Tennessee Contractor License Fees
The 22 verified whole-dollar state fees Tennessee publishes — all one Board's five fee programmes, machine-read with the contractor accordion open on 2026-10-10. Every licence price below is beside what it is not: the capital the licence demands (CPA statement or the ≥50% surety option, general liability, workers' comp), the statutory permit bonds, and the municipal rates no state page carries — those stay withheld by name.
01 State fee vs capital vs permit bond vs local rate
- The licence fee is the small number — $250 initial, $200 biennial renewal: what the licence costs is separate from what it requires — the reviewed/audited CPA statement (or the surety option), GL in Board minimums and workers' comp proof. S-TN-BLC-CONTRACTOR S-TN-BLC-INSURANCE-PDF
- Capital can be a bond instead — since 2026-07-01 a Contractors' Surety Bond of "at least 50% of the monetary limit requested" stands in for the CPA statement; the premium is set by the surety and is not a state fee, so no amount is seeded. S-TN-BLC-MAIN
- Permit bonds are statutory, not fees — § 62-6-137 requires a $10,000 bond (building permits under $25,000), $50,000 (building permits of $25,000+) and $40,000 (gas/mechanical, plumbing, excavation permits) behind the codes-administration registration — seeded as bonds, never as fees. S-TN-TCA-62-6
- Grace is priced in months — the contractor renewal carries a 12-month grace at $20/month (maximum 12 months), then a full re-application at $250; HIC's grace runs at $10/month, LLE and LLP at $10/month. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL
- Local rates stay local — no Tennessee municipal code, permit schedule or business-tax rate was opened this pass; every city and county figure stays LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED. S-TN-BLC-LLE
02 Board for Licensing Contractors — the contractor licence: initial, renewal, grace, retirement
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Charged by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor licence — initial, reinstatement or ownership change Fees page table row verbatim: 'Initial / Reinstatement / Ownership Change — $250' (machine-read 2026-10-10 with the Contractor accordion open). The contractor page separately states 'Application fee: $250' and points at CORE (core.tn.gov); the fee is non-refundable. Majority ownership change, merger or reorganisation requires this fresh application (renewal page). | $250 | application | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Contractor licence — biennial renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Renewal — $200'. Renewal documents: financial statement (Compiled by a licensed CPA above $1.5M, self-prepared balance sheet below), GL certificate, WC proof or CSP/handyman, SOS active status (renewal page). Coming out of retirement also costs this $200 plus full documents. | $200 | renewal | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Contractor licence — late renewal penalty, per month Fees page verbatim: 'Late renewal penalty, per month — $20 (maximum of 12 months)'. Renewal page verbatim: 'The grace period for renewal is 12 months. A $20/month late fee will be applied' — after the grace, full re-application at $250. | $20 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Contractor licence — mode of operation change Fees page verbatim: 'Mode of Operation Change — $100'. Renewal page: the change must be filed within 90 days, no new bidding until the revised licence issues, existing contracts may continue (Rule 0680-01-.02). | $100 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Contractor licence — retirement, per year of renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Retirement, per year of renewal — $25 (maximum of 7 years)'; renewal page adds the '$200 renewal fee every seven (7) years' RESET and that exiting retirement costs the $200 renewal plus full documents. | $25 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Contractor licence — duplicate Fees page verbatim: 'Duplicate license — $25'. | $25 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
Renewals run on the 24-month certificate (§ 62-6-116 — last day of the twenty-fourth month), CORE opens 90 days before expiry, and coming out of retirement costs the $200 renewal plus full documents. Majority ownership change, merger or reorganisation is a fresh $250 application, not a renewal. S-TN-BLC-RENEWAL
03 Home Improvement — the nine-county tier at $3,000–$24,999
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Charged by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Improvement licence — duplicate Fees page verbatim: 'Duplicate license — $10'. | $10 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Home Improvement licence — initial, reinstatement or ownership change Fees page (Home Improvement table) verbatim: 'Initial / Reinstatement / Ownership Change — $250'; the HIC licence page repeats 'initial fee of $250' applied for at core.tn.gov. | $250 | application | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Home Improvement licence — renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Renewal — $200'. Renewal adds current bond/GL/WC/SOS evidence (renewal page). The renewal TERM length was not published on any page read — withheld by name (research §O). | $200 | renewal | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Home Improvement licence — late renewal penalty, per month Fees page verbatim: 'Late renewal penalty, per month — $10 (maximum of 3 months)'. | $10 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
The HIC programme mirrors the contractor ladder at smaller numbers — $250 / $200, $10/month late — and only binds the nine counties that adopted the Home Improvement law. The programme's TERM length was never published on a page read and stays withheld. S-TN-BLC-HIC
04 Limited Licensed Electrician and Limited Licensed Plumber — the sub-$25,000 tiers
