Nevada General Contractor License — Requirements, Fees & Exam

Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB) administers general contractor licensing in Nevada. Every figure below is verified against the board’s own official pages and dated. Who must personally hold a credential — the contractor, the business, or the individual worker — is set out under Requirements.

What it’s called

Nevada contractor’s license; NSCB license; Class A / Classification A General Engineering contractor license; Class B / Classification B General Building contractor license; Class AB license; B-2 Residential and Small Commercial license; B-7 Residential Remodeling and B-7 Restricted license; Class C specialty contractor license

License types & fees

Who does NOT need this license — exemptions

NRS 624.031 (“The provisions of this chapter do not apply to:”), as republished on the Board’s own Exemptions page: (1) work performed exclusively by an authorized representative of the United States Government, the State of Nevada, or an incorporated city, county, irrigation district, reclamation district, or other municipal or political corporation or subdivision of the State; (2) a 501(c)(3) entity contracting with the State or a local government to facilitate repair or maintenance of properties, where the work is performed by a licensed person; (3) an officer of a court acting within the scope of office; (4) work performed exclusively by a public utility under Public Utilities Commission regulation on work incidental to its business; (5) OWNER-BUILDER - “An owner of property who is building or improving a residential structure on the property for his or her own occupancy and not intended for sale or lease. The sale or lease, or the offering for sale or lease, of the newly built structure within 1 year after its completion creates a rebuttable presumption … that the building of the structure was performed with the intent to sell or lease that structure. An owner of property who requests an exemption pursuant to this subsection must apply to the Board for the exemption”; (6) HANDYMAN/SMALL-WORK - “Any work to repair or maintain property the value of which is less than $1,000, including labor and materials”, UNLESS (a) a building permit is required, (b) the work is of a type performed by a plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, heating or air-conditioning contractor, (c) the work is of a type performed by a contractor licensed in a classification prescribed by the Board that significantly affects the health, safety and welfare of the general public, (d) the work is performed as part of a larger project the value of which is $500 or more, or for which contracts of less than $500 have been awarded to evade the chapter, or (e) the work is performed by a licensed person or that person’s employee; (7) the sale or installation of any finished product, material or article of merchandise that is not fabricated into and does not become a permanent fixed part of the structure; (8) the construction, alteration, improvement or repair of personal property; (9) work financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government within a site titled in the Federal Government; (10) an owner of property whose primary use is an agricultural or farming enterprise, building or improving a structure for his or her own use and not intended for sale or lease; (11) construction oversight services provided to a long-term recovery group within a declared state-of-emergency or disaster area; (12) a licensed real estate broker, broker-salesperson or salesperson acting within the scope of the licence who assists a client in scheduling work to repair or maintain residential property - only if a building permit is not required and the value does not exceed $10,000 per residential property during the fixed term of the brokerage agreement, or during a period not exceeding 6 months under a property management agreement. SEPARATELY (not an exemption from licensure but from classification): NRS 624.220(4)(b) permits an already-licensed contractor to perform work outside its own classification “if the value of the work is less than $1,000, including labor and materials, and the work does not require a permit”, but never work of a type performed by a plumbing, electrical, refrigeration or air-conditioning contractor. NOTE THE INTERNAL INCONSISTENCY IN THE STATUTE ITSELF: NRS 624.031(6) covers work “less than $1,000” but its own subparagraph (d)(1) still disqualifies work forming part of a larger project “the value of which is $500 or more” - This is a long-standing, repeatedly re-enacted conflict rather than a fresh drafting slip: the same “less than $1,000” lead-in and the same “$500 or more” larger-project trigger are printed together in NRS 624.031 as it appears in the Statutes of Nevada at 2013 p.578 (ch. 169, AB 334), again at 2017 p.3963 (ch. 555, AB 359), and again at 2025 p.134 - which is ch. 24, AB 258, “AN ACT relating to real estate; requiring brokerage agreements to be in writing”, whose only amendment to NRS 624.031 was to delete the word “written” from the brokerage-agreement references in subsection 12, carrying both dollar figures forward untouched. The Board’s own Exemptions page reproduces BOTH figures unchanged, so this is the published state of the law and both numbers are carried verbatim rather than harmonised.

Fees

Application: $300.00, nonrefundable - Board’s New License Application (Revised 03/2026): “Include the nonrefundable application fee of $300.00 when submitting the completed application to the Board”; NSCB FAQ #49: “Currently, the application fee is $300.00”. Licence issuance/renewal: $600 - NAC 624.130, “To issue or renew a license…..600”; FAQ #49: “the biennial license fee is $600.00”. RESIDENTIAL RECOVERY FUND ASSESSMENT - MANDATORY, SEPARATE FROM THE FEES ABOVE, AND NOT LISTED IN NAC 624.130. NRS 624.470(1): “Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, in addition to the fee for a license required pursuant to NRS 624.280, a residential contractor shall pay to the Board an assessment not to exceed the following amount, if the monetary limit on the residential contractor’s license is: Not more than $1,000,000 … $200 per biennium / More than $1,000,000 but limited … 500 per biennium / Unlimited … 1,000 per biennium.” It falls due BEFORE the licence issues - NRS 624.250(4) [Effective through December 31, 2029]: “before issuing a license to any applicant, the Board shall require the applicant to pay the license fee fixed by this chapter and, if applicable, any assessment required pursuant to NRS 624.470” - and again at each renewal - NRS 624.283(2)(c): “Any assessment required pursuant to NRS 624.470 if the holder of the license is a residential contractor as defined in NRS 624.450.” NSCB FAQ #49: “In addition to the above fee, if you are a residential contractor who will be providing ‘Qualified Services’ you must pay a Residential Recovery Fund Assessment… The current residential recovery fund assessment fee schedule is: For monetary limits up to $1,000,000 $200.00; For monetary limits over $1,000,000 but limited $500.00; For unlimited licenses $1,000.00. The fee is payable before the license is issued and every two years with renewal.” WHO OWES IT: “residential contractor” is defined at NRS 624.450 as “a contractor who is licensed pursuant to this chapter and who contracts with the owner of a single-family residence to perform qualified services”, and “qualified services” at NRS 624.440 as “any construction, remodeling, repair or improvement performed by a residential contractor on a single-family residence occupied by the owner of the residence” - so the assessment is triggered by the WORK, not by the classification. The Board’s New License Application (rev. 03/2026), Section 12, asks every applicant, including full A and AB applicants, “Will you be acting as a ‘residential contractor’ performing ‘qualified services’ as defined in NRS 624.440 and NRS 624.450?” and states “WHO MUST REGISTER: Each residential contractor who will be providing ‘Qualified Services’ must register with the Fund.” The step cannot be skipped - NSCB FAQ: “Prior to issuance of a license, each applicant must either register with the Residential Recovery Fund and pay the assessed Residential Recovery Fund Fee or complete a certificate of exemption.” A non-residential applicant instead files the Board’s “Certificate of Exemption from Residential Recovery Fund / Affidavit of Non-Residential Contractor”, certifying “that the above named licensee will NOT be providing qualified services, as defined in NRS 624.440, and is not required to register with the Residential Recovery Fund as set forth in the provisions of NRS 624”; the affidavit must be notarised. TWO LIVE BOARD DOCUMENTS PUBLISH DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT AMOUNTS AND BOTH ARE CARRIED HERE RATHER THAN HARMONISED: (i) the FAQ schedule above - $200 / $500 / $1,000, i.e. exactly the statutory maximum; (ii) the Board’s “Residential Recovery Fund Assessment Information / Affidavit” form (Revised 12/2021, linked from the Board’s Forms and Applications page): “1. If your license limit is $1,000,000 or less you are required to pay a biennial assessment of $80. 2. If your license limit is more than $1,000,000 but not unlimited you are required to pay a biennial assessment of $200. 3. If your license limit is ‘Unlimited’ you are required to pay a biennial assessment of $400.” The statute supplies the mechanism by which a lower schedule can be lawful rather than erroneous: NRS 624.470(1) fixes its figures as a ceiling (“an assessment not to exceed”), and NRS 624.470(3) provides that “The Board shall reduce the amount of the assessments collected pursuant to subsection 1 when the balance in the account reaches 150 percent of the largest balance in the account during the previous fiscal year.” The Board publishes no statement of which of the two schedules is currently being collected, and the affidavit form is written around renewal (“at time renewal”; “as part of the license renewal application”) while FAQ #49 answers for initial licensure - confirm the current amount with the Board. Budgeting consequence: on the FAQ schedule a residential applicant pays $300 + $600 + $200/$500/$1,000, i.e. $1,100 to $1,900 before the licence will issue, not $900, and the assessment recurs every two years at renewal. Examination fees: “Examination fees are separate and will be paid directly to the Board’s exam provider” - amount not published by the Board (see blockers). Other fees set by NAC 624.130: inactive licence issue/renew $300; late filing of renewal of an active licence $150; late filing of renewal of an inactive licence $75; application for a classification in which the applicant is not licensed $300; permanent increase or decrease of monetary limit $250; single-project monetary limit increase $75; change of qualified person or other principal $250; broaden a licence $250; change of licensee name $250; administrative fee where a cash deposit is established $200; duplicate licence $25; certificate of eligibility $500 (renewal $300); returned checks $25. STATUTORY CAPS (not the amounts charged) - NRS 624.280: application “must not exceed $550”; licence “must not exceed $900 biennially”; examination “must not exceed $300”. EXPEDITED ISSUANCE - the doubled application fee is only the first of three components. NRS 624.281(1) [Effective through December 31, 2029]: an applicant wanting expedited issuance “must pay a fee for an application equal to two times the amount of the fee regularly paid for an application pursuant to subsection 1 of NRS 624.280”; 624.281(2): “the applicant must pay one-half of the fee required pursuant to subsection 1 when submitting the application and the other one-half of the fee when the Board issues the license”; 624.281(3): “in addition to the fee required pursuant to subsection 1, the applicant shall reimburse the Board for the actual costs and expenses incurred by the Board in processing the application” - an open-ended amount the Board does not publish in advance. RURAL FEE SUSPENSION - A DECLARATION IS IN FORCE, AND WHERE IT REACHES IT DISPLACES THE FIGURES ABOVE. While a declaration of shortage issued by the Director of the Department of Business and Industry under NRS 624.243 is in effect: NRS 624.250(2)(b) - “If the Director of the Department of Business and Industry issues a declaration of shortage pursuant to NRS 624.243, the Board shall not charge any application fee in connection with obtaining or renewing any contractor’s license in a rural area until the declaration of shortage is no longer in effect”; NRS 624.250(4) - the same bar on “any license fee to an applicant in a rural area”; NRS 624.281(4) - the Board “shall not charge an applicant in a rural area any fee pursuant to subsection 1 or for the costs and expenses incurred by the Board, as described in subsection 3” (the expedited fee and its cost reimbursement); NRS 624.283(7) - no “fee for renewal or reinstatement” for an applicant in a rural area. “Rural area” is defined identically at NRS 624.242(10)(b) and NRS 624.243(11)(d): “(1) Any county whose population is less than 100,000; (2) Any city in a county whose population is less than 100,000; or (3) Any city whose population is less than 60,000 in a county whose population is 100,000 or more.” The declaration has been issued - Board’s Rural License Application (Revised 07/2026) (Revised 07/2026): “The Director of the Department of Business and Industry issued a Declaration of Shortage of Skilled Labor or Licensed Contractors in Rural Areas Of Nevada. The declaration recognizes the shortage of licensed contractors needed to support attainable housing development in rural Nevada. The declaration includes almost every county across the state with the exception of Clark County and Washoe County”, and that form’s instructions state “There is no fee required for this application or future renewal applications.” TWO DISTINCT THINGS, KEPT APART: the Board’s rural form is the separate attainable-housing credential - licence by endorsement under NRS 624.242 and provisional licence under NRS 624.243 - which “may only perform work relating to attainable housing in the area where a declared shortage is made”, carries its own no-fee rules (NRS 624.242(3) and 624.243(3): “The Board shall not charge any fee”), and expires December 31, 2029; the fee bars in NRS 624.250, 624.281 and 624.283 quoted above are written more broadly and reach “any contractor’s license in a rural area”. No Board page reconciles the two. Neither the Board’s New License Application (rev. 03/2026) nor FAQ #49 qualifies its $300 / $600 figures with this suspension, so the headline numbers on this page are the un-suspended amounts and may not be what a rural-area applicant is charged while the declaration stands. Two further bars belong in the same list and were omitted here: NRS 624.253(2) — no additional application and licence fee for qualifying or classifying a licensee in additional classifications in a rural area — and NRS 624.265(4) — no fingerprint-processing fee. Six sections carry a rural bar, not four: 624.250(2)(b), 624.250(4), 624.253(2), 624.265(4), 624.281(4) and 624.283(7). THE DECLARATION ITSELF IS UNPUBLISHED AND THEREFORE UNMONITORABLE. Everything above about the declaration’s existence, currency and county coverage rests on the Board’s description of it in the Rural License Application (Revised 07/2026); the Director’s declaration is not published on nvcontractorsboard.com, is absent from the NRS and the NAC, and carries no issue date or expiry we can read. The only outer bound is NRS 624.243(1): “No declaration of shortage may be in effect for more than 3 years.” Treat the rural fee suspension as sourced to the Board’s form, not to a document we can re-verify.

Exam

Two examinations for a contractor’s licence that is NOT a restricted licence: a general Business and Law examination (the “CMS” exam) and a trade examination specific to the classification applied for. Board’s New License Application (rev. 03/2026), Section 8: “A Business and Law (CMS) and trade examination will be required. The trade exam will be specific to the classification requested.” A B-7 RESTRICTED licence is different - the Board’s restricted-licence checklist requires the CMS exam and lists no trade exam (see the B-7 Restricted row), consistent with NRS 624.244(4): “Except for the provisions of NRS 624.268 and except as otherwise provided by the regulations adopted by the Board pursuant to subsection 7, the provisions of NRS 624.240 to 624.288, inclusive, that apply to a contractor’s license that is not a restricted license do not apply to a restricted license issued pursuant to this section.” Exams are administered by PSI (board listing 1-855-205-5827; PSI online store 1-866-589-3088). The CMS exam is open book (the Construction Business and Law Manual for Nevada is allowed); trade exams are closed book except for permitted code references. “Examinations are offered seven (7) days a week in the Las Vegas area. In the Reno area, exams are given every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Exams are also offered in the Elko are[a] on a limited schedule.” “Exams may also be taken at various PSI owned testing facilities in other states.” “You are allowed three attempts to pass the exam. If an exam is failed on the third attempt, the application becomes void. You can reapply after a thirty (30) day waiting period.” TRADE-EXAM WAIVERS: (a) service as a qualified employee on a Nevada licence in the same classification - THE BOARD PUBLISHES TWO DIFFERENT WINDOWS FOR THIS WAIVER AND BOTH SOURCES ARE LIVE, so both are carried rather than harmonised. New License Application (rev. 03/2026), Section 8: “Current/Recent Nevada Qualified Employee: If you have served as a qualified employee on a license in the State of Nevada in the same classification requested in good standing within the last 10 years and your test scores are still on file with the NSCB.” Board’s License Examinations page: “In most cases you will not be required to take an exam if you have actively served as a qualified employee, within the last four (4) years, on another license in the same classification. The Nevada State Contractors Board reserves the right to require any applicant to take and pass an examination.” (b) licensure by endorsement in a state on the Board’s State Equivalency Chart; (c) for full “B” or “B-2”, passage of the NASCLA Accredited General Building Exam. In every case the form adds: “The Board reserves the right to require an examination, and/or experience certifications of any applicant regardless of current or previous licensure.”

