Kentucky · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
Kentucky does not license concrete, masonry or general contractors. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licenses only the plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler, elevator, sprinkler and fire alarm trades. Concrete work is controlled locally: a Louisville Metro or Lexington contractor registration, a building permit from the city or county, and a sworn workers compensation affidavit before any permit issues.
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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.
Kentucky issues no state license for concrete work. There is no concrete contractor license, no flatwork license, no masonry license and no general contractor license in the Commonwealth. The agency that would run one states its own scope plainly. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction says it enforces statewide standards for building construction and licenses or certifies plumbers, electricians, boiler contractors, sprinkler and fire alarm contractors, and building inspectors. Concrete is not on that list. The Kentucky Business One Stop portal repeats the point in a note written for contractors: the department administers permitting and licensing for HVAC, plumbing, boilers, electrical, elevator, manufactured housing and sprinkler systems. The same portal states that Kentucky has no statewide business license that applies to all businesses. A Kentucky concrete contractor is therefore not out of compliance for lacking a state card. No such card exists to apply for. Control over your work sits in three other places, and the rest of this page works through each one. Local building departments enforce the Uniform State Building Code and issue the permits that your footings, foundation walls and slabs are inspected under. Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette run their own contractor licensing and registration programs, and you have to be in those programs before you can pull a permit in those jurisdictions. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet decides who may bid the concrete, paving and drainage items on state highway contracts. Plan your paperwork around those three, not around a state trade exam.
The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction is part of the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet. Its public licensee search lists every credential it issues, grouped by division: Building Code Enforcement, Electrical, Fire Prevention, HVAC, KIBS, Manufactured Home and RV, Plumbing, hazardous material inspection companies, and the State Fire Marshal. The license types behind those divisions include Master Plumber, Journeyman Plumber, Master Electrician, Master HVAC Contractor, Journeyman HVAC Mechanic, the fire protection sprinkler and rangehood contractor licenses, underground storage tank installer classes, and building inspector levels one through three. Nothing in that list touches forming, placing, finishing or reinforcing concrete. The statute behind the department, KRS Chapter 198B, follows the same pattern. It builds out licensing schemes for elevator contractors and mechanics, fire protection sprinkler contractors, HVAC master contractors and journeymen, and home inspectors. It never creates a concrete, masonry or general building classification. This matters in two practical ways. First, reciprocity is irrelevant to you. Kentucky writes reciprocity provisions into the HVAC, elevator and sprinkler sections, so a licensed HVAC contractor moving from Tennessee has a path. A concrete contractor moving to Kentucky has nothing to transfer and nothing to apply for at state level. Second, if your crew pours a slab and then sets a sleeve for a gas line or ties into a storm structure that counts as plumbing, that portion needs a licensed plumber. The division line is the trade, not the job. Keep a licensed sub on call rather than absorbing that scope.
KRS 198B.060 puts enforcement in local hands. Each local government must employ a building official or inspector and other code enforcement personnel, or contract for inspection and code enforcement services, to enforce the Uniform State Building Code inside its boundaries. Local governments issue and revoke building permits, licenses and certificates, and inspect buildings under the chapter and the code. Every local government that issues a building or demolition permit, or an initial certificate of occupancy on a new structure, has to send a copy to the state commissioner. One clause changes the job on residential work. The statute says permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy are not mandatory for single-family residences unless the local government passes an ordinance requiring inspections of single-family residences. So whether your residential footing gets inspected depends on the county or city you are standing in, not on a statewide rule. Call the building department before you quote. The codes currently adopted by Kentucky are the 2018 Kentucky Building Code, based on the 2015 International Building Code, and the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, based on the 2015 International Residential Code. Accessibility work runs against the 2009 ICC and ANSI A117.1 standard, which governs ramp slopes and landings you form in sidewalk and entry pours. In Lexington-Fayette, new residential plan review requires a foundation plan showing poured wall or crawl space details, plus Division of Engineering approval of site drainage and erosion control measures. Bring those two documents and the review moves.
Sourcesapps.legislature.ky.gov 1dhbc.ky.gov 2lexingtonky.gov 3
This is the compliance item most concrete contractors in Kentucky underestimate. KRS 198B.060(10) says no permit for building, construction, reconstruction, renovation, demolition or maintenance, or for any activity related to those, shall be issued by any building department or by any political subdivision of the Commonwealth to any person seeking the permit unless that person assures, by affidavit, that all contractors and subcontractors employed or to be employed on activity covered by the permit will comply with Kentucky workers compensation requirements under KRS Chapter 342 and unemployment insurance requirements under KRS Chapter 341. Read that again as a general contractor would read it. The affidavit covers your subs, not only your own payroll. If you sub out the pump, the saw cutting or the rebar tying, the person signing the permit affidavit is vouching for those crews. Ask every sub for a current certificate before you let them on the pour. The penalty has teeth. Anyone who fails to comply with the required assurances, on a finding by a court of competent jurisdiction, shall be fined an amount not to exceed four thousand dollars, or an amount equal to the sum of all uninsured and unsatisfied claims brought under KRS Chapter 342 plus unemployment claims for which no wages were reported under KRS Chapter 341, whichever is greater. That second figure has no ceiling. The statute assigns enforcement to the county attorney for the county where the violation occurred, so this is prosecuted locally rather than by a state licensing board.
Sourcesapps.legislature.ky.gov
With no trade license to obtain, your Kentucky paperwork starts with the business entity. The Kentucky Business One Stop portal states that most businesses conducting business in Kentucky must register with the Kentucky Secretary of State and the Department of Revenue, and that many cities and counties also require registration for individuals and firms working inside their jurisdiction. The assumed name rule catches a lot of concrete outfits. KRS 365.015 requires a certificate of assumed name from anyone transacting business under an assumed name or any style other than their real name. A separate certificate is required for each assumed name. An individual files the certificate with the county clerk. A general partnership, limited partnership, business trust, corporation or limited liability company files with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State receives a fee of twenty dollars for filing each certificate, and the county clerk receives a fee set under KRS 64.012. An assumed name is effective for five years from the date of filing, and you withdraw it by filing a certificate of withdrawal in the same office. The five-year clock is the part people miss. If you have traded as something like a doing-business-as name for a decade and never refiled, your assumed name has lapsed, and your contracts, lien statements and insurance certificates may all carry a name you are no longer registered to use. Diary the renewal with your insurance renewal so the two stay together.
Kentucky sets the coverage threshold at one employee. KRS 342.630 makes mandatorily subject to the workers compensation chapter any person, other than one engaged solely in agriculture, that has in this state one or more employees subject to the chapter. There is no small-crew carve-out for a two-man finishing operation. KRS 342.340 then tells you how to satisfy it. Every employer must insure and keep insured its liability for compensation with a carrier authorized to write workers compensation business in Kentucky, or furnish the commissioner satisfactory proof of financial ability to pay compensation directly, in which case the commissioner requires a deposit of acceptable security, indemnity or bond. Your carrier files the evidence of compliance on your behalf within ten days after the policy or endorsement is issued, and must notify the commissioner on cancellation, lapse, termination or nonrenewal. The statute also allows the filing to name an additional insured who has been given proof of your coverage, which is how general contractors get listed. The penalty sits in KRS 342.990. A person who violates KRS 342.340 shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for each offense. For employers who fail to maintain coverage on their employees, each employee and each day of violation counts as a separate offense. Multiply a four-man crew by a three-month season and the arithmetic stops being survivable. Keep the certificate current and keep a copy in the truck.
Sourcesapps.legislature.ky.gov 1apps.legislature.ky.gov 2apps.legislature.ky.gov 3
Kentucky sales and use tax is imposed at the rate of 6 percent of gross receipts or purchase price, and the Department of Revenue states that there are no local sales and use taxes in Kentucky. That single statewide rate is a real advantage when you quote across county lines, because a Boone County job and a Warren County job carry the same tax math. Sales tax applies to gross receipts from retail sales of tangible personal property, digital property and certain services. Use tax applies to the purchase price of tangible personal property bought outside the state for storage, use or consumption inside it. That use tax backstop is the one to watch if you buy forming systems, screeds, laser levels, curing blankets or fiber from an out-of-state supplier who does not charge Kentucky tax. The liability does not disappear. It shifts to you. Revenue points to KRS Chapter 139 and Title 103 of the Kentucky Administrative Regulations for the governing law, and that is where the treatment of materials a contractor buys and then incorporates into real property is settled. Do not guess at it from a supplier invoice. Get your classification in writing from Revenue or from a Kentucky accountant before your first large ready-mix order, then apply the same treatment consistently across jobs. Revenue also notes that the sales and use tax returns are scannable originals, so a photocopy can delay processing and make a timely return look late.
Sourcesrevenue.ky.gov
Jefferson County is where the state picture flips. Louisville Metro runs its own contractor licensing through the Division of Construction Review, and the Metro license, not a state one, is what lets you pull permits inside the consolidated local government. Construction Review describes two license scopes tied to permit volume. License A lets you work on one or more permitted projects during a calendar year. License B allows you to work on only one permitted project during a calendar year. The calendar year runs from January first to December thirty-first, so a License B taken out in November buys you very little runway. Alongside those, Construction Review lists work-type licenses: Building A Residential, Building A Residential and Commercial, Building A Commercial, and Building B. A concrete contractor doing foundations and structural flatwork for builders sits in the building categories rather than in a trade category such as wrecking. Insurance comes with the application. If you have employees, you must carry workers compensation and unemployment insurance, and the certificate holder is listed as the Office of Construction Review. If you have no employees, or your employees are not covered by your plan, the office supplies an affidavit that you sign and have notarized. That affidavit is the local twin of the state permit affidavit under KRS 198B.060. Construction Review also tells contractors to contact the division to apply for the specific type of work they intend to perform, so call before you assume a category fits your scope.
Sourceslouisvilleky.gov 1louisvilleky.gov 2apps.legislature.ky.gov 3
Louisville Metro Construction Review states plainly that not every project requires a permit, and its permits page names two exemptions that matter to concrete crews. Sidewalks and driveways are listed as projects that do not require a building permit. Retaining walls that are not over 4 feet, or 1219 millimetres, in height are also listed as not requiring one. So a residential driveway replacement and a 3-foot garden wall can proceed without a building permit, while the same wall at 5 feet pulls you into plan review and inspection. Measure before you quote, and measure from the bottom of the footing where the code measures from, not from finished grade. Two cautions belong with that exemption. First, a building permit is not the only permit. Zoning approval, drainage review, floodplain rules, historic overlay districts and work in the public right-of-way are separate approvals administered by separate offices, and a driveway apron that crosses the sidewalk into the street touches the right-of-way whether or not the slab itself needs a building permit. Second, the exemption does not waive the code. An exempt sidewalk still has to meet the accessibility and slope standards the Kentucky codes adopt. On process, Construction Review lets contractors request an online permitting account, while homeowners cannot be issued permits online and must come to the office. That difference is a selling point: you can pull same-day online, your customer cannot.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government publishes a four-step contractor registration sequence, and the steps run in order. Step one is a location certificate. A home-based business needs a Home Office Certificate, which costs ten dollars. A commercial location needs a Certificate of Occupancy, which for an existing commercial building costs twenty-five dollars. Both are applied for and paid online through the government permits portal. LFUCG notes this step is not required if your home or office is not located in Fayette County, which is the opening for a Nicholasville or Georgetown concrete contractor working in Lexington. Step two is the occupational business license, obtained through the Division of Revenue at 218 East Main Street. Step three is insurance. You provide general liability and workers compensation certificates showing the certificate holder as LFUCG, 200 East Main Street, Lexington. If your company has no employees or is not required to carry workers compensation, you select yes for the Workers Comp Exempt question on the registration application. Expired insurance on an existing registration can be emailed to the named building inspection contact rather than restarting the process. Step four is the online Contractor Registration Application itself. You sign in to the permits portal, go to the Building Inspection section, choose Contractor Registration Application, complete the form, and upload two documents: the business occupational license and the certificate of insurance. LFUCG calls completing this online application essential to finalizing the registration, so an uploaded document set that is missing one item leaves you unregistered.
Sourceslexingtonky.gov
Driveway aprons, curb cuts and public sidewalk panels sit in the right-of-way, and in Lexington that is a separate permit from a separate division. The Division of Engineering manages permitting for street cuts and other construction work within the public right-of-way under Chapter 17C of the LFUCG Code of Ordinances. Engineering defines the right-of-way as typically running from the property line on one side of the street, through the street, to the property line on the opposite side, and notes the property line is often on the owner's side of the sidewalk or at the face of a building next to it. In other words, the sidewalk you are replacing is usually public, not the customer's. Two permit types apply to concrete work. A surface cut permit covers excavating, digging or cutting into and through a paved street surface, including boring or tunnelling under it. An installation permit covers construction, installation, repair, replacement or maintenance of facilities in the right-of-way that is not covered by an annual general permit or a surface cut permit. Surface cut permits cost two hundred fifty dollars. Installation permits cost one hundred dollars. Annual general permits are reserved for registered utilities, carry an annual fee, and do not cover any surface cut operations. If you are a small contractor or homeowner who is not a registered utility, Engineering names a staff contact who will guide you through the permit instead of leaving you in the utility track. Build those permit costs into the apron line of your estimate.
