Is my New Jersey contractor registered?

Every home improvement contractor working in New Jersey has to hold a state registration number. It takes two minutes to check, most homeowners never do, and it is the first thing to look at before any estimate is worth reading.

13VH0●●●●●●●

The number starts with 13VH and is followed by eight digits. By law it has to appear on the contractor's contracts, estimates, advertising and website. If you cannot find it on any of those, ask for it. A registered contractor knows it by heart.

How to look it up

Open the state's lookup at newjersey.mylicense.com/verification.
Under Profession, choose Home Improvement Contractors.
Type the number in License Number, or the business name in Business Name. Names are matched loosely, so a number is quicker and surer.
Click the name in the results. The record shows the registered business name, the owner, the address, the status and the expiration date.

What the record tells you

Active means the registration is current. Registrations run to March 31 each year and are renewed annually, so an active record today will show next March's date.

Expired means it was not renewed. The contractor may still be working, and may still be good, but they are not registered, and a homeowner's protections under the state's Contractors' Registration Act depend on it. Ask them about it before anything else.

The name may not match the sign on the truck. Many businesses register under a legal name and trade under another. If the number on the contractor's paperwork pulls up a record with a different name, ask which is which. A number that pulls up somebody else's company, or nothing at all, is the thing to walk away from.

Registration is not a license for skill. It means the contractor has registered with the Division of Consumer Affairs, carries at least $500,000 of commercial general liability insurance, and has passed a background check. Nobody tested whether they can tile a shower. That part is still on you: references, photographs of finished work, and a packet every contractor prices the same way.

Three more things New Jersey requires

A written contract for any home improvement over $500, with the start and end dates, the total price and the work described. No exceptions for a handshake.
A certificate of insurance, on request. Ask for it to name you and your address; a certificate that names nobody proves only that a policy existed on the day it was printed.
The registration number on every piece of paper: the estimate, the contract, the invoice. A contractor who leaves it off one of them is telling you something.

New Jersey passed a law in 2024 that will move home improvement contractors from registration to licensing, with a training program and an exam. As of September 2026 the board has been seated and the exam has not been rolled out, so the 13VH registration is still the check that applies. This page will be updated when that changes.

How One Walkthrough uses this

No contractor is invited to price a project through One Walkthrough until their registration number has been looked up and their certificate of insurance recorded. Contractors who let either lapse cannot be invited until it is current. The check above is the same one, done by hand, before every invitation.

If you are about to collect estimates for a kitchen, bathroom, basement or deck, there is a way to do it once: measure and photograph the room on your phone, and every contractor prices the same document. You keep the packet whatever happens, and it costs you nothing.

See how it works

Checked against the Division of Consumer Affairs registry in September 2026. The lookup site, and the law, belong to the State of New Jersey; One Walkthrough is not affiliated with either. Questions or a correction: mike@onewalkthrough.com.