Kentucky to Tennessee: residential contractor license reciprocity
Kentucky does not issue a statewide residential contractor license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is Tennessee's standard path for out-of-state applicants.
Your origin state does not issue a statewide license at this level, so there is no license to transfer. The destination's standard out-of-state path is shown; expect to meet it in full.
Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.
BC-A Residential license by examination (states without a trade exam waiver)
Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.
A residential contractor arriving from a state that has no trade exam waiver agreement with Tennessee gets no examination credit for the license held elsewhere. The applicant entity files the Initial New Contractor Application online, names a Qualifying Agent, supplies a CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited financial statement, proof of general liability and workers' compensation insurance, a Letter of Reference and a notarized Contractor's Affidavit, and the Qualifying Agent sits both the Tennessee Business and Law examination and the BC-A Residential trade examination. What does carry across state lines is experience: the Board sets the classification and the monetary limit partly on documented experience running projects of the size requested, the application expressly allows experience earned in other states or while working for other contractors, and the Board generally looks for about three years. Tennessee does not accept the NASCLA Accredited Examination at this level; the Board maps it to the commercial BC-B classification. Applications are decided at Board meetings, which are held at least six times a year.
Contractors building single-family homes for $125,000 or less can take the restricted residential route instead: a three-day Board-approved Limited Residential course at a Tennessee community college or vocational school replaces both the BC-A trade examination and the Business and Law examination, and the license is issued as BC-A/r. That license needs a positive working capital and net worth, carries no 10% bid tolerance, and does not allow joint ventures or home inspections; raising the limit or adding a classification later requires the examinations and a reviewed financial statement. Separately, a Home Improvement license rather than a contractor license covers residential improvement contracts of $3,000 to $24,999 in Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby counties; that license needs a $10,000 surety bond or equivalent security and no trade exam waiver can be used for it. The Board does not publish a processing time; the Board office is (615) 741-8307 or (800) 544-7693.
At a glance
- Trade exam
- Required
- Law / code exam
- Required
- Out-of-state hours
- Count toward eligibility
What you must already have
- Documented construction experience appropriate to the classification and monetary limit requested. Tennessee sets no fixed minimum number of years, but the Board states it prefers about three years and weighs experience, plant and equipment when it assigns a classification.Experience may be shown through previous employment, volunteer work, internships, education or training, evidenced by letters of recommendation, certificates, diplomas or employment verification, and may have been earned working for other contractors or in another state.
- The Qualifying Agent who holds the out-of-state credential is an owner, officer or full-time employee of the Tennessee applicant entity; a Qualifying Agent who is not an owner files a Power of Attorney with the application.
What you'll do to get licensed in Tennessee
- 1Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. Tennessee BC-A Residential trade examination, administered after the Board approves the application. It is open book, 100 questions, 300 minutes, 73% to pass..
- 2Law / code exam. Pass a law, rules, or code exam. Tennessee Business and Law examination, taken by the Qualifying Agent after the Board approves the application. It is open book, 50 questions, 140 minutes, 73% to pass, and is drawn from the Contractors' Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, Tennessee Edition. It is not waived by any trade exam waiver agreement or by the NASCLA examination; the only contractor license that does not require it is the restricted residential BC-A/r. Examination scores are typically treated by the Board as valid for two years..
- 3Application fee. Pay the application fee ($250). Non-refundable application and initial license fee of $250, paid with the Initial New Contractor Application at core.tn.gov (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0680-01-.20(1)). The license renews every two years at $200, with a $20 per month late penalty for up to twelve months..
- 4Exam fee. Pay the exam fee. Examination fee, paid to the testing company rather than to the Board. The Board's rule sets the fee as whatever the administering company charges subject to Board approval, so no amount is published by the Board; Prov began administering Tennessee contractor examinations on July 1, 2026 and publishes the current fee when an examination is booked. One fee is charged for each examination taken..
- 5Financial responsibility. Show financial responsibility. Financial statement prepared by a licensed public accountant or CPA on the accountant's letterhead, in the name of the applicant entity, conforming to GAAP and dated no more than twelve months before the application. There is no fixed minimum dollar figure: the monetary limit on the license is set at ten times the lesser of working capital and net worth, supported by experience, so a $150,000 limit needs $15,000 of each and an unlimited license needs $300,000 of each. A reviewed opinion is required for a limit of $3,000,000 or less and an audited opinion above that. A line of credit or a Board Guaranty Agreement may be used to supplement working capital or net worth..
- 6Surety bond. Post a surety bond (if applicable). Optional alternative to the CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited financial statement: from July 1, 2026 the Board accepts a Contractors' Surety Bond on the Board's own form in an amount of at least 50% of the monetary limit requested. A bond or Guaranty Agreement may also be required in addition to the financial statement where the statement is primarily cash without fixed assets or where a parent company guarantees the applicant..
- 7Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($100,000). Certificate of general liability insurance in the same name as the license, listing the Board as certificate holder. The Board's minimum coverage is set by the monetary limit requested: $100,000 of coverage for a limit up to $500,000, $500,000 of coverage for a limit of $501,001 to $1,500,000, and $1,000,000 of coverage above $1,500,001 to unlimited. Workers' compensation insurance is also required unless the business has no employees and qualifies for an exemption or registers as a Construction Services Provider. The amount shown is the lowest coverage tier..
- 8Business license. Obtain a business license. The license is issued to a legal entity in its exact name, so the corporation, LLC or limited partnership must be registered with the Tennessee Secretary of State before the license is issued; an entity formed in another state registers as a foreign entity and files its Certificate of Authority or Articles of Organization. A separate business tax license from the Tennessee Department of Revenue is needed for each city or county the contractor operates in..
- 9Other. Letter of Reference on the Board's form from a past client, employer or code official who can speak to construction experience; it may be from outside Tennessee but may not come from a relative, and only one is needed. Also required: a Contractor's Affidavit signed and notarized by the Qualifying Agent, owners, partners, members, main officers and major stockholders, a statement of experience and management information, and a list of equipment. An interview at a Board meeting may be required, for example where the Qualifying Agent is not a majority owner and has been employed less than six months, where the experience shown is thin for the limit requested, or where there is complaint, judgment, bankruptcy or felony history..
Published fees on this path total $250, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.
What you'll need to buy or arrange
Exam preparation
Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.
- Trade exam
- Law / code exam
- Exam fee
Surety bond
A license or contractor bond is bought from a surety, not the state. Price is a small percentage of the bond amount and depends on your credit.
- Surety bond · if applicable
Liability insurance
Some states require proof of general liability or workers' compensation coverage at licensing time.
- Insurance · $100,000
Business registration
If you plan to contract in your own name, budget for a business license or entity registration on top of the trade license.
- Business license
How Tennessee licenses residential contractors
Tennessee residential contractor · “Contractor license, BC-A Residential classification (BC-A/r restricted under $125,000)”
Statewide license
Issued by Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (Department of Commerce and Insurance)
Tennessee licenses contractors at state level, and the residential tier is the BC-A classification issued by the Board for Licensing Contractors under T.C.A. Title 62, Chapter 6. A contractor license must be in hand before bidding on, offering on or contracting for a project of $25,000 or more, and BC-A covers construction, remodeling, repair or improvement of one-, two-, three- and four-family residences not exceeding three stories, plus accessory structures. The license belongs to the business rather than to the person: it is issued to a sole proprietor, corporation, LLC or partnership in that entity's exact name and is qualified by a named Qualifying Agent, an owner, officer or full-time employee who personally passes the examinations, so an inbound builder applies as or for the entity that will sign contracts. Every license also carries a monetary limit, the largest single contract the licensee may take, set at ten times the lesser of the applicant's working capital and net worth as shown on a CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited financial statement, together with documented experience on projects of that size. Contractors building single-family homes for $125,000 or less may instead hold the restricted BC-A/r license, which replaces both examinations with a three-day Board-approved course at a Tennessee community college or vocational school. Residential improvement work between $3,000 and $24,999 in nine named counties falls under the Board's separate Home Improvement license instead of this one.
Why Kentucky has nothing to transfer
Kentucky residential contractor · “Building or residential contractor license or registration (city- or county-issued)”
Licensed by cities and counties
Issued by No state authority; cities and counties license or register residential building contractors
Kentucky issues no statewide residential building, home builder or home improvement contractor license, so an out-of-state residential builder has nothing at state level to transfer and no state reciprocity to apply for. What Kentucky does license is the trades: the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (HBC) says on its own home page that it "licenses/certifies plumbers, electricians, boiler contractors, sprinkler and/or fire alarm contractors and building inspectors", and its administrative regulations in Title 815 add heating, ventilation and air conditioning licensing, elevator safety, boilers and pressure vessels, manufactured homes and home inspectors. Anyone self-performing plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler or fire-protection work in Kentucky needs the matching HBC license whatever the local building rules say, and that is where the state-level reciprocity conversation belongs. Housing work itself is licensed jurisdiction by jurisdiction and the rules differ sharply: Louisville Metro issues a Building Type A - Residential contractor license with six hours of continuing education before each renewal, Lexington-Fayette registers a "general contractor, residential only" class under its Contractors Registration Ordinance, and the joint Bowling Green - Warren County Contractors Licensing Board issues a General Contractors License for remodeling and building. Owensboro and Covington sit at the other end: neither publishes a contractor competency license at all, and a builder there files an occupational business license and carries insurance instead. None of these credentials involves a trade or business-law exam, and none of them gives any weight to a license held in another state, so the practical work is registering in each place where permits will be pulled and carrying the insurance each one demands.
How local licensing works in Kentucky
How local licensing works. No Kentucky agency licenses residential builders or remodelers, and there is no state qualifying party, no state exam and no state reciprocity for this work. Each city and county decides for itself, so identify the building department with jurisdiction over the address before applying anywhere. A credential issued by one Kentucky jurisdiction does not carry into the next one, and none of the jurisdictions below grants anything for a license held in another state. Two statewide obligations apply wherever the project is: the HBC license for any self-performed plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler or fire-protection work, and compliance with the Kentucky Building Code adopted in 815 KAR Chapter 007.
Louisville Metro (Jefferson County). The Office of Construction Review issues the contractor licenses for the merged city-county. A builder chooses a term and then a scope. License A "lets you work on one or more permitted projects during a calendar year, which runs from January 1st to December 31st"; License B "allows you to work on only one permitted project during a calendar year." The scopes are Building A-Residential, Building A-Residential/Commercial, Building A-Commercial and Building B. Building Type A costs $125 a year and Building Type B $50 per permit, and "only one Building Type B license will be granted per person/company per renewal year." Six continuing education credit hours from a pre-approved list are required before renewal for Building A-R, Building A-RC and Building B, which is to say for everyone whose scope touches houses. The filing is a certificate of liability insurance naming the Office of Construction Review as certificate holder, workers' compensation and unemployment insurance or a signed and notarized affidavit that neither applies, an Occupational License Number from the Revenue Commission of Jefferson County on (502) 574-4860, and the application itself through the Metro business portal. Annual renewals must arrive with current liability insurance, the continuing education records for residential contractors, a workers' compensation form and a subcontractor list, and "any missing items will result in ALL items being returned." There is no exam, no experience requirement and no bond on the building categories; only the wrecking classes carry a written exam, a surety bond and a year of supervisory experience. Office of Construction Review, 444 S. 5th St., Suite 100, (502) 574-3321.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County. The Division of Building Inspection runs a Contractors Registration Ordinance: "this ordinance requires all contractors to register with the Building Inspection" and "unregistered contractors cannot obtain building permits." There are three classes under Ordinance 5-90(a). A general contractor, residential only "constructs up to 4-family homes (4-Plex), performs home remodeling, and may supervise, arrange, and/or perform more than two unrelated building trades or crafts." A general contractor covers everything larger. A specialty contractor "performs commercial, industrial, public works and residential construction and specializes in two or fewer unrelated building trades or crafts." Registration takes four steps: a $10 Home Office Certificate or a $25 Certificate of Occupancy if the business address is in Fayette County; an occupational business license from Revenue at 218 E. Main St., 2nd floor, (859) 258-3340; general liability insurance and workers' compensation with LFUCG as certificate holder, or the "Workers Comp Exempt" declaration on the application if neither applies; and the online Contractor Registration Application through the city's permitting portal with the occupational license and certificate of insurance uploaded. No exam, experience or bond is required for any of the three classes. The division's published fee schedule prices permits rather than registrations and lists no contractor registration fee, so ask Building Inspection for the current amount before filing. 101 E. Vine St., (859) 258-3770, [email protected].
Bowling Green and Warren County. A single joint Contractors Licensing Board licenses for both the city and the county under Ordinance 91-58 WC and Ordinance 91-25 BG. A General Contractors License is needed by anyone "doing any type of general contract work in Bowling Green / Warren County including pulling permits for building or remodeling, construction management, or if you would have two or more subcontractors per job", and costs $250. A Specialty Contractors License covers subcontract work or a job with at most one subcontractor, and costs $100. Both fees are non-refundable and renewals are annual, pro-rated for a mid-year filing. The filing is the application plus a certificate of insurance naming the board as certificate holder, with "a minimum requirement for General Liability Insurance [of] $100,000 per occurrence", workers' compensation coverage shown on the certificate or a notarized Affidavit of Exemption, and a notarized Partnership Agreement for a partnership. Licenses are non-transferable and "any change in ownership nullifies previous licenses." There is no exam and no experience review, and the board says so directly: "the Contractors Licensing Board does not warrant that you are otherwise qualified to perform your trade or specialty by the issuance of its license." A Bowling Green occupational license is also needed for work inside the city limits and a Warren County occupational license for work outside them. Contractors Licensing Board, 1141 State Street, Suite 200, 270-781-3530.
