Every other state in this series asks a question about timing. Virginia asks a question about what you knew.
If you did work in Virginia without a contractor license, your contract is not automatically dead, and there is no route for the customer to claw back what they already paid you. But whether you can enforce the contract at all turns on a two part test written into § 54.1-1115(C), and the second limb of it is about your own state of mind. That makes Virginia the odd one out, and it makes one particular mistake far more expensive here than anywhere else: letting an existing license lapse.
The provision that decides it
§ 54.1-1115(C), in full:
"A construction contract entered into by a person undertaking work without a valid Virginia contractor's license shall not be enforceable by the unlicensed contractor undertaking the work unless the unlicensed contractor (i) gives substantial performance within the terms of the contract in good faith and (ii) did not have actual knowledge that a license or certificate was required by this chapter to perform the work for which he seeks to recover payment."
Read what that actually does.
- The default is that you cannot enforce the contract. Not that the contract is void. It is unenforceable by the unlicensed contractor, and the bar is written to run against that person only.
⚠️ Note what § 54.1-1115 does not contain. Florida's § 489.128(3) has an express savings clause stating that unenforceability "shall not affect the rights of parties other than the unlicensed contractor". Virginia has no equivalent sentence. The subsection simply says nothing about anybody else, which is not the same as protecting them. If you are a licensed sub under an unlicensed general contractor, that silence is a question for an attorney, not something this page will answer for you.
- There is an escape hatch, and it has two limbs joined by "and". You need both.
- Limb (i) is about your performance: substantial performance, within the terms, in good faith.
- Limb (ii) is about your knowledge: you did not have actual knowledge that a license was required.
Limb (ii) is the unusual one. Virginia is the only state in this series where a contractor's ignorance of the licensing requirement is written into the statute as something that helps them.
The renewal trap, and it is the most important sentence on this page
The subsection does not stop there. The very next sentence:
"Failure to renew a license or certificate issued in accordance with this chapter shall create a rebuttable presumption of actual knowledge of such licensing or certification requirements."
So the escape hatch is built for the person who never knew. It is not built for the person who had a license and let it go.
If you were licensed and failed to renew, the statute presumes you had actual knowledge, which means you are presumed to fail limb (ii), which means you are presumed unable to enforce your contract. The presumption is rebuttable, so it is not the end of the argument, but you start the fight already behind and the burden is on you.
⭐ The practical consequence: in Virginia, the contractor who never applied for a license in their life may be in a better statutory position than the contractor who held one for a decade and missed a renewal. That is genuinely counterintuitive, and it is what the statute says.
Six states, six different questions
| State | What the law actually tests | What a mid job lapse costs |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia | Your actual knowledge, plus good faith substantial performance (§ 54.1-1115(C)) | A failure to renew creates a rebuttable presumption you knew, which attacks the escape hatch itself |
| Arizona | Two dates: contract formation and when the cause of action arose (ARS 32-1153) | Can fail limb 2 having passed limb 1 |
| Florida | The contract date only (§ 489.128(1)(c)) | Nothing, for that contract |
| Washington | The contract date only (RCW 18.27.080) | Nothing on limb 1, but the bond gate still applies |
| North Carolina | Throughout, but severable (Brady v. Fulghum) | Only the lapsed window |
| California | Every day of performance (§ 7031(a)) | The whole claim, plus everything already paid |
⚠️ Note what is not in the Virginia row. The statute says "entered into by a person undertaking work without a valid Virginia contractor's license" and does not go on to fix a test date the way Arizona, Florida, Washington and California each do. If your licensing gap sits partway through a job rather than at the start, that is a real question a Virginia construction attorney should answer on your facts. This page will not invent an answer the statute does not give.
Virginia against California, on the same facts
| Virginia | California | |
|---|---|---|
| Sue for the unpaid balance? | Only if both limbs of § 54.1-1115(C) are met | No (§ 7031(a)) |
| Is the contract void? | No. Unenforceable by the unlicensed contractor only | Not void, but the claim is barred |
| Customer recovers money already paid? | No such statutory route | Yes, all of it (§ 7031(b)) |
| What is actually tested? | Your knowledge and your good faith | Licensure on every day of performance |
| Effect of a lapse | Rebuttable presumption that you knew | The whole claim plus everything already paid |
Virginia sits closer to Florida than to California: it costs you the money you have not yet been paid, not the money you already banked.
What it costs beyond the contract
A Class 1 misdemeanor. § 54.1-1115(A)(1) makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to contract for or bid upon work "without a license or certificate, or without the proper class of license as defined in § 54.1-1100 for the value of work to be performed." Bidding alone is enough, and holding the wrong class counts.
