Quick facts: California requirements
- Licensing board
- Contractors State License Board (CSLB)
- Bond
- $25,000, before licensure
Fees, bond amounts, and rules change. Verify every item with the responsible agency before you rely on it.
California licenses contractors through CSLB, and one of the numbers that catches people out changed recently enough that a lot of guides online still have it wrong: the small-jobs exemption is not $500 anymore.
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What starting a California contracting business actually involves
The experience requirement is specific: four years, within the last ten. Applicants need at least four full years of experience at a journey level, or as a foreman, supervisor, or contractor, within the ten years immediately before applying - not any four years, but four within a rolling ten-year window. That experience has to be verifiable and certified by people with actual knowledge of it, not self-reported.
The bond is $25,000, full stop, before you are licensed. A $25,000 surety bond is required before licensure - or, if you would rather not go through a surety carrier, a $25,000 cashier's check filed directly with CSLB instead. It exists to protect consumers harmed by defective construction or license violations, and employees who are owed unpaid wages.
The minor-work exemption changed on January 1, 2025, and the new number has real conditions attached. Assembly Bill 2622 raised the exemption threshold from $500 to $1,000 in labor and materials combined - but only if the work does not require a building permit and the unlicensed person is not employing anyone on the project. Bid over $1,000, do work that needs a permit, or bring on help, and the exemption is gone regardless of the price. Unlicensed advertising is allowed up to the same $1,000 figure now, provided the ad discloses the person is not licensed.
A Responsible Managing Employee can stand in for the license holder. If the person running daily operations is not the one who will hold the license personally, California allows a Responsible Managing Employee who meets the same qualifications to fulfill the requirement instead.
Where people get stuck
The most common mistake right now is relying on the old $500 minor-work threshold, either from an outdated guide or from memory - a bid at $800 that would have needed a license a year ago is legitimately exempt today, but only if it also clears the no-permit and no-employees conditions, which is the part people skip past even when they know the dollar figure changed.
Not sure if your job qualifies for the current exemption? Contractor Lane checks the actual conditions, not just the dollar amount.
Where Contractor Lane comes in
Contractor Lane keeps the numbers current - like the $500-to-$1,000 change - so you are working from what CSLB actually enforces today, not what used to be true.
Build your free roadmap to get the sequence for your specific trade and classification.
General educational information for people starting a business in California. Requirements and fees change. Contractor Lane is not a law firm or tax advisor.
Common questions
How much is the California CSLB contractor bond?
$25,000, required before licensure - either as a surety bond or a $25,000 cashier's check filed with CSLB instead. It protects consumers harmed by defective construction or license violations, and employees owed unpaid wages. Source: CSLB, Before Applying for the Examination.
What is California's minor-work exemption threshold?
$1,000 in labor and materials combined, as of January 1, 2025 under Assembly Bill 2622 - up from the previous $500 threshold. It has real conditions attached: the work cannot require a building permit, and the unlicensed person cannot employ anyone on the project. A bid over $1,000, permitted work, or hiring help all remove the exemption regardless of the dollar amount. Source: CSLB Industry Bulletin #24-07.