Alabama licenses commercial and industrial contractors through the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors.
Requirements checked against the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors published requirements on October 10, 2026.
| Licensing board | Two boards: Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors (ALBGC) for commercial and industrial work, Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) for residential work |
|---|---|
| License required when | ALBGC: commercial or industrial projects of 50000 dollars or more (5000 dollars or more for swimming pools). HBLB: residential work over 10000 dollars in labor and materials (2500 dollars for residential roofing) |
| What the state calls the qualifier | Qualifying party (ALBGC); qualifying representative (HBLB) |
| NASCLA exam accepted | partial (NASCLA satisfies the trade exam portion of the ALBGC commercial license; the Business and Law exam is still required) |
| Reciprocity and endorsement | ALBGC: Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina. HBLB: Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina |
| Exam waivers | ALBGC: trade portion of the exam waived with written certification from the original state; Business and Law exam never waived. HBLB: Skills section exempt only; Business and Law exam still required |
| Experience required | No year count stated for ALBGC; three completed projects per classification requested. HBLB Limited and Roofers: at least one year of a local contractor business license. HBLB Unlimited: exam instead of documented experience |
| Application and exam fees | ALBGC: 300 dollars for a prime, 150 dollars for a subcontractor. HBLB: 100 dollar nonrefundable application processing fee plus the 235 dollar annual license fee and a 15 dollar Homeowners' Recovery Fund fee (roofers pay a 150 dollar license fee and no Recovery Fund fee) |
| Renewal | Not stated |
| Time to license | ALBGC meets quarterly, application on file 30 days before the meeting, wait of up to three months or more to get in front of the board. HBLB meets monthly except July, about three to four weeks for full processing |
| Bond and financial requirements | ALBGC: minimum 10000 dollars net worth and working capital plus a CPA or LPA financial statement no more than one year old. HBLB: credit report for Unlimited and Limited; Roofers post a 10000 dollar license and permit bond |
| Penalty for unlicensed work | Not stated |
| Time to replace a qualifier | ALBGC: notify board in writing within 30 days, new qualifying party qualified within 60 days of disassociation. HBLB: notify immediately, name a new qualifying representative within 45 days, 100 dollar change fee |
| Companies one qualifier may qualify | ALBGC: one company unless the qualifying party is a majority owner (50 percent or more) of each additional entity. HBLB: no cap stated |
Facts checked on August 14, 2026.
Each line was checked against the state board’s published requirements on the date shown. Not stated means the board material we reviewed did not state it, so we do not guess. Boards change rules; confirm the current figure with the board before you file.
A state general contractor license is required when the cost of a project, including labor and materials, is $100,000 or more, a threshold the legislature raised from $50,000 in 2024, and swimming pool construction triggers licensing at $5,000 or more. Residential construction runs through a separate agency, the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board, which licenses home builders on projects over $10,000. Every licensed company designates a qualifying party, the person who passes the required exams on the company's behalf, and a company may register more than one qualifier.
The board sets each licensee's maximum bid limit based on the financial statement submitted with the application.
Alabama requires a Qualifying Agent for all licensed contractor entities.
Alabama requires a license through the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors for projects of one hundred thousand dollars or more, or through the Home Builders Licensure Board for certain residential work starting at ten thousand dollars. The company is qualified by an individual contractor, partner, officer, member, or a long term full time employee holding limited power of attorney.
The ALBGC classifies contractors by type of work (building construction, highways and streets, municipal and utility, and specialty categories) and separately by a monetary limit class that caps how large a single project the license covers (Alabama General Contractors Board; law.onecle.com's text of the statute). Those monetary classes run from A at one hundred thousand dollars, B at two hundred fifty thousand dollars, C at five hundred thousand dollars, D at one million dollars, E at three million dollars, up to U with no limit.
The maximum class a licensee can hold is set by a formula of not more than ten times whichever financial figure is lower between net worth and working capital, as shown on the applicant's financial statement. At least ten thousand dollars in both net worth and working capital is needed to qualify for the lowest licensed class (law.onecle.com; Justia Regulations's copy of the board's administrative code). The license covers either a prime contractor or a subcontractor, and the board treats them as different application types.
When a qualifying party's association with the licensee ends, the licensee must notify the board in writing within thirty days of the disassociation, and a replacement qualifying party must be in place within sixty days of the disassociation, or the license becomes subject to citation, suspension, or revocation (Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute's copy of the board's rule). Failing to notify the board of the departure is treated as a separate violation. The timeline should always be read as thirty days to tell the board, and sixty days total to have a new qualifying party seated.
PSI (PSI Exams) is the current exam vendor, both for registering and sitting the NASCLA Accredited Commercial General Building Contractor exam and for Alabama's own required Business and Law exam (Alabama General Contractors Board; PSI Exams's own bulletin pages). Every prime contractor applicant must pass the Alabama Business and Law exam regardless of any other exam credit; it is never waived, not for a NASCLA pass and not for reciprocity from another state (Alabama General Contractors Board). A NASCLA pass alone does not finish the exam requirement in Alabama; it only replaces the state specific trade exam.
