Georgia · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Georgia licenses residential remodeling through the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors, under the Secretary of State. Remodelers work under a residential-basic or residential-light commercial license, not a separate home improvement registration. The headline requirement is proof of general liability insurance, at least $300,000 for residential-basic work, plus workers compensation and a passed board examination.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Georgia regulates residential remodeling at the state level. The State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors sets the rules, and those rules sit in Department 553 of the Georgia Administrative Code, published by the Secretary of State. The board runs two divisions. The residential contractor division covers one and two family homes, townhouses and the light commercial work that sits beside them. The general contractor division covers larger commercial construction. A remodeler who works on occupied houses belongs in the residential division. Georgia built no separate home improvement contractor registry. There is no second card for remodelers, no home improvement bureau, and no county by county registration scheme run by the state. If your remodeling work falls inside the chapter the board enforces, you hold a residential contractor license, and that single license is what a permit clerk, a homeowner and a lender all ask to see. Several trades sit outside this board. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division states that roofers, painters, drywall contractors and repair handymen are not required to be licensed by the state. So a kitchen gut and reframe is board territory while a repaint of that same kitchen is not. Electrical, plumbing, conditioned air, low voltage and utility contracting are licensed under a different chapter of Georgia law and a different board, so those scopes carry their own credentials and a residential contractor license does not cover them. Cities and counties then add permits and local business licenses. Those sit on top of the state license and never substitute for it.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov 1rules.sos.ga.gov 2consumered.georgia.gov 3rules.sos.ga.gov 4
The residential contractor division issues the license at two levels. Residential-basic is the entry classification for work in the residential-basic category. Residential-light commercial is issued by the residential-light commercial subdivision, and the license itself states that the holder is qualified as residential-light commercial. The board's rules treat these as separate qualifications with separate experience proofs, separate examinations and separate insurance floors, so a remodeler cannot drift into light commercial scopes on a basic card. Above both sits the general contractor division, a different division of the same board with its own qualification rules. Most remodeling companies never need it. The moment a project stops being a dwelling, the question of which division applies becomes a real one. The City of Savannah describes how this plays out at the permit counter. For commercial projects a Georgia licensed contractor must pick up the permit, and the scope of the project, the structure's type of construction and the cost of the project determine whether a residential-light commercial contractor or a general contractor is required. That is the practical test most remodelers meet first: not a statute, but a plans examiner deciding whether your card matches the drawings. Pick the classification you intend to sell before you apply. Moving up later means a fresh experience showing, a fresh examination and a higher insurance minimum. If your pipeline includes small mixed use buildings, apartment interiors or anything taller than a townhouse, apply at the light commercial level from the start.
Not every remodeling task needs the license. The board defines repair as fixing, mending, maintenance, replacement or restoring of a part or portions of real property to good condition, and it recognizes a repair exception drawn from the licensing statute. A person may contract to perform repair work without a residential or general contractor license only if four conditions all hold. First, the person performing the work discloses in writing to the owner that the person or entity is not licensed as a residential or general contractor. Second, the work does not involve delegating, assigning or engaging anyone other than the person's own employees to supervise, manage or oversee any portion of the work. Third, the work does not affect life safety requirements or the structural integrity of the property, which rules out removing or adding any load bearing wall and removing or cutting any structural beam or load bearing support. Fourth, the person obtains the permits and inspections the local authority requires. The board also states plainly that this repair exception does not reduce the licensing requirements for electrical contracting, plumbing, conditioned air contracting, low voltage contracting and utility contracting, which sit under a separate chapter of Georgia law. Read those four conditions as a boundary, not a loophole. A remodel that moves a wall, opens a ceiling, adds a beam or brings in a framing sub for the structural portion has left the exception. So has any job sold without the written unlicensed disclosure. Most real remodeling scopes fail at least one condition, which is why the license is the default.
Eligibility for a residential-basic license has four parts in the board's rules. The applicant must be at least 21 years of age. The applicant must be of good character and otherwise qualified as to competency, ability and integrity. The applicant must have at least two years of proven experience working as, or in the employment of, a residential contractor, predominantly in the residential-basic category, or other proven experience the division deems substantially similar. And the applicant must have had significant responsibility for the successful performance and completion of at least two projects in the residential-basic category in the two years immediately preceding application. The residential-light commercial track uses the same age and character tests but looks further back. The applicant must show significant responsibility for the successful performance and completion of at least two projects in the light commercial category in the four years immediately preceding application, with proof attached to the application. Proof is sworn. Each applicant swears on the application that every requirement is met and submits supporting proof where the application directs. By submitting, the applicant consents to a background check, including a criminal history, if the division chooses to run one. The application must also list every person, entity and business organization the applicant will be affiliated with as a licensed contractor, whether by employment, ownership, service as an owner or director, partnership, membership or service as a qualifying agent. The division's decision on qualifications is conclusive under its rules. Once licensed, you must notify the division in writing within 30 days of any change to the information on file, including mailing address, insurance coverages and affiliated entities.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov
Qualified applicants sit an examination the residential contractor division prepares and conducts. The rules describe what it tests: the ability to make practical application of knowledge of residential contracting, reading plans and specifications, building codes, estimating costs, construction, ethics, contracting, the responsibilities a residential contractor owes to the public and to owners, subcontractors and suppliers, and knowledge of Georgia law on construction, workers compensation, insurance and liens. The light commercial examination covers the same ground at that scope. Before sitting it, an applicant must satisfy the division from the application and proofs that the applicant has good character and is qualified as to competency, ability, integrity and financial responsibility. The examination comes after that screen, not before. A candidate who fails may be reexamined at any regularly scheduled examination within one year of the date of the original application, on payment of a reexamination fee. Past that window the rules push the candidate back through a fresh application with examination fees, and require waiting at least one calendar year after the taking of the last examination. If the results satisfy the division and the other requirements are met, the license issues on payment of the fees the board prescribes. There was once a route around the examination. The statute allowed certain people to receive a residential license without examination, including people who already held a residential contracting license from a Georgia political subdivision and had passed a substantially similar local examination. That window is closed. The rule required completed exemption applications and proofs to be received between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2006.
The board sets a hard insurance floor and ties it to the classification. An applicant for the residential-basic category must provide satisfactory proof of general liability insurance of not less than $300,000. An applicant in the residential-light commercial category must provide satisfactory proof of general liability insurance of not less than $500,000. Both must also provide satisfactory proof of workers compensation insurance as required by Georgia law, in their own name. This is not a one time filing. A certificate from the insurer or other appropriate evidence of the coverages must be maintained with the residential contractor division, and the rules make that a condition of renewal. A lapse in coverage is therefore a lapse in your standing to renew. If your coverage changes, the rules give you 30 days to notify the division in writing, and insurance is named as one of the changes that triggers that duty. Renewal applications also ask the licensee to answer questions about the company's insurance and financial state, and the board can demand documents backing any sworn statement on a renewal. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division tells homeowners that, in most instances, businesses acting as residential or general contractors are required to carry a general liability policy, and it tells them to ask the company or its agent directly if the website does not disclose one. Expect that question on real jobs. The minimum is a minimum. Nothing stops a homeowner, a bank or a general contractor from requiring higher limits in the contract, and the certificate has to be in the licensee's own name.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov 1rules.sos.ga.gov 2consumered.georgia.gov 3
Workers compensation in Georgia turns on headcount, not on job type. The State Board of Workers' Compensation states that every employer, individual, firm, association or corporation regularly employing three or more persons, part time or full time, must provide workers compensation insurance coverage. Employee means every person, including minors, working full time or part time under a contract of hire, written or implied. Ownership structure does not get you under the threshold. Corporate officers and limited liability company members count as employees of the company. Up to five officers or limited liability company members may exempt themselves from coverage by filing Form WC-10 with their insurance company, but the board states that those exemptions do not decrease the number of employees when working out the employer's obligations. A partner or sole proprietor is not an employee of the business unless that person elects to be included and tells the insurer on Form WC-10. Subcontracting carries exposure. A contractor subject to the law who sublets any part of the contract work to a subcontractor may be liable for coverage for that subcontractor's employees if the subcontractor has not obtained coverage. For a remodeler running framing, drywall and tile crews through subs, that is a reason to collect certificates before anyone starts, not after. The licensing board sits on top of this. Its rules require satisfactory proof of workers compensation insurance as required by Georgia law as a condition of licensure and keep that proof on file as a condition of renewal. The state consumer guidance repeats the three employee trigger to homeowners, so expect to be asked.
Sourcessbwc.georgia.gov 1rules.sos.ga.gov 2consumered.georgia.gov 3
Georgia residential contractor licenses renew on a biennial cycle with a fixed calendar date. The renewal fee set by the board is due and payable by June 30 of even numbered years, and the renewal application, filed by mail or online, must come with the fee and an attestation of continuing education hours. Miss June 30 and a penalty fee applies to any renewal filed after that date and through December 31 of the renewal period. Miss December 31 and the rules say failure to renew has the same effect as a revocation of the license. Reinstatement after that point is at the board's discretion. The board may require a completed application for licensure with all fees and information as if it were a new application, and may require the applicant to pass an examination again. Continuing education runs annually inside the two year cycle. A residential-basic licensee must complete three hours of acceptable continuing education each year. A residential-light commercial licensee must complete six hours each year. A year means July 1 through June 30. Hours used to renew during a penalty period cannot be used again in the next renewal cycle. Keep the paperwork. Official documentation of course attendance must be kept for at least two years after the end of the biennium in which the course was taken, and must be furnished to the division on request or random audit. Compliance is a condition of renewal: failing to complete the required hours is grounds to deny renewal and can also bring disciplinary action against the licensee.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov
Georgia makes a written warranty part of residential contracting by rule, and the trigger is a dollar figure. A covered contract means any contract to construct, or to superintend or manage the construction of, any single family residence where the total value of the work or activity, or the compensation the contractor will receive for it, exceeds $2,500.00. Single family residence means a one or two family residence as defined in the current edition of the state minimum standard International Residential Code. A licensed residential contractor and any affiliated entities must offer a written warranty with each covered contract. The warranty has to describe, at a minimum, the covered work and activities, the covered exclusions, the standards for evaluating the work, the term of the warranty including its commencement date or event, the claim procedures, the contractor's response options such as repair, replace or compensate, and any assignable manufacturer warranties. The evaluation standard is not left to argument. The rule names the current edition of the Residential Construction Performance Guidelines published by the National Association of Home Builders as the standard for evaluating work and activities. Timing matters. Before a covered contract is executed, the contractor must attach a complete copy of the written warranty, or an identical blank standard form of it, to the contract, or otherwise make it available for review. Doing it afterward does not satisfy the rule. There is a penalty attached. The board's disciplinary rules list failing to offer a written warranty as required as conduct that can support discipline.
Georgia remodelers who sell inside the home are covered by the federal cooling off rule, and it bites at a low dollar figure. The rule applies to a door to door sale, which includes a sale of consumer goods or services where the seller or a representative personally solicits the sale, including after an invitation by the buyer, and the buyer's agreement is made somewhere other than the seller's place of business. The purchase price trigger is $25 or more when the sale is made at the buyer's residence, or $130 or more elsewhere, under single or multiple contracts. For a covered sale, it is an unfair and deceptive practice to fail to give the buyer a fully completed receipt or copy of the contract at the time it is signed, in the same language used in the oral sales presentation, showing the date of the transaction and the seller's name and address. Near the signature space the contract must carry a statement in substantially this form: you, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction. A duplicate notice of cancellation form goes with it, and on cancellation the buyer must be able to keep a complete copy of the contract. Narrow exceptions exist, including prior negotiations at a fixed retail location, buyer initiated emergency repairs where the buyer signs a handwritten waiver, and a buyer initiated visit to repair personal property. Georgia's consumer agency separately tells homeowners never to pay for a whole project before work begins and to keep any deposit to no more than a quarter, or at most a third, of the total cost.
The license attaches to a person, and a company works through that person. An individual can be licensed in his or her own name, doing business as an individual in a trade name or as a sole proprietorship, by filing an application with the division and the application fee the board sets. A business organization that wants to contract in the company's name does it differently: an individual affiliated with the company by ownership or employment applies to act as the qualifying agent for that organization, under the statute the board's rules cite for qualifying agents. The qualification standards do not soften for the company route. The qualifying agent applicant must meet the same age, character, experience and project requirements, sit the same examination unless exempt, and show the same insurance. Applications in the business context carry the company's federal taxpayer identification number, while an individual applying in his or her own name supplies a social security number. The general liability floors track the classification either way, at not less than $300,000 for residential-basic and not less than $500,000 for residential-light commercial. Affiliation has to be declared. The application must list every person, entity and business organization the applicant will be affiliated with as a licensed contractor, including by employment, ownership, service as an owner or director, partnership, membership or service as a qualifying agent. If that picture changes, the 30 day written notice duty applies to affiliated entities as much as to addresses and insurance. One consequence worth planning around: if the qualifying agent leaves, the company's authority to contract in its own name goes with that person.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov
The board's grounds for discipline read like a list of the ways remodeling contracts go wrong, and several of them are about how you present yourself. Practicing without a current valid license is grounds. So is being guilty of fraudulent, misleading or deceptive advertising. So is falsely impersonating another licensee, and wrongfully transferring or surrendering possession of your license to another person, temporarily or permanently. Two provisions reach the contractor who works with unlicensed people. Performing any act that assists a person or entity in the prohibited unlicensed practice of contracting is grounds, if the licensee knows or has reasonable grounds to know the person is unlicensed. Knowingly combining or conspiring with an unlicensed person by allowing your license to be used to evade the contractor laws is grounds on its own. The sales conduct items matter to anyone quoting work. The rules name knowingly charging for unnecessary work, diverting funds or property received for a specific project without the consumer's specific authorization for that job, establishing a pattern of charging amounts substantially in excess of an original estimate without the owner's prior approval, failing to accurately represent qualifications, capabilities, experience and the scope of responsibility for the work, and abandoning a project. Not offering the required written warranty is listed too. Read the qualifications item as an advertising rule. Claiming a classification you do not hold, or capabilities you cannot legally perform, is the kind of misrepresentation the board sanctions. Discipline follows notice and a hearing under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act. Consumers can report an unlicensed contractor through the Secretary of State's licensing complaint form.
