Contractor licence for tree work in Utah: tree trimming on the exempt activities list and the S330 landscape scope

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes Utah Code title 58 chapter 55, the Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act, and the Division's rule R156-55a under it, as the state's own pages showed them on October 10, 2026. A short phrase in quotation marks is the source's own. The rule page is marked as effective August 7, 2026. Tree workers who hold an arborist credential instead of a contractor licence are covered by the guide to state arborist licenses.

Where tree work appears in the rule

Utah Code section 58-55-301 says a person engaged in the construction trades licensed under the chapter, or acting as a contractor regulated by it, must be licensed before engaging in that trade or contracting activity, unless specifically exempted. The same section lists the classifications the Division issues. They include general building, general engineering and residential and small commercial contractors, and a "specialty contractor" classification that is established by rule. Section 58-55-102 defines a specialty contractor as a person licensed under a specialty classification set by rule, to perform trades and crafts needing specialized skill that the Division has decided to regulate in the interest of public health, safety and welfare.

The rule then names the specialty classifications one by one. None of the specialty classifications on the list is a tree service class. Two parts of the rule mention trees.

Where in rule R156-55a	What the rule says
R156-55a-301an, Activities Exempt from Licensing	The Division determined that a list of activities do not significantly impact public health, safety and welfare "and therefore do not require a contractor license". Item (c) on the list is tree trimming or removal of tree stumps or trees.
R156-55a-301ae, S330 Landscape and Recreation Contractor	The scope is to grade and prepare land for architectural, horticultural or decorative treatment, and to arrange and plant gardens, lawns, shrubs, vines, bushes, trees or other decorative vegetation. Tree trimming and removal are not part of the written scope.

The rest of the exempt list near tree work

The same list in R156-55a-301an has other items a tree crew may meet on a job. Item (q) is general cleanup of a construction site that does not include demolition or excavation. Item (bb) is lawn aeration, fertilizing, power raking and dethatching. Sandblasting, pumping services, concrete cutting and chimney sweeping other than masonry repair are also on it.

Subsection (3) of the same rule section says nothing in it is a waiver of the licensing requirements for work performed within the scope of the licensed classifications that come before it in the rule. Subsection (4) says it is not a waiver of any statutory or regulatory requirement of other state or federal agencies that applies to the work. The exempt list is therefore framed around the contractor licence, and subsection (4) leaves other agencies' requirements in place.

What the S330 and S700 scopes add

The S330 scope also covers decorative pools and fountains, sprinkler and irrigation systems not tied to the culinary water system or protected by a backflow device, retaining walls other than those holding vehicles, structures, equipment or other non-natural fill within a stated angle, patios and decking, fences, sports courts and incidental concrete and excavation. It excludes electrical and natural gas work and plumbing outside the listed items. An S330 licensee may not hire or subcontract work outside that scope except to holders of the electrical and plumbing contractor licences and the gas certificate the rule names.

The rule's S700 Limited Scope License Contractor class is for specialized work that is in no other classification. It is granted by the Division case by case, and the applicant submits a statement of the work proposed and an explanation of why it is not included in any other class before it can be considered.

Statute exemptions that apply across trades

Section 58-55-305 lists persons who may do construction trade work without a licence under the chapter. Paragraph (1)(i) covers a person practising a specialty contractor classification or construction trade that the director does not classify by rule as significantly impacting public health, safety and welfare. Paragraph (1)(j) covers owners and lessees of property, and people regularly employed for wages by them or their agents to maintain the property, when doing work upon the property. Paragraph (1)(h) covers alteration, repair, remodeling, addition or improvement of a building with a contracted value under US$7,000, labour and materials together. The Legislature's pages mark section 58-55-301 as effective May 7, 2025 and superseded January 1, 2027, and section 58-55-305 as renumbered January 1, 2027, so the section numbers are due to change on that date.

How Utah's storm price rules sit beside this is on the Utah storm contractor rules page. The overview of other state boards is on the contractor licences guide, and checking a company lists where a licence can be looked up.