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All businesses or individuals who construct or alter any building, highway, road, parking facility or other structure in California must be licensed by the Contractors State License Board if the total cost including labor and materials is $500 or more.
THERE ARE MANY REASONS TO GET A CONTRACTOR’S LICENSE:
1. You can do jobs that are over $499.99.
2. You can take the customer to court if you are not paid. (Without a license, a contract of $500 or more is considered illegal.)
3. You can legally advertise your construction business.
4. You can pull building permits.
5. You are eligible for special discounts from many material suppliers.
6. You can join builders’ associations that offer job boards, plan rooms, and group insurance.
The classifications are broken down into 4 categories.
1) A-General Engineering
2) B-General Building
3) C-Specialty classes
4) D-Limited Specialty classes
At least four years of journey level experience obtained within the previous 10 years is required to qualify for the exam. Credit is given for experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor or a combination of experience and education.
You may still qualify by substituting apprenticeship or technical training or other education for work experience. For example, you could receive a credit of up to two years for a college degree from any four year college. Sealed transcripts would need to be submitted with the application.
You ask someone in the building trades (foreman, supervisor, journeyman, fellow employee, or business associate) who has direct knowledge of your work to act as your Certifier and sign a “work cert” (Certification of Work Experience). You do not need a work cert for each and every job, just an overview of your experience that is trade specific. One person may sign for all four years of required experience if they have first hand knowledge of that experience.
Yes! But be prepared to show proof of your experience. Check out my blog post discussing how the CSLB is reviewing/investigating more and more applications that submit self-employed experience.
Yes. O/B experience is reviewed separately to evaluate the amount of experience time you will be granted. On average, the time you are granted is at least ¾ to 1/2 of what you submitted. There are some insider tips to filling out the project list that I would be happy to assist you with through my application review service. Click here to view my post that discusses O/B experience further.
The application will be returned with a letter asking you to supply additional information or make corrections. You will have 90 days to comply with the letter.
Yes. The qualifying person must pass the Law & Business and Trade exams, unless he or she meets the requirements for a waiver of either one or both exams. You will have three hours to complete each exam.
If this is your first license, you will take two exams: the Law and Business exam and the Trade exam. Everyone takes the same Law and Business exam. Those who take a Trade exam will be tested on their specific trade classification (e.g., general building, plumbing, electrical, etc).
The Law and Trade exams are scored separately, and you can take either exam as many times as necessary over 18 months (at $60 per retake). If you don’t pass within 18 months, you have to reapply. If you passed one of the exams it still counts for up to 5 years and would not need to be taken again during that 5 year period.
Start your application today, or talk to a specialist first — either
way, we’ll take it from here.
