Oregon · Electrical licensing · official-source guide
Oregon licenses both, through two separate agencies. The Building Codes Division licenses the individual electrician by grade and licenses the electrical contractor business, while the Construction Contractors Board licenses the construction business itself. OAR 918-282-0000 says the electrical contractor license is in addition to CCB licensing and bonding. A general journeyman needs 8,000 hours.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Oregon splits electrical regulation between two state agencies, and an electrical contractor needs credentials from both. The Building Codes Division inside the Department of Consumer and Business Services issues the electrical contractor license to the company and the graded electrical licenses to the people doing the work. The Construction Contractors Board licenses the construction business itself. OAR 918-282-0000(1) states the point without hedging: an electrical contractor license is a specialized license allowing a company to engage in the business of making electrical installations, and that license is in addition to the licensing and bonding required by the Construction Contractors Board. The Construction Contractors Board lists electrical among the work that requires a CCB license. So the order of operations is CCB license first, because it carries the bond and the liability insurance, then the Building Codes Division electrical contractor license, which requires a full-time general supervising electrician on payroll. Neither substitutes for the other. A company that holds the CCB license alone may not make or supervise electrical installations. A company that holds the electrical contractor license alone has no bond behind its residential work and cannot perfect a construction lien under ORS 701.131. The Building Codes Division operates from 1535 Edgewater St. NW in Salem and takes licensing calls at 503-378-4133.
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The Building Codes Division administers electrical licensing, but the rulemaking sits with the Electrical and Elevator Board. ORS 479.680 gives the board three standing duties: establish the continuing education program required for license renewal, adopt the rules needed to run ORS 479.510 to 479.945, and set the equivalent experience that qualifies someone for a journeyman license under ORS 479.630. The board also prepares the written examinations that the department administers. ORS 479.995 lets the board impose civil penalties for violations of the Electrical Safety Law, imposed under ORS 455.895. ORS 479.840(2) puts uniform permit fees in the board's hands, capped at the cost of administration. Two practical consequences follow. First, the board, not the legislature, decides what counts as equivalent experience when an applicant did not finish an Oregon apprenticeship, which is why the hour tables live in OAR 918-282 and not in statute. Second, the board's penalty matrix, approved March 7, 2017 under OAR 918-001-0036, is what an investigator opens when a complaint lands. The division's enforcement program takes complaints from anyone, reviews them, assigns an investigator when warranted, and can recommend licensing action, civil penalties, or both.
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The electrical contractor license is issued to the business, and OAR 918-282-0010 attaches three conditions to it. The contractor shall continuously employ at least one full-time general supervising electrician unless otherwise exempted. The contractor is not authorized to make, direct, supervise or control the making of an electrical installation unless properly licensed. And the contractor shall display its electrical license at each of its places of business, with a facsimile allowed at additional locations, so the public can see the scope of electrical authority held. OAR 918-282-0015 adds the supervision duty. The signing supervising electrician must perform supervisory duties for only one contractor, and must provide direct supervision by being on the job site, having another full-time supervising electrician on the job site, or being available in person within two business days of an inspector's request. The division has to be told in writing within five days when a signing supervisor starts or leaves. If the only designated signing supervisor leaves, the contractor must stop electrical work until a replacement is employed and written notice is filed. ORS 479.560 lets a permit be issued to a licensed electrical contractor or a designated agent only when the application carries a signed statement that the general supervising electrician of record will sign the permit before inspection.
Oregon licenses the person by grade, and the grade decides what work is legal. A general supervising electrician (S) directs, supervises, makes or controls electrical installations, may design, plan and lay out work for the employing contractor's customers, and under OAR 918-282-0140 is the only individual authorized to direct, supervise or control the installation or alteration of an electrical service. A general journeyman (J) under OAR 918-282-0170 is authorized to make any electrical installation, working under the supervision of a general supervising electrician unless the work requires no supervision. A limited residential electrician (LR) under OAR 918-282-0180 makes installations on one-family, two-family or multifamily dwelling units not exceeding three floors above grade, under a general supervising electrician. A limited supervising electrician (PS) under OAR 918-282-0160 supervises maintenance-type work in an existing operable plant, hospital, commercial office building or government building and is not authorized to work on service equipment. Beyond those sit the limited journeyman manufacturing plant electrician, limited maintenance electrician, limited building maintenance electrician, limited journeyman sign and stage electricians, limited renewable energy technician, limited elevator journeyman, and Class A and Class B limited energy technicians. Contractor licenses mirror the same split: limited sign, limited energy, restricted energy, limited renewable energy, limited maintenance specialty and limited pump installation specialty contractor licenses each exist separately under OAR 918-282.
