Connecticut Contractor License: Requirements, Cost and Exams

Who must hold the license

The one thing to get straight before anything else

Connecticut is NOT a qualifying agent state the way Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi are. There is no Connecticut general contractor license at all, and the state licenses individuals, never a company, for every trade it does license. The Connecticut DCP electrician facts page states plainly that the Department of Consumer Protection "licenses individuals, but not the electrical company" and that "only individuals can apply, company applications are not accepted" (checked August 23, 2026). For general building and remodeling work, a company registers itself directly with the state, with no exam and no licensed individual required on staff. For electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work, an individual holds the trade license personally and acts as the contractor of record for permits and contracts, but the state still does not issue any license to the business entity itself. A Connecticut lead should never be told that a company will be "licensed" the way it would be in Florida or Georgia. The honest pitch here is registration compliance plus, where a trade license is genuinely needed, helping a real licensed individual get placed or get through the trade exam, not qualifying the company itself.

General contracting and remodeling: registration, not licensure

Connecticut has three relevant registration categories, and none of them involve an exam or an experience requirement.

Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration is required once a contractor's home improvement work exceeds 1,000 dollars in any 12 month period, or for any single job priced over 200 dollars, on existing residential property of one to four units (Connecticut state website Home Improvement Applications page). Home improvement is defined broadly: driveways, roofs, siding, decks, porches, garages, flooring, painting, fences, windows and doors, waterproofing, and similar permanent changes to a home. It explicitly excludes new home construction and any electrical work.

New Home Construction Contractor (NHCC) registration is required for anyone who contracts with a consumer to build or sell a new single family home, new two family unit, or new condominium unit prior to occupancy (Connecticut state website New Home Construction Contractor Applications page).

Major Contractor registration applies only to large structural commercial work: buildings of 4 or more stories, 60 feet or more in height, 150 feet or more of clear span, 150,000 square feet or more of gross floor area, or occupancy of 1,000 or more people, such as schools, malls, hospitals, and large apartment buildings (Connecticut state website Major Contractor Registration Application page). It excludes small commercial buildings, new home construction, residential work, and non-structural work like painting. It renews annually for 500 dollars and requires two credit references, one from a trade supplier or subcontractor and one from a financial institution, with no exam.

None of these three registrations requires a licensed individual, an exam, or documented years of experience. A company registers itself directly.

The qualifier rule

Qualifying the company, and the replacement question

Because Connecticut does not license companies at all, in any trade, there is no qualifying agent structure to place a W2 employee into and no company license to attach a replacement clock to. For HIC, NHCC, and Major Contractor registration, the registration belongs to the registering entity itself; there is no individual qualifier to lose. For electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, the license belongs personally to the individual acting as contractor of record. A specific day count deadline for a business to replace a departing licensed contractor of record, the way Georgia's 180 day rule or Tennessee's qualifier rules work, should be confirmed directly with DCP. Practically, this likely means the business cannot pull new permits or sign new trade contracts in that classification until it again has a licensed individual serving as contractor of record, but confirm directly with DCP before telling any Connecticut lead there is, or is not, a grace period. Do not promise a specific number of days.

Exams

Exam requirements and current vendor

The E-1 exam is 100 multiple choice questions, open book, with a 4 hour time limit and a 70 percent passing score, and a 150 dollar contractor application fee. The S-1 exam is 80 multiple choice questions, open book, with a 3 hour time limit and a 70 percent passing score, a 65 dollar PSI exam fee, and required PSI pre-approval before scheduling. Home Improvement, New Home Construction, and Major Contractor registrations have no exam at all.

NASCLA acceptance: no

Connecticut does not appear on NASCLA's current participating agency list for the NASCLA Accredited Commercial Building Contractor exam (NASCLA Commercial Exam Participating State Agencies page, checked August 23, 2026). The 20 agencies across 18 jurisdictions that do accept it are Alabama (two boards), Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina (two boards), Tennessee, Utah, the US Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia. Connecticut is also absent from NASCLA's separate participating agency list for the NASCLA electrical exams (NASCLA Electrical Exams Participating State Agencies page, checked August 23, 2026; 17 other states and jurisdictions are listed, and Connecticut is not among them). There is no NASCLA recognized shortcut into any Connecticut trade license. A lead who already holds a NASCLA card gets no shortcut in Connecticut; the state's own PSI exams still apply.

Testing and exams (from the candidate bulletins)

PSI Services LLC is the sole exam vendor for every Connecticut construction trade and occupational license, including electrical, plumbing, and heating/piping/cooling, run under a single umbrella program called Connecticut Occupational Trades. There is no separate ICC or Prov program in Connecticut and no state run testing for these trades. Candidates become eligible through DCP first, then schedule and pay PSI directly online at PSI Connecticut trades exam portal or by phone at (855) 746-8171, Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 10:00 pm and weekends 9:00 am to 5:30 pm Eastern. Internet scheduling is available around the clock once DCP eligibility has been granted. All Connecticut trade contractor and dealer tech applicants must pass two separate exam portions to get licensed: a trade specific portion and the CT Contractor Business and Law portion, each scored and scheduled independently, each carrying its own fee. Journeypersons and technicians only sit the trade portion. The four exams that matter most to Connecticut leads are the CT Contractor Business and Law exam, which every contractor and dealer tech applicant must pass regardless of trade, and the three unlimited contractor trade exams: E-1 Electrical, S-1 Heating Piping and Cooling, and P-1 Plumbing.

CT Contractor Business and Law exam

This portion is bundled into every trade contractor and dealer tech candidate bulletin rather than sold as a freestanding program, and it is scheduled the same way as the trade portion, through the same PSI account and the same PSI Connecticut trades exam portal booking flow. It is 50 questions with a 2 hour time limit, and the passing score is 70 percent, meaning 35 of 50 correct. It is open book. The official content outline covers Licensing, Estimating and Bidding, Lien Law, Financial Management, Tax Laws, Labor Laws, Project Management, Contracts, Business Organization, Risk Management, and Environmental and Safety. The only approved reference is Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, Connecticut, 6th Edition, published by NASCLA (the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies, 23309 N 17th Drive, Phoenix, Arizona 85027), and it is the sole book allowed in the exam room for this portion. Reference materials may be highlighted, underlined, annotated, and indexed before the exam session, but nothing may be written in during the exam itself, and any candidate caught writing in a reference during the test will have it confiscated and will be reported to DCP. Tabs must be permanent, printed, or otherwise fixed tabs only; temporary sticky tabs like Post it notes are not allowed and must be removed before the exam begins. Testing is onsite only at a PSI test center; the bulletin lists no remote or online proctoring option anywhere in the Connecticut Occupational Trades program. Candidates may retake a failed portion an unlimited number of times, but not on the same calendar day; the earliest realistic retest is the next business day depending on seat availability. A passed portion score stays valid for 2 years, so a candidate who passes Business and Law has 2 years to pass the matching trade portion before Business and Law itself expires and must be retaken. The bulletin's flat fee table lists 59 dollars per examination portion. The live PSI booking system's bundled two portion total, trade plus Business and Law together, currently shows as 125 dollars for the E-1 pairing and 118 dollars for the S-1 and P-1 pairings; quote the live booking total to a lead rather than calculating it from the per-portion rate.

E-1 Unlimited Electrical Contractor

Scheduled and administered exactly as above through PSI. It is 100 questions with a 4 hour time limit, passing score 70 percent. It is open book. The official content outline covers General Electrical Knowledge, Service Feeders and Branch Circuits, Grounding and Bonding, Conductors and Cables, Raceways and Boxes, Special Occupancies and Equipment, Electrical Power, Motors, Low Voltage, Lighting, Illuminated Signs, Fire Detection and Alarm Systems, Safety Information, Overcurrent Protection, High Voltage, and Photovoltaics. Approved references allowed in the exam room are the National Electrical Code or The National Electrical Code Handbook, 2020 or 2023 edition, National Fire Protection Association, and Ugly's Electrical References by George V Hart, 2020 or 2023 edition, Jones and Bartlett, plus the Code of Federal Regulations 29 CFR Part 1926 (OSHA), either the government edition or PSI's own OSHA selections booklet. Tabbing and highlighting rules are identical to the Business and Law portion above: permanent tabs only, highlighting and annotation allowed before the exam, nothing written in during the exam. Testing is onsite only, and no remote proctoring is offered. Retake and fee rules follow the same framework described above; the live PSI booking total for the E-1 pairing (trade plus Business and Law) is 125 dollars.

S-1 Unlimited Heating, Piping, and Cooling Contractor

Scheduled and administered exactly as above through PSI. It is 80 questions with a 3 hour time limit, passing score 70 percent. It is open book. Since July 24, 2024, this exam, along with the Business and Law portion and the S-2 journeyperson exam, is also offered in Spanish, but the Spanish version cannot be booked online and must be scheduled by phone with a PSI representative. The official content outline covers Insulation, Hangers and Supports, Sound Vibration and Seismic Control, Heating and Cooling Principles, Refrigerants and Refrigeration, Testing Adjusting and Balancing, Controls, Machine Room, A/C and Heat Pump Equipment, Furnaces and Heaters, Hydronics, Chimneys Flues and Vents, Combustion Air, Fuel Gas Systems, Ducts, Chillers, Ventilation and Exhaust, Safety, Oil Burners, Load Calculations, and Boilers. Approved references allowed in the exam room are Manual N, Load Calculation for Small Commercial Buildings, 5th Edition 2008, Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA); the International Mechanical Code or International Mechanical Code Commentary, 2009, 2012, or 2015 edition, International Code Council; NFPA 31, Standard for the Installation of Oil Burning Equipment, 2006 or 2011 edition; NFPA 54, National Fuel Gas Code or Handbook, 2012 edition (candidates must use the longest length method for all gas pipe sizing questions); NFPA 58, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, 2014 edition; the Code of Federal Regulations 29 CFR Part 1926 (OSHA); Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 19th or 20th edition, Althouse, Turnquist, and Bracciano, Goodheart Willcox; the ACCA Ductulator; and HVAC Duct Construction Standards, 3rd Edition 2005, SMACNA. Tabbing and highlighting rules are identical to the portions above. Testing is onsite only, and no remote proctoring is offered. Retake and fee rules follow the same framework described above; the live PSI booking total for the S-1 pairing (trade plus Business and Law) is 118 dollars.

P-1 Unlimited Plumbing Contractor

Scheduled and administered exactly as above through PSI. It is 80 questions with a 3 hour time limit, passing score 70 percent. It is open book. The official content outline covers General Plumbing Regulations, Gas Systems, Cleanouts, Fixtures and Equipment, Water Heaters, Piping Valves and Controls, Water Supply, Hangers and Supports, Drain Waste and Vent, Backflow, Traps and Interceptors, Developed Length, Isometric Analysis, Joints and Connections, Safety and Excavation, and Water Treatment. Approved references allowed in the exam room are the International Plumbing Code, 2015, 2018, or 2021 edition, International Code Council; NFPA 54, National Fuel Gas Code or Handbook, 2012 edition; NFPA 58, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, 2014 edition; the Code of Federal Regulations 29 CFR Part 1926 (OSHA); Water Processing, Residential, Commercial, Light Industrial, 3rd Edition 2000, Wes McGowan, Water Quality Association; and NFPA 56, Standard for Fire and Explosion Prevention During Cleaning and Purging of Flammable Gas Piping Systems, current edition. Tabbing and highlighting rules are identical to the portions above. Testing is onsite only, and no remote proctoring is offered. Retake and fee rules follow the same framework described above; the live PSI booking total for the P-1 pairing (trade plus Business and Law) is 118 dollars.

Where to test, and rules that apply across all four exams

All Connecticut Occupational Trades exams, including the four covered here, are administered only onsite at a PSI computer testing center; the program's own test listing shows every trade and journeyperson exam in Connecticut, dozens of them, marked "Onsite (Test Center)" with no remote or online proctored option anywhere in the program. The two in state centers are West Hartford, at 1245 Farmington Ave Suite 203, West Hartford CT 06107, and Milford, at 500 BIC Drive Suite 105, Milford CT 06461. Candidates who prefer not to travel to either Connecticut site, or who want a closer option near the state line, can test at PSI's nearby Massachusetts centers in Auburn, Charlestown (Boston), Fall River, or West Springfield, and PSI states candidates may also test at any of its centers anywhere else in the country once the exam fee is paid. A single government issued photo ID is required at check in and the name on it must exactly match the name on the DCP application. Only silent, battery powered, non printing, non alphabetic calculators are allowed, and PSI supplies scratch paper and a pencil at the test station that must be returned to the proctor afterward. Across all four exams, eligibility to test is valid for 1 year from the date DCP approves the application, retakes are unlimited but not on the same calendar day as a prior attempt, and a passed portion score stays valid for 2 years before it must be retaken if the matching portion has not also been passed. Passing score reports must be submitted by the candidate to DCP along with the appropriate licensing fee; PSI does not automatically report scores to DCP on the candidate's behalf beyond the official score report.

This section reflects the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection's Electrical Trades, Heating Piping and Cooling Trades, and Plumbing Trades Candidate Information Bulletins, published by PSI Services LLC and stamped "Updated 2/4/2026," available through the PSI Connecticut trades exam portal, along with live PSI booking totals for the E-1, S-1, and P-1 pairings, checked July 14, 2026. Confirm current question counts, reference lists, and fees directly with PSI or DCP before relying on this section for exact figures.

Bond and insurance

Financial requirements for HIC and NHCC

Both HIC and NHCC registrants must carry at least 20,000 dollars in general liability insurance (Connecticut state website Home Improvement Applications page and New Home Construction Contractor Applications page). Neither program requires a traditional surety bond. HIC registrants instead pay a 100 dollar annual fee into the state's Home Improvement Guaranty Fund, a consumer restitution fund, not a bond (Justia Connecticut General Statutes section 20-432; Connecticut state website Guaranty Fund page). Some vendor guides circulating online describe a 15,000 dollar surety bond for HIC and NHCC; the official DCP application pages for both programs do not mention any bond, only the insurance minimum and the guaranty fund fee, so the bond figure should be treated as unverified and confirmed with DCP before it is repeated to a lead.

HIC registration costs 120 dollars application plus 100 dollars guaranty fund fee, renewing annually at 220 dollars, due by March 31 each year (the expiration date moved from November 30 to March 31 under Public Act 21-137, checked August 23, 2026). NHCC registration is 360 dollars total, made up of a 120 dollar registration fee plus a 240 dollar guaranty fund fee under Connecticut General Statutes sections 20-417b and 20-417i, also renewing annually by March 31.

Registration must match how the company actually contracts. An individual's personal HIC or NHCC registration does not cover that same person's LLC or corporation; the entity itself must register separately, and any legal entity must first be registered with the Connecticut Secretary of State (Connecticut state website).

Fees and timeline

Application and processing timelines

HIC and NHCC registrations are typically processed within days to a few weeks once a complete application, insurance, and entity paperwork are submitted, with entity formation and gathering insurance documents being the more common source of delay than DCP's own review. Trade contractor and journeyperson license applications, which require PSI exam scheduling and pre-approval on top of DCP's own review, commonly run 4 to 6 weeks end to end. Applicants can track status directly in the state's eLicense portal at Connecticut eLicense portal. Treat these ranges as general working expectations to set with a lead, not guarantees; confirm current processing times with DCP.

Reciprocity

Reciprocity and exam waivers: essentially none

Connecticut General Statutes section 20-333a permits an exam waiver for certain trades, but only if the applicant's home state grants Connecticut license holders an equivalent license without examination in return, a condition rarely satisfied in practice. Confirm the exact waiver terms with DCP before telling any lead they qualify for a waiver under this statute. Out of state experience can count toward the hours needed to sit Connecticut's own exam, but it does not replace the exam itself. Out of state HIC or NHCC registration is not recognized as equivalent to Connecticut registration; a company doing home improvement or new home construction work in Connecticut registers there regardless of what it holds elsewhere.

Trades

The licensed trades: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and why they work differently

Electrical work, plumbing and piping work, and heating/piping/cooling (HVAC) work are true state licenses in Connecticut, but they are licensed to individuals only, never to a company, and company applications are explicitly not accepted (Connecticut state website Electrical License page). A business operating in one of these trades needs a licensed individual serving as its contractor of record to pull permits and sign contracts; journeypersons and apprentices cannot contract directly with consumers and must work for, or employ, a licensed contractor (Connecticut state website Electrician consumer facts page).

Electrical classifications include E-1 (Unlimited Electrical Contractor, all electrical work under Connecticut General Statutes section 20-330, no scope limit) and its journeyperson counterpart E-2, plus limited classes C-5/C-6 (low voltage, alarm, signal, audio, under 48 volts or 8 amperes), C-7/C-8 (electric sign work), L-1/L-2 (line construction, high voltage line and distribution work, traffic signals), L-5/L-6 (a more restricted low voltage class, 25 volts or 5 amperes), PV-1/PV-2 (solar and wind generation systems), and T-1/T-2 (telephone-interconnect only) (Connecticut state website Electrical License Types and Scope of Work page).

Plumbing's flagship is P-1 Unlimited Plumbing Contractor, covering all plumbing and piping work under section 20-330. The standard path is 2 years as a licensed P-2 journeyperson after finishing an apprenticeship. For an applicant with no formal apprenticeship, DCP's Plumbing Contractor Equivalent Experience and Training page (Connecticut state website, checked August 23, 2026) sets the alternate path at 12,000 hours of on the job training plus 576 classroom hours matching the curriculum in the board's Exhibit A course list, documented with notarized employer letters describing the actual work performed, not payroll records or tax returns. DCP states plainly that on the job training and work experience will not be considered in lieu of the classroom hours.

HVAC sits under Connecticut's "Heating, Piping and Cooling" trade rather than a separate HVAC board. S-1 Unlimited Heating, Piping, and Cooling Contractor covers everything under section 20-330, with its journeyperson counterpart S-2. Limited classes include B-1 through B-4 (gas and oil burner work), D-1 through D-4 (warm air, air conditioning, and refrigeration, with D-3/D-4 restricted to food storage and process refrigeration), G-1/G-2 (gas piping only), S-3/S-4 (heating, boilers, and steam apparatus, excluding refrigeration), S-7 through S-10 (small building limits, 3 stories or fewer, capped BTU and tonnage), OE-2 (operating engineer, incidental maintenance only, no piping changes), and PP-1/PP-2 (process piping for chemical production or consumable products) (Connecticut state website Heating, Piping and Cooling License Types and Scope of Work page).

For all three trades, the experience requirement to sit for the top unlimited contractor exam is 2 years as a licensed unlimited journeyperson, or equivalent experience and training if not formally apprenticed. That equivalent path is confirmed directly from DCP's own equivalent-experience application pages (Connecticut state website, checked August 23, 2026): electrical E-1 requires 12,000 hours of on the job training plus 720 classroom hours (commonly described elsewhere as 6 years equivalent), while plumbing P-1 and HVAC S-1 each require 12,000 hours of on the job training plus 576 classroom hours. All three require notarized employer letters and, where applicable, transcripts matching the board's required course list; on the job hours alone never substitute for the classroom hours in any of the three trades.

What changed

What changed since the last verification on 2026-07-14

Connecticut's overall licensing structure has not changed. The state still does not license companies in any trade, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC licenses still belong to individuals only, and Connecticut still does not participate in NASCLA for either the commercial exam or the electrical exam.

The equivalent experience path for the P-1 and S-1 unlimited contractor exams is now confirmed from the Department of Consumer Protection's own equivalent experience application pages: both require 12,000 hours of on the job training plus 576 classroom hours. The electrical E-1 equivalent path requires 720 classroom hours instead of 576.

Under Connecticut General Statutes sections 20-417b and 20-417i and DCP fee guidance (statute text), the application fee schedule is as follows: HIC 120 dollars plus a 100 dollar guaranty fund fee; NHCC 360 dollars, made up of a 120 dollar registration fee and a 240 dollar guaranty fund fee; Major Contractor renewal 500 dollars; E-1 contractor application 150 dollars.

The replacement deadline for a departing licensed electrical, plumbing, or HVAC contractor of record, and the full text of the section 20-333a exam waiver, should be confirmed directly with DCP.

The board

Who licenses what

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), through its License Services Division and Occupational and Professional Division, administers all of this out of Hartford (Connecticut Consumer Protection). There is no separate statewide general contractor board. Home improvement and new home construction fall under DCP's Trade Practices Division as registrations. Electrical, plumbing, and heating/piping/cooling (HVAC) are licensed trades administered by DCP's Occupational and Professional Division under its own examining boards (Electrical Work Examining Board, and the Plumbing and Piping Work Examining Board), with exams delivered by PSI (Connecticut state website Electrical License page; Connecticut state website Plumbing Licenses and Scope of Work page).