Yes. The ALBGC accepts a NASCLA Accredited Commercial General Building Contractor exam pass in place of its own trade exam for an applicant's classification (NASCLA; Alabama General Contractors Board). Alabama is one of the states where two separate boards take NASCLA credit: the Licensing Board for General Contractors for general building work, and the Alabama Electrical Contractors Board for its electrical contractor and journeyman exams (NASCLA). In every case the state specific Business and Law exam, application, experience documentation, and financial statement are still required in full; NASCLA only replaces the trade knowledge exam.
An applicant must document hands on experience through at least three completed reference forms from licensed general contractors, registered architects, or professional engineers who supervised the applicant's work (Alabama General Contractors Board). The board also requires a financial statement no more than one year old, which must be audited, reviewed, or compiled under generally accepted accounting principles by a CPA or a board approved licensed public accountant, with the Alabama Department of Transportation's financial statement booklet also accepted (Alabama General Contractors Board). That financial statement is what sets the license's monetary class under the ten times net worth or working capital formula described above.
The license belongs to the entity: a corporate license belongs to the corporation, a partnership license belongs to the partnership, and an individual license belongs to the individual, regardless of who currently serves as qualifying party (Alabama General Contractors Board forms; Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute's copy of the board's administrative rule on qualifying parties).
Anyone who serves as the qualifying party must be an individual contractor, a business partner, a corporate officer, a member, or a full time employee of at least ninety days standing with limited written power of attorney (Alabama General Contractors Board). A qualifying party may qualify more than one entity only if that person is a majority owner, meaning fifty percent or more ownership, in each entity being qualified (Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute's copy of the board's rule). This is a sharper limit than many states apply: an employee qualifying party who is not an owner in Alabama can only hold the qualifying seat for one company at a time.
A prime contractor application, with a three hundred dollar fee by cashier's check or money order, must be received by the board at least thirty days before a regularly scheduled quarterly board meeting (Alabama General Contractors Board). A subcontractor application carries a one hundred fifty dollar fee and needs three completed references rather than the full prime application packet (Alabama General Contractors Board). Renewal happens annually, twelve months after issuance or the last renewal, and a late renewal carries a fifty dollar penalty (law.onecle.com's text of the statute).
Alabama recognizes reciprocity with five named states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee (Alabama General Contractors Board). An applicant holding a current, good standing license in a comparable classification in one of those states can have the trade exam portion waived upon written certification from that state's board, but the Alabama Business and Law exam is never waived under reciprocity (Alabama General Contractors Board). The qualifying individual named on the Alabama reciprocity application must be the same individual who is the qualifying party on the out of state license, that out of state license must have been held in that classification for at least one year, and the completed application must sit in the board's office for thirty days before a reciprocal license is issued (Alabama General Contractors Board).
Alabama licenses electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work through separate boards from the ALBGC, and none of them use the one hundred thousand dollar general contractor threshold; trade work needs its own license regardless of job size. The Alabama Electrical Contractors Board (AECB, Alabama Electrical Contractors Board) licenses electrical contractors and journeyman electricians with no monetary floor; any electrical contracting work requires licensure.
Effective October 1, 2026, under Act 2026 396, the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors exempted the construction and repair of residential swimming pools from the general contractor license requirement entirely, and added a new exemption for certain routine or regular maintenance, repair, cleaning, and facility support services (Alabama General Contractors Board). The board's own announcement states that the maintenance exemption is not fully defined in the statute, and that anyone unsure whether a specific job qualifies should contact the board before bidding or starting work (Alabama General Contractors Board).
This replaces the earlier rule, which required a license for any swimming pool project at five thousand dollars or more in labor and materials; that pool specific license trigger no longer applies. The general project threshold requiring a license has not moved again since it was raised from fifty thousand dollars to one hundred thousand dollars by Act 2024 277, effective October 1, 2024 (Alabama General Contractors Board; law.onecle.com's text of the statute). Anyone who learned Alabama's rules before October 2026 should set aside the earlier pool threshold figure, since it no longer governs.
The Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors (ALBGC), based in Montgomery, licenses general contractors for any project, including labor and materials, that costs one hundred thousand dollars or more (Alabama General Contractors Board). As of October 1, 2026, residential swimming pool construction and repair no longer triggers this license at all (Alabama General Contractors Board).
Separately, the Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board (HBLB) licenses residential construction and remodeling, with its own limited license tier required once a single trade job that does not affect structural integrity reaches ten thousand dollars (Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board). Whether a project is commercial or residential determines which board applies, so that distinction should be confirmed before work begins.
Official Licensing Authority
All contractor license applications, renewals, and qualifying agent changes must go through this board.
We place a licensed qualifying agent with your company as a full time W-2 employee and prepare the qualifier filing with the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors. Tell us your trade and what you have going on, and pick a time for a discovery call. Or call 615-219-2110.
Provide your information for a compliance assessment.
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