ORS 479.630(4) requires a general journeyman applicant to pass the board's written examination and show at least four years of general experience as an apprentice or its equivalent, including not fewer than 1,000 hours wiring on single or multifamily dwelling units. The equivalent is spelled out in OAR 918-282-0170: total electrical work experience of at least 8,000 hours, with minimum subject hours of 100 for stock room and material handling, 1,000 residential wiring, 1,000 commercial installations, 1,000 industrial installations, 500 intercommunication, signal and control systems, 100 underground construction, 250 troubleshooting and maintenance and 50 finishing and fixture hanging, adding to 4,000 minimum subject hours. No more than 300 percent credit is allowed in any one subject. The division's application form lists the three routes to the journeyman exam: completion of an approved Oregon apprenticeship; transcripts verifying 576 hours of classroom training plus 8,000 hours of out-of-state work with at least 1,000 hours each in residential, commercial and industrial; or 16,000 hours of out-of-state work with at least 2,000 hours in each of those three. For the general supervising license, ORS 479.630(2) requires four years of experience as a general journeyman, and the form asks for an additional 8,000 hours of journeyman experience on top of the journeyman qualification. The limited residential license needs 4,000 hours under OAR 918-282-0180, or 288 classroom hours plus 4,000 out-of-state hours, or 8,000 out-of-state hours.
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The Building Codes Division states one passing score for all of its licensing exams: 75 percent or better. The sequence is fixed. You send the application, the work history and the experience verification forms to the division. If the application is approved, the division mails a Letter of Authorization naming the test site you chose and listing approved testing materials. You schedule with the test site yourself, and the exam must be taken within 60 days of the date on the letter. Changing the test location after the letter is issued means paying the license fee again so a new letter can be created. The test site forwards the exam to the division for grading. Results are not given over the telephone, and the division asks for two weeks. Pass, and the license and a photo identification card come in the mail. Fail, and the results arrive with a strength and weakness report plus a reapplication form. OAR 918-030-0060 says there is no waiting period to reapply and no requirement to re-qualify or resubmit work history unless the license requirements changed, but exam retakes are scheduled no less than 30 days from the date of the failed exam. Applicants must submit proof of a high school diploma, GED or equivalent, and the division suggests a two inch by two inch passport-style photo because the card is recognized as state-issued identification.
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The electrical license fees are set in statute, not by rule. OAR 918-282-0130 simply points at ORS 479.840. That statute charges $125 per year for an electrical contractor license for each place of business the applicant operates, $125 per year for a limited energy contractor, restricted energy contractor or limited sign contractor license, $25 per year for a pump specialty or limited maintenance specialty contractor license, and $150 per year for an elevator contractor license. Individual licenses run on a three-year term. ORS 479.840(1)(e) sets $100 for a three-year license for a general journeyman electrician, general supervising electrician, limited supervising industrial electrician, limited supervising manufacturing plant electrician, limited maintenance industrial electrician or limited journeyman manufacturing plant electrician. ORS 479.840(1)(f) sets $50 for a three-year license for a limited elevator journeyman, Class A or Class B limited energy technician, limited journeyman sign electrician, limited journeyman stage electrician or limited building maintenance electrician. The division's own application form carries the same figures: $100 for S, J, PS, PJ, LME and LR, and $50 for LEA, LEB, SIG, ST, BME and LRT. A replacement wallet card costs $10. Application fees are nonrefundable, and the fee is paid with the application rather than after the exam is passed.
