Renewals & CE by state › Tennessee
Tennessee is one of the more forgiving states on the calendar and one of the stricter ones on paperwork. The renewal itself carries a full 12-month grace period for contractor licenses — far longer than most — but the license will not renew until you have produced a financial statement, current insurance, workers' comp or an exemption, Secretary of State standing, and, for residential classifications, proof of continuing education from a provider the Board itself approved. Two things also changed on July 1, 2026 that affect people renewing or adding classifications this cycle.
| Contractor | Home Improvement | LLE / LLP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal fee | $200 | $200 | $50 |
| Grace period after expiration | 12 months | 3 months | 3 months |
| Late fee inside the grace period | $20 / month | $10 / month | $10 / month |
| Past the grace period | You reapply for licensure from scratch and meet every initial-licensure requirement again | ||
| Continuing education | 8 hours RCE for BC-A and BC-A/r (see below) | Not required by the Board's renewal page | Not required by the Board's renewal page |
The renewal option appears in your CORE account once you are within 90 days of the expiration date, and the Board asks that renewals be submitted at least 30 days before expiration so you are not working on an expired license while it processes.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-6-112(g), contractors holding a residential classification — BC-A, BC-A/r and BC-A,b(sm) — who were licensed after January 1, 2009 must show proof of eight hours of Residential Continuing Education (RCE) from a Board-approved provider as a condition of renewal. The Board's renewal page states the same requirement for BC-A and BC-A/r as attaching to every biennial renewal.
The hours belong to a person, not the company: the Qualifying Agent (QA) is responsible for attaining RCE on behalf of the licensed entity. And where a licensed entity has several residential QAs, the Board states that only one individual needs to obtain RCE to satisfy the renewal requirement. Firms that have been sending every QA to class have been buying hours the rule does not ask for.
The contractor reports RCE at the time of renewal, uploading the certificate with the renewal application in CORE — the Board's own instruction is to attach it under the "Other-Disclosures and Additional Info" label alongside the financial statement, certificate of insurance, corporate registration and workers' comp documentation. The Board is explicit that RCE certificates should only be submitted at the time of renewal, so there is no banking hours with the Board in advance; you hold the certificate until you file.
Beginning July 1, 2026, Prov administers the exams for the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors. Applicants already scheduled with PSI for a date after July 1 could keep that appointment — PSI continued administering already-scheduled exams through September — but new scheduling from July 1 goes through Prov. This matters at renewal only indirectly, but it matters a great deal if you are adding a classification, because classification modifications require the exam score or a trade-exam waiver.
Also from July 1, 2026, contractors may use a Contractors' Surety Bond as an alternative to submitting a CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited financial statement. The bond must be in an amount equal to at least 50% of the monetary limit requested, on the Board-approved form. For a contractor whose balance sheet is healthy but whose CPA engagement is expensive or slow, this is a genuine second route to the same limit.
Note this is separate from the renewal financial requirement, which is tiered by size: a renewal above $1.5 million needs a compiled financial statement prepared by a licensed CPA, while a renewal below $1.5 million can be supported by a self-prepared balance sheet on the Board's form.
This is the Tennessee rule most likely to cost a multi-state operator a job. If a QA leaves, the law requires a replacement to be designated within three months under TCA § 62-6-115 and Rule 0680-1-.23 — and if one is not added, the classification is invalid until one is. The license does not wait for your renewal date to develop a problem.
Several conditions attach to the replacement: if the new QA is a full-time employee with under 20% ownership, a notarized Power of Attorney is required; if the QA is already listed on another license and is not an owner, they cannot be added; and if the QA is on more than one license or has been an employee for less than six months, the Board must approve and may ask for an interview. The Business and Law exam is not required of the incoming QA.
Tennessee is one clock among several for most licensed contractors. Its biennial RCE lands in a different year than North Carolina's annual December 31 CE, and neither set of hours counts for the other. LicenseLedger tracks each license's renewal date and CE hours in one place, per state and per named qualifier. The beta waitlist is open; planned pricing is $5/month.
Track my licenses →A contractor's license is required before contracting — which the Board defines to include bidding, offering to engage, or negotiating a price — for projects of $25,000 or more as a prime contractor, certain subcontractor, or construction manager/consultant. Subcontractors need a license when contracting directly with a contractor (rather than the owner) for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, HVAC or roofing work where that portion is $25,000 or more, including materials, equipment and labor. Masonry subcontractors are licensed at $100,000 or more. Construction managers and consultants are licensed when the total project value reaches $25,000.
Monetary limits are calculated as ten times the lesser of working capital or net worth, plus required experience — so a $150,000 limit needs $15,000 in both. An unlimited limit requires $300,000 in both, plus experience. There is a 10% tolerance on the monetary limit, except on the restricted residential licence below.
Residential contractors doing work under $125,000 can skip the BC-A trade exam and the Business & Law exam by completing a Limited License course through a Tennessee community college or vocational school. Only the examination requirement is waived — every other application requirement still applies. There is no 10% monetary tolerance on this licence and joint ventures are not permitted under it. Raising the limit above $125,000 means taking the exams and submitting a reviewed financial statement. Note that BC-A/r carries the same 8-hour RCE obligation at renewal.
A licensee holding an active licence (or with renewal rights) can retire it: $25 per year, for up to seven years, after which a $200 renewal activation fee restarts the cycle. Insurance and a financial statement are not required to place a licence in retirement, and renewal notices are not sent to retired licensees — which is its own reason to keep the date somewhere you will see it. Coming back out requires a paper renewal form, the $200 fee, and the certificate of insurance, Secretary of State certificate, balance sheet and RCE if applicable.
Tennessee is blunt about it: you cannot operate in Tennessee on another state's license. What it offers is a trade-exam waiver. If you are actively licensed in one of the states below and the classification you want requires a trade exam, that state completes a License Verification form and Tennessee may waive the trade exam. Tennessee also accepts the NASCLA National Commercial exam. The waiver applies only to "Contractor" licences — not to Home Improvement, LLE or LLP.
| State | Classifications Tennessee will waive the trade exam for |
|---|---|
| Alabama | General, Electrical, Residential, HVAC |
| Arkansas | Commercial/Residential Building only |
| Louisiana | Residential, Commercial, Electrical, Mechanical |
| Mississippi | Residential, Commercial, Electrical, Mechanical (Unlimited) |
| North Carolina | Residential/Commercial Building and Electrical |
| Ohio | Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC |
| South Carolina | Commercial Contractors Licensing Board — commercial only, for Building, Electrical, HVAC and Plumbing |
| West Virginia | Residential, Commercial, Industrial Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Masonry |
The waiver covers the trade exam and nothing else — the Tennessee Business & Law exam, the application, the financials, the insurance and the fees all still apply. And it is worth repeating the distinction this site keeps coming back to: a trade-exam waiver does nothing for your renewal obligations. Tennessee's 8 RCE hours have to come from a Tennessee Board-approved provider regardless of what you have taken elsewhere — the reasoning is set out on does contractor CE from one state count in another?
Note on our own corpus: reading the Board's current waiver list for this page turned up changes since our reciprocity page was last reviewed in August 2026 — West Virginia has been added, Georgia no longer appears, South Carolina's entry is narrower than "General," and Arkansas now reads "Commercial/Residential Building." That page has been corrected to match the Board's list as published today.