There is no national rule for contractor licensing: some states license at the state level with mandatory continuing education, some license with none, some only register contractors, and some (like Texas) leave general contracting to cities while licensing individual trades. This reference covers the states where the rules are most commonly asked about, with the official board linked in every row — renewal cycles and CE hours change, and the board is always the source of truth.
| State | Renewal cycle | Continuing education | Official board |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 2 years (certified licenses renew by Aug 31 of even-numbered years) | 14 hours per cycle for certified/registered contractors, including mandatory hours in advanced building code, laws & rules, workers' comp, workplace safety, and business practices. A missed renewal makes the license delinquent under Fla. Stat. § 455.271(5), not void; void comes only at the end of the following cycle under § 455.271(6)(a) — full Florida CE & renewal guide | Florida DBPR / CILB |
| North Carolina | Annual (licenses expire each Dec 31) | 8 hours per year for Building, Residential, and Unclassified classifications — a 2-hour mandatory board course plus 6 elective hours, completed by a qualifier — full North Carolina license, limits & CE guide | NC Licensing Board for General Contractors |
| California | 2 years | None required by CSLB for license renewal (certified electricians working under C-10 contractors carry a separate DIR certification-renewal requirement) | Contractors State License Board |
| Texas | Varies by trade — all three state-licensed trades below are annual, but TSBPE assigns your first plumbing expiration date at random, 6–18 months after you pass the exam | No statewide general-contractor license (GC rules are municipal). State-licensed trades have CE: HVAC/refrigeration contractors 8 hours/year including 1 hour of Texas law and rules; master and journeyman electricians 4 hours/year (electrical contractor licenses themselves are exempt); plumbers 6 hours CPE/year via TSBPE, a separate agency. Expiry cliffs differ: plumbing cannot be renewed after 2 years expired, TDLR licenses after 3. Full Texas breakdown → | TDLR · TSBPE |
| Oregon | 2 years, $400 renewal. Lapse of more than 24 months forces retaking the 16-hour pre-license training and the exam. The licence rests on one Responsible Managing Individual who may be listed on only one licence at a time; if the RMI leaves, a temporary designation lasts a maximum of 14 days | Correction (reviewed Aug 28, 2026): an earlier version of this row read "16 hours… 8 hours… plus 3 hours of Laws, Regulations & Business Practices," which implies 19 or 11 hours. The 3 LRB hours are included in, not added to, the total. Per the CCB: 3 hours of CCB LRB classes PLUS 13 hours of other approved courses if licensed less than six years (16 total), or PLUS 5 hours if licensed six or more years (8 total) — and no credit is given for more than three hours of CCB classes. The split is keyed to years licensed, not to a count of renewals. Dual-endorsed contractors follow the commercial rules only, where hours scale with the lowest key-employee headcount during the cycle: 16 / 32 / 48 / 64 / 80 for Level 1, flat 32 for Level 2. Residential cannot renew until the CCB has proof; commercial self-certifies and is randomly audited monthly, with 24-month record retention under OAR 812-020-0072. Full Oregon breakdown → | Oregon CCB |
| Washington | Registration renews annually–2 years by type | No CE for general/specialty contractor registration (Washington registers rather than licenses GCs — no exam either). Licensed trades (electrical, plumbing) carry their own trade CE through L&I | WA Labor & Industries |
| Georgia | 2 years — due June 30 of even-numbered years (so June 30, 2026), with a penalty period running July 1 through December 31. Board Rule 553-12-.01(3): failure to renew by December 31 "shall have the same effect as a revocation" | Renewal is biennial but the CE accrues annually (a "year" is July 1–June 30): Residential Basic 3 hours each year, Residential Light Commercial 6 hours each year — 6 and 12 across a full cycle. Commercial General Contractors are not required to complete CE at all. Online/correspondence capped at 50%. Electrical contractors sit under a separate board: 4 hours/year, 8 per two-year period, with five-year record retention. CE Broker reporting mandatory for both since January 1, 2026. Full Georgia breakdown → | GA SLBRCGC · GA Electrical Board |
| Arizona | 2 years — and A.R.S. § 32-1125(A) suspends the license by operation of law on the next business day after the renewal date. A renewal deposited in the mail postage prepaid on or before the renewal date, with a valid bond on file and the fee, authorizes you to keep operating until it issues. Suspended licenses reactivate within one year for the renewal fee + $50; past one year it is a new application and a new license | No general CE condition on ROC license renewal — nothing in the published renewal requirements or § 32-1125 conditions renewal on hours (trade-specific and program exceptions exist — verify with ROC). Budget the money instead: residential and dual classifications pay a $270 Residential Recovery Fund assessment every renewal on top of the license fee ($590 total for General Residential); commercial classes pay $0. The bond can be increased any time but decreased only at renewal. Full Arizona breakdown → | AZ Registrar of Contractors |