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The CCB side has its own gate. The board's licensing page sets out nine steps, and the first is completing a 16-hour pre-license training and passing the exam, taken by the person the business names as its responsible managing individual. Then you pick an endorsement type, file the business entity or assumed business name with the Secretary of State Corporation Division, post the surety bond in the amount your endorsement requires, provide proof of general liability insurance naming the Construction Contractors Board as certificate holder, obtain workers compensation coverage if you will hire employees, get the tax account numbers, and submit the application. The application fee is $400 for a two-year license. The board warns that applications may take six to eight weeks. A complete application means the bond with power of attorney, the insurance certificate, the certification and signatures form and the fee, submitted together rather than in pieces. ORS 701.122 is the authority for the training and the test: the board must impose training requirements relating to business practices and laws affecting construction contractors, and must approve a test measuring the applicant's knowledge of that material. None of this replaces the electrical credential. It is the layer underneath it.
Oregon does not set one bond for electricians. The amount follows the CCB endorsement the business chooses. ORS 701.081 requires a residential general contractor to carry a $25,000 surety bond and general liability insurance of not less than $500,000; a residential specialty contractor $20,000 and $300,000; a residential limited contractor $15,000 and $100,000; a residential developer $25,000 and $500,000. ORS 701.084 covers the commercial side: a commercial general contractor level 1 needs an $80,000 bond and $2 million in liability coverage; a commercial specialty contractor level 1 needs $55,000 and $1 million; a commercial general contractor level 2 needs $25,000 and $1 million; a commercial specialty contractor level 2 needs $25,000 and $500,000. A business holding both residential and commercial endorsements files a separate bond for each. ORS 701.068 lets the board require a bond up to five times the ordinary amount when a surety has paid out on a claim or when board rules set conditions, and lets the board reduce the bond when the contractor completes approved classes on dispute resolution, accounting or record keeping. Separately, ORS 479.840(4) lets an electrical contractor file a $2,000 corporate surety bond, irrevocable letter of credit or cash bond with the department to guarantee payment of permit fees, which buys the right to apply for a working permit and start a job before the permit fees are settled.
Individual Building Codes Division licenses run on a three-year cycle under OAR 918-030-0210, and the expiration date is printed on the license. Renewal opens 60 days before expiration. Miss the date and the license moves to expired-renewable status, which means no work under that license until every renewal requirement including continuing education is met. The hours are set by OAR 918-030-0120 through 918-030-0135. A general supervising electrician needs 24 hours per cycle including 12 hours of code change. A general journeyman needs 24 hours including 8 hours of code change. A limited supervising electrician needs 24 hours including 12 hours of code change. A limited residential electrician and a limited journeyman manufacturing plant electrician each need 16 hours including 8 hours of code change. A limited maintenance electrician needs 8 hours including 2 of code change. A Class A limited energy technician needs 8 hours, all 8 of code change; Class B needs 8 including 2. A limited renewable energy technician and a limited journeyman sign electrician each need 4 hours including 2 of code change. On top of those, a 4-hour Oregon rule and law course is required, and the division says it is in addition to the code-change hours. The division's electrical page lists the exempt licenses: limited building maintenance, limited elevator journeyman, limited stage and limited maintenance manufactured structures. Providers report credits directly to the license.
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The Building Codes Division publishes its reciprocity list rather than leaving it to guesswork, and it is short. For the General Journeyman Electrician (J), Oregon has agreements with Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. For the General Supervising Electrician (S), the list is Arkansas and Utah. No other electrical license reciprocates. The division states the underlying standard for the journeyman route: the applicant must have qualified to take the examination for the out-of-state journeyman certificate of competency or license by completing four years of electrical apprenticeship vocational education with a minimum of 576 classroom hours, plus a minimum of four years and 8,000 hours in the electrical trade under the direct supervision of a licensed journeyman. Washington applicants get a specific condition: the apprenticeship must have been completed in Oregon or Washington and the Washington licensing exam passed. OAR 918-030-0045 adds the conditions that apply across the board. The out-of-state license must be equivalent or higher, current and active, with no violations or conditions attached in the past three years. The applicant must have passed the other state's examination with a score of 75 percent or better, must have worked at least six months or 1,000 hours under that license, and must not have failed the Oregon exam for the same license in the past two years. Reciprocal applicants use a separate application form and skip the Oregon exam.
