Hawaii · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
Hawaii licenses concrete work at state level through the Contractors License Board at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Flatwork and placement fall under the C-31a cement concrete specialty classification, and block and stone work under C-31 masonry. The headline requirement is four years of supervisory experience within the past ten years plus a two part Prometric examination.
State-level license
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-26. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Hawaii licenses concrete work at the state level. The Contractors License Board, which sits inside the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and its Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, issues every contractor license used in the state. No county issues a separate contractor license. One board license carries across Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii Island, Molokai and Lanai. The board reviews applications at monthly meetings and does not meet in December. The board's forms page states that an application, its fee and all supporting documents must be received in the board's office on or before the first Tuesday of the month two months prior to the scheduled meeting date. A file that misses that date waits for the next cycle, so a concrete company planning to bid work should count backward from the meeting calendar rather than from the day it wants to start pouring. Enforcement sits in a separate office. The Regulated Industries Complaints Office, known as RICO, is a licensure enforcement agency in the same department. RICO reviews complaints against licensees, can file administrative actions against them, and can sue people who provide regulated services without a board issued license. RICO states plainly that the volume of complaints means enforcement action is not guaranteed in every case. Applications do not stay open forever. The board's published instructions cite section 436B-9 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes: an application is considered abandoned, and will be destroyed, if you fail to complete the license process within one year after filing, or fail to take and pass the examination within six months after becoming eligible to sit for it. An abandoned applicant reapplies and must meet the requirements in force at that later date.
Hawaii splits concrete and masonry across a family of C specialty classifications described in the board's description of contractor license classifications. C-31a, the cement concrete contractor, is the core flatwork and placement license. Its published scope is to mix aggregates, cement and water to make acceptable concrete, to place and finish concrete including the setting of screeds and forms, to tuckpoint and caulk concrete block and pre-cast stone, to caulk metal to concrete and masonry, to cut, drill, saw, core and pressure grout concrete, to sandblast, waterblast, clean, seal and epoxy inject concrete, and to perform spall repair. C-31, the masonry contractor, is wider. It covers brick and other baked clay products, rough or cast stone, marble, granite, cut and dressed stone, artificial stone and brick veneer, CMU and structural glass block laid with or without mortar or adhesives, manufactured precast concrete facing and back-up panels, fire clay products and refractories, concrete fencing, grout, rubble work, caulking, tuckpointing, sandblasting, mortar, washing and cleaning related to masonry construction. C-31 also includes placing and finishing cement concrete, drilling, sawing and coring concrete, and epoxy injection in concrete for structural purposes. Narrower licenses exist for single operations. C-31b, stone masonry, covers ornamental, veneer and structural walls or columns in stone and stone retaining walls built to building code. C-31c covers refractory work. C-31d covers tuckpointing, caulking and spall repair only. C-31e covers concrete cutting, drilling, sawing, coring and pressure grouting only. Adjacent concrete work is classified elsewhere. Pile driving, pile and caisson drilling and foundation work is C-35, which also covers compacting earth for foundations. Post tensioning is C-38. Asphalt concrete patching, sealing and striping is C-3a. Concrete and clay tile roofing is C-42c.
Sourcescca.hawaii.gov
Hawaii gives general contractors some concrete scope automatically. Under Hawaii Administrative Rules section 16-77-32, a licensee holding the A general engineering contractor classification automatically holds a list of specialty classifications without further examination or paying additional fees, and C-31a cement concrete is on that list. So are C-3 asphalt paving and surfacing, C-17 excavating, grading and trenching, C-35 pile driving, pile and caisson drilling and foundation, C-38 post tensioning and C-49 swimming pool. The statutory definition of a general engineering contractor also names cement and concrete works in connection with fixed works such as highways, bridges, dams, harbors and sewers. The B general building contractor also automatically holds C-31a, together with C-6 carpentry framing, C-12 drywall, C-24 building moving and wrecking and others. Neither general classification picks up C-31 masonry, C-31b stone masonry, C-31c, C-31d or C-31e. A general building company that wants to lay block or stone needs the masonry license as well. The limits are written down. Rule 16-77-33 says an A or B licensee shall not act, assume to act, or advertise as a specialty contractor except in the specialty classifications the licensee holds. A general building license does not entitle the holder to take a contract unless the job requires more than two unrelated building trades or crafts, or unless the holder also carries the specialty license for that contract. Work that is incidental and supplemental to one classification is not treated as unrelated trades, and rule 16-77-34 defines that as work in other trades directly related to and necessary for completing the project within the licensee's scope. Subsection (d) deserves a second read. Any licensee who acts, assumes to act, or advertises in a classification other than the one they are licensed for is construed to be engaged in unlicensed activity.
Hawaii licenses the business, and a person qualifies the business. The board's application set offers three routes: contractor entity, contractor sole owner, and contractor responsible managing employee. An applicant may apply as a sole proprietor or as an entity such as a corporation or limited liability company. An entity application must be paired with a responsible managing employee application, because the entity itself cannot sit the examination or carry the experience. The responsible managing employee, abbreviated RME, is the individual who is a bona fide employee of the contracting entity and who qualifies that entity in the classifications the individual holds. Rule 16-77-71 sets out what the principal RME must do. The principal RME is primarily responsible for direct management of the business, must be in a position to secure full compliance with chapter 444 and the board's rules, must be familiar with every contract the entity enters and sign or initial all contracts, must be familiar with every project and keep records including payroll records and time spent with the entity, and must be in residence in Hawaii while the entity's license is in effect or while a project is under construction. The principal RME is held responsible for violations. An entity may employ more than one RME. Additional RMEs are subordinate RMEs, responsible for activities in the classifications they personally hold. That matters for a concrete company that wants C-31a and C-31 under one roof but has different people qualified in each. Partnerships and joint ventures get their own rule. Under 16-77-13, no further license is needed when every member holds a current license and the work falls in a classification one of them holds, provided the board is notified in writing and a principal RME is named for the venture.
The experience bar is specific and it is about supervision, not years on a crew. The board's requirements sheet says an applicant must be at least 18 years old, have a good reputation for honesty, truthfulness, financial integrity and fair dealing, have four years of supervisory experience within the past ten years immediately preceding the filing of the application, pass an examination in the appropriate classification, and carry liability and workers compensation insurance. Proof comes in three pieces. First, not less than three notarized experience certificates supporting the supervisory experience. If you apply for more than one classification, you submit at least one certificate per classification, and no two certificates in the same classification may come from the same person. The board tells applicants to instruct the person completing a certificate to describe in detail the applicant's experience performing on-site supervision and direction of employees in the classification applied for. A certificate that says someone was a good concrete finisher does not establish supervision. Second, a Chronological History of Projects form, which the board calls the project list. It documents the previous supervisory work and must use as many pages as needed to verify the full four years. The board's sample entries show start and end dates, the project address, the employer, the supervisory role with the number of workers, a description of the work performed with the applicant's own crew, the contract amount and the months of experience claimed. The board instructs applicants that all information should be specific to the classification applied for. Third, the financial side. Each application is filed with a financial statement, a credit report and a tax clearance, along with trade name registration if the applicant uses one. The board's rules also let it require a bond where it has a concern about financial integrity.
Hawaii does not write or deliver its own contractor examination. The board's requirements sheet states that the contractors licensing examinations are administered by a professional testing service, Prometric. The order of events matters: the board reviews the complete application first, then an approved applicant registers separately with the testing agency, pays the testing agency's examination fees directly, and sits the exam in a later cycle. You do not book the exam and then apply. There are two parts. Part I is business and law. The board tells applicants it strongly suggests obtaining a copy of the contractors licensing law and rules, which the board publishes on its own site and will also mail on written request. Part II is the trade examination, covering field knowledge in the classification requested. A C-31a cement concrete applicant and a C-31 masonry applicant therefore sit different Part II examinations, which is one reason the board asks for separate experience certificates per classification. Recommended study material for Part II is listed in the testing agency's bulletin of examination information. Two deadlines run alongside the exam. The board's instructions say an application is abandoned if the applicant fails to take and pass the examination within six months after becoming eligible. A separate question and answer section in the same application states that an applicant must make an attempt to take the examination, meaning register and sit it, within two years of approval. The board also warns that it is only notified of results when the candidate tests as a Hawaii candidate. Accommodations and out of state testing exist but need board approval in advance. A written request for out of state testing goes in with the application, and the applicant pays any additional cost. Interpreter use must also be approved.
The money arrives in stages, which is useful to know when you are budgeting a new concrete company rather than reading a single price. The application fee is $50, non-refundable, per application filed. You may apply for more than one classification on a single application, so a contractor seeking both C-31a and C-31 pays one application fee, but a separate application is required for each contracting entity and each RME. Rule 16-77-12 adds a contractors education fund fee of ten dollars to every application. Checks are made payable to Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and a dishonored payment carries a $25 service charge and means the fee requirement was not met. Examination fees are paid directly to the testing service, not to the board. The board's contractor frequently asked questions document, which carries a 2018 date on its pages, lists an examination fee of $75 per part, with most classifications requiring both parts. The same document lists the initial license fee for a contracting entity or sole proprietor as $663 when licensed between October 1 of an even-numbered year and September 30 of the odd-numbered year, and $494 in the second half of the cycle, with RME figures of $438 and $334 on the same split. Those figures are prorated against the two year licensing period. Renewal is cheaper and is published on the board's live renewal page. On-time renewal for the October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2028 period costs $338 for a contractor entity on active status, $338 for a sole proprietor on active status, $208 for an RME on active status and $160 for any contractor license on inactive status. Late restoration costs $388, $388, $258 and $210 respectively.
Sourcescca.hawaii.gov 1cca.hawaii.gov 2cca.hawaii.gov 3cca.hawaii.gov 4
Hawaii sets insurance minimums in rule, and they are the same whether you pour driveways or build retaining walls. Rule 16-77-8 and the board's requirements sheet both require a certificate of insurance from a carrier authorized to conduct business in the state, or an unauthorized insurer under article 8 of chapter 431, or a risk retention or risk purchasing group under chapter 431K, showing full policy coverage for liability and property damage with minimum limits of $100,000 bodily injury liability each person, $300,000 bodily injury liability each occurrence, and $50,000 property damage liability each occurrence. Workers compensation is separate. The applicant submits a certificate of workers compensation insurance from a carrier authorized to do business in the state, plus a statement from the carrier that the board will be notified of any withdrawal, termination or cancellation. A sole proprietor with no employees may file a form prescribed by the board in lieu of workers compensation coverage, and the board publishes an exclusion application under chapter 386. An out of state contractor's liability insurance may come from a non-admitted carrier if the producer qualifies for an exemption under section 431:9A-104(b)(6). Coverage is a continuing condition, not a one-time filing. The board requires licensees to maintain continuous coverage throughout licensure and keep evidence on file in the board's office. Failure to maintain continuous liability and workers compensation coverage causes automatic forfeiture of the license, and if coverage is not reinstated within sixty days the individual must apply as a new applicant. The board points insurance agents to its online certificate submittal system for faster processing. Bonding is discretionary rather than universal. The board publishes a contractor bond form, and rule 16-77-8 lists any surety bond imposed by the board among the documents required before a license issues. Where the board has a concern about financial integrity it may impose a bond in an amount it determines. Rule 16-77-76 requires a licensee to maintain an imposed bond for at least one year before requesting a waiver, and lets the board waive it at its discretion.
Hawaii runs a fixed biennial cycle rather than a rolling anniversary. Every contractor license, regardless of the date it was issued, is subject to renewal by September 30 of each even-numbered year. For the October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2028 period the board accepted renewals from August 10, 2026 to September 30, 2026, with hardcopy renewal forms mailed on August 7, 2026. The board states that licenses not renewed by the expiration date are unlicensed and may not practice. A concrete contractor who pours on October 2 of a renewal year without renewing is working without a license. Active entities and sole proprietors must clear tax first. The board requires a current and valid tax clearance from the Department of Taxation, dated within six months of renewing, and the name on the tax clearance must match the name on the license exactly. The board gives instructions for updating a name through Hawaii Tax Online or by calling the Department of Taxation. Responsible managing employees are not required to submit insurance information or a tax clearance unless the board needs to verify past due taxes or liens. Renewal under rule 16-77-54 also carries a contractors recovery fund fee of ten dollars. Missing the deadline forfeits the license. A forfeited license may be restored within sixty days after the expiration date if the licensee meets the restoration requirements and pays the higher restoration amounts. Failure to restore within those sixty days terminates the license, and the person must apply as a new applicant and meet current licensing requirements, which means the experience certificates, project list and examination all over again. There is a middle setting. The board publishes an inactivation application and a reactivation, status change, bond waiver and conversion application, so a contractor who stops taking work can park the license on inactive status at the lower renewal amount instead of losing it.
This is the rule most concrete contractors in Hawaii find out about late. Rule 16-77-83, the whole of the board's advertising practices subchapter, says a contracting entity advertising through any media shall be identified as a licensed contractor by listing the name under which the licensee is licensed, or the licensee's trade name filed with the board, and the licensee's license number. The rule defines media as including, but not limited to, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, the Internet, and directories, including all listings in the yellow pages. Read that against how a concrete company actually markets. A website, a Google Business Profile, a Facebook page, a paid search ad and a directory listing all sit inside that definition. The identifying name has to be the licensed name or a trade name on file with the board, which means a company trading under a brand it never registered with the board has a problem even when it does display a number. The rule cites section 444-9.2 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes as the authority it implements. Classification language is regulated alongside the number. Rule 16-77-33 bars an A or B licensee from advertising as a specialty contractor outside the specialty classifications held, bars a specialty contractor from advertising as a contractor in any classification other than those held, and declares that advertising in a classification you are not licensed for is unlicensed activity. In practice a C-31a holder can advertise cement concrete work and should not advertise masonry, and a C-31d holder limited to tuckpointing, caulking and spall repair should not advertise flatwork. Display carries into the office as well. Rule 16-77-87 conditions issuance and renewal on maintaining a permanent place of business in the state, at a physical address and not a post office box, where the license is prominently displayed and where notice and legal process can be served.
Hawaii puts your license number in the paperwork as well as the advertising. Rule 16-77-80 requires all contractors to give homeowners a written contract for home construction or improvements, and lists what it must contain: the name, address, license number and classification or classifications of the contractor, the exact dollar amount due from the homeowner, the date work commences and the number of days for completion, the scope of work and materials to be used, the approximate percentage of work to be subcontracted and the names and license numbers of all subcontractors, a clear statement of the risk of loss of payments made to a sales representative printed in distinct capital letters next to the owner's signature line, a provision explaining the lien rights of all parties performing under the contract, the terms of any warranty offered, and the signatures of both homeowner and contractor. The contract must be executed before any work begins. Disclosure runs earlier than the contract. Rule 16-77-79 requires a contractor doing home construction or home improvements, before obtaining a binding contract and before applying for a building permit, to disclose information whose absence might mislead the homeowner, including the lien rights of labor, suppliers and subcontractors, the scope of work, the approximate percentage to be subcontracted, whether the contractor is bonded and whether the owner may demand bonding, and if not bonded the extent of financial security available to assure performance, the contractor's license number and classifications, all warranties, and an estimate of the cost of work. Two practical notes for concrete work. The rule's definition of home construction or improvements excludes service type work that needs no county permit, so a small repair call is treated differently from a poured foundation. And rule 16-77-97 holds licensees to performing all work in a workmanlike manner conforming to trade standards, which is the hook a complaint about a cracked slab usually hangs on.
Sourcescca.hawaii.gov
The board states the general rule broadly: anyone who offers to, holds oneself out as able to, or contracts to perform residential, commercial or public works construction, alterations or improvements must hold a contractor license. A license is also required simply to bid, because a license is needed to offer to undertake work that requires one. That rules out the common idea that a concrete crew can quote a job now and sort the license out before pouring. There is one narrow money threshold. The board's frequently asked questions state that a license is not required if the aggregate contract price for the project, including labor, materials, taxes and all other items, is not more than $1,000 and the project does not require a building permit. Both conditions have to hold. A small sidewalk patch may qualify, a footing that needs a permit does not, and the exemption never extends to electrical or plumbing work requiring a permit. Owner builders are a separate exemption, not a loophole for contractors. Owners or lessees of property may build or improve residential or farm structures for their own use without a contractor license. The structure may not be offered for sale or lease in whole or in part within one year after completion, the owner builder must register for the exemption with the county building department, must supervise the construction, and must use only licensed subcontractors. The board publishes a separate application for exemption from chapter 444 for an owner builder who sells within one year of completion. Enforcement is real but not automatic. RICO can sue those who provide industry services without a board-issued license, and can ask the board to sanction a licensee when the evidence supports it. Acting or advertising outside your classification is treated as unlicensed activity under rule 16-77-33.
