Arkansas Contractor License: Requirements, Cost and Exams

License classes

License classifications and monetary tiers

The ACLB issues four main license types (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing; the ACLB's Commercial New Application, effective 1/2025). A Commercial license is required for any project of 50,000 dollars or more on a non residential structure, and splits into a Restricted Commercial license (jobs up to 1,500,000 dollars since Act 235 of 2025, effective August 4, 2025) and an Unrestricted Commercial license (any dollar value). A Residential Builder license covers contractors building new single family homes and requires four years of documented experience per the board's own Residential Builder application. A Residential Remodeler license covers remodels and additions to existing single family homes, not new construction, and is available as a limited license (projects under 50,000 dollars) or an unlimited license. A Home Improvement Specialty license is needed for specialty residential work such as roofing, flooring, or painting on a single family home once the project exceeds 2,000 dollars; this is the one license type that does not require the Business and Law exam. Worth noting plainly: holding a Commercial license automatically qualifies the holder to do residential work in the same classification or specialty, at no added fee and no added test (ACLB Commercial New Application, effective 1/2025).

There is a genuine conflict between two of the board's own current documents, resolved here as of 2026-09-29. Act 235 of 2025 (effective August 4, 2025) raised the Restricted Commercial bid limit from 750,000 to 1,500,000 dollars, confirmed against the ACLB law book rev 04.2026. The Commercial New Application dated 1/2025 predates the Act and still prints the old 750,000 dollar line. The board's own current codified rules, in the Statutes and Rules of the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board booklet revised April 2026, define a restricted license at 17 CAR 255 401(a)(2)(C) as one authorizing a total project cost of less than 1,500,000 dollars, and separately tie that same 1,500,000 dollar figure, via Arkansas Code 17 25 304(a)(2), to which type of financial statement is required: a full audited or reviewed statement above that line, a compiled statement below it. These are two different documents, both currently posted by the board, giving two different numbers for what counts as restricted. Applicants should treat 1,500,000 dollars as the current Restricted Commercial limit and the 750,000 dollar figure on the older form as superseded.

The qualifier rule

The qualifying party model, and a gap that remains open

Arkansas licenses the business entity, and every application must be supported by a qualifying party who has passed the required exam. To act as the qualifying party, a person must be the sole owner, an actively engaged partner, an actively engaged corporate officer, an actively engaged LLC member, an actively engaged LLP partner, or a full time paid employee (W2 income) of the licensed entity (Arkansas Administrative Code 235.18.22 001, the ACLB's own Rules and Regulations; this exact language is echoed on the board's own current Qualifying Party form, revised 1/2024). This is the seat a qualifying agent fills as a W2 employee. Whether Arkansas caps how many licensed companies one qualifying party may qualify at the same time is not stated in the board materials reviewed for this page; neither the Administrative Code text nor the board's own current Qualifier Change form address that scenario either way. This should be confirmed directly with the ACLB before assuming a limit does or does not apply.

Replacement rules and deadlines when a qualifier leaves

If a qualifying party leaves a licensed entity, the company must give written notice to the ACLB within 15 business days, naming the person leaving and the person replacing them; the board's own Qualifying Party (Qualifier Change) form, revised 1/2024, states this twice, once at the top in bold and once in the sworn certification language itself, both times as "fifteen (15) business days." The replacement qualifier must then be fully qualified within 30 days of the departing qualifier's last day, or the license becomes invalid, unless a written request for more time is received in the ACLB office before that window closes (ACLB Qualifying Party form, revised 1/2024). The board's own codified rule covering this same requirement, 17 CAR 255 201(a)(3)(A) in the Statutes and Rules booklet revised April 2026, states the notice window as plain "fifteen (15) days," with no word "business" attached, which matches how the older Administrative Code citation 235.18.22 001 reads in current legal database copies of the code. The board's own operational form is more generous than its own codified rule text. The practical answer is business days, since that is the document the board provides and the one its staff apply day to day, though the codified rule itself, read on its own, appears stricter. The board's day to day contact for qualifier changes is Jodie Hatfield, reachable directly at 501 371 1520 or jodie.hatfield@arkansas.gov, a more direct line than the board's general number for this specific situation. This is a tight clock, and a real reason to treat a qualifier's departure as urgent.

Exams

Exam requirements and the current vendor

PSI Services LLC is the ACLB's contracted testing vendor for the Arkansas Business and Law exam (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing Testing Info instructions, revised 1/2025; PSI Exams). The exam is open book, 50 questions, multiple choice, with a 2 hour limit, costs 84 dollars, and is taken from a single reference book, the Arkansas Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, which is itself a NASCLA published title. Worth remembering: the applicant is responsible for getting their passing score to the ACLB office, by fax or mail, and the board's own instructions warn this can take several weeks if PSI mails the results rather than the applicant hand carrying the score.

NASCLA acceptance, and one point that still needs board confirmation

Arkansas is a NASCLA participating agency; the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors is accepted toward the Commercial license (NASCLA Commercial Exam Participating State Agencies list). Other sources describe Arkansas as the one state where the NASCLA exam substitutes for both the trade exam and the state's own Business and Law exam, a genuine outlier compared to most other NASCLA states, where NASCLA only replaces the trade portion. The scope of NASCLA's coverage for the Business and Law exam is not stated in the board's own current application packets or its own Testing Info instructions. Until this is confirmed in writing from the board for a specific applicant's situation, the safe assumption is that NASCLA is accepted and helps, likely covering both the trade and Business and Law requirement; confirm exactly what it covers before relying on it.

Testing and exams, from the candidate bulletins

Four exams matter most for general contractor and trade licensing in Arkansas. Two run through PSI (the Business and Law exam every ACLB classification sits, and the NASCLA Commercial trade exam), and two run through Prov (Journeyman Electrician and Class A HVACR, the top representative exam in each of those two trade boards). Plumbing is regulated separately by the Department of Health, not the Department of Labor and Licensing, and a vendor for the Plumbing exam is not stated in the board materials reviewed for this page; confirm directly with the Department of Health. Two real changes surfaced on the latest review of the bulletins: the NASCLA exam's content outline numbers were corrected against the live bulletin table, and the HVAC Section's Prov bulletin was reissued entirely, document code ARDOL HVAC Section 2025.05.23 replacing the 2020.06.24 version, with a higher fee and a reshuffled content outline. The Business and Law and Journeyman Electrician bulletins remain unchanged, with document codes dated 5/20/2021 and 2020.04.09 respectively.

Arkansas Contractor Business and Law Exam, PSI

Every ACLB classification except Home Improvement Specialty must pass this exam (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing Testing Info page; PSI's Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board bulletin, hosted at PSI test center portal, last revised 5/20/2021). PSI Services LLC runs it. Scheduling is online at PSI Exams or PSI candidate portal; the ACLB's own Testing Info page lists 855 257 1620 as the scheduling number while PSI's own bulletin text elsewhere gives 855 744 0310 for the same program. Applicants should confirm the live number at PSI Exams before relying on either one. The exam is 50 questions, multiple choice, open book, with a 120 minute (2 hour) limit, and a minimum passing score of 35 correct, which is 70 percent. Up to 10 additional experimental questions may be seeded into a candidate's exam; they are not scored and do not count against the time limit. The content outline in force since 8/5/2021 covers Business Management as a heading, then Contracts and Agreements (4 items), Environmental Laws and Regulations (5), Estimating and Bidding (2), Financial Management (5), Insurance and Bonding (4), Labor Laws and Employment Regulations (5), Project Management (3), OSHA Recordkeeping and Reporting (4), Tax Laws (2), Arkansas Lien Laws (3), and Arkansas Contractor Rules and Regulations (4); the scanned bulletin table also carries a stray unlabeled "9" at the end of that list that does not tie to a subject area. The only approved reference is the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, Arkansas Edition; the PSI bulletin text itself names the 7th edition, but NASCLA's own bookstore currently sells an 8th edition of the same Arkansas guide, and the bulletin's general rule that later editions of non Code references are acceptable as they become available suggests the 8th edition should be fine, though this has not been confirmed in writing by the ACLB or PSI for this specific exam; applicants should confirm which edition to use before purchasing. References may be highlighted, underlined, and indexed before the exam, using permanent tabs only (defined as tabs that would tear the page if removed); temporary tabs such as Post it notes are not allowed and must be removed before testing begins; nothing may be written in the reference during the exam itself, and downloaded internet references must be bound, spiral bound, or hole punched into a binder. Candidates bring their own reference to a PSI test center. A state specific list of Arkansas PSI center addresses is not stated in the board materials reviewed for this page, so use PSI Exams's own scheduling tool to find the nearest current center; PSI operates nationally, so out of state candidates are not limited to Arkansas centers. Retake rules for this exam are not stated in the board materials reviewed for this page. The 84 dollar fee is confirmed against the ACLB's own current Business and Law Test Instructions, effective 1/2025.

NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors, PSI

This is the trade exam layered on top of the Business and Law exam for the Commercial license classification (Arkansas specific PSI bulletin, hosted at PSI test center portal, last revised 6/30/2025). It is administered by PSI on behalf of NASCLA; candidates apply through NASCLA's National Examination Database at NASCLA exam application portal, then schedule at PSI Exams or by phone at 800 733 9267. The exam is 115 questions, open book, with a 330 minute (5.5 hour) limit, and a minimum passing score of 81 correct, which is 70 percent; up to 10 unscored experimental questions may also be seeded in. The content outline, pulled from the current bulletin, is General Requirements (25 items), Site Construction (15), Concrete (6), Masonry (4), Metals (6), Wood (5), Thermal and Moisture Protection (5), Doors Windows and Glazing (4), Finishes (5), Mechanical and Plumbing Systems (6), Electrical Systems (3), and Procurement and Contracting Requirements (31), which sums to 115; Procurement and Contracting Requirements is the single largest subject area on this exam. Reference edition requirements have changed: the International Building Code now allows only the 2021 or 2024 edition (the 2018 edition dropped 11/1/2025); ACI 318 now allows only the 2019 edition (2014 dropped 11/1/2025); ICC A117.1 now allows only the 2017 edition (2009 dropped 10/1/2025); the Steel Deck Institute manual now allows only its 2016 edition (2006 dropped 10/1/2025); and the Contractor's Guide to Quality Concrete Construction now allows only its 2018, 4th edition (2005 dropped 10/1/2025). The older editions are no longer acceptable. This is easily confused with the Business and Law exam's reference material, which is different: the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, Basic 14th Edition (the general NASCLA edition, not the Arkansas specific 7th or 8th edition guide used for the Business and Law exam above; these are two different books for two different exams). Reference material may be highlighted, underlined, and indexed before the exam using permanent tabs only, exactly as with the Business and Law exam; temporary tabs are not allowed and must be removed before testing begins, and nothing may be written in during the exam. Retake rules and the exam fee are not stated in the board materials reviewed for this page; confirm both directly with PSI or NASCLA.