Sourceslexingtonky.gov
Kentucky's missing state license is replaced, in practice, by a city and county tax and registration layer, and it is the layer that most often trips up a concrete contractor crossing county lines for a pour. The Kentucky Business One Stop portal states that many cities and counties require a local business license, impose an occupational tax, or impose another tax on individuals and firms conducting business within their jurisdiction, and directs businesses to consult local county and city clerks. In Fayette County the rate is published. LFUCG assesses a 2.25 percent occupational license fee on individual compensation and net profits, collected by the Division of Revenue, which also runs the online filing portal for net profit returns, extensions and annual returns. Lexington makes that license a prerequisite: the occupational business license is step two of contractor registration, and you upload it as a document when you apply. Treat the rule as follows. Before you bid work in a Kentucky city you have not worked in, call the city clerk and the county clerk and ask two questions: do you require a contractor registration, and do you impose an occupational license fee on net profits earned here. Both answers change your price. Neither answer is available from a state agency, because no state agency collects it. Keep a one-page sheet per county so your estimator is not rediscovering this on every bid.
State highway work is the one part of Kentucky concrete contracting with a hard credential gate. To bid Kentucky Transportation Cabinet highway construction projects as a prime contractor, a company must obtain a Certificate of Eligibility under KRS 176.130. You apply on form TC 14-1, Application for Certificate of Eligibility, and the Cabinet requires the original application to be mailed; electronic submissions are not allowed. Once prequalified, the company receives a Certificate of Eligibility by email that sets out its approved work items and the maximum dollar amount the company can perform with the Cabinet. That dollar cap is a planning constraint, not a formality: it limits the backlog you can carry on state work at one time. The Division of Construction Procurement states that each bidder must be prequalified in at least one of the work items before a company will be registered as an eligible bidder, and that on an alternate bid project the company must be prequalified in a work item corresponding with its bid. Work items are specific, and the Cabinet publishes which ones each advertised call requires, from grade and drain through pavement and bridge superstructure. Subcontractors must also be prequalified for work items that require prequalification, so your concrete sub cannot ride in on your certificate. Bidding carries a bond. The Cabinet requires a 5 percent bid bond for every project bid, under Section 102.09 of the Standard Specifications, satisfied by an electronic bid bond, a paper bid bond, a cashier's check or a certified check.
Large flatwork and foundation jobs can pull you into a state water permit even though no trade license applies. The Kentucky Division of Water states that all construction site operators engaged in clearing, grading and excavating activities that disturb one acre or more of land are required to obtain permit coverage for their stormwater discharges, and that the permit is also required for smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan of development. That second clause is the one that catches subcontractors. A quarter-acre of slab inside a 40-lot subdivision is part of a common plan, so the site is covered even though your own footprint is small. The permit requires operators to implement stormwater controls and to develop a stormwater pollution prevention plan. Best management practices named by the Division include diversion ditches, detention ponds, erosion control mats, sediment traps, covered storage areas and good housekeeping, which is where concrete washout containment belongs. Documentation is part of the permit, not an extra. Permittees must conduct inspections at least once every 7 days or once every 14 days, and within 24 hours of any storm event greater than 0.5 inches, and must keep on-site copies of inspection reports and any associated enforcement actions. Some projects cannot be covered at all. The Division will not issue the general permit for projects discharging to a receiving stream listed as impaired for sediment in the most recent integrated report with an approved total maximum daily load. Ask the general contractor who holds coverage before you mobilize.
Sourceseec.ky.gov
Kentucky has no state concrete license, so there is no state-issued license number to print on your truck, your website or your estimates, and no state advertising-display rule for this trade. What exists instead are limits on what you may claim. KRS 367.170 declares unfair, false, misleading or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce unlawful, and defines unfair to mean unconscionable. That is the statute an owner or the Attorney General reaches for when an advertisement implies a credential you do not hold. Two specific traps follow. Do not describe yourself as a licensed contractor in Kentucky without saying which license and which jurisdiction, because a Louisville Metro contractor license is not a state license. Do not use the title master contractor, journeyman or apprentice, which KRS Chapter 198B restricts to the trades it licenses. If you hold a Louisville Metro License A or an LFUCG contractor registration, name it that way and give the number. Doorstep selling has its own rule. KRS 367.410 defines a home solicitation sale as a sale of goods or services in which the seller personally solicits at the buyer's residence and the buyer's agreement is given there. It excludes sales from prior negotiations, telephone calls the buyer initiated, and sales at a fixed business location. For those sales, KRS 367.430 requires a written agreement dated the day the buyer signs, containing a statement under the conspicuous caption BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL and the wording the statute sets out, giving the buyer until midnight of the third business day to mail a cancellation. Until you comply, the buyer can cancel at any time by any means.
