{"id":2024,"date":"2022-12-02T11:25:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T18:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/?p=2024"},"modified":"2022-12-13T11:45:01","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T18:45:01","slug":"how-much-does-it-cost-to-be-a-certified-contractor-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-be-a-certified-contractor-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Does It Cost To Be a Certified Contractor in California?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In order to get your contractor license in California, you need to be 18 years old, have 4 years experience of journey-level work, you need to pass the CSLB exams and you have to pay all the associated fees to the CSLB.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the process to become a California general contractor is simple, there are fees you have to pay in order to legally perform contracting work in California.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you\u2019ll need to pay for to become a contractor certified by the CSLB.<\/span><\/p>\n

CSLB Exam Fees
\n<\/b>The first fees you face when applying for your CSLB license are for the CSLB exam.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is $450 to take the test to get your CSLB license.<\/b> This is called the Original Application fee and you have to pay it to become a CSLB certified contractor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This fee only applies to one exam and each exam applies to one specific classification, so if you do specialist work that requires a specialist license, you will need to pay this fee twice.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, if you are an HVAC specialist contractor, you will have to pay for both the general exam and the HVAC exam in order to do HVAC work in California.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you fail, you have to pay a $100 Re-Examination fee for every time you want to re-take the exam (in addition to the time it takes to schedule and review your examination). If you fail the exam, the costs add up quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

License Fees
\n<\/b>Once you pass the exam, there are a number of additional fees you will have to pay to receive your license and start working as a general contractor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first one is an Initial License Fee, which is <\/span>$200<\/b> if you are the Sole Owner of your business. If you are a partner in a business, you will have to pay <\/span>$350<\/b> for your CSLB license.<\/span><\/p>\n

You will also have to pay <\/span>$32 for the Fingerprinting Fee<\/b> (a background check) and the <\/span>FBI Processing Fee of $17.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Contractor\u2019s Bonds
\n<\/b>The final hurdle for getting your CSLB contractor license is to supply a proof of a Contractor\u2019s Bond to the CSLB.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contractor\u2019s Bonds are like insurance \u2013 you pay a fee in order to be covered financially in the case of a disaster or similar scenario.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to be a CSLB-certified California Contractor, you must give the CSLB proof that you have contractor\u2019s bonds worth $25,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contractor\u2019s bonds will cost you <\/span>$60 to $600<\/b>. How much your bonds cost will depend on your credit score.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much does it cost in total to become a contractor?
\n<\/b>In total, it will cost you somewhere in the range of <\/span>$700 to $1500 to get your Class \u201cB\u201d License <\/b>and become a California general contractor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specialist contractors like electricians, plumbers and masons require a Class \u201cC\u201d license \u2013 which requires you to do the entire process all over, making it doubly expensive. Expect to pay <\/span>$1200 to $2000 for a Class \u201cC\u201d License.<\/b><\/p>\n

Those costs can rise, too \u2013 it costs $100 every time you fail the CSLB test. Save time and money with CSLS\u2019s contractor license courses. Our expert guidance will make sure you pass the test the first time, so you can start making more money right away.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In order to get your contractor license in California, you need to be 18 years old, have 4 years experience of journey-level work, you need to pass the CSLB exams and you have to pay all the associated fees to the CSLB. While the process to become a California general contractor is simple, there are … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contractorslicensingschools.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}