Checking a Mobile Home Installer's License in South Carolina

South Carolina licenses and bonds manufactured home installers through the South Carolina Manufactured Housing Board, part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Verifying that license takes one phone call, costs nothing, and is the single most useful thing you can do before letting anyone put a jack under your home.

This page explains what the licence actually means, how to check it, and what to ask for. It applies whoever you hire, including us.

What the licence covers

The Manufactured Housing Board licenses manufactured home dealers, installers, repairers, salespeople, and manufacturers. Installation work is the category that matters for most homeowners, and it covers the work done to a home on its site: leveling, blocking, and tie-downs as well as setting a home in the first place.

That last point catches people out. It is easy to assume the licence is about moving homes and that a relevel is just handyman work. It is not. The frame you are asking someone to lift is carrying the entire structure, and the state treats the people doing it accordingly.

Installation work is also supposed to follow HUD’s model installation standards at 24 CFR Part 3285, which is where the pier, shim, and anchoring rules come from, including the Wind Zone II anchoring that applies across all of Horry County.

What it takes to hold one

The general requirements for a Manufactured Housing Board licence include:

• A $5,000 surety bond made payable to the SC Manufactured Housing Board, on the Board’s required form.
• Articles of Incorporation or a Partnership Agreement.
• A SLED background check.
• A certificate of successful completion of the applicable training.
• Identification documents.

The bond is the part worth understanding. It is a consumer-protection instrument: it guarantees that the licensee conducts business in accordance with state law and without fraudulent practices harmful to consumers, and it gives someone harmed by bad work a route to recovery that does not depend on the company having assets to sue for.

It is not a substitute for liability insurance, and it is not unlimited. Ask about both.

How to verify a licence in about two minutes

1. Ask for the number in writing. Text or email is fine. A licensed contractor gives Horry County this number on every permit they pull, so it is not sensitive and there is no reason to hesitate over it.
2. Call the Board at (803) 896-4682, or email Contact.MH@llr.sc.gov, and ask them to confirm the number, the licence type, that it is current, and that the bond is on file.
3. Ask separately for a certificate of liability insurance, and check the dates on it rather than just the logo.
4. Check the name matches. The licence belongs to a qualifier and a company. If the name on the licence and the name on the quote are different businesses, ask why before you go further.

If you are pulling a permit for a setup or a move, Horry County will require the licence number on the application anyway, and requires a Contractor Authorization Form signed by the qualifier, notarized or third-party witnessed, if someone else is obtaining the permit. The full county checklist is on our Horry County permit page.

Why we bring this up on our own site

Because it is the one check that protects you from us as much as from anyone else.

Every site in this trade says “licensed and insured” and most visitors have learned to read that as noise. The version that is worth anything is a number you can call and confirm. That goes for this site too: ask for the licence number of the crew scheduled on your home before they arrive, and run it through the lookup above.

What to ask for on the job itself

Licensing is the floor, not the ceiling. Four things separate a good relevel from a bad one, and none of them are expensive to ask for:

• Pier-by-pier readings from the level check. A crew that shot the frame properly has numbers. A crew that eyeballed it with a four-foot bubble level does not. This is the fastest way to tell the difference.
• A written scope, not a verbal number. What is included, what is quoted separately, what happens if something is found under the home.
• An explanation of what they will do about tall shim stacks. HUD’s installation standards limit how tall a shim stack may be, and a pier needing more than that gets rebuilt rather than shimmed. A crew that has no view on this is planning to shim it.
• Confirmation that the straps get re-tensioned. A home that settled left its anchors slack. Re-tensioning should be part of a relevel, not an extra.

The short version

South Carolina made this easy on purpose. There is a board, there is a licence, there is a bond, and there is a phone number. Two minutes on the phone before you hire is worth more than any amount of reading reviews, and it is the difference between a home lifted properly and a home lifted by someone with nothing at risk.

Board contact: (803) 896-4682, Contact.MH@llr.sc.gov. Horry County Code Enforcement: 843-915-5090.

Licensing requirements are the State of South Carolina’s, summarized here from the Manufactured Housing Board’s published requirements. Confirm current details with LLR directly rather than relying on this page.