Rhode Island's Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board takes complaints, holds hearings and can discipline a registration, but its hearing officer cannot order a contractor to pay you anything. Above $10,000 of claimed damages the board may decline to carry on and refer you to Superior Court. So the board protects the trade's standards, and recovering money is a separate job with its own clock.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateRhode Island average | $134 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
440-RICR-10-00-1 section 1.9.2(F) states that a hearing officer cannot order the respondent to pay monetary damages or restitution, and adds that payment can be agreed to by the parties as part of a settlement. The board's power runs to the registration rather than to your money.
The same section provides that where the investigation determines potential damages or restitution exceed ten thousand dollars, the board may refuse to continue processing the claim and refer the complainant to Superior Court. It is worth being precise about where that figure lives: it is in the regulation, and the statute the regulation cites, R.I. Gen. Laws section 5-65-12(b), carries no dollar amount of its own.
Section 5-65-12(c) sets one-year filing windows: one year after first occupancy or closing for a new structure, and one year after completion or cessation of work otherwise. Subsection (f) allows filing up to one year from the date of completion where the consumer notified the contractor of a problem. The complaint form carries a twenty-five dollar fee.
R.I. Gen. Laws section 5-65-3(o) requires all work performed, including labor and materials, in excess of one thousand dollars to be accompanied by a contract in writing. Registration itself is mandatory under section 5-65-3(a).
The table above carries the Rhode Island figure for auto repair labor, the one cross-trade rate with a per-state source, and it sits just above the national average. The state also inspects light vehicles for safety and emissions together at least once every twenty-four months, with new vehicles exempt for two years or twenty-four thousand miles, whichever comes first.
Check the registration on the board's contractor search first. Registration is mandatory here, so its absence is itself the answer.
Get the contract in writing above a thousand dollars, because the statute requires it and because the board's own process cannot recover money for you. The contract is what a court reads.
Diary the one-year deadline from completion at the point the work finishes, not at the point a problem appears. Construction problems tend to surface slowly and the clock does not wait for them.
No. 440-RICR-10-00-1 section 1.9.2(F) states that a hearing officer cannot order the respondent to pay monetary damages or restitution. Payment can be agreed between the parties as part of a settlement, but the board cannot impose it.
The board may step back. The same regulation provides that where the investigation determines potential damages or restitution exceed ten thousand dollars, the board may refuse to continue processing the claim and refer the complainant to Superior Court. That figure is in the regulation; the statute it cites carries no dollar amount.
One year. Section 5-65-12(c) runs it from first occupancy or closing for a new structure, and from completion or cessation of work otherwise. Subsection (f) allows up to one year from completion where you notified the contractor of a problem. The complaint form carries a $25 fee.
Above $1,000, yes. R.I. Gen. Laws section 5-65-3(o) requires all work performed, including labor and materials, in excess of one thousand dollars to be accompanied by a written contract. Registration is separately mandatory.
Yes, safety and emissions together for light vehicles at least once every twenty-four months. New vehicles are exempt for two years or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first, and electric vehicles get the safety test only.