Owensboro and Daviess County. There is no Owensboro contractor license. The Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission's Building & Electrical Division "issues all building and electrical permits required by the Kentucky Building Code and National Electrical Code" for Owensboro-Daviess County, along with HVAC, sign and parking lot permits and certificates of occupancy, and it issues no contractor credential of any kind. What a builder needs instead is the city's business registration: "any person, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity must register with the Occupational License Division prior to conducting business inside the city limits", with "a minimum license fee of seventy-five ($75.00) dollars due with registration." New construction draws at least three field inspections - footer and foundation, framing and final - before a certificate of occupancy issues. Occupational License Division, 101 East 4th Street, 270-687-5600.
Covington and Kenton County (Northern Kentucky). Planning and Development Services of Kenton County is the building department for Covington and the surrounding communities, and its rule is short: "when completing work within Kenton County, all contractors must obtain and maintain a Kenton County occupational license and provide proof of Kentucky workers' compensation insurance coverage. In addition, the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings, and Construction requires a license for electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and fire suppression work. Contractors must provide copies of all these items before any permits can be issued." There is no residential builder license, exam or bond. In Covington itself a zoning permit from the city, and a certificate of appropriateness where a historic preservation overlay applies, must come before PDS will issue the building permit. PDS, 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Suite 3400, Covington, 859-331-8980; building permits 859-957-2408.
Storm-damaged communities. The Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection runs joint emergency contractor registration programs with the City of Mayfield and Graves County, the City of Princeton and Caldwell County, the City of Dawson Springs and Hopkins County, and the City of Bremen and Muhlenberg County, "to register contractors looking to assist storm victims." The program "requires contractors to register prior to doing business", and registrants are issued placards that must be displayed on the job site and in the vehicle. It is a consumer-protection registration aimed at transient storm-chasers rather than a skill license, and it applies only in those communities. Details on (502) 871-2424.
Everywhere else. The remaining Kentucky cities and counties each set their own rules, from a full licensing board like Bowling Green's to nothing beyond an occupational license and proof of insurance. Ask the local building department what it requires before bidding, and expect to repeat the filing in each jurisdiction.
- Louisville Metro / Jefferson County (Office of Construction Review - Building Type A and B contractor licenses)
- Lexington-Fayette Urban County (Division of Building Inspection - general contractor, residential only registration)
- Bowling Green and Warren County (joint Contractors Licensing Board - General and Specialty Contractors License)
- Owensboro and Daviess County (Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission - permits only; city occupational license)
- Covington and Kenton County (Planning and Development Services of Kenton County - occupational license and insurance only)
Common questions
- Do I have to take the Tennessee residential contractor exam if I'm licensed in Kentucky?
- Yes. Tennessee requires the trade exam on this path, plus a law or code exam.
- What does it cost to get a Tennessee residential contractor license from Kentucky?
- Published fees on this path total $250, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Kentucky work hours count in Tennessee?
- Yes. Documented out-of-state experience counts toward Tennessee's eligibility requirements.
- Does it work the other way, from Tennessee to Kentucky?
- Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Tennessee to Kentucky, the mechanism is not applicable.
Sources
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Contractor License Application Package and Instructions · T.C.A. Sections 62-6-111, 62-6-120 · Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors · Form · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Classification Outline · Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Exam Information · Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Fees · Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Get a Contractor License · T.C.A. Title 62, Chapter 6 · Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Home Improvement License · Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
- Trade Exam Waiver (Reciprocity) with Tennessee and Request for Contractor License Verification (Rev. 06/2026) · Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors · Agreement Document · verified September 17, 2026
- Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors - Candidate Information Bulletin · PSI Services LLC for the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors · Other · verified September 17, 2026
- Rules of the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, Chapter 0680-01 Licensing (November 2025 revision) · Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0680-01-.02, -.12, -.13, -.16, -.20, -.29, -.30, -.32 · Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Publications · Admin Rule · verified September 17, 2026
Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.