People who move to Maine from Massachusetts or Connecticut often go looking for a contractor's state registration number and find there isn't one. The Attorney General's office anticipates that moment. Its guide to home construction warns that unlicensed general contractors "can be a surprise, particularly for newcomers who are used to living in states with strict regulatory regimes" (AG home construction and repair). The same page says it directly: in Maine, general contractors are not licensed or regulated.
So whether you are adding a bedroom in Falmouth, gutting a farmhouse near Farmington or finishing a camp outside Waterville, hiring a general contractor in Maine is mostly about two things: the person's record and the paper you both sign.
If there is no license to look up, what do you check?
Start with what does exist. The plumbers and electricians your contractor brings in must hold individual state licenses, and so must any Fuel Board technician who sets a boiler or a gas line. Ask for those names at the bidding stage and look them up on the state's ALMS search. A contractor who can't say who their plumber will be hasn't really priced the job.
Then check the contractor directly:
- Insurance. A liability certificate naming you, and workers' compensation if they have employees.
- The AG's list. The consumer-protection addendum that Maine contracts must carry includes information on contractors the State has successfully sued. Read it before you sign, not after.
- Finished work. Ask to see two or three jobs at least a few years old. In Yarmouth or Freeport, where many contractors work, that is easy. In Presque Isle or Orono, the pool is smaller and word of mouth carries further.
- Who runs the site. On a large job, ask who is there every day and how you reach them.
What does the Home Construction Contracts Act make the contractor write down?
The Act applies to building, remodeling or repairing a residence of up to three units (§1486). For any such contract worth more than $3,000 in materials or labor, §1487 demands a written agreement signed by both parties, and a copy in each party's hands before work begins. The contract must hold the entire agreement. Its required parts are worth knowing by heart on a general contracting job:
- Estimated start and substantial completion dates, which can shift only for causes outside the contractor's control, such as an unready site or materials that can't be had.
- The full contract price, or for a cost-plus job, the agreed formula plus an estimate of labor and material costs.
- A payment method with the initial payment no more than a third of the total.
- A description of the work and materials.
- The statutory warranty, a dispute-resolution choice, and a change-order clause.
- For new construction or an addition, a statement of whether the building meets or exceeds the state's energy standards.
- The AG's consumer-protection information as an addendum, and a notice pointing you to the AG's website.
You don't have to draft this. The AG offers a model contract, a change-order form and the required addendum as Word files on its page, along with chapter 17 of its Consumer Law Guide. Ask the contractor to use them, or to show you where their own contract covers each item.
Can a contractor ask you to waive the Act?
Only in a narrow way. Under §1489, the parties can opt out only after the contractor has informed the homeowner of their rights under the Act. If a contractor hands you a short form and a waiver line on day one, you are being asked to give up the deposit cap and the warranty language. There is rarely a good reason to agree.
A contractor who skips the Act's requirements is exposed too. §1490 treats a violation as prima facie evidence of a violation of the Unfair Trade Practices Act, with a civil forfeiture of $100 to $1,000.
Does your town enforce a building code at all?
Maine's building code, the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC), must be enforced in towns of more than 4,000 residents. A smaller town doesn't have to enforce it, but it may not adopt any other code (10 M.R.S. §9724). Log homes, manufactured housing, and post-and-beam or timber-frame construction are outside MUBEC's requirements. The energy code baseline is the 2021 IECC, in place since April 7, 2025 (Efficiency Maine on energy codes).
That means an addition in Portland or Topsham goes through a permit and inspections, while the same addition in a small town on the Blue Hill peninsula might be built with no inspector ever visiting. The AG's suggestion is simple and worth taking: write "work shall be done in accordance with the MUBEC" into the contract. In a town that doesn't inspect, that sentence and the statutory warranty are the code.
What changes when the lot sits near a lake, river or the ocean?
A lot of Maine renovation happens close to water, and that brings a second layer of rules. Every great pond, river and tidal shore carries a 250-foot shoreland zone, and certain streams a 75-foot one (38 M.R.S. §435). Under the Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act, every town has to adopt and enforce its own shoreland ordinance, and Maine DEP says the local code enforcement officer is typically the first point of contact (DEP shoreland zoning).
For a general contractor, that can mean limits on expanding a structure, clearing vegetation or moving earth, even in a town that enforces no building code. Ask any contractor bidding a camp or a coastal house whether they have worked under the town's shoreland ordinance, who will apply for the shoreland permit, and whether the schedule allows for it. A contractor who says shoreland rules "don't really apply" to a deck extension 60 feet from the water is guessing.
How should payments follow the work?
Tie each payment after the first to something you can see: foundation poured, framed and dried in, rough plumbing and electrical inspected, drywall up, final walkthrough. On a $28,000 job, the first payment can be at most about $9,300. Keep the last installment large enough that the contractor wants it, and ask for lien waivers from the main suppliers and subcontractors before you release it. The AG explains that an unpaid supplier can otherwise put a mechanic's lien on your house.
The Maine calculator default for a typical general contractor project is about $20,700 to $31,500; the Maine general contractor cost estimate explains the range. Summer cottage towns like Kennebunkport have a different calendar: much renovation there is done from fall to spring so the house is ready by summer, and contractors who work them book that window early.
What can you do if the job falls apart?
Write down what happened and send it to the contractor. The AG's Consumer Protection Division takes complaints at 207-626-8800. Small claims court handles disputes under $10,000 without a lawyer. If a contractor took money with no intention of doing the work, the AG's page points to home repair fraud, a crime under 17-A M.R.S. §908.