| Nevada | 2 years | No CE currently required for contractor license renewal (board application/renewal fees still apply) | NV State Contractors Board |
| Tennessee | 2 years (renew in CORE; the option appears 90 days out, file 30 days early). 12-month grace period at $20/month — 3 months at $10/month for Home Improvement, LLE and LLP | Residential classifications (BC-A, BC-A/r, BC-A,b(sm)) licensed after Jan 1, 2009: 8 hours of board-approved Residential CE per renewal, obtained by a qualifying agent (one QA suffices for the entity). General/commercial: no CE. The renewal financial statement is tiered — a CPA-compiled statement above $1.5M, a self-prepared balance sheet below it — full Tennessee renewal, RCE & 2026-changes guide | TN Board for Licensing Contractors |
| Virginia | Two clocks. Contractor firm (Class A/B/C): 2 years from the last day of the month of issue (18VAC50-22-110). Tradesman (electrical, plumbing, HVAC, gas): 3 years from the last day of the month of issue (18VAC50-30-120(A)); other individual certifications, 2 years. The 30-day grace period is for paperwork only — 18VAC50-22-130(A) states that "Licenses are not valid during the 30-day grace period." Reinstatement runs 24 months, and a reinstated license is assigned an expiration 2 years from the previous expiration date, not from the reinstatement | Correction (reviewed Aug 24, 2026): an earlier version of this row stated the Class A/B/C license carries a 3-hour CE requirement each cycle. That is wrong. 18VAC50-22-130 imposes no continuing-education condition on contractor firm renewal — the widely quoted 8 hours is pre-license education for new licenses only. The 3 hours is tradesman CE under 18VAC50-30-120(C), owed per trade designation (plumbing + electrical = 6 hours), with 1 hour for gas fitters, LPG fitters and natural gas fitter providers on the International Fuel Gas Code. Elevator, accessibility, water well and fire sprinkler credentials: 8 hours — and fire sprinkler inspectors cannot renew at all once 30 days past expiration. Full Virginia breakdown → | VA DPOR Board for Contractors |
| Alabama | Annual (online only; renewals sent >45 days before expiration may be returned) | No CE currently required for general contractors. Watch the lapse rule instead: more than 1 year past expiration means a new application and re-examination | AL Licensing Board for General Contractors |
| Louisiana | You choose 1, 2 or 3 years at renewal. Renewal notices are emailed at 60 and 15 days out; you cannot renew earlier than 60 days before expiration, and you cannot renew at all once the license has been expired for a year (reapplication required, though trade exams are not retaken with the same qualifier and classifications). Full Louisiana deep-dive → | Residential building contractors: minimum 6 hours annually from a board-approved provider (keep certificates 5 years; considered met if you also hold a valid, current commercial license in Building Construction; Highway, Street and Bridge; Heavy Construction; or Municipal and Public Works). Commercial, mold, and home-improvement: no CE. The Board states the hours are owed "annually" and publishes no calendar deadline on its CE page — confirm your own date with the Board. | Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors |
| South Carolina | 2 years (general contractors: fixed cycle ending Nov 30 of even-numbered years; residential builders: by Jun 30 of even-numbered years) | No CE currently required for general contractors, residential builders, or residential specialty contractors (code-enforcement registrations are a separate program with their own 24-hour requirement). The board can add CE by regulation — confirm before each renewal | SC LLR — Contractor's Licensing Board |
| Mississippi | Annual (expires the last day of the twelfth month after issuance; renewal application mailed ~60 days ahead) | Residential licenses issued on/after Jul 1, 2015: 2 hours per year from a board-approved provider or instructor, completed before the renewal date. Commercial contractors: no CE | MS State Board of Contractors |
| Utah | 2 years (renew by Nov 30 of odd-numbered years) | 6 hours per cycle of DOPL-approved CE for licensed contractors — 3 hours core (Utah law and rules) + 3 hours professional (trade-related); a live-instruction component applies to part of the hours (live webinars count) — confirm the current split with DOPL | Utah DOPL — Contracting |
| Michigan | 3 years (the cycle that renewed by May 31, 2026 has passed — lapsed builders can still renew online with a $20 late fee within 60 days of expiration; see what happens when a license expires) | Residential builders and M&A contractors ("continuing competency"): 21 hours per cycle if licensed under 6 years (3 mandatory-topic hours — MI Residential Code, Construction Safety Standards, Business Management — plus 18 elective), 3 hours if licensed 6+ years (mandatory topics only). LARA-approved providers; you attest at renewal and keep certificates 5 years for audit | MI LARA — Builders & Contractors |
