New Mexico: who needs a license to work on your chimney or fireplace?
Checked Jul 2026·Laws as cited·Not in the Sep 2026 verification pass
Public recordNM LAW
For consumer remedies, home-sale rules and carbon monoxide law, see New Mexico chimney & fireplace laws — know your rights. That page was verified more recently than this matrix.
Stove & insert installation: is a credential required in New Mexico?
#stove-installLICENSE- Credential
- Licensed from $0 by the universal license-before-contracting rule (§ 60-13-12; handyman = ≤$7,200/YEAR income cap) — but NO CID classification names solid fuel: the full 14.6.6 NMAC classification rule (read in full 2026-07-22) contains no 'solid fuel', 'wood stove', 'pellet' or hearth entry; MM-3 (HVAC) is air-handling/refrigeration scope, MM-4 is hydronic/process piping, and the only chimney-flue-refractory language in the mechanical classes sits inside MM-2 'Natural gas fitting' — a GAS class (Pass 1); GS-16 Masonry (adobe-named) covers masonry fireplace construction; so New Mexico is the FL-pattern universal-capture-without-a-named-class state (P2-I) at a $0 floor — the work is licensed but WHICH classification (GB-98/GB-2 general building vs MM-98 mechanical) a wood-stove install rides is CID permit-desk practice, not rule text (UNVERIFIED); PERMITS: mechanical permit under the 2021 New Mexico Mechanical Code = 2021 UMC (14.9.2 NMAC, eff. 9/10/2022 — the project's FIRST UMC-based solid-fuel install standard) + 2021 IRC on the building side (14.7.3 NMAC, eff. 7/14/2023); CID is the AHJ everywhere except full-service local departments (ABQ, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho); WOOD-SMOKE: the ABQ-Bernalillo no-burn machinery (20.11.22 NMAC winter no-burn declarations) EXISTS BUT IS DORMANT — the city states no no-burn order has been necessary since December 2006 (task premise deflated: not a live installer-relevant layer); NFI: voluntary, referenced nowhere
- Issuing body
- NM RLD Construction Industries Division (CID); ABQ-Bernalillo Air Quality Program (dormant no-burn layer)
- Statute
- NMSA §§ 60-13-12, 60-13-3; 14.6.6 NMAC; 14.9.2 NMAC (2021 UMC); 14.7.3 NMAC (2021 IRC); 20.11.22 NMAC
- Dollar threshold
- none ($0 — license before contracting; handyman ≤$7,200/yr income cap)
- Exam
- y (qualifying-party trade + business/law exams for whichever classification is used)
- Local overlay
- y — full-service local building depts (ABQ/Santa Fe/Las Cruces/Rio Rancho) permit/inspect under the same state code; ABQ-Bernalillo no-burn regime dormant since 2006
- Confidence
- high (universal capture + codes); medium (which classification — practice UNVERIFIED) · checked 2026-07-22
- Sources
Chimney flashing: is a credential required in New Mexico?
#chimney-flashingLICENSE- Credential
- GS-21 ROOFING is the class — and the task-brief guess 'GS-2?' is DEBUNKED: GS-2 is 'Awnings and canopies'; GS-21 scope (14.6.6 NMAC, fetched): 'Install, alter or repair roof systems on new or existing roof decks... includes cutting, shaping, fabricating, and installing of sheet metal such as cornices, FLASHING, skylights' incidental to roofing projects — flashing named verbatim, so standalone chimney flashing/leak repair is licensed GS-21 work from $0 (license-before-contracting § 60-13-12; handyman ≤$7,200/yr); OVERLAP: GS-32 'Miscellaneous sheet metal' also names 'flashing... and prefabricated chimneys' at or near roof lines — a chimney shop holding GS-32 has a lawful flashing lane without a roofing class; GB-98/GB-2 general building reaches it too; Pass 4 caveat rides along: no GL requirement and only the $10k code-cure bond stand behind any NM class
- Issuing body
- NM RLD Construction Industries Division (CID)
- Statute
- NMSA § 60-13-12; 14.6.6 NMAC (GS-2, GS-21, GS-32 scopes fetched)
- Dollar threshold
- none ($0; handyman ≤$7,200/yr income cap)
- Exam
- y (qualifying-party trade + business/law exams)
- Local overlay
- n
- Confidence
- high · checked 2026-07-22
- Sources
Gas fireplace service: is a credential required in New Mexico?