Renewal & continuing education

Two years. NRS 624.283(1), currently-operative version, headed “[Effective through December 31, 2029.]”: “Except as otherwise provided in NRS 624.242 and 624.243, each license issued under the provisions of this chapter expires 2 years after the date on which it is issued, except that the Board may by regulation prescribe shorter or longer periods and prorated fees to establish a system of staggered biennial renewals. Any license which is not renewed on or before the date for renewal is automatically suspended.” THE OPENING CARVE-OUT IS OPERATIVE, not boilerplate: NRS 624.242 (licence by endorsement for attainable-housing projects in a rural area) and NRS 624.243 (provisional licence during a declared shortage) each provide that the licence “expires on December 31, 2029” instead of two years after issuance, and the Board’s Rural License Application (Revised 07/2026) repeats “This license expires on December 31, 2029.” A SECOND VERSION OF THE SAME SUBSECTION IS PUBLISHED ALONGSIDE IT AND IS NOT YET IN FORCE: NRS 624.283(1) “[Effective January 1, 2030.]” drops the carve-out and begins “Each license issued under the provisions of this chapter expires 2 years after the date on which it is issued, except that the Board may by regulation prescribe shorter or longer periods…”. Six sections of NRS chapter 624 - 624.240, 624.250, 624.253, 624.265, 624.281 and 624.283 - currently exist in paired “[Effective through December 31, 2029]” / “[Effective January 1, 2030]” versions, so any re-verification of this record must confirm which version it is reading. The NSCB FAQ states the term more specifically: “A contractor’s license is initially issued for a two-year period. It will expire two years from the last day of the month in which it was issued.” RENEWAL CONTENTS, NRS 624.283(2): an application for renewal; the fee for renewal fixed by the Board; “[a]ny assessment required pursuant to NRS 624.470 if the holder of the license is a residential contractor as defined in NRS 624.450” - the Residential Recovery Fund assessment, see fees; and all information required to complete the renewal. A suspended licence may be reinstated by filing for renewal within 6 months of suspension plus a reinstatement fee if otherwise in good standing; “A license which is not reinstated within 6 months after it is automatically suspended may be cancelled by the Board, and a new license may be issued only upon application for an original contractor’s license.” While a declaration of shortage under NRS 624.243 is in effect, NRS 624.283(7) bars the Board from charging any fee for renewal or reinstatement to an applicant in a rural area (see fees). None. Neither NRS chapter 624 nor NAC chapter 624 imposes any continuing education requirement for renewal - a full-text search of both chapters as published on 2026-08-05 returned no “continuing education” provision, and the Board’s renewal requirements (NRS 624.283(2)) list only the renewal application, fee, any residential-contractor assessment and completion information. The only education provisions are the Commission on Construction Education grant program and the Board’s authority to order remedial education as a disciplinary measure. Separately, a B-7 RESTRICTED licence applicant must complete “a business counseling or similar class” within one year prior to applying - a pre-licensure, not a continuing-education, requirement.

How to apply

Applications are handled by Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB). Start at the official application page .

Verify a license in Nevada

Nevada State Contractors Board publishes a public license search , searchable by License Number, Company Name or Principal or Qualified Individual. It covers all licence classifications issued by the Nevada State Contractors Board statewide - classification A (general engineering), B (general building), AB and C (specialty), including the principal or qualified individual associated with each licence.

Records come from Nevada State Contractors Board’s own system. LicensingAtlas does not hold license records and cannot confirm any individual’s status — the date on this page refers to the requirements described above, not to anyone’s credential.