State licensure does not get you a permit. The board's own repair rule ends by requiring the person doing the work to obtain the permits and inspections the local authority requires, and in metro Atlanta that authority is the county or city building department. DeKalb County's Department of Planning and Sustainability states the contractor requirement in its residential additions permit guide in one line: contractors must be licensed by the State of Georgia, have a Georgia business license, and have government issued identification, and the names on all licenses must match. That last clause catches more remodelers than the first two. A license in one legal name, a business license in another and an identification card in a third will stall an application at intake. The scope that guide governs is ordinary remodeling work: accessory structures, porches, decks, room additions, second story additions, garages, carports and swimming pools. Applications and fees go through the county ePermits portal. The guide also lists the questions DeKalb expects answered before you apply, and they are the ones that delay remodels. Zoning, building setbacks and maximum impervious surface. Whether the property sits in a residential infill overlay district, which can change allowable building height. Whether it sits in a historic district. Proof of ownership by warranty deed if the home changed hands in the past calendar year and the tax records have not caught up. Floodplain status and flood damage. A final inspection on any demolition already done. And compliance with the county stream buffer ordinance if the addition falls within 75 feet of a stream. Sell timelines that assume those checks, not ones that assume a clean counter.
Augusta-Richmond County ties the permit directly to state licensure. Its License and Inspection Department states that no permit, except for homeowners, shall be issued to anyone other than a properly licensed contractor under the laws of the State of Georgia and the ordinances of Augusta-Richmond County. Single family permits are issued to contractors, or to the homeowner if the homeowner is going to own and occupy the house. Commercial and other construction must be under a contractor's license, and electrical, plumbing and mechanical trades require certificates of competency from the state industry licensing board. Augusta also sets a low permit threshold for remodeling. A building permit is required for renovations, additions, re-roofing, window replacements, vinyl siding, soffit and fascia, signs, swimming pools, and utility or storage buildings larger than 120 square feet, as well as tree, water or fire damaged properties. For residential renovations the county states that a permit must be obtained before beginning construction, alteration or repairs, other than ordinary repairs in which the cost of the project materials is less than $500.00. Savannah runs permitting through its eTRAC system and takes the same line on who may hold the permit. For commercial projects a Georgia licensed contractor must pick up the permit. A homeowner may act as their own contractor if they live in the residence and have not applied for a permit at another address within two years. On a duplex, the owner may be the contractor for their own unit but needs a Georgia licensed contractor for the other habitable unit. Mechanical permits go only to Georgia licensed mechanical contractors or to bona fide homeowners doing their own work under a notarized affidavit.
Georgia gives homeowners a free public check, and remodelers should assume it gets used. The state portal's professional licensing page points to the Secretary of State's license lookup for anyone who wants to confirm a license, and the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division spells out the click path: go to the Secretary of State's website, choose Licensing, click Licensee Search, open the Building and Contractors tab, and select Residential and General Contractors. That same guidance walks homeowners through a second check. To see whether a contractor's company is registered with the state, they are told to use the Secretary of State's business search and look up a business by name, control number, registered agent or officer name. A license in one name and a business entity in another invites a question you would rather answer before the proposal than after. Insurance is the third check, and it is less automated. The consumer guidance says that in most instances a residential or general contractor must carry a general liability policy, and that if the company website does not disclose the policy, the homeowner should contact the company or its agent and ask directly. It adds that a business with three or more employees must also carry workers compensation. Two things follow for a working remodeler. Keep your name consistent across license, entity registration, business license and identification, because every verification path compares them. And put the license number, the entity name and a current certificate of insurance where a homeowner can see them without asking, since the state has already told them to look.