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Charged by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited Licensed Electrician — late renewal penalty, per month Fees page verbatim: 'Late renewal penalty, per month — $10 (maximum of 3 months)'. | $10 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Electrician — duplicate Fees page verbatim: 'Duplicate license — $5'. | $5 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Plumber — initial or reinstatement Fees page (LLP table) verbatim: 'Initial / Reinstatement — $75'; the LLP licence page repeats 'initial license fee of $75'. Exam fee payable to Prov is withheld by name (§O). | $75 | application | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Plumber — renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Renewal — $50'; 3-month grace at $10/month. Cycle not published on any page read (§O). | $50 | renewal | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Plumber — late renewal penalty, per month Fees page verbatim: 'Late renewal penalty, per month — $10 (maximum of 3 months)'. | $10 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Plumber — duplicate Fees page verbatim: 'Duplicate license — $5'. | $5 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Electrician — renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Renewal — $50'; 3-month grace at $10/month. Cycle not published on any page read (§O). | $50 | renewal | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Electrician — reinstatement Fees page verbatim: 'Reinstatement — $80' — the ONE profession where the Board's table prices reinstatement ABOVE its initial fee (LLP's table combines initial/reinstatement at $75). | $80 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Limited Licensed Electrician — initial licence Fees page (LLE table) verbatim: 'Initial — $50'; the LLE licence page repeats the $50 initial fee. Exam fee payable to Prov is withheld by name (§O) — the $50 here is the BOARD's licence fee, not the exam. | $50 | application | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
LLE and LLP are flat: $50 to start as an electrician (renewal $50, reinstatement $80), $75 to start or reinstate as a plumber (renewal $50), $10 a month late and $5 duplicates — the cheapest licences in the state, because both stop at $25,000. S-TN-BLC-LLE S-TN-BLC-LLP
05 Pre-license Course Provider and the CMC/CMC-A exam pre-approval — the fifth profession and the exam gate
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Charged by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-license Course Provider — initial licence Fees page (Course Provider table) verbatim: 'Initial — $1,500'. One of the Board's five regulated professions; providers also carry a $50,000 surety bond (Insurance Resources matrix). | $1,500 | application | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| Pre-license Course Provider — renewal Fees page verbatim: 'Renewal — $1,000'. | $1,000 | renewal | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-FEES |
| CMC / CMC-A exam pre-approval — Board fee Exam page verbatim: 'Pre-approval is required by the Board to take the plumbing CMC-A or full mechanical CMC exam … $50 fee'. The ONLY exam-related amount Tennessee publishes — actual Prov/PSI exam fees are withheld by name (§O). | $50 | miscellaneous | Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (within TDCI) | S-TN-BLC-EXAM |
The Course Provider fee ($1,500 / $1,000) prices the Board's fifth profession — the pre-license course that BC-A/r candidates may take in lieu of the residential trade exam — and the $50 CMC/CMC-A pre-approval is the Board's gate before Prov will schedule the plumbing or full mechanical trade exam. S-TN-BLC-EXAM
06 CONFLICT-TN-001 — unresolved on purpose
The contractor page's trade-exam list (read 2026-10-10) annotates the combined residential/small-commercial exam as: 'Res/SmCom (BC-A,b(sm)) — Projects less than $750,000'. Read alone, the small-commercial path stops at $750,000.
How to get a Contractor's licence — exam list (Board for Licensing Contractors)The official Classification Outline §2 (read the same day) states verbatim: 'BC-b(sm) — Small commercial work, subject to a monetary limit not exceeding $1,500,000. Full BC-B exam required to move above that cap.' Read alone, the BC-b(sm) LICENCE reaches $1,500,000, with only the EXAM gate changing at the cap.
Tennessee Contractor Classification Outline §2 (compiled from T.C.A. § 62-6-112, Rule 0680-01-.12, Rule 0680-01-.16 Appendix A)UNRESOLVED — both figures are Board publications of the same date and neither reconciles the other. The plausible reading is that $750,000 bounds the EXAM's project scope while $1,500,000 caps the LICENCE's monetary limit, but the Board never states that, so this seed asserts NO reconciliation: pages show both quotes verbatim, never a single 'small-commercial limit', and never the $750,000 figure as a licence cap or the $1,500,000 figure as an exam scope. Applicants crossing either number are directed to the Board (800-544-7693).
Analysis notes
Detected 2026-10-10 while seeding the BC-b(sm) classification against the contractor page's exam list. Seeded as the Tennessee phase's only conflict; classification tn:bc-b-sm carries the seam in its notes so no page can present the small-commercial cap as settled.
The small-commercial figures come from the same board on the same day: the contractor page annotates the small-commercial exam "(Projects less than $750,000)" while the classification outline caps BC-b(sm) at "$1,500,000". Both are official and current-facing; no amendment record reconciling them was machine-readable, so the plausible readings are NOT asserted, no figure is dropped, and rule TN-MONETARY-LIMIT prints both — neither picks one.
07 Withheld on purpose — never guessed
- Prov / PSI examination fees — Prov took over administration on 2026-07-01; neither provider's price appears on any Board page read, NOT_VERIFIED by name.
- HIC, LLE and LLP renewal TERM lengths — the grace and late rows are published, the term itself never was; no cycle is invented for them.
- Surety-bond premium and CPA review costs — private-market prices, not state fees.
- Workers' compensation premium and CSP filing cost — set by carriers and the Secretary of State, not researched here.
- § 62-6-137 permit-bond premiums — the bond AMOUNTS are statutory and seeded as bonds; the price of buying them is not published.
- Municipal permit, inspection and business-tax rates — no Tennessee city or county rate was opened; LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED.