Garage door rules & licensing in Massachusetts

Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) - Home Improvement Contractor Program (HIC registration); Division of Occupational Licensure / Office of Public Safety and Inspections (Construction Supervisor License) — official site

"Contractors, subcontractors, partnerships, or corporations that solicit, bid on, or perform contracting work in Massachusetts on an existing, owner-occupied residential property with one to four units, must be registered as a Home Improvement Contractor (HIC)." An HIC registration is separate from a Construction Supervisor License and the two are not interchangeable. Statutory basis: M.G.L. c.142A s.9 - "No contractor or subcontractor shall undertake, offer to undertake, or agree to perform residential contracting services unless registered therefor with the approval of the office of consumer affairs and business regulation." Separately, for most existing 1- to 4-family owner-occupied homes a licensed construction supervisor or a registered design professional must oversee the construction, and the contractor must also register with the home improvement program.

No dollar threshold triggers HIC registration itself - registration is required to solicit, bid on or perform the work. A separate $1,000 threshold applies to the written-contract rule: M.G.L. c.142A s.2 - "Every agreement to perform residential contracting services in an amount in excess of one thousand dollars shall be in writing."

No surety bond. New HIC registration costs a $150 registration fee plus a mandatory Guaranty Fund payment scaled to employee count: $100 for zero to three employees, $200 for four to ten, $300 for eleven to thirty, $500 for more than thirty. Registration must be renewed every two years for $100.

780 CMR, the Massachusetts State Building Code, applies to all buildings and structures in the Commonwealth. The tenth edition became effective October 11, 2024 and has been the only building code in effect since June 30, 2025; it is based on the 2021 International Codes, with a chapter 51 "Massachusetts Residential Code" that adopts the 2021 International Residential Code with Massachusetts-specific amendments. Building permits are issued by the municipal building official, and a building official may not issue a permit for regulated work unless a licensed construction supervisor or registered design professional is identified. Letting an HIC registration expire can affect the ability to pull municipal permits.

Massachusetts sets ultimate design wind speed town by town. 780 CMR Tenth Edition Residential, Chapter 3 (Building, Planning Amendments, dated 04/29/2025) replaces IRC Table R301.2 Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria with a new Table R301.2(1) in which "Speed (mph)" is taken from Table R301.2(2), "Topographical effects" is "NO", "Special wind region" is per Table R301.2(2) Note 2, and "Windborne debris zone" is "Any area within a windborne debris region as defined in Chapter 2 of 780 CMR 51.00." Table R301.2(2) SNOW LOADS AND WIND SPEEDS lists an ultimate wind speed for every Massachusetts municipality (Yarmouth 131 mph and Wrentham 122 mph, for example). Note 3 to that table states: "Windborne Debris Region. Specific locations within these municipalities may be within a Windborne Debris Region (with Vult 130 mph or more) as defined in 780 CMR R202.0. See https://asce7hazardtool.online for location specific details for windborne debris regions in ASCE/SEI 7-16, Risk Category II." The amendments also replace R301.2.1.1: "The wind provision of 780 CMR 51.00 shall not apply to the design of buildings where the ultimate design wind speed, Vult equals or exceeds 140 miles per hour (225 kph). See Table 301.2(2) for wind speeds by city or town" - above that threshold the building must be designed by the AWC Wood Frame Construction Manual, ICC 600, ASCE 7, AISI S230 or the International Building Code. Sections R301.2.1.5 and R301.2.1.5.1 (topographic wind effects) and Table R301.2.1.5.1 are deleted. IMPORTANT: this is the Tenth Edition position. The Board’s older Ninth Edition guidance ("Windborne Debris - Impact Resistant Glazing Requirements") concluded that windborne debris protection was NOT triggered anywhere in the Commonwealth because the Ninth Edition definition used nominal speed Vasd; that reasoning does not carry over to the Tenth Edition definition, which is stated in terms of Vult 130 mph or more. Mass.gov marks its posted regulation PDFs "THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL COPY OF THE REGULATIONS - OFFICIAL COPIES MUST BE OBTAINED FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH." Look your town up in Table R301.2(2) before specifying a garage door’s design pressure.