Trades & Contractors · 6 min read · Last updated
This is the business side of Hamilton's building repair trade licence. If your company solicits and performs additions, roofing, siding, decks, porches, replacement windows, insulation, framing or masonry repair, the company itself has to be licensed under Schedule 29 of By-law 07-170. The single condition that catches most new firms is that the licence cannot be issued until a licensed Building Repair Master is in your employ.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Trades” category: “Building Repair mean additions, prefabricated structures, roofing, siding, decks, chimneys and fireplaces (masonry work), porches, replacement windows, insulation, framing.”
Who needs this licence?
The licence is for the business that solicits and performs building repair work. Building repair means additions, prefabricated structures, roofing, siding, decks, chimneys and fireplaces as masonry work, porches, replacement windows, insulation and framing.
Read that list carefully, because it decides whether you are in this trade category at all. A company that only replaces windows is a building repair contractor. So is one that only installs insulation, or only builds decks.
The defining condition of the contractor licence is the master requirement. Your company cannot hold the licence unless a licensed Building Repair Master is in its employ. The master is an individual who has qualified with the City in the trade; the contractor is the business. One does not substitute for the other.
That has a practical consequence when you hire. A master may not be employed by more than one contractor at a time, so you cannot share a master with another firm or put a friend's name on your application while they hold a licence with their own employer. If your master leaves, the basis of your licence leaves with them.
Schedule 29 of By-law 07-170 sets out the full definitions, requirements and restrictions for the trades.
What documents do you need?
Begin with the business licence application form and the trade questionnaire. The questionnaire appears twice on this checklist, which tells you how much weight the City puts on it: it is where you describe what your firm actually builds and repairs, and it drives the trade category you end up in.
A business registration or corporate profile dated within one year of the application proves the company exists and identifies the owners. Do not reuse an old printout.
Liability and property damage insurance of two million dollars reflects the risk of the work. Building repair means opening up roofs, walls and structures on properties you do not own, and the City wants the homeowner protected if something goes wrong.
The Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check must come from the police service board in your city of residence and be dated within 36 days of the application, with no third party clearances accepted.
Finally, the licence cannot be issued until you have a licensed Building Repair Master in your employ, and a municipally issued photo identification card is produced for the licence. Line up the master before you file, because it is the requirement you cannot resolve with paperwork on your own.
Zoning and premises requirements
No Zoning Verification Certificate appears on this checklist, and there is no zoning addendum step. A building repair contractor licence is a trade licence rather than a premises licence, so the City is not approving a use of land when it issues it.
Zoning still applies to wherever your business physically operates. An office, a shop, a yard where you store scaffolding, lumber, siding or a dumpster is subject to the zoning for that property in the ordinary way, and a contractor's yard is not permitted in every zone. Home-based operation has its own zoning limits.
Zoning also does not travel to your customers. When you work on a house, the land use question there belongs to that property, and building permits and Building Code compliance for the work are separate from your licence.
In short: this licence says the City accepts your firm to carry on the trade. It says nothing about where you may set up your yard.
Inspections and approvals
The guide lists no inspections for this licence. There is no fire, health, parking or compliance inspection, and no inspection request is circulated when you apply.
The controls sit elsewhere. Your company has to employ a licensed master who has been tested on the Ontario Building Code, carry insurance at the required limit and pass a criminal record check. That combination is what stands in for a site inspection.
Work on individual jobs is still subject to the ordinary building permit and inspection process for that property, which is run against the Building Code rather than against your licence. Holding this licence does not exempt any job from a permit.
Because nothing is inspected, keeping documents current is the whole of your compliance obligation between renewals.
How much does it cost?
Three charges apply to a new contractor application: a processing fee to open the file, a licence fee, and a photo fee for the municipally issued photo identification card.
HST applies to the processing fee and the photo fee but not to the licence fee, so the total is not the plain sum of the base amounts.
There is no exam fee on the contractor side. That charge belongs to the master licence, where an individual has to be tested.
The contractor licence fee is set higher than the master licence fee, which reflects that this licence authorises a business to solicit and perform the work rather than certifying one person's qualification. Renewal is the licence fee plus the photo fee again, since a new card is printed each year, and a lapsed licence attracts a reinstatement fee. The City sets all amounts in its fee schedule and confirms them during the application.
How to apply
Secure your master first. Identify a licensed Building Repair Master who will be in your employ and confirm they are not licensed with another contractor, because no master may be employed by more than one contractor at a time.
Get the insurance in place at two million dollars for liability and property damage, in the name of the business that will hold the licence.
Pull a business registration or corporate profile dated within the past year, and complete the business licence application form and the trade questionnaire.
Order your Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check from the police service board where you live so that it is within 36 days when you file.
Submit the package, pay the processing, licence and photo fees, and attend in person for the photo so the municipally issued photo identification card can be produced. Carry the card, since it is how a homeowner or an officer verifies your firm is licensed.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renewal is annual and requires Declarations A and B. Both are needed on the contractor side, unlike the master licence, which requires Declaration B only.
A new municipally issued photo identification card is printed every year with an updated expiry date, and a new picture is required every three years. Budget for the photo fee at each renewal, and expect to attend in person on the three year photo cycle.
Keep the master requirement in view all year. If your licensed Building Repair Master leaves and is not replaced, the condition your licence depends on is no longer met, so treat a departure as an urgent licensing issue rather than only a staffing one.
A late renewal brings a reinstatement fee that is far larger than the renewal cost. Renew before expiry, and refresh your certificate of insurance at the same time so the two never drift apart.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What must a building repair contractor have in place before the licence can be issued?
The contractor licence cannot be issued until the business has a licensed Building Repair Master in its employ, which is the core difference between the contractor and master licences.
2. Which type of work falls within Hamilton's building repair definition?
Building repair is defined as additions, prefabricated structures, roofing, siding, decks, chimneys and fireplaces, porches, replacement windows, insulation and framing; drains, plumbing and sprinklers are separate trade licences.
3. Which declarations does a contractor complete at renewal?
Contractor renewals require both Declarations A and B, while the master licence renewal requires Declaration B only.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.