| New York | Local only — no state GC license (NYC DOB registration renews every 3 years) | No statewide license or CE. Licensing is city/county-level. NYC alone requires two credentials: a DOB General Contractor Registration (new 1–3-family construction; 3-year renewal) and a DCWP Home Improvement Contractor license for renovation/alteration work. Other jurisdictions (Buffalo, Westchester, Suffolk, Nassau, etc.) run their own programs — check the local building department | NYC DOB — GC Registration |
| Pennsylvania | 2 years (HICPA registration, $100) | No state contractor license and no CE. Home-improvement contractors doing ≥$5,000/yr of covered work must register with the Attorney General under HICPA and renew biennially. Note for 2026: the online registration system came back online April 24, 2026, and the grace period for registrations that lapsed during the outage ended June 8, 2026 — verify your status in the HIC search if you registered on paper | PA Attorney General — HIC Registration |
| Massachusetts | 2 years (Construction Supervisor License) | CSL holders: 12 hours per cycle (unrestricted), 10 hours (restricted), 6 hours (specialty), with at least 1 hour in each required topic; complete courses at least 60 days before expiration, and no more than 6 hours may be taken online. The separate Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration carries no CE | MA OPSI — CSL Continuing Education |
| Minnesota | 2 years, expiring Mar 31 (some licences in odd years, some in even); fees $505 / $605 / $705 by gross annual receipts, $90 late fee. The real penalty is not the fee: DLI states that "After a license expires, municipalities cannot issue building permits" until the renewal is processed and approved | The licence's qualifying person must complete 14 hours of DLI-approved CE per two-year period (Minn. Stat. § 326B.821, subd. 2), including ≥1 hour on energy codes or energy conservation and ≥1 hour on business management strategies; the Q registration renews automatically once the hours are done. The trap: the QP holds a separate Q registration and DLI states that Q registrations "have expiration dates that may not be the same as the license expiration date" — the licence cannot renew unless that registration is active. Also: no repeat credit for the same course in a period, as student or instructor; and after a new residential code is adopted the commissioner may designate up to 7 of the 14 hours to State Building Code instruction. Renewal also requires an active Secretary of State filing (name matching exactly) and current liability + workers' comp on file. Full Minnesota breakdown → | MN DLI — Contractor Renewals |
| Ohio | Trade licenses (electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics, refrigeration) via OCILB: renew annually, or on an optional 3-year cycle. Ohio has no statewide general-contractor license — GCs are licensed locally (city/county) | OCILB licensees: 8 hours of board-approved CE per annual renewal (24 hours on the 3-year cycle), from OCILB-approved providers. Local GC requirements vary by municipality | Ohio Dept. of Commerce — OCILB |
| New Mexico | 3 years (contractor licenses via RLD Construction Industries Division, incl. GB-98 general building) | No statewide CE for the GB-98 contractor license itself; journeyman electrical, plumbing, and mechanical certificates require 16 hours per 3-year cycle (8 hours code update + 8 hours industry-related, approved courses) — a renewal application without proof of CE is treated as incomplete | NM RLD — CID Continuing Education |
| Hawaii | 2 years — DCCA states that "all licenses regardless of issuance date, are subject to renewal by September 30, every even-numbered year." The board opens on-time renewals about seven weeks ahead (for the cycle beginning October 1, 2026: accepted August 10 – September 30, 2026, hardcopy forms mailed August 7). If that window has already gone by, see the 60-day restoration rule in Hawaii: forfeiture and the 60-day restoration window below. | No universal CE requirement for contractor licenses from the Contractors License Board. What actually blocks renewals is the tax clearance: active Contractor Entities and Sole Proprietors must hold a current, valid DOTAX tax clearance dated within 6 months of renewing, and the DOTAX name must match the PVL licence name exactly. Also keep insurance, bond, and RME status current. (Electricians are licensed separately by the Board of Electricians and Plumbers, which has its own CE rules) | HI DCCA — Contractors License Board |
| Arkansas | 1 year (commercial and residential contractor licenses via the Contractors Licensing Board; renew before the license's expiration to avoid lapse) | No CE requirement for general/commercial contractor renewal. Trade licenses under other boards differ (e.g., electricians: 8 hours per NEC code cycle) | AR Dept. of Labor & Licensing — CLB Renewals |
The hard part isn't knowing the rule — it's not missing the date. Most boards don't chase you; an expired license can mean stopped jobs, late fees, or re-examination. LicenseLedger tracks every license, renewal window, and CE hour across states and trades, and warns you before the deadline.
