Authority Industries Scope of Covered Trades and Specialties

The Authority Industries network spans a defined set of residential and light-commercial service trades, each subject to specific licensing, insurance, and vetting requirements before a provider may appear in directory listings. Understanding which trades fall within scope — and which do not — helps homeowners identify qualified providers quickly and helps contractors assess eligibility before beginning the onboarding process. This page details the full taxonomy of covered specialties, the logic used to include or exclude a trade category, and the practical boundaries that govern how the directory operates.

Definition and scope

Covered trades are defined as those residential and light-commercial service categories for which a structured licensing pathway exists in at least 30 U.S. states, where work directly affects occupant health, safety, or structural integrity, or where consumer financial exposure from substandard performance is material. This three-part test — licensure prevalence, impact severity, and financial exposure — forms the baseline inclusion standard.

The Authority Industries service category index organizes covered trades into six primary divisions:

1. Structural and Exterior — roofing, siding, foundation repair, masonry, structural framing, windows and doors
2. Mechanical Systems — HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), plumbing, gas line installation and repair
3. Electrical — panel upgrades, whole-home wiring, low-voltage systems, generator installation
4. Interior Finish and Renovation — flooring, drywall, cabinetry, tile and stonework, interior painting
5. Specialty and Environmental — mold remediation, asbestos abatement, lead paint encapsulation, radon mitigation
6. Outdoor and Landscaping — hardscaping, irrigation systems, outdoor electrical, tree removal at structural proximity

Trades excluded from scope include general cleaning services, moving and hauling, pest control not linked to structural remediation, and decorative-only work that carries no building code implication. The distinction matters because licensing requirements by trade vary sharply across these boundaries; excluded categories lack the statutory framework the directory relies upon to verify credentials objectively.

How it works

A trade category enters the covered list through a formal classification review that cross-references four public data sources: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook for trade definitions (BLS OOH), the International Code Council's model building codes (ICC) for impact classification, state contractor licensing boards for prevalence counts, and OSHA trade safety standards (OSHA.gov) for hazard designation.

Once classified, each trade is assigned a compliance tier within the vetting process. High-impact trades — those in Structural and Exterior, Mechanical Systems, and Electrical — require state-issued contractor licenses, general liability insurance with a minimum $1 million per-occurrence limit (per the insurance standards framework), and a background check on the responsible qualifier. Interior Finish trades require proof of business registration and liability coverage but accept documented journeyman-level experience in lieu of a state license where state law does not mandate one. Specialty and Environmental trades require federally recognized certifications: EPA RRP (Renovation, Repair, and Painting) certification for lead work (EPA RRP Rule, 40 CFR Part 745) and EPA or state-equivalent accreditation for asbestos and mold.

The practical output is a provider record that maps each contractor to the specific trade categories for which they have demonstrated compliance — not a blanket approval. A roofing contractor approved under Structural and Exterior is not thereby approved to perform electrical work.

Common scenarios

Scenario 1 — Overlapping trade scope. A contractor holds both a plumbing license and an HVAC license. The directory carries two separate verified listings under that contractor's business entity — one for Mechanical Systems (plumbing) and one for Mechanical Systems (HVAC) — each with independently verified insurance certificates. This reflects how contractor performance metrics are tracked at the trade level, not the business level.

Scenario 2 — Borderline specialty work. A landscaping company offers irrigation installation, which triggers Outdoor and Landscaping coverage, but also offers low-voltage landscape lighting. Low-voltage electrical falls under the Electrical division, requiring separate verification. The company appears in both categories only after submitting documentation under each.

Scenario 3 — Excluded trade inquiry. A homeowner searches for a housecleaning provider. Because routine cleaning carries no building code implication and no state licensing pathway, the category falls outside scope. The directory purpose and scope page explains this boundary in consumer-facing terms.

Decision boundaries

The most operationally significant boundary lies between Interior Finish trades and Specialty and Environmental trades. Both may involve work inside finished living spaces, but Specialty and Environmental work activates federal regulatory requirements that Interior Finish does not. Mold remediation, for instance, may be governed by state-level contractor statutes in states including Florida (Florida Statute §489.105), New York, and Texas, while remaining unregulated at the state level in others — but the compliance and regulatory alignment framework requires federally recognized protocol adherence regardless of state-level silence.

A second key boundary separates light-commercial from heavy-commercial scope. The directory covers work on structures up to 4 stories or 20,000 square feet of gross floor area — thresholds drawn from ICC commercial construction classifications. Projects exceeding either threshold fall outside the network's coverage, as the licensing, bonding, and insurance requirements diverge substantially from residential-scale norms.

The consumer protection framework reinforces these boundaries by tying dispute resolution eligibility to covered-trade status. Work performed under a category not verified for a given provider is not eligible for the dispute process, a distinction documented in the service guarantee terms.

References

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook — trade definitions and classification reference
• International Code Council (ICC) Model Building Codes — impact classification for structural and mechanical trades
• OSHA Trade Safety Standards — osha.gov — hazard designation by trade category
• EPA Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule — 40 CFR Part 745 — federal certification requirement for lead-affecting work
• EPA Asbestos and Mold Abatement Guidance — epa.gov — accreditation standards for Specialty and Environmental trades
• Florida Statute §489.105 — Contractor definitions and licensing scope — example of state-level specialty trade regulation