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How to Tell if a Roofer Is Legitimate in Georgia

By Alpharetta Roof Repairs · October 7, 2026 · 5 min read

The first thing to understand is that the check most homeowners want to run doesn't exist. Georgia does not license roofers. The state's residential and general contractor license — issued by the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors — specifically exempts roofing as a specialty trade. So there is no license lookup, no license number to ask for, and any roofer who prints "GA Lic. #" on a truck is either quoting a general contractor license they hold for other work or making it up.

That puts the burden on you. Here's what you can verify, in the order that takes the least time.

1. Georgia Secretary of State business search (3 minutes)

Every legitimate company doing business in Georgia is registered as a corporation or LLC with the Secretary of State. Go to ecorp.sos.ga.gov and search the exact business name on the estimate. You're looking for:

• Status: Active/Compliance. "Administratively dissolved" means they stopped filing annual registrations. Not a dealbreaker on its own, but a bad sign.
• Formation date. A company formed six weeks ago, right after a storm, is a company formed for the storm.
• Principal office address. Should be in Georgia, ideally in the metro area. An out-of-state address means an out-of-state roofer with a Georgia registration — legal, but ask where the crew and the warranty live.
• Registered agent. If it's a registered-agent service rather than a person, the company may not have a physical presence here.

If the name isn't there at all, stop. A roofer operating under an unregistered name has no entity behind the warranty.

2. Occupational tax certificate (2 minutes)

Cities in Georgia require a business to hold an occupational tax certificate — what most people call a business license — from the city where it's based. It isn't a competence check, but it confirms the business exists at an address and pays local tax. Ask to see it. A company based in Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton or Cumming will have one from that city.

3. Insurance certificates, from the insurer (5 minutes)

This is the one that matters most. Ask for a certificate of insurance for general liability and for workers' compensation, emailed to you by the insurance agent, with your name and address as certificate holder. Not a PDF the roofer forwards — those are easy to alter. The agent's email is the verification.

Why both: liability covers damage the crew does to your house. Workers' comp covers the crew when someone falls off your 12/12 roof. Without it, the injured worker's lawyer looks at the homeowner's policy next. Georgia requires workers' comp for businesses with three or more employees, and many roofing companies structure around that with subcontracted crews — so ask specifically whether the crew on your roof is covered.

4. Manufacturer credentials (2 minutes)

GAF, Owens Corning and CertainTeed each certify installers, and the extended warranties on their premium shingles are only available through certified contractors. Each manufacturer has a contractor lookup on its website. This isn't proof of quality, but it does mean the company has been in business long enough to qualify, carries insurance, and has a name the manufacturer can revoke.

5. A local address and a local history (3 minutes)

Look at the address on the estimate on a map. Is it an office or warehouse, or a mailbox store on Windward Parkway? Search the company name with "Georgia" and see whether it existed before this storm season. Ask for the address of two recent jobs in North Fulton and drive by.

Red flags that override everything

• A door knock the day after a storm with "we're doing your neighbor's roof."
• A "free roof" or an offer to absorb your deductible. Inflating an insurance invoice is fraud under Georgia law, and the homeowner is party to it.
• An assignment of benefits or contingency agreement pushed at the door. This hands your claim to the contractor.
• A large deposit before materials arrive, or cash-only.
• Out-of-state plates on every truck, with a Georgia phone number that was set up last month.
• Pressure to sign today. Georgia's home solicitation sales law gives you three business days to cancel a contract signed at your home; the Georgia Attorney General's consumer protection division (consumer.georgia.gov) handles complaints. But not signing is easier than cancelling.

What a legitimate roofer looks like

Registered with the Secretary of State for years, not weeks. Local occupational tax certificate. Two insurance certificates sent by the agent without being asked twice. Manufacturer certification. A physical address in the metro area. A written, itemized scope. A payment schedule that puts most of the money at the end. And, when you ask about a Georgia roofing license, an answer that starts with "there isn't one."

This post is the paperwork side. The interview side — what to ask and what a good answer sounds like — is in questions to ask an Alpharetta roofing contractor. And our about page lists what we hold and how to check it, because if we're asking you to check everyone else, we should go first.