Graciano Corp v Baronoff, 106 A.D.3d 778, 964, N.Y.S.2d 602. : Fenix Investors

The plaintiff contractor performed certain masonry work on property owned by the defendants in Suffolk County. After a dispute arose, the plaintiff commenced this action, inter alia, to recover damages for breach of contract and in quantum meruit. The defendants moved, inter alia, for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the ground that the plaintiff was unlicensed at the time it performed the work and, accordingly, it forfeited its right to recover under any legal theory.
Where a home improvement contractor is not properly licensed in the municipality where the work is performed at the time the work is performed, the contractor forfeits the right to recover for the work performed both under the contract and on a quantum meruit basis (see B & F Bldg. Corp. v. Liebig, 76 N.Y.2d 689, 693, 563 N.Y.S.2d 40, 564 N.E.2d 650; CMC Quality Concrete III, LLC v. Indriolo, 95 A.D.3d 924, 925, 944 N.Y.S.2d 253; Velardo v. Tomescu, 91 A.D.3d 859, 860, 936 N.Y.S.2d 695; Vatco Contr., Ltd. v. Kirschenbaum, 73 A.D.3d 1163, 1164, 902 N.Y.S.2d 589; Flax v. Hommel, 40 A.D.3d 809, 810, 835 N.Y.S.2d 735; Ellis v. Gold, 204 A.D.2d 261, 262, 611 N.Y.S.2d 587; Hammerman v. Jamco Indus., 119 A.D.2d 544, 545, 500 N.Y.S.2d 718; see also CPLR 3015[e] ).
Administrative Code of Suffolk County § 563–17(A) provides, in pertinent part, that “[i]t is unlawful for any person to engage in any business as a home improvement contractor without obtaining a license therefor.”