Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License (CSL): Categories, Fees, Renewal and Exam Rules (2026)

Massachusetts does not issue a general contractor license. What it issues instead is the Construction Supervisor License (CSL), a credential that attaches to a person rather than a company, and that a building department checks before it issues a permit.

At a glance

• Application fee $23; exam fee $75 (Restricted or Unrestricted) or $65 (any specialty), per the February 2026 CSL Candidate Handbook.
• Renewal runs every two years for $100, and continuing education is required before you can renew.
• A lost or stolen digital license costs nothing to replace, it is reprinted from the state's MyLicenseOne portal.
• The license is issued to an individual, never to a company, and does not transfer.

A CSL is a license to supervise. If you are building in Massachusetts and nobody on the job holds the right CSL, the permit does not get issued, regardless of how long the company has been in business.

This guide covers what the CSL authorizes, the three-year experience rule and the education substitutions that shorten it, the exact fees from the February 2026 candidate handbook, every exam specification, the renewal and continuing education cycle, what to do about a lost or stolen digital license, and the specialty-license fee rule that costs Massachusetts contractors real money every year because almost nobody explains it.

All fees and exam specifications below come from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure CSL Candidate Handbook dated February 2026. Fees are set by the Division and by PSI and change without much notice, verify against the current handbook before you write a check.

New to licensing in Massachusetts? Start with the Massachusetts contractor license requirements, and for every other state see how to get a contractor license in each state.

Who Issues the CSL

The license is issued by the Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS), administered through the Division of Occupational Licensure (DOL) and its Office of Public Safety and Inspections (OPSI), One Federal Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02110.

The exams are administered by PSI. That split matters procedurally: PSI reviews and approves your eligibility application, PSI collects the exam fee, and PSI schedules the test, but the license comes from DOL after you pass, on a separate application with a separate fee.

The Three Groups of CSL

There are three groups, and picking the wrong one is the most common and most expensive mistake at the front of this process.

Unrestricted

The unrestricted CSL is required to directly supervise persons engaged in construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, removal or demolition involving any activity regulated by the code for:

• Buildings containing less than 35,000 cubic feet of enclosed space; and
• One- and two-family dwellings or any accessory building thereto, irrespective of size.

There is a detail here worth catching. The handbook's License Categories section stops at those two bullets. The Unrestricted Construction Supervisor Exam description adds two more items to the same scope: buildings used for farm purposes, and retaining walls less than 10 feet in height at all points along the wall as measured from the base of the footing to the top of the wall. Same license, same handbook, two different descriptions of what it covers. The exam description is the more complete one.

Note also what the unrestricted CSL is not. It is not unlimited. The 35,000 cubic foot ceiling is real. A large commercial building falls outside it, and that work runs through the code's construction control provisions and a Registered Design Professional rather than through a CSL.

Restricted (One- and Two-Family Only)

Limited to direct supervision of any activity regulated by the code for any one- and two-family dwellings or accessory buildings thereto, irrespective of size.

If you build houses and only houses, this is the correct license, and its exam is meaningfully shorter than the unrestricted version, 60 items instead of 75.

The Six Specialty Categories

All six carry the same overall scope limit as unrestricted (under 35,000 cubic feet, plus one- and two-family dwellings irrespective of size), narrowed to a single trade:

• Masonry, fireplaces, chimneys, required means of egress stairs of masonry construction, masonry retaining walls that retain four feet or more of unbalanced fill and are deemed a threat to public safety, and other masonry structures requiring a building permit. The handbook is explicit that a Masonry CSL is not sufficient for the construction of masonry buildings, that requires an unrestricted or restricted CSL.
• Roof Covering, installation, alteration, repair or removal of roof coverings. The candidate handbook calls this not authorized for structural elements of a roof, including sheathing, but the Building Code's own licensing table, 780 CMR 110.R5.1, is more specific and governs: it authorizes repair and replacement of up to 25% of sheathing and up to 25% of sistering roof rafters as part of this scope. Go past that ceiling and the work needs an unrestricted or restricted CSL instead.
• Window and Siding, windows and siding, including substrate preparation and repair necessary for proper installation. The handbook calls this not authorized for structural elements except as incidental to the window and siding work; 780 CMR 110.R5.1 quantifies that allowance as repair and replacement of damaged window or door framing less than four feet wide, plus up to 25% of sheathing.
• Solid Fuel Burning Appliance, installation, alteration, repair or removal of solid fuel burning appliances. Not authorized for structural elements, except as needed to install the inlet or exhaust.
• Demolition, demolition or removal as defined by the code.
• Insulation, installation of insulation.

The Experience Requirement, and How Education Shortens It

To sit for any CSL exam you must:

1. Be 18 years old at the time of the exam.
2. Have at least three years of experience in building construction or design in the field in which you wish to be licensed.
3. Provide documentation of that experience.
4. List your duties as they relate directly to building construction or design.
5. Provide a notarized signature attesting that you have read the bulletin, that the information on your registration is truthful, and that you have filed all state tax returns and paid state taxes.
6. Not have previously passed an exam in the same license class or held a license in the same class, with two exceptions: someone whose license has been expired more than two years, and someone ordered to re-examine after an adjudicatory hearing.

The three years is defined precisely: 36 months of full-time (40 hours per week) experience within the past ten years. It need not be continuous. Two limits catch people out. Union affiliation alone is not acceptable as work experience. And active military service relevant to construction may be considered, so if you built or maintained facilities in uniform, that time is not automatically lost.

The education substitution ladder

This is the provision that shortens the runway, and it is worth reading carefully because the two tiers are not the same:

• A completed three- or four-year vocational high school or other vocational school program in building construction, or a completed bachelor's, master's or PhD degree from an accredited college or university, one year of experience.
• A completed bachelor's, master's or PhD in architecture, or in science, engineering or technology in a related field, two years of experience.
• Education can account for a maximum of two years of experience.

The ceiling is the important part. Education can never take you past two of the three years. A twelve month stretch of documented full-time field work is the floor for everybody, no matter how many degrees are on the wall.

Documenting it

Two accepted routes:

• Tax forms. W-2, IRS Schedule C, or 1099 forms, submitted for the equivalent of three years of full-time experience. If you are using education for part of the experience, submit the diploma or degree.
• Letter of attestation. In lieu of tax records, a letter from an engineer, architect, employer, military supervisor, licensed contractor or similar individual stating you have at least three years of construction or design experience.

Notice that Massachusetts accepts a 1099 as documentation of experience for the CSL. That is a documentation rule about your own work history, and it should not be confused with the entirely separate question of how a licensed individual may be engaged by a company holding a license, a subject Massachusetts regulates far more strictly elsewhere in its code, as covered in our guide to the Massachusetts qualifying officer.

Fees, The February 2026 Numbers

Here are the exact figures from the current handbook. Application and examination fees are not refundable or transferable.

• Application fee: $23
• Examination fee for the Restricted and the Unrestricted Construction Supervisor exams: $75
• Examination fee for all other examinations: $65

That $75 is worth flagging. A large number of secondary guides still publish $65 for the unrestricted exam. The February 2026 handbook says $75 for both the Restricted and the Unrestricted exam, and $65 only for the specialty exams. If you budgeted from a third-party guide you are ten dollars short on the two most common exams in the state.

These are the fees paid at the exam stage. The licensure fee paid to DOL after you pass is separate, and is covered in the score report instructions you receive when you pass.

Fees are set by the Division of Occupational Licensure and by PSI and are subject to change. Verify against the current CSL Candidate Handbook and with PSI before paying.

The Specialty Single-Card Rule That Saves Real Money

This is the single most valuable sentence in the handbook and it sits near the very end, after fourteen pages of exam content outlines. Here it is in the handbook's own words:

"Although a license candidate is required to take and pass an exam for each license category, rather than paying an exam administration fee for each exam, plus the fee per license, a candidate may apply for and receive a single license card from the DPS for a single fee for any combination of the Specialty License Categories.

However, in order to pay the reduced licensure fee, a candidate must apply for all license categories on a single application. If a candidate submits separate applications for each license category, he/she will be required to pay a fee with each application."

Read that twice. You still sit an exam for each specialty. But the licensure fee is charged once for any combination of specialties, only if every category goes on one application. File them one at a time as you pass them, and you pay a licensure fee each time.

For a roofing-and-siding contractor who wants Roof Covering, Window and Siding, and Insulation, the difference between one application and three is money for nothing. Pass all three exams, then file one application listing all three.

Every Exam, Specified

All CSL exams are open book, multiple choice, and require 70% to pass. Results are given immediately. Failed exams may be retaken an unlimited number of times, though not on the same day. Every exam includes a Massachusetts Administrative Responsibilities (780 CMR) section and a Safety OSHA section.

Unrestricted, 75 items, cutscore 53, 240 minutes. Content: Massachusetts Administrative Responsibilities 5; Plan Reading and Estimating 6; General Building Construction Knowledge 8; Energy Efficiency 5; Accessibility 3; Sitework and Foundations 5; Concrete and Masonry 7; Moisture Intrusion/Protection 4; Structural Framing (Steel and Wood) 6; Roofing/Exterior Walls 6; Associated Trades 8; Interior Environment 3; Fire Protection 3; Safety OSHA 6.

Restricted (One- and Two-Family), 60 items, cutscore 42, 240 minutes. Same duration as unrestricted for fifteen fewer questions, which is a genuine advantage if you qualify for it.

Masonry, 50 items, cutscore 35, 180 minutes.

Roof Covering, 35 items, cutscore 25, 120 minutes. Window and Siding, 35 items, cutscore 25, 120 minutes. Insulation, 35 items, cutscore 25, 120 minutes. Solid Fuel Burning Appliance, 35 items, cutscore 25, 120 minutes.

Demolition, 30 items, cutscore 21, 120 minutes.

In addition to the scored items above, four to seven unscored experimental questions may appear. They do not count against your score and they do not count against your time.

Exam mechanics that decide outcomes

• You bring your own references. PSI does not supply the code books. Candidates are responsible for bringing their own copies of the Massachusetts State Building Code and the reference standards identified for their exam.
• Permanent tabs only. References may be highlighted, underlined, annotated and indexed before the exam. They may not be written in during the exam, a candidate caught doing so has the references confiscated and is reported to the Department. Post-It notes and other temporary tabs are not allowed and must be removed before the exam will begin.
• No loose papers. Additional papers, loose or attached, are removed from your references and confiscated.
• Your application is kept on file for two years. If you do not pass within that window, you file a new application with fresh copies of all documentation.
• Processing takes up to two weeks for PSI to receive, review and approve the eligibility application before you can even pay and schedule.
• There is no fixed national test date. PSI runs CSL exams as computer-based testing on a rolling basis at its own test centers. Once your eligibility application is approved, you pick a date and location yourself through the PSI candidate portal, there is no single "2026 exam date" to wait for.

After You Pass

You must submit the license application and licensure fee to the Division of Occupational Licensure within one year of the date you passed your exam. License applications are processed in approximately 30 days after receipt.

Miss the one-year window and the passing score does not carry you, you are back at the exam.

Renewing the License and the Continuing Education You Need First

The CSL runs on a two-year cycle, and renewal is not automatic. Before the Division will renew it, you need the continuing education hours for your license category, completed and on file.

Notes on the table:

• Beyond code review, every category also needs 1 hour workplace safety and 1 hour business practices/workers' compensation.
• 1 hour of energy content is required too, except for the Demolition specialty.
• 1 hour of lead safe practices is required, but only on your first renewal cycle.
• Any remaining hours are board-approved electives.
• At least half your hours must be in-person, classroom training, the online maximum above is a ceiling, not a target.

To renew:

1. Complete the continuing education hours above for your license category.
2. Log in to the state's MyLicenseOne portal, or renew by mail or in person at the Division's Boston office.
3. Pay the $100 renewal fee.
4. Submit before expiration, Massachusetts allows renewal up to one year after expiration within a grace period, and up to two years after expiration for an additional $100 fee.

Let a license lapse past two years and you are back to the exam, not a late renewal.

A Lost or Stolen License Is Not a Paperwork Problem Anymore

Massachusetts moved CSLs to a digital format. There is no plastic card to lose. Your license lives in your MyLicenseOne account and can be pulled up on a phone, tablet or computer whenever a building official asks to see it.

That changes the answer to "what happens if my license is lost or stolen." There is no replacement fee, because there is nothing physical to replace. If your phone is lost, log in to MyLicenseOne from any other device, or print the digital license on paper as a temporary copy. If you cannot access your account at all, the Office of Public Safety and Inspections can help directly.

Checking a License, Yours or Someone Else's

Massachusetts publishes an official license verification database where anyone can search by license number or by name to confirm a CSL is current, see its expiration date, and see whether it carries a suspension or a disciplinary record. This is the tool to use before you hire a supervisor or sign on as one, not a third-party lookup site.

Where the CSL Fits Against the Other Massachusetts Licenses

This is the part most CSL guides skip, and it is the part that determines whether a company can actually operate.

The CSL is a building credential. It says nothing about plumbing, gas fitting, electrical or HVAC work, each of which Massachusetts licenses separately and, in the trades, far more restrictively:

• Plumbing and gas fitting run through the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters under 248 CMR, with an hours-based apprenticeship ladder. See our Massachusetts plumbing license guide.
• HVAC has no single statewide license, the work is split across refrigeration, sheet metal, pipefitting and gas fitting credentials, and two of those routes are subject to a hard regulatory cutover. See our Massachusetts HVAC guide.
• Electrical runs through the Board of State Examiners of Electricians. See our Massachusetts electrician license guide.

A general building company in Massachusetts typically needs a CSL holder for the building work and properly licensed trade contractors, or trade-licensed individuals in the correct corporate role, for everything else.

A title alone never settles the question of who needs a CSL. Someone called a "construction manager," a "project executive," or any other title still needs the license the moment they directly supervise code-regulated construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, removal or demolition. The function controls, not the business card. On the other end of the scale, a building over the 35,000 cubic foot threshold moves out of CSL territory entirely and into the code's construction control provisions, where a Registered Design Professional, an architect or engineer, takes that supervisory role instead.

The Company Question: A CSL Is Held by a Person

Here is where Massachusetts contractors most often discover a problem after the fact.

A Construction Supervisor License is issued to an individual. It does not transfer to a company, it does not survive that individual leaving, and a company cannot "own" one. If the person who holds your CSL walks out the door, the permits that depend on that license walk out with them.

Massachusetts is unusually strict about the corporate relationship in the licensed trades. In the plumbing and gas fitting regulations the business-level requirement is not merely employment but office: a corporation applicant must have a master plumber who is a listed officer; an LLC, a listed manager; and in a partnership, all partners must hold current master licenses. The regulation itself uses the term "qualifying officer."

That framing, a licensed individual who must occupy a genuine, documented position inside the company, is the same structure that governs contractor licensing in most states, under names like qualifying agent, qualifying party, responsible managing employee, or master of record. Our guide to what a qualifying party is walks through the terminology state by state.

Inside the company, this person is what the industry calls a qualifying agent: an owner or a full time W-2 employee whose license qualifies the business itself to hold a license and pull permits. It is a supervisory role inside the company, not a credential the company merely points to. See what a qualifying agent is for how that role works, and hire a qualifying agent if your business needs someone to fill it.

The practical consequence is straightforward. A company that wants to hold a license and does not have a qualified individual inside it has exactly two options: develop one internally, or bring one in as a genuine, full-time employee of the business.

What Happens When the License Holder Leaves

Every state that ties a company's license to an individual has to answer the question of what happens when that individual departs, and the answers vary from ten days to six months. Massachusetts sits in the middle of that range in the trades.

If your operation depends on one person's license, the honest planning question is not whether they will ever leave, but what you have in place for the day they do. We have collected the replacement clocks across states in our contractor qualifier contingency plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to get a Massachusetts CSL? The application fee is $23 and the exam fee is $75 for the Restricted or Unrestricted exam, or $65 for any specialty exam, per the February 2026 candidate handbook. A separate licensure fee is paid to DOL after you pass, and renewal afterward is $100 every two years. On top of that, budget for the code books you must bring to the exam, which you buy yourself. Fees are set by the Division and PSI and change, verify before paying.

How hard is it to get a CSL? The Division does not publish pass rates, so there is no official difficulty score to quote. What is known: every exam is open book, scored at 70% to pass, and built around the Massachusetts code sections listed in the handbook. The real barrier for most candidates is not the exam itself, it is assembling three years of documented full-time experience, since union affiliation alone does not count and education only ever covers up to two of those three years.

What happens if my construction supervisor license is lost or stolen? Nothing costly. Massachusetts CSLs are digital, there is no card to replace and no replacement fee. Log in to your MyLicenseOne account from any device to pull it up, or print a paper copy if your phone is unavailable. Contact the Office of Public Safety and Inspections directly if you cannot access your account at all.

How do I look up a Massachusetts CSL to confirm it is valid? Use the state's official license verification database, searchable by license number or name. It shows current status, expiration date, and any suspension or disciplinary history.

When are the 2026 CSL exam dates? There is not a single fixed date. PSI administers the CSL exams as computer-based testing on a rolling basis, so once your eligibility application is approved you schedule your own date and location through the PSI candidate portal rather than waiting for an announced sitting.

How much does it cost to have someone else hold a license for my company? That question does not have a published number, because it is not a product with a price tag. What a licensed individual is worth to a business depends on the state, the classification, the volume and value of work the license will carry, the risk that individual is personally accepting, and how long the arrangement runs. A residential remodeler in one state and a commercial mechanical contractor bidding public work in another are not the same engagement and should not carry the same cost. Talk to us about a qualifying agent to get a figure for your situation.

Do I need a CSL to work as a carpenter in Massachusetts? No. The CSL is required to directly supervise persons engaged in the regulated work, and it is what building departments look for on the permit. Working under someone else's supervision does not require you to hold one. Home Improvement Contractor registration is a separate and additional requirement for residential home improvement work.

Does a construction manager need a CSL? Yes, if that construction manager is the person directly supervising code-regulated construction on site. The title "construction manager" is not a license category and does not exempt anyone from the CSL requirement, what matters is the supervisory function being performed, not the name on the business card.

Can I use my degree instead of experience? Partly. A vocational program or any bachelor's, master's or PhD counts as one year. A bachelor's, master's or PhD in architecture, science, engineering or a related technology field counts as two. Education caps at two years total, so at least one year of documented full-time field experience is required of everyone.

Is the CSL exam open book? Yes, every CSL exam is open book and multiple choice, with a 70% cutscore. But you must bring your own reference copies, and they may only be tabbed with permanent tabs. Post-Its must be removed before the exam starts.

How long is my exam pass good for? One year. You must submit the license application and fee to the Division of Occupational Licensure within one year of your passing date. Separately, your original eligibility application stays on file for two years.

Can one person hold several specialty CSLs? Yes, and there is a fee advantage to doing it correctly. You sit an exam for each category, but you may receive a single license card for a single licensure fee covering any combination of specialty categories, only if you file them all on one application. Separate applications mean a fee each.

Sources

• CSL Candidate Handbook, February 2026, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure, retrieved 2026-10-01.
• Renew your Construction Supervisor License (CSL), Mass.gov, retrieved 2026-10-01.
• Frequently Asked Questions for OPSI Digital Licenses, Mass.gov, retrieved 2026-10-01.
• Construction Supervisor Continuing Education: Frequently Asked Questions, Mass.gov, retrieved 2026-10-01.
• 780 CMR, 10th Edition, Chapter 110.R5: Licensing of Construction Supervisors, Mass.gov, retrieved 2026-10-01.
• Official Construction Supervisor License verification database, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, retrieved 2026-10-01.

Getting the License Onto Your Company

The Massachusetts CSL is a well-designed credential with a genuinely achievable path: three years of documented experience, shortened by up to two years with the right education, one open-book exam, and a modest fee. The traps are the ones described above, the $75 versus $65 exam fee, the two-year education ceiling, the Post-It rule, the one-year window to claim your license, the continuing education hours due before each renewal, and the single-application rule on specialties.

What the CSL does not solve is the company-level problem. A license attached to one person is a single point of failure for the business that depends on it, and Massachusetts, like most states, requires a licensed individual to occupy a real position inside the licensed entity rather than a paper arrangement.

The Licensing Company places qualified license holders with contracting businesses as W-2, full-time employees, a genuine employment relationship that satisfies what state boards actually require. If you are building a company that needs a license it does not yet have, talk to us about a qualifying agent or call 615-219-2110. If you already hold a license and want to understand what that credential is worth inside a growing company, see becoming a qualifying agent.

You can also browse our state licensing guides for the requirements in every state where you plan to work.