California contractor license requirements

California licenses contractors through the Contractors State License Board, a body inside the Department of Consumer Affairs. One number covers one contractor; the classifications attached to that number decide what work it covers. A license is not a business license and it is not a permit — a city will still want both.

The statute that sets the classification scheme is Business and Professions Code Division 3, Chapter 9, Article 4, section § 7055. That section is worth reading before you pick a class, because it is the language a board reviewer applies when they decide your application asked for the wrong one.

CSLB sorts contracting into four families. Everything below C is a specialty class with its own two-letter-plus-number code, from C-2 insulation through C-10 electrical to the trades most people never think of.

Small jobs under the board’s minor-work line are covered in handyman vs contractor license. The examination is explained in the exam guide, with the ways to prepare in exam prep routes compared.

Every active California license carries a contractor license bond of $25,000. The bond of qualifying individual sits at the same figure, and a disciplinary bond, where the board orders one, starts there and can be set at up to ten times the contractor bond. All three rose to that number on 2023-01-01 under Senate Bill 607; a bond written before that date had to be increased, not replaced.

How the bond itself works — who it protects and what a claim does to you — is in the surety bond guide.

Every figure below is the amount CSLB publishes on its own fee schedule, read on 2026-10-18. Fingerprinting is billed in two parts by the state and federal agencies, plus a rolling fee set by the Live Scan operator, which CSLB records as varies by Live Scan operator.

The total row adds the three fees every first-time applicant pays. It excludes the bond premium, the Live Scan rolling fee and any exam-prep spend. Our license cost calculator adds those in.

Miss the renewal date and the bill goes up; the renewal guide covers late renewal and inactive status.

An LLC license carries two obligations a sole owner does not have. A separate $100,000 surety bond for employees and workers sits on top of the $25,000 contractor bond (B&P Code § 7071.6.5). And the LLC must carry liability insurance with a cumulative limit of at least $1,000,000 where five or fewer people are listed as personnel of record, plus $100,000 for each additional person, capped at $5,000,000 in total (B&P Code § 7071.19).

Since 2014-01-01 those liability policies must be written by an insurer licensed in California (an admitted carrier) or by an eligible surplus line insurer, such as one on the Department of Insurance’s approved list. If your broker offers a surplus-lines policy for the LLC requirement, check the insurer is eligible first.

CSLB names 5 states it runs a reciprocity programme with: Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina. Reciprocity in California is not a transfer. You still file a California application, you still bond, and the programme addresses the trade portion of the examination — not the paperwork, and not the fee. It needs an active license in good standing in the partner state for the previous 5 years, and CSLB keeps the right to require the trade exam anyway. Going the other way is not automatic: Arizona’s board says it has no direct reciprocity with any state and offers a trade-exam waiver instead, as the Arizona state contractors license sheet explains.