Arkansas Journeyman Electrician exam, Prov

This is the exam for the Board of Electrical Examiners' journeyman classification, the most common electrical exam encountered in Arkansas licensing work (Arkansas Department of Labor, Electrical Examining Board Candidate Information Bulletin, hosted at Prov, document revision code ARDOL Electrical 2020.04.09; this is the current live bulletin at Prov, though its own internal revision stamp has not been updated since April 2020). Prov, not PSI, runs all Arkansas electrical exams. Candidates are approved to test by the Board first, then schedule at Prov or by phone at 866 720 7768 using a 10 digit Candidate ID the Board provides, one that always starts with 200. The exam is 60 questions, open book, with a 3 hour limit, and a 70 percent passing score. The content outline, for the exam titled as covering the 2014 NEC, is Grounding and Bonding (6 items), General Knowledge of the Electrical Trade and Calculations (9), Service, Feeders, Branch Feeders and Overcurrent Protection (8), Raceways and Enclosures (8), Conductors (7), Motors and Controls (7), Utilization and General Use Equipment (6), Special Occupancies and Equipment (4), Low Voltage Circuits Including Alarms and Communications (2), and Safety (3). There is an inconsistency in the bulletin itself: it titles this exam as covering the 2014 NEC, but the single reference it lists is NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 2017 edition. This discrepancy should be confirmed with the Board of Electrical Examiners at 501 682 9201 before studying for a specific code year. Prov runs eight fixed testing centers inside Arkansas: Conway, El Dorado, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Paragould, and Searcy, each open on different specific weekdays per the bulletin's own schedule grid; candidates may also test at any Prov center nationwide. Remote proctoring is explicitly available for this exam through Prov's Examroom service. Candidates may retake a failed exam as often as needed until their one year eligibility window closes, then must file a retake form with the Board plus an additional exam fee if that window has expired. Fees, as stated directly in the bulletin: 80 dollars for a computer based exam, 56 dollars for paper and pencil; a post exam review costs 80 dollars; a hand score recheck costs 25 dollars.

Bond and insurance

Experience and financial requirements

Commercial license applicants generally need five years of experience in the major classification requested (one year for most specialty classifications), documented with project history and three verifiable written references from people with direct knowledge of the applicant's work, on the board's own reference form, which explicitly states its purpose is to verify work experience, not credit history, and will not accept references more than 90 days old (ACLB Commercial New Application, effective 1/2025). Financially, Arkansas Code 17 25 304 requires either a financial statement proving minimum net worth or a surety bond filed in lieu of it. Per the board's own rule, 17 CAR 255 401(b)(1), and its current application instructions, the net worth minimum is 50,000 dollars for Building, Heavy, Highway/Railroad/Airport, and Municipal and Utility classifications, 20,000 dollars for Light Building, Mechanical, and Electrical classifications, and 5,000 dollars for Specialty. New applicants must have half of that minimum net worth requirement in cash in the bank, not a stockholder note or receivables, and must also show positive working capital; the Restricted Commercial license accepts a CPA compiled report while the Unrestricted Commercial license requires a reviewed or audited statement, both less than one year old. A bond filed in lieu of the financial statement runs 10 times the net worth minimum for the classification: 50,000 dollars for specialty, 200,000 dollars for light building, mechanical, and electrical, and 500,000 dollars for building, heavy, highway, railroad, airport, and municipal and utility classifications. On top of that, commercial contractors separately need a standard 10,000 dollar Contractors Surety Bond (Arkansas Code 17 25 401 and 17 25 404), which is not replaced by the larger bond in lieu of financials and must be filed in the exact Principal Name and EIN as the license application. The net worth requirement is not a flat 50,000 dollars for every commercial classification: Light Building, Mechanical, and Electrical need 20,000 dollars, and Specialty needs 5,000 dollars.

Fees and timeline

Application filing fee

Every new application, Commercial, Residential Builder, and Residential Remodeler alike, carries a 100 dollar filing fee, payable by check or money order only, non refundable and non transferable (ACLB Commercial New Application and Residential Builders New Application, both effective 1/2025). Sole proprietor applicants may qualify for an initial fee waiver under Arkansas's Workforce Expansion Act of 2021; the waiver requirements and form are posted on the board's own site under that Act's name. Sole proprietor applicants should ask the board about this waiver rather than assume it does not apply. Per the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board commercial contractors law (law text), the renewal schedule is as follows: Commercial license renewal is 50 dollars if received before expiration, 100 dollars if received within 30 days after expiration; a license expires the day before the anniversary of issue.

Application timelines

The ACLB's own Commercial and Residential Builder application instructions, both effective 1/2025, state plainly: a completed application must be in the board's office three weeks before a board or committee meeting to be reviewed, current meeting dates are posted at Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, and once an application is received it must be made complete within 90 days or the applicant must start over with a new application and a new filing fee. Applicants should plan for at least three weeks of lead time before the next meeting just to get on the agenda, plus however long it takes to assemble a complete, exam passed file within that 90 day completeness clock. This does not promise a specific number of weeks from submission to a license in hand; that still depends on the meeting calendar and how complete the file is on arrival, but the structural clock itself is confirmed directly from the board's own current application packets.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity and exam waivers, two separate pathways

Arkansas offers two separate reciprocity pathways. First, the ACLB's own Reciprocal Form, revised March 2025, names reciprocal agreements with five states: Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee each require the applicant to have held a valid license in that state for at least one year; Louisiana only requires a currently valid license, with no minimum duration stated on the form; North Carolina requires a valid license but Arkansas will only reciprocate for a named list of matching classifications. The form itself confirms what this reciprocity actually waives: the applicant states in writing "I am not required to pass an Arkansas Business and Law Examination," so this route waives only the Business and Law exam, not the rest of the Arkansas application, and the applicant is personally responsible for shuttling the form to the other state's board and back. Second, the ACLB's own current Commercial and Residential Builder applications contain a separate military connected pathway. A sole proprietor applicant who is on active duty, is a veteran not dishonorably discharged, or whose spouse is on active duty or such a veteran, and who holds a current contractor license, not merely a registration, issued by another state, does not have to take the Arkansas Business and Law exam and does not have to submit the three reference forms at all, to obtain an Arkansas license in the same classification. This path has no stated minimum duration requirement and is broader in what it waives, exam plus references, than the standard five state reciprocal form, but it is limited to sole proprietors and to the military connected fact pattern the application spells out. Trade specific classifications, meaning plumbing, electrical, HVAC/R, or anything with its own trade exam, still require meeting that separate agency's own requirements no matter which of these two reciprocity routes applies to the general license. Other sources describe a wider reciprocity list that also includes Georgia and South Carolina, but the board's own current form does not list either state, so the five states above are the current reciprocity list to rely on.

Trades

Trades overlay: electrical, plumbing, and HVAC

This is the fact most likely to trip up an applicant in Arkansas. Electrical licensing runs through the Board of Electrical Examiners, a separate board that still sits inside the Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing (Arkansas state website, Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing). HVAC/R licensing also sits inside the Department of Labor and Licensing, proctored by Prov rather than PSI. Plumbing is the real outlier: it is regulated by the Arkansas Department of Health, Plumbing and Natural Gas Section, not by the Department of Labor and Licensing or the ACLB at all (Arkansas Department of Health). One nuance is worth spelling out: the ACLB's own Commercial license application lists Mechanical, covering Plumbing and HVACR, and Electrical as major classifications directly on the general contractor's commercial license, alongside a long specialty list that includes standalone Plumbing, HVACR, and Electrical specialty lines. But every one of those trade tagged classifications on the ACLB application is marked as requiring the applicant to attach a copy of the separate Arkansas trade license or certificate from the other agency before the ACLB will grant that classification; the ACLB is not issuing its own trade competency, it is layering general contractor authority on top of a credential the applicant must already hold from the Board of Electrical Examiners, the HVAC Section, or the Department of Health's Plumbing and Natural Gas Section. So the ACLB and the trade boards are not really separate processes for an applicant who wants Mechanical or Electrical on their commercial license; they are sequential: get the trade license first, then it becomes an attachment on the ACLB application. When a business touches plumbing specifically, applicants should route to a second, genuinely separate application with the Department of Health, not the ACLB.

The board

Who licenses general contractors

The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board (ACLB), a division of the Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing based in North Little Rock, licenses general contractors statewide (Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing). There is no separate local or county general contractor licensing layer in Arkansas the way there is in some states; the ACLB is the whole game for general and commercial building work. Electrical and HVAC/R sit under a different board within the same Department of Labor and Licensing, and plumbing sits under an entirely different state agency, the Department of Health. This is the single easiest thing to get wrong about this state.