ORS 455.895(2) is the outer boundary. A civil penalty imposed for violating the state building code or ORS 479.510 to 479.945 may not exceed $5,000 for each offense, or $1,000 for each day of a continuing offense, and the maximum may be imposed only on a finding of a pattern of violations. ORS 455.895(9) allows an additional penalty of up to five times the amount the violator profited from the transaction. ORS 455.895(8) reaches officers, directors, shareholders and agents who personally participate in the violation. Inside that ceiling the Electrical and Elevator Board uses a published matrix, approved March 7, 2017, and it is specific. For unlicensed activities, which the matrix defines to include working without a license and allowing an unlicensed individual to perform specialty work, the first offense carries a penalty assessed of $2,000 with a maximum stay of $1,750 and $250 minimum due; the second $2,500 with $1,500 minimum due; the third $5,000 with $4,000 minimum due. Permit violations start at $1,000 assessed with $250 minimum due. Scope of license violations, meaning licensed people working outside their grade, start at $2,000 assessed. Violation type counts violations committed within five years. On the CCB side ORS 701.992 allows up to $5,000 per offense, and ORS 479.670 and ORS 701.131 both block an unlicensed contractor from suing or lien filing for the work.
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This is the rule Oregon contractors get caught by, and it is written per medium. OAR 812-003-0120(1) says no person shall advertise or otherwise hold out to the public that person's services as a contractor unless that person holds a current, valid license, and no person shall claim by advertising or by any other means to be licensed, bonded, or insured unless they hold a current, valid license. Subsection (2) then requires the license number on: all newsprint classified and display advertising; all written bids, written inspection reports and building contracts; all telephone directory space ads and display ads; all audio-only advertising such as radio, where the number must be an audible statement; all video or video and audio advertising such as television, where it must be shown visually; all advertising by internet media including website advertising, where it must be shown visually; and all business cards, business letterhead, business signs at construction sites and all other written or visual advertising. Two carve-outs exist. Permanently affixed signs at the contractor's own place of business that primarily and prominently display the contractor's name are not written or visual advertising for this purpose, and the rule does not apply to promotional gifts such as pens, cups and clothing. On the electrical side, ORS 479.620(1) separately prohibits advertising as or otherwise purporting to be licensed to make electrical installations without an electrical contractor's license.
Two display rules run alongside the advertising rule, and they cover different things. OAR 918-282-0010(3) applies to the business: an electrical contractor shall display its electrical license at each of the contractor's places of business, and where there are multiple places of business a facsimile may be posted. The rule states its own purpose, which is to display the scope of electrical authority the contractor holds, so the copy on the wall has to be the current one. OAR 918-030-0920 applies to the person. Individuals performing electrical work that requires a license shall wear and visibly display their license. The rule defines a visible identification badge as the individual license, registration or certification issued by the division or an advisory board, and it expressly does not apply to contractors, businesses or inspectors. There is one exception: a licensee need not wear and visibly display the license if doing so would create a danger or unsafe condition for the licensee or the public, provided the licensee can demonstrate proof of licensure to an inspector, an investigator or another employee with authority to enforce the state building code. That is why the division prints a photo card and treats it as state-issued identification. A crew working an Oregon job site is expected to be wearing its licenses, not keeping them in a truck.
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Oregon does not adopt the National Electrical Code unamended. The Building Codes Division adopts the Oregon Electrical Specialty Code, and the current edition is the 2023 OESC, effective Oct. 1, 2023 and based on the 2023 National Electrical Code. The division publishes a table of amendments to the 2023 NEC rather than an integrated codebook, and states plainly that an integrated codebook is not available and the table of amendments is designed to be used with the 2023 NEC itself. The free read-only NEC on the NFPA site requires a free NFPA account. The code applies to all nonexempt electrical installations and alterations. A 2026 OESC adoption is in the division's proposed rules list alongside the 2026 plumbing and residential code adoptions, so the code-change training that drives the continuing education requirement is on a live cycle. This matters for renewal planning: the code-change hours in OAR 918-030-0120 are tied to the adopted edition, and the division's continuing education rule for its own inspectors, OAR 918-098-1450, requires a division-approved code-change course whenever the division determines a code change requires training. The division also publishes statewide code interpretations, statewide alternate methods and an Electrical and Elevator Board clarification on multi-family service permit fees.
