list of work types includes Siding, Windows & Glazing, Doors, and Decks, patios porches, though the page warns the field is new and data is limited. You can also call 1-888-520-6680.

Know what a registration proves and what it does not. The Attorney General says it is not an endorsement of a contractor's honesty, competency or quality of work, and tells homeowners to check references, get more than one bid and look for complaints with the Better Business Bureau.

What must the contract say?

For a home improvement over $500, the act makes the contract unenforceable against you unless it is in writing, legible and signed, and contains:

the contractor's registration number, name, address and phone number (a post office box alone is not an address);
the date, and approximate start and completion dates;
a description of the work, the materials and a set of specifications that cannot change without a written change order signed by both of you;
the total price, the down payment and any amount for special order materials, listed separately;
the names of known subcontractors, the current insurance amounts, the Bureau's toll-free number and a notice of your right to cancel.

You must get a completed copy at signing. Certain clauses make the contract voidable by you, among them a waiver of building code requirements, a confession of judgment, a waiver of jury trial and a clause giving the contractor its attorney fees. An arbitration clause is enforceable only if it is in capital letters and 12-point bold type on a separate page, signed and dated by both sides, and says whether the decision is binding and whether it is confidential.

How much can a contractor take up front?

On a contract whose total price is more than $5,000, the act forbids a deposit above one-third of the price, or one-third plus the cost of special order materials named in the contract. No payment at all may be taken before the contract is signed. The Attorney General's guidance says the law does not set how the balance is paid and suggests payments as the work progresses, with the last on completion.

How long do you have to cancel?

Three business days after signing, wherever you signed. In May 2026 the Attorney General reported a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that you can cancel by any means, including by phone, as long as the contractor actually receives notice. If the contract lacked the cancellation notice, the Attorney General says it may be voidable even after three days.

Do you need a permit?

It depends on the job, and the answer comes from your municipality. The state regulation that sets residential permit rules does not apply to alterations that make no structural change or change to a means of escape, and it says a minor framing change needed to replace existing windows or doors is not a structural change. It also leaves out installing aluminum or vinyl siding on an existing home. Both exemptions carry the words "except as required by ordinances", so your town can still ask for a permit.

Decks are different. A permit is not required for an uncovered deck whose floor is no more than 30 inches above grade; anything higher, or covered, needs one. Pennsylvania builds on the 2021 International Residential Code and sets its own stair rules, with risers no taller than 8 1/4 inches and treads at least 9 inches deep. Labor and Industry says over 90% of the state's 2,562 municipalities enforce the code locally, so the building code office of your township or borough is the place to ask. Some municipalities also have their own contractor requirements, and the state keeps no record of them.

What is different in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia licenses contractors, but a business that works only on existing one- or two-family homes registers with the state instead. For permits, the city's EZ permit rules say window and door replacement with no change in size needs no permit on a one- or two-family home unless the property is historic, and residential decks up to 216 square feet can be permitted without plans. On those homes the work may be done by a licensed Philadelphia contractor, an owner who lives there, or a registered home improvement contractor holding a city Commercial Activity License. More is in the Philadelphia guide.

What about lead paint in older homes?

That is a federal rule with real force in this trade. The EPA requires anyone paid to disturb paint in a home built before 1978 to be certified in lead-safe work practices, and it says window replacement is always covered however small the job. Pennsylvania does not run its own program, so the EPA administers it here.

Before hiring, how to choose a contractor sets out the checks in order. Businesses are listed on the exterior remodeling directory page.

Sources

2008 Act 132 (Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act), Pennsylvania General Assembly
Frequently Asked Questions: Home Improvement Contractor Registration, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Home Improvement Contractor Verification, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Home Improvement Contractor Search, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
PA Supreme Court Upholds Consumer Right-to-Cancel Home Improvement Contracts Within Three Days Regardless of Medium, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
Contractor Licensing, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
Uniform Construction Code, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
34 Pa. Code 403.1. Scope., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
34 Pa. Code 403.62. Permit requirements and exemptions., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
34 Pa. Code 403.21. Uniform Construction Code., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
Get permits without plans (EZ permits), City of Philadelphia
Get a Contractor License, City of Philadelphia
Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: Contractors, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency