What Do You Need to Start Your California Contracting Business?

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What do you need in order to start your business as a general contractor in California? You need a number of things before you can start your work.

A CSLB Contractor’s License
In order to perform any work in California over $500, you need a contractor’s license from the California State Licensing Board (CSLB). This license verifies that you have the ability and experience that you are representing yourself to have. This license protects the customer and contractors alike by ensuring that anyone performing construction work in California has both the experience and knowledge to safely do the work they were hired to do.

In general, most contractors will need a Class “B” License – this license covers all general contracting work. Contractors doing specialized work like HVAC installation or plumbing work will need a separate license – called a Class “C” License in order to perform their specialized work for their customers.

Contractor’s License Bond
All licensed contractors in California must have a surety bond or cashier’s check registered with the CSLB. This bond or check is filed to protect customers from shoddy craftsmanship, by ensuring that the customer will be covered financially if the contract violates the state license law.

The current bond amount required by the CSLB is $15,000 – but as of January 1, 2023, the CSLB will require any contractor to post a bond or check of $25,000.

These bonds cost anywhere from $70-$600 to acquire, depending on your credit.

4 Years of Work Experience
In order to be a CSLB-licensed contractor, you must have at least 4 years of work experience in the area of expertise that you are applying for. For example, as a general contractor, you must have 4 years of experience as a journeyperson, foreperson, or supervising employee in the general contracting field.

Your experience must be verifiable – the CSLB will not always check your work experience, but if you submit work experience that is unverifiable, it will slow the process down or even potentially result in you getting rejected.

If you don’t have 4 years of experience yourself, there is a workaround: you can be represented by a person, known as a “qualifier.”

This “qualifier” is someone that can “vouch” for your experience and knowledge with their own knowledge. They must have 4 years of experience in the trade you’re applying for. Most likely this is your boss or someone else who can verify your work.

Education, technical training, or apprenticeship training can also be used to satisfy the 4 years work experience requirement.

You need to provide written documentation of your program or your apprenticeship, complete with transcripts and certificates, but this is also an option for people without 4 years of work experience.

Age
You must be 18 years or older to start your contracting business. This is the minimum age to become licensed by the CSLB – and there are no exceptions or workarounds here.

CSLB Application Fees
In order to become a CSLB-licensed contractor and perform construction work in California, you are required to pay all the necessary fees to become a licensed contractor.

Though the fees may vary, you can expect to spend at least $650 in fees to receive your license and begin working legally.

Some common fees include:

Getting your contracting license in California can be difficult with a long list of paperwork and fees that add up quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Let CSLS make it easy for you. Our expertise in obtaining a CSLB license will allow you to get your contracting business up and running with the least amount of effort required. We know the CSLB licensing process better than anyone, so call us today and save yourself time and energy.