Put my licenses on autopilot →Hawaii is worth pulling out of the table because the whole state renews on the same day, so the entire licensed population hits the same cliff at once — and because the recovery rule is a rolling 60-day clock rather than the fixed calendar date that several third-party guides report.
DCCA puts the renewal rule plainly: "All licenses regardless of issuance date, are subject to renewal by September 30, every even-numbered year," and "Licenses not renewed by license expiration date are unlicensed and may not practice." There is no grace period built into the licence itself — on the day after expiration the holder is unlicensed, not merely late.
The recovery door is restoration, and the board's own wording is a 60-day window measured from the expiration date, not a named date: "Forfeited licenses may be restored within 60 days and subject to meeting restoration requirements. Failure to restore a forfeited license within 60 days after the license expiration date will result in the termination of the license and the person must apply as a new applicant and meet current licensing requirements." For the cycle whose expiration falls on September 30, 2026, that puts the restoration cutoff at November 29, 2026 — whether that day is still ahead of you or has already passed. It is a date we derive from the board's 60-day rule rather than one DCCA publishes, which is why the rule and not the date is what you should diary. [Inference — date arithmetic on the board's stated 60-day window] Several third-party summaries state a flat "November 30" cutoff; the official page states 60 days, so treat any fixed date from a non-board source as approximate and confirm with DCCA.
The cost difference is small and the status difference is not. DCCA's published fees are identical in structure on both sides, separated by a flat $50:
| Licence type / status | On-time renewal | Restoration (late) |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor (CT) Entity — active | $338.00 | $388.00 |
| Contractor (CT) Sole Proprietor — active | $338.00 | $388.00 |
| Contractor (CT) RME — active | $208.00 | $258.00 |
| Contractor (CT) all types — inactive | $160.00 | $210.00 |
So the penalty for being late is $50 — but the penalty for being 61 days late is the licence itself, plus re-applying as a new applicant under whatever the current requirements are. That asymmetry is the entire point of the Hawaii cycle.
The failure mode that is not about the deadline: tax clearance. For active Contractor Entities and Sole Proprietors, DCCA requires a current and valid tax clearance from the Hawaii Department of Taxation, dated within 6 months of renewing — and it requires that the DOTAX name match the contractor's PVL licence name. A mismatch is a common, quiet blocker: the renewal cannot complete, and fixing the name is a separate errand at a separate agency (Hawaii Tax Online → More… → Registration → Manage Names & DBAs, or DOTAX at 808-587-4242). If you are renewing on this cycle, check the name match first — it is the step most likely to cost you the window. RMEs and inactive-status licences do not carry the tax-clearance requirement.
Sources for this section, reviewed in full on September 1, 2026: Hawaii DCCA — Contractors License Board (renewal dates, on-time and restoration fee schedules, the 60-day restoration rule, and the tax-clearance requirements). Not legal advice — confirm your own licence status and dates in MyPVL.
Related: the other recurring deadlines. A contractor license is rarely the only recurring deadline a trade business has. If the business is an LLC or corporation, it also owes a state entity annual report on a completely separate clock from the license — different agency, different due date, different penalty for missing it. A lapsed entity registration can put the license itself at risk in states that require good standing to renew.
→ The recurring compliance deadlines a small U.S. business actually has (2026) — a plain-language overview of the four clocks (entity annual report, contractor license & CE, W-2 tips/overtime, Reg S-P), each with its official source. General information, not legal or tax advice.