#gas-fireplace-serviceLICENSE- Credential
- CID MM-2 'Natural gas fitting' (14.6.6.11 NMAC) is the DIRECT-HIT class — its scope names the hearth stack: 'install, alter, repair, service and maintain natural gas piping and fittings... warm air heating systems including CHIMNEY CONNECTIONS, FLUES, REFRACTORIES, burners, fittings, valves... warm air appliances and other listed gas appliances' (4 yrs experience; qualifying-party trade exam + business/law exam, 75% pass); MM-98 (mechanical) and MM-1 also reach it; the hands-on worker layer is the certified JOURNEYMAN natural gas fitter (JNG) or journeyman plumber-and-gasfitter (JPG) working under an MM-1/MM-2/MM-98 license (14.6.4 NMAC); NO per-job dollar threshold — license required before contracting (§ 60-13-12) and the handyman carve-out is a <=$7,200/YEAR income cap that NEVER covers gas (§ 60-13-3; 14.6.2.8 NMAC); unlicensed = misdemeanor scaled to job value + no suit/no lien (§§ 60-13-52, 60-13-30); chimney masonry = GS-16 (adobe named)/GS-32 prefab per rights file — both licensed, so the NM mismatch is CLASSY (NV/AZ pattern): everything licensed, gas simply gets a named class + journeyman layer + a second LP regulator
- Issuing body
- NM Regulation & Licensing Dept., Construction Industries Division (CID); NM Construction Industries Commission
- Statute
- NMSA 1978 §§ 60-13-12, 60-13-3, 60-13-52, 60-13-30; 14.6.6.11 NMAC (eff. 3/10/2022); 14.6.4 NMAC (journeyman)
- Dollar threshold
- none ($0 — license before contracting; handyman exemption = <=$7,200/YEAR total compensation, one project at a time, annual declaration filed, never electrical/plumbing/gas)
- Exam
- y (qualifying-party trade + business/law exams, 75%; journeyman certification exams; NASCLA-accredited general exam waiver possible for the state trade exam per 14.6.3.8(G)(2)(f))
- Local overlay
- y — full-service local building departments (ABQ, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho) permit/inspect mechanical work under the same state code; CID is the building department everywhere else — EXCEPT LP, where CID authority is exclusive statewide
- Confidence
- high · checked 2026-07-22
- Sources
Gas log installation: is a credential required in New Mexico?
#gas-log-installLICENSE- Credential
- LP lane tracked separately — and it is CID-EXCLUSIVE statewide: no person may engage in 'installing of containers or APPLIANCES for LP gases' without a license from the LP Gas Bureau (within CID) for each main/branch office under the LPG and CNG Act (NMSA § 70-5-6; annual license + fees § 70-5-9; bureau determines applicant 'fit and able'); license types/classifications are bureau-set (exact class list for appliance-install-only UNVERIFIED — pin before publish); the kicker for audit design: even FULL-SERVICE local building departments have NO authority over LP work — 'this authority does not include work in the liquefied petroleum industry over which CID has exclusive authority' (14.6.5.9(A)(2) NMAC), so every LP permit/inspection in the state is a CID record; NG log sets ride MM-2/MM-98 + journeyman alone
- Issuing body
- NM CID LP Gas Bureau (LPG & CNG Act); CID exclusive AHJ for all LP work
- Statute
- NMSA 1978 §§ 70-5-6, 70-5-9; 14.6.5.9(A)(2) NMAC; 14.6.3.3 NMAC (LPG Act inside CID licensing rule's authority)
- Dollar threshold
- none ($0 — all LP installation licensed)
- Exam
- y (bureau fitness determination; exam detail bureau-set, UNVERIFIED)
- Local overlay
- n — CID exclusive statewide for LP (locals barred)
- Confidence
- high (license requirement + CID exclusivity); medium (class/exam detail) · checked 2026-07-22
- Sources
What insurance does New Mexico require of contractors?
#insurance- Regime
- license (CID under CILA — universal, $0 threshold, MM/GS/GB classes; LP Gas Bureau second layer, CID-exclusive)
- Liability minimum
- NONE — 14.6.3 NMAC (full current text read 2026-07-22) conditions licensure on bond + WC compliance only, with NO general-liability minimum anywhere in the rule or CILA; DEBUNK: the circulating third-party claim that 'NMAC 14.6.5.9 requires specialty contractors to carry $300,000 CGL' is FALSE — 14.6.5 NMAC is the INSPECTORS rule and 14.6.5.9 is 'Building Officials' (zero insurance content); 'licensed' in NM NEVER implies liability insurance; LP Gas Bureau license insurance conditions UNVERIFIED (South-pattern predicts an LP insurance floor — check before using the LP license as an insurance proxy)
- Bond
- $10,000 proof-of-financial-responsibility bond, corporate surety authorized in NM, furnished at initial licensure AND every renewal — maintaining it is a condition of licensure (14.6.3.8(C) NMAC; statutory hook NMSA § 60-13-49) — BUT its purpose is narrow: payment goes 'to cure division certified code violations caused and not corrected by the licensee', claims within 2 years of final inspection or certificate of occupancy; 30-day carrier cancellation notice to CID, license cancelled if bond not replaced — a CODE-CURE instrument, not general consumer restitution
- Guaranty fund
- NONE — no guaranty/recovery fund in CILA (absence — chapter + rules reviewed); consumer money = the narrow $10k code-cure bond + UPA remedies (treble-or-$300 willful, mandatory fee-shift, § 57-12-10) + the § 60-13-30 no-suit/no-lien hammer
- Workers' comp threshold
- CONSTRUCTION CARVE-IN — 2nd in project (after MO): the general NM threshold is 3+ workers, but the Act applies to ALL employers engaged in activities requiring CILA licensure REGARDLESS of employee count (NMSA § 52-1-6(A)) — 1 employee = coverage for every licensed contractor; sole props/partners themselves not 'workers'; executive-employee election exists (§ 52-1-4.2 per statute index — text not fetched, medium); the weld: FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH WC LAW INVALIDATES THE LICENSE (14.6.3.8(K)(1)(c) NMAC; § 60-13-23) — a valid NM license implies WC compliance
- How to verify
- RLD public search (nmrldlpi.my.site.com/bcd/s/rld-public-search) = AUTOMATED: classification scope-match (advertises gas logs but holds only GS-16 masonry = detectable), qualifier, discipline — and a VALID license itself implies bond-on-file + WC compliance since both are validity conditions; GL = DESK carrier-direct COI ALWAYS (never state-filed — directory's own $500k floor does the work); WC = NM WCA Employer Compliance Bureau (workerscomp.nm.gov); LP shops = CID LP Gas Bureau roster (lookup detail UNVERIFIED)
- Confidence
- high; medium (§ 52-1-4.2 election text, LP insurance) · checked 2026-07-22
- Sources
Download the full licensing matrix (CSV) · All states
Before anyone goes on your roof
What should you ask a chimney company in New Mexico?
- Is your company a member of the National Chimney Sweep Guild (NCSG)?
- Does the technician coming to my home hold an individual NCSG certification, and which one?
- Does the technician hold a National Fireplace Institute (NFI) certification — and for which fuel: wood, gas, or pellet?
- What other certifications does the technician hold (for example, CSIA), and can I check them on the issuer's own roster?
- What state or local license or registration covers this work here, and what is the number?
- Will you send a certificate of insurance, dated and naming your company, before work starts?
- Which NFPA 211 inspection level — Level 1, 2, or 3 — are you performing, and why that level?
- Will you show me what you found — photos or video of the flue — in writing?
We take no fee from any certification body, guild, or contractor, and are not paid to mention anyone named.