Up to $500 per day. § 54.1-1115(B): anyone who undertakes work without a valid license, or without the proper class of license for the work undertaken, "shall be fined an amount not to exceed $500 per day for each day that such person is in violation, in addition to the authorized penalties for the commission of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
The consumer protection route, and this is the one people miss. § 54.1-1115(B) also says a violation of clause (i), which is working with no valid license at all, "shall also constitute a prohibited practice in accordance with § 59.1-200, provided that the violation involves a consumer transaction," and is subject to all the enforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
That matters because of what the VCPA pays out. Under § 59.1-204 a person who suffers loss may recover actual damages, or $500, whichever is greater; where the violation was willful the court may increase that to not exceeding three times the actual damages sustained, or $1,000, whichever is greater; and that person "also may be awarded reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs."
⭐ So treble damages are genuinely on the table in Virginia, on a residential job, against an unlicensed contractor. They are not a feature of the contractor statute. They arrive through § 54.1-1115(B) pointing at § 59.1-200, and then through § 59.1-204. If you have read that Florida has treble damages for this, it does not: the word appears in none of the Florida sections. Virginia is the state where that claim is actually true, and it is true by a route most summaries never trace.
A felony on the third strike. § 54.1-111(B) makes willful unlicensed practice a Class 1 misdemeanor, and "the third or any subsequent conviction for violating this section during a 36-month period constitutes a Class 6 felony."
Two license class tables, and most people only know about one
The general classes, from § 54.1-1100 (history line: 2025, cc. 127, 133):
| Class | Single contract or project | Or, in any 12 month period |
|---|---|---|
| Class C | over $1,000 but less than $30,000 | less than $250,000 |
| Class B | $30,000 or more, but less than $150,000 | $250,000 or more, but less than $1 million |
| Class A | $150,000 or more | $1 million or more |
Now § 54.1-1103(C), which covers water well construction and landscape irrigation, and whose history line stops at 2013, c. 298:
"When the contracting work is for the purpose of landscape irrigation or the construction of a water well as defined in § 32.1-176.3, the contractor shall be licensed, regardless of the contract amount, as follows:"
| Class | Single contract or project | Or, in any 12 month period |
|---|---|---|
| Class C | no more than $10,000 | no more than $150,000 |
| Class B | $10,000 or more, but less than $120,000 | $150,000 or more, but less than $750,000 |
| Class A | $120,000 or more | $750,000 or more |
⭐⭐ Two things are going on here and both are easy to get wrong.
First, the two trades run on their own, lower, older set of numbers. The general definitions were amended in 2025; § 54.1-1103(C) was not touched and still reads as it did after 2013.
Second, and this is the part that bites: "regardless of the contract amount" removes the floor. In general contracting the Class C definition starts "over $1,000", so very small jobs sit outside the class definitions entirely. For landscape irrigation and water well work there is no such floor. A two hundred dollar irrigation job needs a licensed contractor.
⚠️ Getting the class wrong is not a lesser problem than having no license. § 54.1-1115(A)(1) and (B)(ii) both put "without the proper class of license" alongside having none at all, so the misdemeanor and the $500 per day exposure follow the wrong class too.
Who is exempt
§ 54.1-1101 lists the exemptions. The ones a working contractor actually hits:
- Your own home, once every two years. No more than one primary residence "owned by him and for his own use during any 24-month period".
- A house given to close family, on your own land, as a bona fide gift, provided that family member lives in it. The statute lists who counts, including in-laws.
- Rental units you own that are subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
- Your own commercial or industrial premises, for repair or improvement.
- ⭐ Working as a sub, up to $25,000 per project. Work "valued at $25,000 or less per project on behalf of a properly licensed contractor" is exempt, where that licensed contractor holds a residential building, commercial building or home improvement classification. This is the exemption most likely to apply to a small trade, and it is conditional on the person above you being properly licensed, not on you.
If you hire someone who is not credentialed
§ 54.1-1115.01 is short and it points one way:
"Any contractor that directly employs or otherwise contracts with a person who is not credentialed by the Board for work requiring a credential under this chapter shall be solely responsible for any monetary penalty or other sanction resulting from the act of employing or contracting with a person who lacks the proper credential based upon such person's failure to obtain or maintain the required credential."
You eat the penalty, not them. Compare Washington, where using an unregistered sub is a gross misdemeanor, counted separately per day and per worksite. Virginia keeps it civil but puts it squarely on the hiring contractor.
The storm chasing rule, and a correction
It is widely repeated that Virginia makes post disaster unlicensed contracting a Class 6 felony. That is not what the statute says.
§ 54.1-1106.2 applies to "any person licensed under the provisions of this chapter" found in violation of a statute or regulation "involving fraudulent or improper or dishonest conduct as defined in § 54.1-1118, which violation occurred while engaged in a transaction initiated arising from a declared state of emergency as defined in § 44-146.16." The Board "shall impose a monetary penalty of up to $10,000 for each such violation," in addition to what § 54.1-202 already provides.
So it is a civil penalty, imposed by the Board, on a licensee. The Class 6 felony in Virginia is the one in § 54.1-111(B): a third or subsequent conviction inside 36 months. Two different provisions that get blended together in almost every summary of this topic.