No Hawaii county issues its own concrete contractor license, but every county controls the permit, and the permit is where your license number gets checked. Honolulu is the clearest example. The Department of Planning and Permitting, which covers the City and County of Honolulu and therefore all of Oahu, publishes a set of building permit forms and groups several of them under permit issuance, including a Contractor Statement on form DPP-26 and a Specialty Contractor Form on form DPP-35. The same page publishes letters for a change of general contractor or owner builder and for a change of electrical or plumbing contractor, and notes that fees apply to a change in contractor. For a concrete subcontractor that is a practical point about sequence. The specialty contractor form is a permit issuance document, so the general contractor's permit package names the licensed specialty trades. A concrete contractor whose license lapsed, or whose classification does not match the work described in the plans, surfaces at that point rather than at the end of the job. Honolulu also runs electronic plan review and publishes plan guidelines for building code, electrical, zoning, mechanical and plumbing review, plus flood zone forms. Concrete work in a flood zone on Oahu picks up extra certification requirements, including elevation certificates and, inside a floodway, specific floodway permit instructions. Maui County, Hawaii County and Kauai County each run their own building divisions with their own permit packages and inspection procedures, so a contractor working across islands deals with separate submittal systems while holding the same state license. The owner builder exemption is also registered at the county building department rather than with the state board, which is another point where county and state processes meet.
A Hawaii concrete contractor carries tax obligations that sit outside the board but can cost you the license. The state has no sales tax. Instead the Department of Taxation administers the general excise tax, assessed on business activities. The department states the rate is 4 percent for most activities and 0.5 percent for wholesaling, manufacturing, producing, wholesale services and use tax on imports for resale. Registering means filing Form BB-1, the State of Hawaii Basic Business Application, online through Hawaii Tax Online or by mail, with a one-time $20 registration fee. The department says an online filing produces a Hawaii Tax ID in roughly five to seven days, while a mailed or dropped-off application takes about four to six weeks. Filing is periodic. Monthly, quarterly and semiannual returns are due on the twentieth day of the month following the close of the period, and the annual return is due on the twentieth day of the fourth month after the close of the taxable year, which is April 20 for calendar year filers. That matters at renewal, because active entities and sole proprietors need a tax clearance dated within six months, with the name matching the license name. Two board-administered funds also appear on the paperwork. Rule 16-77-12 requires a contractors education fund fee of ten dollars with every application, and rule 16-77-101 lets the board spend that fund on education for the consuming public, licensees, board members and staff. Rule 16-77-54 requires a contractors recovery fund fee of ten dollars at renewal. Rule 16-77-100 is the sharp one: if a contractor fails to pay an assessed recovery fund fee within sixty days of assessment, the license is automatically forfeited without a hearing, restorable within thirty days on payment of the fee plus a ten dollar penalty.
Hawaii expects buyers to check, and the state makes it easy, which is an argument for putting your license number where a customer can find it instead of hoping nobody asks. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs runs a public license search from its licensing portal at mypvl.dcca.hawaii.gov, linked from the Contractors License Board page as the way to verify a professional and confirm the active status and standing of any license. The board's frequently asked questions point to the same verification site and give a telephone number for the licensing branch. Complaint history is a separate lookup. RICO publishes a check on an industry worker or company tool that shows whether a person or company has a complaints history with RICO as well as whether they hold a board issued license. A homeowner comparing two concrete bids on Oahu can therefore see license status and complaint history in two searches, and the board's own consumer material encourages exactly that. Three things a customer can read off a verification that a concrete contractor should get right before advertising. The licensed name or registered trade name has to match the name on the truck and the website, because rule 16-77-83 requires the advertised identity to be the licensed name or a trade name filed with the board. The classification has to match the work being sold, because advertising outside your classification is unlicensed activity under rule 16-77-33. And the status has to be active, because the board states that a license not renewed by its expiration date is unlicensed and may not practice. The board also issues wall certificates and pocket identification, publishes a wall certificate list, and requires the license to be prominently displayed at the permanent place of business.