Permits are local. Portland Permitting and Development says only a licensed contractor can buy a commercial electrical permit, that the permit application and the company's materials must list the license number, and that to do most electrical work a contractor must also hold the BCD electrical license and a BCD supervising electrical license. Portland's electrical permit fee schedule effective July 10, 2026 prices a residential square-foot wiring package at $408.00 for 1,000 square feet or less plus $93.00 for each additional 500 square feet, a 200 amp service or feeder at $212.00, 201 to 400 amps at $298.00, 401 to 600 amps at $391.00, 601 to 1,000 amps at $588.00, over 1,000 amps at $1,077.00, and a reconnect only at $190.00. Businesses operating in Portland must register with the Revenue Division within 60 days for the Business License Tax. Outside cities with their own programs, the Building Codes Division runs ePermitting and a minor label program for minor electrical installations and repairs, and provides building department services for Curry, Grant, Morrow and Umatilla counties. Verification takes two lookups, because Oregon splits the credential. The Building Codes Division license holder search returns the individual and contractor electrical licenses and the continuing education credits applied to them. The CCB search at search.ccb.state.or.us returns the construction license, its endorsement, bond and insurance. A contractor who is current in one and lapsed in the other is not legal to work.
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These are common details other guides publish about Oregon, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes, and at two levels. The Building Codes Division licenses the individual by grade and licenses the electrical contractor business. The Construction Contractors Board separately licenses the construction business. OAR 918-282-0000 says the electrical contractor license is in addition to CCB licensing and bonding.
Yes. OAR 918-282-0000(1) states the electrical contractor license is in addition to the licensing and bonding required by the Construction Contractors Board, and the CCB lists electrical among the trades requiring its license. Neither one covers the other.
At least 8,000 hours of electrical work experience under OAR 918-282-0170, with 4,000 of those hours split across named subject categories and no more than 300 percent credit in any one. ORS 479.630(4) also requires not fewer than 1,000 hours of dwelling wiring.
The Building Codes Division states a passing score of 75 percent or better for all of its licensing exams. The exam must be taken within 60 days of the Letter of Authorization, and a retake is scheduled no less than 30 days after a failure.
ORS 479.840(1)(a) sets $125 per year for an electrical contractor license for each place of business the applicant operates. The individual licenses are separate: $100 for a three-year general journeyman or general supervising electrician license under ORS 479.840(1)(e).
It depends on the CCB endorsement, not the trade. ORS 701.081 sets a $20,000 bond and $300,000 liability insurance for a residential specialty contractor and $25,000 with $500,000 for a residential general contractor. ORS 701.084 sets $55,000 and $1 million for a commercial specialty contractor level 1.
Individual licenses run on a three-year cycle under OAR 918-030-0210. A general supervising electrician needs 24 hours including 12 of code change; a general journeyman 24 hours including 8 of code change; a limited residential electrician 16 hours including 8. A 4-hour Oregon rule and law course is required in addition.
For the General Journeyman Electrician, Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. For the General Supervising Electrician, Arkansas and Utah. OAR 918-030-0045 also requires six months or 1,000 hours worked under the out-of-state license and a 75 percent or better exam score.
The Electrical and Elevator Board's penalty matrix assesses $2,000 for a first unlicensed activity violation with $250 minimum due, $2,500 for a second and $5,000 for a third. ORS 455.895 caps civil penalties at $5,000 per offense or $1,000 per day for a continuing offense.
Yes. OAR 812-003-0120(2) requires the CCB license number in newsprint ads, written bids and contracts, directory ads, radio as an audible statement, television shown visually, internet and website advertising shown visually, and on business cards, letterhead and job site signs.
Two places. The Building Codes Division license holder search covers the individual and contractor electrical licenses and the continuing education credits on them. The CCB search at search.ccb.state.or.us covers the construction license, endorsement, bond and insurance.
The 2023 Oregon Electrical Specialty Code, effective Oct. 1, 2023 and based on the 2023 National Electrical Code. The Building Codes Division publishes a table of amendments to be used with the 2023 NEC rather than an integrated codebook, and a 2026 OESC adoption is in proposed rules.
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