Compare Florida, which really does make unlicensed contracting during a Governor declared state of emergency a third degree felony under § 489.127(2)(c). Same hurricane, two states, completely different mechanisms.
What the customer can recover from the state
Virginia runs a Contractor Transaction Recovery Fund for customers holding an unpaid judgment arising from a regulant's improper or dishonest conduct. § 54.1-1123, history line 2025, cc. 127, 133:
- $30,000 maximum for one claimant on a single transaction, and that figure includes any amount already paid out from the contractor's surety bond under § 54.1-1120.1.
- $100,000 aggregate against any one regulant during a biennium, prorated among claimants if the claims exceed it.
- Interest, punitive damages and non monetary losses are excluded from the calculation. Court costs and attorney fees can be included.
Where this came from
| Provision | What it gave us | Source, retrieved 2026-08-03 |
|---|---|---|
| § 54.1-1115(A), (B), (C) | Misdemeanor, $500 per day, VCPA hook, the two limb test, the renewal presumption | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1100 | Current Class A/B/C definitions and the $1,000 floor | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1103(C) | The separate water well and irrigation classes, and "regardless of the contract amount" | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1101 | Exemptions, including the $25,000 sub exemption | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1115.01 | Sole responsibility for hiring the uncredentialed | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1106.2 | The declared emergency civil penalty | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-111(B) | Class 1 misdemeanor, Class 6 felony on a third conviction in 36 months | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 54.1-1123 | Recovery Fund limits | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
| § 59.1-204 | VCPA damages, treble on willful, attorney fees | law.lis.virginia.gov, direct |
⚠️ What is not here. The pre 2025 general class thresholds. § 54.1-1100 and § 54.1-1123 both carry "2025, cc. 127, 133" so those figures certainly changed, but the enacted chapter text would not load, so the previous numbers were never read and are not stated anywhere on this page. Do not fill them in from a secondary source.
⚠️ This page is Virginia only, and it is general guidance rather than legal advice. The knowledge test in § 54.1-1115(C) is fact specific by design. If money is in dispute, take it to a Virginia construction attorney.
Common questions
Can an unlicensed contractor sue for payment in Virginia?
Only if both limbs of § 54.1-1115(C) are satisfied: substantial performance in good faith, and no actual knowledge that a license was required. Fail either one and the contract is not enforceable by you. Get a Virginia construction attorney onto it before you rely on the exception.
Does an unlicensed contract become void in Virginia?
No. § 54.1-1115(C) makes it unenforceable by the unlicensed contractor, which is narrower than void. The bar runs against that person only. Unlike Florida's § 489.128(3), Virginia has no express savings clause for other parties, so that silence needs an attorney.
What happens if my Virginia license lapsed and I kept working?
Failure to renew creates a rebuttable presumption that you had actual knowledge a license was required, which attacks the second limb of the § 54.1-1115(C) exception. You can rebut it, but you start behind. A lapse is worse here than never having applied.
Can a Virginia customer claw back money they already paid me?
§ 54.1-1115(C) gives no route to recover sums already paid, unlike California's § 7031(b). But if it was a consumer transaction, the Virginia Consumer Protection Act route can reach actual damages, treble on a willful violation, and attorney fees.
Do I need a Virginia license for a small irrigation or water well job?
Yes. § 54.1-1103(C) requires a license "regardless of the contract amount" for landscape irrigation and water well construction. The over $1,000 floor in the general Class C definition does not apply to those two, and their class thresholds are a separate, lower set.
Is unlicensed contracting a felony in Virginia after a disaster?
No. § 54.1-1106.2 is a civil penalty of up to $10,000, imposed by the Board, on a licensee. The Class 6 felony is separate: § 54.1-111(B) reaches a third or subsequent conviction within a 36 month period.
Related: California section 7031: when a customer can take back every dollar · Florida unlicensed contracting: what it costs you · North Carolina unlicensed contracting · Arizona unlicensed contracting: the two dates · Washington: registration is a prerequisite to suing · What happens if you work without a contractor's license · Do I need a contractor license · Working in Virginia
Know someone who needs this?
Keep reading
Templates you might need
Sources
- Va. Code 54.1-1115 - Prohibited acts · Subsection (C) is Virginia's good-faith escape hatch, and it is the CONTRACT that is affected: a construction contract entered into without a valid license is not enforceable BY THE UNLICENSED CONTRACTOR unless he gave substantial performance in good faith AND did not have actual knowledge that a license was required. Failure to renew creates a rebuttable presumption of that knowledge. Read on the section page 2026-09-03
- Va. Code 54.1-1103 - Necessity for license; requirements · When a Class A, B or C contractor license is required in Virginia
- Va. Code 54.1-111 - Unlawful acts; prosecution; civil penalty · Practising a regulated profession or occupation without a valid license, and the classification of that offense
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