A mainland concrete company cannot carry a license across. Hawaii's application set describes one route to a license: four years of supervisory experience within the past ten years, three or more notarized experience certificates, a project list, a financial statement, credit report and tax clearance, board approval, then the business and law and trade examinations. The application does ask applicants to attach a copy of each contractor's license previously held in any state, so prior licensure is part of the record the board reviews, but it is not presented as a substitute for the examination. Several rules bear directly on an out of state concrete contractor. Rule 16-77-87 conditions issuance and renewal on a permanent place of business in Hawaii at a physical address where the license is prominently displayed and legal process can be served. Rule 16-77-89 allows an out of state licensee to list an attorney's office or similar office in the state as that place of business, provided an individual there acts as agent or representative, can be served with notice and legal process, receives all inquiries and correspondence, and is responsible for seeing that they are handled promptly. Rule 16-77-71 requires the principal RME to be in residence in Hawaii while the entity's license is in effect or while a project is under construction. Insurance is the one place the rules flex for outside carriers. The board will accept liability insurance from a non-admitted carrier if the producer qualifies for an exemption under section 431:9A-104(b)(6) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Testing can happen elsewhere. The board will consider a written request, filed with the application, to sit the examination out of state, at the applicant's additional cost and only at secured testing sites. The board warns that results reach it automatically only when you test as a Hawaii candidate.
These are common details other guides publish about Hawaii, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
C-31a, the cement concrete contractor classification, is the main one. Its published scope includes mixing and placing concrete, setting screeds and forms, finishing, cutting, drilling, sawing, coring, pressure grouting, sealing, epoxy injection and spall repair. Structural foundation work by pile or caisson falls under C-35, and post tensioning under C-38.
Yes. Under rule 16-77-32, a B general building contractor automatically holds C-31a cement concrete without further examination or additional fees. The A general engineering contractor also holds C-31a automatically. Neither general license picks up C-31 masonry, C-31b stone masonry, C-31c, C-31d or C-31e.
No. Laying CMU, brick, stone and veneer sits in C-31, the masonry contractor classification. Rule 16-77-33 says a specialty contractor shall not act, assume to act, or advertise as a contractor in any classification other than those held, and treats working outside your classification as unlicensed activity.
Four years of supervisory experience within the ten years immediately before you file. You support it with no fewer than three notarized experience certificates, at least one per classification, with no two certificates in the same classification from the same person, plus a Chronological History of Projects form documenting the full four years.
Prometric, a professional testing service, under the board's requirements sheet. The board reviews and approves your application first. You then register with the testing agency, pay its examination fees directly, and sit two parts: Part I on business and law, and Part II covering trade knowledge in the classification you requested.
The application fee is $50 and is not refundable, and rule 16-77-12 adds a ten dollar contractors education fund fee. One application can cover more than one classification, but each contracting entity and each responsible managing employee files separately. A dishonored check carries a $25 service charge.
Rule 16-77-8 and the board's requirements sheet both set minimum limits of $100,000 bodily injury liability each person, $300,000 bodily injury liability each occurrence, and $50,000 property damage liability each occurrence. Coverage must be continuous, and a lapse in liability or workers compensation coverage causes automatic forfeiture of the license.
Not as a flat requirement. Rule 16-77-8 lists any surety bond imposed by the board among the documents needed before issuance, and the rules let the board require a bond in an amount it sets where financial integrity is a concern. Rule 16-77-76 requires maintaining an imposed bond at least one year before seeking a waiver.
September 30 of every even-numbered year, whatever date the license was issued. For the period beginning October 1, 2026 the board accepted renewals from August 10 to September 30, 2026. The board states that a license not renewed by its expiration date is unlicensed and may not practice.
Yes. Rule 16-77-83 requires a contracting entity advertising through any media to be identified as a licensed contractor by the name it is licensed under, or a trade name filed with the board, plus the license number. The rule names the Internet, directories and yellow pages listings among the media it covers.
One, and it is narrow. The board states no license is required when the aggregate contract price, including labor, materials, taxes and everything else, is not more than $1,000 and the project does not require a building permit. Both conditions must hold, and bidding larger work still requires a license.
Through the state licensing portal's public license search at mypvl.dcca.hawaii.gov, linked from the Contractors License Board page as the way to verify a professional. RICO runs a second lookup showing whether a person or company has a complaints history with RICO alongside their license status.
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