Licensing & Credentials
Contractor and trade licenses by state, OSHA cards, and the specialty certifications your work requires.
19 guides in this section
Guides in this section
Apprentice, journeyman, master, contractor's license: what's the difference?
Apprentice, journeyman, and master describe your personal skill level in a trade, usually electrical, plumbing, or HVAC. A contractor's license is a...
Contractor license bonds: what they are and how they differ from insurance
A contractor license bond is a guarantee to the public and the state that you will follow the licensing law. It is not coverage for you. It is a three-party...
What's on the contractor's license exam and how to prepare
Most states split the contractor's exam into two parts: a trade or technical exam on how the work is actually done and the building code, and a Business and...
Does a contractor's license work in other states? Reciprocity explained
No single contractor's license works in all 50 states, but you do not always start from zero when you cross a state line. The NASCLA exam is accepted by a...
Do I need a contractor's license?
There is no national contractor's license. Whether you need one depends entirely on your state, your trade, and the size of the job, and getting it wrong is...
How to get a contractor's license, step by step
Getting licensed is a fixed sequence, even though the numbers inside it change from state to state: work out which license you actually need, meet the...
Keeping your contractor's license current: renewal, CE, and what a lapse costs
A contractor's license is not permanent. Most states make you renew on a fixed cycle, keep your bond and insurance current, and in a lot of states complete...
Can you work under someone else's contractor's license?
You can legally run a contracting business on someone else's license only if that person genuinely qualifies the company and actually supervises the work....
What happens if you work without a contractor's license?
If a job required a license and you did not have one, the fallout is usually far worse than a fine. In many states you lose your mechanic's lien rights, you...
California §7031: when a customer can take back every dollar
California's §7031 lets a customer recover all compensation paid to an unlicensed contractor, even for faultless work. What the statute actually says, the proper-classification trap, and the one-year limit that decides most of these claims.
Florida unlicensed contracting: what it costs you, and what the $10,000 fine really is
What Florida actually does to an unlicensed contractor: the contract is unenforceable by you, no lien or bond claim, a fine of up to $10,000 that goes to the state rather than the customer, and criminal exposure that rises to a felony during a declared emergency. Not a clawback state, unlike California.
North Carolina unlicensed contracting: the $40,000 line and what you can still recover
North Carolina bars an unlicensed contractor from suing on the contract, from quantum meruit and from extras, and rejects substantial compliance by name. But a license renewed mid-job is severable, so a lapse costs you the window rather than the whole claim. The $40,000 threshold, the class limits and the criminal side, from the statute.
Arizona unlicensed contracting: the two dates that decide whether you can sue
Arizona bars an unlicensed contractor from suing for payment unless it proves it was licensed both when the contract was entered into and when the cause of action arose. The two-date test, why bidding alone counts, the minimum fines, and the under-$1,000 exemption.
Washington: registration is a prerequisite to suing, and your bond is what saves you
Washington registers contractors rather than licensing them, and RCW 18.27.080 bars an unregistered contractor from suing for payment or for breach of contract. The statutory substantial-compliance test turns on whether the bond and the insurance stayed in force at all times.
Virginia: the good faith escape hatch, and why letting your license lapse closes it
Virginia does not void an unlicensed contract. Section 54.1-1115(C) lets the unlicensed contractor enforce it only on substantial performance in good faith plus no actual knowledge a license was required, and failing to renew presumes you knew.
New York: there is no state contractor license, and the local one has to be pleaded in your complaint
New York issues no state contractor license, so the requirement is county, city or town. CPLR 3015(e) makes a valid local license something you must plead in the complaint, and an unlicensed contractor forfeits both contract and quantum meruit.
Ohio: the state licenses five trades, none of them for houses, and nothing stops an unlicensed contractor suing for payment
Ohio licenses five trades and no general contractor at all, and its licensing chapter excludes one, two and three family houses by definition. No Ohio statute bars an unlicensed contractor from suing for payment. The lever is the written contract and the insurance, not the license.
Texas: no state contractor license at all, and a prompt pay law that switches off the moment the job is a house
Texas licenses electricians, plumbers and air conditioning contractors, and no general or residential contractor at all. None of those chapters bars an unlicensed person from suing for payment. What does bite is the prompt pay chapter, which withdraws its best remedy on detached homes.
Illinois: no state contractor license, a written contract rule over $1,000, and a Supreme Court decision that breaking it costs you almost nothing
Illinois has no statewide general contractor license. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act requires a written contract over $1,000, but the Illinois Supreme Court held in K. Miller Construction that breaking that rule leaves both the contract and a quantum meruit claim intact.