The licensing part
Maryland licenses residential home improvement, including roofing, through the Maryland Home Improvement Commission. There is no separate residential roofing licence to hold on top of it. In Virginia, contractor licensing runs through DPOR by class and by specialty designation. A properly licensed general contractor is therefore generally permitted to contract for a roof.
So licensing is rarely the thing that should decide this. Verify the licence is active and the insurance is current, for a general contractor and a roofer alike, and then move on to the questions that actually vary.
Who is on the roof
A general contractor who does not self-perform roofing subcontracts it. That is normal and not a problem in itself — but it means the crew is selected by price and availability on the day, you did not meet them, and the relationship you have is with the party in the middle.
Ask directly: is the crew employed by you or subcontracted, and can I have the name of the company that will be on my roof? A straight answer to that is more informative than any amount of marketing.
Warranty is where the difference is real
Manufacturer warranties on shingle systems come in tiers. The enhanced ones — the coverage most homeowners believe they are getting — can only be registered by a contractor the manufacturer has certified, and they require the full system to be installed: underlayment, starter, ice-and-water shield, ventilation to code and ridge cap, all from the same line.
A general contractor who is not certified with the manufacturer cannot register that warranty regardless of how well the roof goes on. The homeowner is left with the standard material warranty and a labour warranty from whoever signed the contract.
Then ask who honours the labour warranty. If the installing crew was a subcontractor, and the general contractor has moved on, the practical answer in year five can be nobody.
When a general contractor is the right call
When the roof is genuinely part of a larger scope — an addition, a full exterior, a structural repair that changes the roof line — splitting it across two contracts creates a seam where responsibility gets lost. One scope and one warranty is worth something real there.
The best case is a company that holds both: licensed as a general contractor and certified by the shingle manufacturer, with its own crews. That is what we are, which is why we will take a kitchen and a roof on one written scope and register the enhanced warranty on the roof either way.
The five questions to ask anyone
Is your licence active, and what is the number? Can I see your general liability and workers compensation certificates? Are the installers your employees or subcontracted? Are you certified by the manufacturer whose shingles you are quoting, and will you register the enhanced warranty in my name? What is your labour warranty, in writing, and who honours it?
Any contractor worth hiring answers all five without hesitating. We inspect free across Maryland and Northern Virginia, usually within twenty four hours, and the photo report is yours to keep whether you hire us or not.
Get it looked at, free
We inspect across Maryland — Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties. Free inspection, photo report within 24 hours, and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.