Sourcesapps.legislature.ky.gov 1apps.legislature.ky.gov 2apps.legislature.ky.gov 3apps.legislature.ky.gov 4louisvilleky.gov 5
Expect homeowners and general contractors to check you, and make it easy. Kentucky's state licensee search, run by the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, covers building inspector, electrical, electrical inspection, manufactured housing, HVAC, plumbing and fire licensees. Your concrete company will not appear there, and that is normal. Tell customers so before they look and conclude the worst. What you can show instead: your Secretary of State entity record and assumed name certificate, your Louisville Metro contractor license or LFUCG contractor registration number, your workers compensation certificate with the certificate holder named, and your Transportation Cabinet Certificate of Eligibility if you do public work. Your own protection runs on deadlines. Under KRS 376.010, a contractor, subcontractor or materialman performing labor or furnishing materials on a building or improvement has a lien. If you did not contract directly with the owner, the owner's agent or the lessee, you get no lien unless you notify the owner in writing within 75 days on claims under one thousand dollars, or within 120 days on claims over one thousand dollars, after the last item of labor or material. On an owner-occupied single or double family dwelling the window is 75 days regardless of amount. KRS 376.080 then dissolves the lien unless you file a sworn statement with the county clerk within six months after you cease work, and mail a copy to the owner within seven days of filing. Miss either step and the lien is gone.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov 1apps.legislature.ky.gov 2apps.legislature.ky.gov 3transportation.ky.gov 4
These are common details other guides publish about Kentucky, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Kentucky issues no concrete, flatwork, masonry or general contractor license. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licenses plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler, elevator, sprinkler and fire alarm trades plus building inspectors, and the state business portal confirms there is no statewide business license covering all businesses.
Louisville Metro Construction Review lists sidewalks and driveways as work that does not require a building permit. The Metro contractor license is tied to pulling permits, so call Construction Review about your specific scope. If any part of the job touches the public right-of-way or a wall over 4 feet, approvals apply.
Lexington-Fayette publishes a four-step contractor registration: a Home Office Certificate at ten dollars or a Certificate of Occupancy at twenty-five dollars for an existing commercial building, an occupational business license from Revenue, general liability and workers compensation naming LFUCG, then the online Contractor Registration Application with both documents uploaded.
It depends on the jurisdiction. KRS 198B.060 says permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy are not mandatory for single-family residences unless the local government passes an ordinance requiring inspections of single-family residences. Commercial and multifamily work is inspected under the 2018 Kentucky Building Code. Ask the local building department before quoting.
Workers compensation if you have employees. KRS 342.630 covers any employer with one or more employees in Kentucky, and KRS 342.340 requires you to insure that liability or qualify to self-insure with deposited security. Lexington also requires general liability naming LFUCG as certificate holder for contractor registration.
Not for private work at state level, because there is no state license to bond. Bonding appears on public work. The Transportation Cabinet requires a 5 percent bid bond for every project bid under Section 102.09 of its Standard Specifications, satisfied by an electronic bond, paper bond, cashier's check or certified check.
Only a number you actually hold, and name its source. A Louisville Metro contractor license or an LFUCG registration number is fine when labelled that way. KRS 367.170 makes unfair, false, misleading or deceptive acts in trade or commerce unlawful, so implying a state concrete license you cannot hold is the risk.
There is nothing to reciprocate. Kentucky writes reciprocity provisions into its HVAC, elevator and sprinkler licensing sections in KRS Chapter 198B, but creates no concrete or general classification. An out-of-state concrete contractor registers locally instead, for example with Louisville Metro Construction Review or LFUCG Building Inspection.
KRS 198B.060 requires an affidavit before any permit issues that you and your subcontractors comply with workers compensation and unemployment insurance law. Failure to comply draws a fine up to four thousand dollars, or the total of all uninsured and unsatisfied claims, whichever is greater, prosecuted by the county attorney.
Coverage starts at one acre of clearing, grading or excavating, but the Division of Water also requires it for smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan of development. So a small slab inside a subdivision is covered. Permittees inspect every 7 or 14 days and within 24 hours of rainfall over 0.5 inches.
Apply on form TC 14-1 for a Certificate of Eligibility under KRS 176.130, mailing the original because electronic submission is not allowed. The certificate lists your approved work items and a maximum dollar amount. Each bidder must be prequalified in at least one work item, and subcontractors need prequalification too.
KRS 376.080 dissolves the lien unless you file a sworn statement with the county clerk within six months after you cease work, and mail a copy to the owner within seven days of filing. If you did not contract with the owner, KRS 376.010 also requires a 75-day or 120-day written notice first.
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