Who Must be Licensed as a Contractor?
All Businesses or individuals who construct or alter, or offer to construct or alter, any building, highway, road, parking facility, railroad, excavation or other structure in California must be licensed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) if the total cost (labor and materials) of one or more contracts on the project is $500 or more. Contractors, including
subcontractors,
specialty contractors and persons engaged in the business of
home improvement (with the exception of joint ventures and projects involving federal funding) must be licensed before submitting bids. Licenses may be issued to individuals, partnerships, corporations or joint ventures.
CSLB will begin processing limited liability company (LLC) license applications no later than January 1, 2012.