The short version: Alabama licenses residential home builders through the Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB). A license is required for residential work over $10,000. Verify at hblb.alabama.gov. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC use separate state boards, so verify those too. Your protection comes from the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (up to triple damages) and the Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act, which makes financial exploitation of a senior 60 or older a felony.

Alabama requires an HBLB license over $10,000

Alabama is a licensed state, with a clear dollar line. The Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) requires a license for anyone doing residential construction, repair, or improvement when the project cost is more than $10,000, counting labor, materials, overhead, and profit.1 The rule covers buildings up to three floors and four units.

For a senior planning a bathroom remodel, a ramp with a door widening, or a kitchen refresh, you are almost certainly over the $10,000 line and need a licensed home builder. Below $10,000 the HBLB license is not required, though a reputable contractor holds one, and the trades still need their own licenses.

What you want doneWho licenses it in Alabama
Residential build, repair, improvement over $10,000Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB)
ElectricalAlabama Electrical Contractors Board
Plumbing and gasAlabama Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board
HVACAlabama HVAC board

This is the Alabama-specific companion to our national state contractor license lookup guide. For the full pre-hire workflow, see How to Find a Senior-Friendly Contractor.

How to verify: hblb.alabama.gov

To verify: open the HBLB licensee lookup at hblb.alabama.gov.1 Search by the builder’s name or license number.

Check:

  1. Status active (not expired, suspended, revoked)
  2. License type residential builder, and whether it is limited or unlimited
  3. Name matches the business and person on your contract
  4. Disciplinary history any recent Board action

Alabama also requires roofers to post a $10,000 bond.1 A builder who needs the HBLB license for your project but cannot show an active one is not legal to hire for that work.

The trades are licensed separately

The HBLB license covers home building and remodeling. It does not cover the skilled trades, which Alabama licenses through their own boards.1

If your senior project includes new wiring for a stair lift circuit, plumbing for a curbless shower, or HVAC changes, verify each tradesperson’s own state license. The home builder’s HBLB license does not stand in for an electrician’s or plumber’s.

Your protection: two Alabama laws

Alabama backs its licensing with two separate laws, and the second one is built for seniors.

First, the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act treats home improvement fraud, such as taking a deposit for work never done, as an illegal deceptive practice. You can sue for up to three times your actual loss, and the Attorney General’s Consumer Interest Division can pursue civil penalties.2

The senior layer: the Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act makes financial exploitation of an elderly person, defined as 60 or older, a felony.3 A contractor who uses deception to take a senior’s money for a remodel that never happens can face criminal charges, not just a civil suit.

Get scope, materials, total price, and dates in writing before any deposit, and pay by check or card, never cash, so you have a record if you need either law.

Alabama senior scam patterns

  • Post-tornado roofers Alabama sits in Dixie Alley, the Deep South tornado corridor. After every outbreak, out-of-state roofing crews work storm-hit neighborhoods door to door.
  • Gulf Coast hurricane roofers Mobile and Baldwin County see post-hurricane crews with damage claims and pressure to sign on the spot.
  • Driveway sealcoating crews A regional regular: leftover material offered at a discount, thin work, and a crew gone by morning.
  • Your defenses the HBLB complaint process, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the felony elder-exploitation law.2

If something goes wrong

  • Builder problems: file with the Home Builders Licensure Board at hblb.alabama.gov, which licenses and disciplines residential builders.
  • Consumer fraud generally: Alabama Attorney General’s Consumer Interest Division at alabamaag.gov.
  • Elder financial abuse: contact local law enforcement. The Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act makes it a felony.
Alabama verification in 30 seconds:
  • Verify at hblb.alabama.gov (HBLB licensee lookup)
  • An HBLB license is required for residential work over $10,000
  • Verify electrical, plumbing/gas, and HVAC through their separate state boards
  • Get scope, price, and dates in a written contract before any deposit
  • Verify insurance with the carrier directly ($1M general liability for $10K+ jobs)
  • Dixie Alley tornado and Gulf hurricane roofers active; never door-to-door
  • Fraud against a senior (60+) is a felony under the Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act

Citations

  1. Home Builders Licensure Board and Licensee Lookup. Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB), retrieved June 17, 2026. .
  1. Consumer Interest Division (Deceptive Trade Practices Act). Office of the Alabama Attorney General, retrieved June 17, 2026. .
  1. Protecting Alabama’s Elders Act (Ala. Code 13A-6-190 et seq.). Code of Alabama, retrieved June 17, 2026. .
  1. Home Improvement Scams Targeting Older Adults. AARP Fraud Watch Network, June 2024. .