How to Get a Contractor License in California

CSLB licenses by classification. Business and Professions Code section 7055 divides contracting into three branches: A General Engineering, B General Building, and C Specialty. The C branch holds more than 40 separate trades, from C-2 Insulation and Acoustical to C-61 Limited Specialty, and the B-2 Residential Remodeling classification covers multi-trade remodels of existing wood-frame homes.

When an exam is required you may apply for only one classification at a time. After the first license issues, you can add as many classifications as you can separately qualify for. Our California classifications guide explains what the main ones allow and which of them carry a trade exam.

Each classification on each license needs a qualifying individual, often called the qualifier, who is responsible for the firm's construction operations. The qualifier must be at least 18 and must have at least four full years of experience in the classification within the ten years before the application. CSLB counts only experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee, contractor or owner-builder; trainee and helper time is not journey-level work, though a completed apprenticeship can earn education credit.

Experience goes on the Certification of Work Experience form 13A-11, signed by someone who saw the work firsthand, such as an employer, fellow journeyman, union representative, inspector or homeowner. Owner-builder experience also needs a Project List form 13A-64 for each project. CSLB can ask for documents backing any claim, and failing to produce them can void the application.

Education can stand in for part of the four years, up to three years in total, but at least one year must be hands-on. CSLB lists up to 1 1/2 years for an A.A. in building or construction management, up to 2 years for certain four-year degrees such as accounting, business or mathematics, and up to 3 years for a completed apprenticeship or a four-year degree in construction management or a directly related engineering field. There is no education requirement and no financial-statement requirement.

The Application for Original Contractor's License goes to CSLB headquarters in Sacramento with the $450 application fee. Sole owners can also file online. Paper forms must be in ink or typed, since pencil applications are sent back, and the bond and initial license fee are not sent at this stage.

CSLB replies with an acknowledgment letter carrying an Application Fee Number and a four-digit PIN for checking status online. Once the application is accepted you receive a Live Scan fingerprint packet. The Department of Justice fee is $32 and the FBI fee is $17, and each Live Scan site adds its own rolling fee. Applicants who need testing accommodations file form 13E-77, and a translator can be used only with CSLB's advance approval.

Every qualifier must pass the Law and Business exam. Everyone except C-61 Limited Specialty applicants must also pass a trade exam for the classification. CSLB mails a Notice to Schedule an Examination, and you book and pay for each test directly with PSI, which runs testing centers around the state six days a week. Each exam allows 3 1/2 hours. You have 18 months from acceptance to pass, must wait 21 days after a failed attempt, and a passed exam stays valid for five years.

Some applicants skip testing. Under section 7065 no exam is needed if, within the past five years, you served as qualifier for the same classification on a license in good standing or passed both exams. CSLB grants waivers under section 7065.1(b) and (c), while the Registrar has suspended waivers under 7065.1(a). Licensees with five years of good standing in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada or North Carolina may have the trade exam waived through reciprocity, but they still take Law and Business.

ContractorPrepHQ sells practice for these tests: original questions written from CSLB's study-guide outlines, a diagnostic, topic drills with explanations, and timed practice exams with a readiness score. It is study material only, has no effect on your experience claim, and nothing about it is something CSLB asks you to buy.

After you pass, CSLB's Issuance Unit sends a bond and fee letter. The initial license fee is $200 for a sole owner and $350 for any other entity, and it covers the first two years. You also need a $25,000 contractor's bond, or a $25,000 cashier's check in its place. A separate $25,000 Bond of Qualifying Individual applies to an RME, and to an RMO who does not own at least 10 percent of the company's voting stock or equity.

Every applicant must also complete CSLB's asbestos open-book exam, required by section 7058.5, which teaches awareness only and does not certify anyone for abatement work. For workers' compensation you file either a certificate of coverage or an exemption stating you have no employees. The exemption is not available to C-8 Concrete, C-20 HVAC, C-22 Asbestos Abatement, C-39 Roofing or tree service licensees, or to a license qualified by an RME. LLCs have their own employee/worker bond and liability insurance requirements, so check the current amounts with CSLB.

An active license runs two years, expiring on the last day of the month two years after issue. CSLB mails a renewal about 60 days ahead. Timely active renewal is $450 for a sole owner and $700 for other entities, with C-10 Electrical licensees charged $470 and $720. An inactive license renews every four years, and while inactive you need no bond or workers' compensation filing but may not bid or contract.

Work done while a license is expired counts as unlicensed. If a complete renewal with fees reaches CSLB within 90 days after expiration, the registrar must reinstate it retroactively; after five years expired, you start over with a new application. CSLB's renewal instructions do not list any continuing education course. What does need constant attention is the bond and the workers' compensation coverage, because a lapse in either leads to suspension.