Tennessee Contractor License Requirements

01 The threshold: $25,000, and the void below it

• The $25,000 test — a contractor's licence is required before bidding on any project of $25,000 or more: the prime, the enumerated subcontractors (electrical, mechanical, roofing, concrete, masonry, glazing, drywall, steel, siding, insulation and more) each at their own portion threshold, and construction managers. A sub to a sub always needs its own licence. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• Below the line, no state credential exists — Tennessee has no general contractor, handyman or specialty licence under $25,000; the flip side of the threshold is a void the HIC law, the LLE/LLP tiers and every local building department fill. Confidence reported — an absence assembled from the Board's own published credential families. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• The owner's door — § 62-6-103(a)(2): an owner building on their own property for individual use (not resale, lease or rent) escapes the whole chapter — but outside counties of 777,113+ population, more than one permit or residence in two consecutive years creates a rebuttable presumption of investment intent, and the local permit, § 62-6-137 registration and permit bonds never move. S-TN-TCA-62-6
• Subcontractors ride the same line — the enumerated trades need their own licence at the portion threshold, employees work under their employer's licence, and the DOR business tax licence follows the work into every city and county. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR

02 The licence: the balance sheet sets the size

• Monetary limit = 10 × the balance sheet — ten times the lesser of working capital or net worth, plus the required experience; $300,000 in both buys the unlimited limit. The Board may allow up to 10% over the limit — except BC-A/r, which has "No 10% bid tolerance. No joint ventures" and a hard $125,000 cap. The limit is per single project; phase-splitting to evade it is prohibited. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• Reviewed or audited CPA statement — a reviewed statement covers limits through $3,000,000; above that an audited one is required. GAAP, under 12 months old, filed with the application and every renewal. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• Or a surety bond of 50% of the limit — since 2026-07-01 the Board accepts "a surety bond … in an amount equal to at least 50% of the monetary limit requested" instead of the CPA statement — the option that lets a thin balance sheet still carry a real limit. S-TN-BLC-MAIN
• Money gates that never move — general liability in Board minimums since 2007-07-01 to apply or renew (the $100k/$100k/$500k/$1M tiers are machine-read in row order), and workers' compensation proof unless CSP-registered with the Secretary of State or claiming the handyman exemption (no employees, no subs, working directly for a residential owner). S-TN-BLC-INSURANCE-PDF S-TN-BLC-ONLINE-RESOURCE-PDF
• Two exams — every new licence owes the Tennessee Business & Law exam (open book, valid two years, Prov since 2026-07-01), and the classification's outline flag decides the trade exam; plumbing CMC and CMC-A need Board pre-approval plus a $50 fee first. The eight reciprocal states waive the trade exam only — never the licence itself. S-TN-BLC-EXAM S-TN-BLC-EXAM
• Experience, references, affidavit — the Board prefers three years, evidenced by letters of reference, and every application carries the notarised Contractor's Affidavit (an interview follows if complaints or convictions surface). S-TN-BLC-APPLICATION-PDF S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• Two registrations before the first permit — a Secretary of State entity (charter, foreign Certificate of Authority, DBA match) and a Department of Revenue business tax licence for each city or county of operation. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR

03 Below the line: HIC, LLE, LLP and the CMC-A tier

• Home Improvement Contractor — nine counties, $3,000–$24,999 — the Board's own HIC law binds only the counties that adopted it (Shelby, Knox, Davidson and their neighbours per the Board's list); remodeling at or below $3,000 needs nothing, work at $25,000+ needs the full contractor licence. Outside the nine counties the HIC credential buys no state authority at all. S-TN-BLC-HIC
• Limited Licensed Electrician — under $25,000 — electrical work below the line, and only in localities served by the Division of Fire Prevention: the LLE may not act as a contractor and may not touch $25,000+ work — that is CE territory on the contractor licence. S-TN-BLC-LLE
• Limited Licensed Plumber — under $25,000 — the same locality limit with a $500 maintenance-and-repair carve-out; at $25,000 or more, plumbing and gas piping ride the CMC-A mechanical classification (Board pre-approval plus three years' experience). S-TN-BLC-LLP S-TN-BLC-EXAM
• No electrical or plumbing board exists — the TDCI regulated-boards list contains exactly one construction entry ("Contractors & Home Improvement"): there is no state electrical commission and no master/journeyman plumber licence anywhere in Tennessee. The contractor licence's CE family and the local layer are the whole answer. S-TN-TDCI-BOARDS S-TN-TDCI-BOARDS

04 Renewal, grace and the only CE in Tennessee

• Biennial, 12-month grace — § 62-6-116: the certificate expires "on the last day of the twenty-fourth month following its issuance or renewal"; CORE opens 90 days before expiry; the contractor grace runs 12 months at $20/month and after it the licence needs a full re-application at $250. Retirement costs $25/year up to 7 years with a $200 reset. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL
• BC-A and BC-A/r owe 8 hours — the only continuing education in the state: eight hours with every bi-annual renewal, certificate uploaded in CORE. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL
• No general CE requirement exists — every other classification renews on documents alone: financial statement (Compiled by a licensed CPA above $1.5M), GL certificate, WC proof or CSP/handyman and SOS active status. A dated absence, not a blank. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL

05 Enforcement and the local counter

• Class A misdemeanor, $5,000 a count — engaging in contracting unlicensed, accepting a bid over $25,000 from an unlicensed contractor, or a state official issuing a permit to one: Class A, a civil penalty up to $5,000 per offense, a six-month bar from licensure, recovery limited to actual documented expenses (clear and convincing proof — no profit), no Title 66 chapter 11 lien, and a TCPA overlay for holding out as licensed. S-TN-TCA-62-6
• The local layer is statutory, not optional — § 62-6-137: registration with the department of codes administration before permits issue, plus the permit-bond floors — $10,000 (building permits under $25,000), $50,000 (building permits of $25,000+) and $40,000 (gas/mechanical, plumbing and excavation permits). S-TN-TCA-62-6 S-TN-TCA-62-6
• Below $25,000, the building department decides — and no municipal code, fee schedule or local registration was opened this pass, so every city and county answer stays LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED. S-TN-BLC-LLE
• Verified absences — no standalone roofing licence, no solar installer credential and no HVAC-only state credential: roofing is a BC building category, solar is electrical work under CE or LLE, and HVAC is mechanical under CMC — each absence assembled from the Board's own classification outline, confidence reported. S-TN-BLC-OUTLINE S-TN-BLC-OUTLINE S-TN-BLC-OUTLINE

06 The credential surface: 133 classifications on one licence

All 133 seeded rows — every BC category, the HC, HRA, MU, CMC and CE ladders and the S-specialties — are on the classifications page, beside the seeded absences: no roofer, no solar, no HVAC-only credential. S-TN-BLC-OUTLINE

07 Fees and renewals

Full detail — every BLC, HIC, LLE, LLP and Course Provider figure, the fee group's notes, and the by-name withheld list (Prov/PSI exam fees, HIC/LLE/LLP term lengths, municipal rates) — is on the fees page.

08 Conflicts and verified absences

• The sub-threshold void — no state contractor, handyman, roofing, solar or HVAC credential exists below $25,000 or outside the classified trades; confidence reported, assembled from the Board's published families. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR
• No electrical board, no plumbing board — the TDCI boards list has one construction entry; there is no commission, no master plumber and no journeyman electrician in Tennessee — only this licence's classifications and the local layer. S-TN-TDCI-BOARDS S-TN-TDCI-BOARDS
• No general CE — BC-A and BC-A/r's 8 hours per biennium is the entire continuing-education surface; a dated absence, not a blank. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL
• Statute read through a disclosed mirror — Title 62 chapter 6 was machine-read in full from the official T.C.A. mirror (release r72, 2026-10-10), the classification outline is the Board's own compiled document, and the Prov/PSI exam fees plus the HIC/LLE/LLP term lengths were never published on a page read — withheld by name, never guessed. No blog, licensing company or SEO directory is a source here.

09 Project playbooks

Each playbook derives its rule sections from the project's own classification relations, so the rendered sections and the seeded evidence can never disagree.

10 Sources and official lookup

Official licence lookup ↗Official licence lookup ↗

Retrieval note: Title 62 chapter 6 was machine-read in full from the official Tennessee Code Annotated mirror (release r72) because the primary host redirects hard — the mirror is disclosed on every card that cites it; the classification outline is the Board's own compiled document; and the licensee search, Prov/PSI exam prices and HIC/LLE/LLP term lengths were linked but not machine-readable this pass, so they stay withheld by name. Each limitation is disclosed on the card that cites it.

Classifications → · Fees →