KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Does GC need an alarm license
October 5, 2026
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Does GC need an alarm license
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Ken
We are a General Contractor and want to know whether we need an alarm license when we use a licensed alarm subcontractor. We are also concerned that we may not be permitted to mark-up the cost of the alarm system, at all or in some circumstances. Can you opine on the installation phase and the after-install phase when the recurring charges for monitoring, repair service or inspection are contracted for. Can we contract for that too in addition to installation if we have a licensed subcontractor perform the services?
Anon [but Concierge Client]
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Response
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The short answer is: do not assume that your general contractor license lets you sell alarm work merely because a licensed alarm subcontractor will perform it. The decisive question is usually who is offering, bidding, contracting for, supervising and billing for the regulated alarm work—not simply who pulls the wire. A legitimate GC may generally include specialty work in a broader construction contract and subcontract that work to a properly licensed alarm contractor, but the facts, the wording of the prime contract and the particular state law matter. A separately stated markup is not automatically prohibited; ordinarily it is part of the GC’s contract price or fee. The danger is that the markup, proposal and scope may show that the GC itself is acting as an alarm contractor without the required credential. Never describe the GC as the alarm provider unless it holds the required license, and never let the arrangement become license lending. Here are a few considerations and how a few states might view the matter.
Installation phase. If the alarm is one component of a genuine construction project, the safer structure is for the GC’s prime contract to identify the alarm scope as subcontracted work, name or later identify the licensed alarm contractor as required, and make clear that all design, installation, programming, testing, permitting and code compliance within the regulated scope will be performed and supervised by that licensed alarm company.
The alarm subcontract should require the licensed subcontractor to assume responsibility for permits, insurance, indemnity, warranty, commissioning, closeout documents and correcting deficiencies. If the GC is really selling a stand-alone alarm system, submitting the alarm bid in its own name, or holding itself out as capable of performing alarm work, using a licensed subcontractor may not cure the GC’s own licensing problem; the GC cannot engage in the licensed alarm business on its own behalf without the required license.
After installation. Monitoring, inspection, testing, repair and service are typically regulated in the alarm license. In many states they are expressly within the regulated alarm business. The safest course is for the licensed alarm company—not the unlicensed GC—to contract directly with the owner or subscriber for recurring services and to use its own compliant Kirschenbaum Contract for the services.
I don’t see how a GC remains in the chain or mix for licensed after-installation alarm services. The GC could have an agreement with the licensed alarm company to receive a referral fee or commission as an independent sales representative; in some jurisdictions, however, sales activity may require registration or an employment relationship with the alarm company. Those requirements must be checked state by state. A GC that signs the monitoring or service agreement as principal, collects the recurring charge as its own revenue, controls performance, or promises alarm response or code compliance may need an alarm license, except for activity that does not require one. Not all states require an alarm license to monitor alarms, though that can change.
California. California regulates both construction contracting and the alarm business. The Alarm Company Act treats selling at the customer’s home or business, installing, monitoring, maintaining, servicing or responding to alarm systems—and supervising those activities—as alarm-company functions. Depending on scope, contractor classifications such as C-7 or C-10 and alarm-company licensing through BSIS may also be implicated. A California “B” general contractor should not treat a stand-alone alarm job as though its general classification automatically covers it. For a true multi-trade project, use a properly licensed specialty subcontractor and keep the alarm company—not the GC—as the provider of post-installation monitoring and service unless the GC separately qualifies. Residential home-improvement rules impose additional contract, notice, deposit and payment requirements. Public works add bidder-license, subcontractor-listing, prevailing-wage, registration, bond and agency-specification requirements.
New York. New York licenses the business of installing, servicing or maintaining security or fire alarm systems. The statutory definition reaches a person who holds itself out, directly or indirectly, as able to perform that work. A GC can include a bona fide alarm subcontract in a larger project, but should not independently advertise, contract for or perform regulated alarm work without the appropriate alarm-installer license. New York also has local electrical, fire-code, permit and central-station requirements that can be more restrictive. For post-installation service, the licensed alarm company should ordinarily be the contracting party. On public work, add public-bidding, prevailing-wage, payment-bond and approved-subcontractor requirements; on residential work, comply with applicable home-improvement and consumer-contract rules.
Florida. Florida is particularly explicit. Chapter 489 defines an alarm system contractor to include a person whose business executes contracts to install, maintain, repair, monitor, inspect, replace or service alarm systems, including one who offers, bids or acts “by or through others.” That language makes reliance on a licensed subcontractor alone risky if the GC is the party selling or contracting for the alarm work. Florida law allows certain electrical contractors to bid contracts that include alarm systems if the alarm work is subcontracted to a properly certified or registered alarm contractor, but that should not be extended casually to every GC or to recurring services. Alarm Contractor I includes fire; Alarm Contractor II excludes fire. The rule applies on private and public property, with local permits and inspections still relevant. Unlicensed-contracting consequences can include discipline and unenforceability, so the licensed alarm company should contract directly for monitoring, inspections, repair and service unless the GC has the necessary alarm credential.
Texas. Texas regulates alarm companies, installers and monitors under Occupations Code Chapter 1702 through DPS. A licensed security contractor company may use independent contractors only if they are properly licensed or brought within the licensed company’s employment and insurance structure. A GC should not assume that subcontracting eliminates the need for its own company license where it offers, contracts for or controls regulated alarm services. The conservative structure is for a GC to use a licensed alarm subcontractor for installation but the licensed alarm company will contract directly with the subscriber for the after-install services. Fire alarm work also implicates the separate State Fire Marshal licensing regime. Public projects may add statutory procurement, bond, prevailing-wage or owner-specific prequalification requirements; residential work may add consumer disclosures and cancellation rules.
Private versus public; residential versus commercial. The alarm license analysis generally follows the regulated activity, not the owner’s identity or the building’s use. Public work does not create a license exemption; it usually adds another layer of procurement, registration, listed-subcontractor, wage, bond and closeout obligations. Commercial sophistication does not waive licensing statutes. Residential work commonly carries the most prescriptive contract, cancellation, disclosure, deposit and solicitation rules, while commercial agreements demand careful allocation of design responsibility, code compliance, insurance, indemnity, consequential-damage exposure and limitations of liability. Using the appropriate Kirschenbaum Contract for the subscriber and the services to be provided, and having the proper license to perform the contract, is the only way you should be engaged in the alarm and security business.
Bottom line. A GC may ordinarily include properly subcontracted alarm installation as part of a genuine larger construction project where state law and the GC’s classification permit it, and may include an agreed overhead-and-profit component. But the GC should not use the subcontractor’s license as a shield for the GC’s own unlicensed offer, bid or contract. Licensed after-installation activity, including monitoring, inspection and repair, should be contracted directly between the licensed alarm company and the subscriber. Thus, while a GC may be permitted to bring licensed trades together for a construction project, it cannot hold itself out as engaged in licensed alarm activities unless properly licensed. A GC could get itself in hot water with the alarm licensing agencies by including licensed alarm activities on its website, claiming or implying that it holds an alarm license, or otherwise engaging in licensed activities on its own.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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