Sourcesgeorgia.gov 1consumered.georgia.gov 2sbwc.georgia.gov 3
Homeowners sometimes ask a Georgia remodeler which state fund pays them if a job goes wrong. The answer is that the board's rules do not create one. Department 553 of the Georgia Administrative Code is organized into chapters on board organization, examination exemption, qualifications for licensure in the residential and general contractor divisions, procedural rules, fees, written warranty, definitions, disciplinary action, inactive licenses, changes in status, and license renewal and continuing education. No chapter establishes a recovery fund, a guaranty fund or a claims process paying consumers out of licensee contributions, and the board's rules set no surety bond figure for residential licensure. What Georgia does instead is stack other protections. The general liability policy is a licensing condition and a renewal condition, at not less than $300,000 for residential-basic work and not less than $500,000 for residential-light commercial work. Workers compensation coverage is required once an employer regularly employs three or more people. The written warranty rule puts claim procedures and response options in writing on any covered contract over $2,500.00 for a one or two family residence. Disciplinary rules let the board sanction abandonment, fund diversion and misrepresentation after notice and a hearing. The Secretary of State takes complaints about unlicensed contractors. For a remodeler, the absence of a fund is something to handle carefully in a sales conversation. Do not promise a homeowner a state backstop that does not exist. Show the certificate of insurance, the written warranty with its claim procedure, and a payment schedule tied to completed work. That is the protection Georgia actually built, and saying so plainly beats implying a fund.
Sourcesrules.sos.ga.gov 1rules.sos.ga.gov 2rules.sos.ga.gov 3rules.sos.ga.gov 4sbwc.georgia.gov 5consumered.georgia.gov 6
These are common details other guides publish about Georgia, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
In most cases yes. Remodeling that goes past repair falls under the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors. The board's repair exception is narrow: written notice that you are unlicensed, no outside supervision, nothing touching life safety or structural integrity, and local permits pulled. Moving a wall or cutting a beam leaves the exception.
No. Georgia has no standalone home improvement contractor registry. Remodelers hold a residential contractor license from the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors at the residential-basic or residential-light commercial level. Cities and counties then require a local business license and building permits, but those are additions to the state license, never replacements for it.
They are separate qualifications with separate examinations, experience proofs and insurance floors. Residential-basic requires two qualifying projects in the two years before applying and general liability of at least $300,000. Residential-light commercial requires two qualifying projects in the four years before applying and general liability of at least $500,000. The license states which one you hold.
Not in the board's rules. Department 553 of the Georgia Administrative Code contains no recovery fund, no guaranty fund and no bond figure for residential licensure. Georgia relies on required general liability coverage, workers compensation, the written warranty rule, board discipline after notice and a hearing, and the courts. Do not promise clients a state payout.
Not less than $300,000 for the residential-basic category and not less than $500,000 for the residential-light commercial category. Proof must be filed with the residential contractor division and kept on file, and the rules make that a condition of renewal. Any change in coverage triggers written notice to the division within 30 days.
Once you regularly employ three or more people, part time or full time. Corporate officers and limited liability company members count as employees, and up to five may exempt themselves on Form WC-10 without reducing the headcount. Subbing out work can also expose you to coverage for a subcontractor's employees if that subcontractor carries none.
On a biennial cycle, with the renewal fee due by June 30 of even numbered years. A penalty fee applies from July 1 through December 31. Failure to renew by December 31 has the same effect as revocation, and reinstatement is at the board's discretion, possibly requiring a new application and another examination.
Three hours each year for a residential-basic license and six hours each year for a residential-light commercial license, with the year running July 1 through June 30. Keep attendance documentation for at least two years after the biennium ends, since the division can request it or run a random audit. Shortfalls can block renewal.
If the contract is to construct, superintend or manage construction of a one or two family residence and the value or your compensation exceeds $2,500.00, yes. The warranty must cover scope, exclusions, evaluation standards, term, claim procedures, response options and assignable manufacturer warranties, and a complete copy goes to the owner before signing.
Often yes. The federal cooling off rule covers sales solicited in person away from your place of business at $25 or more at the buyer's residence. You must hand over a completed contract copy carrying the notice that the buyer may cancel before midnight of the third business day, plus a cancellation form.
It depends on the jurisdiction. Augusta-Richmond County issues single family permits to contractors, or to a homeowner who will own and occupy the house. Savannah allows a homeowner to act as their own contractor if they live there and have not permitted another address within two years. DeKalb requires state license, business license and matching identification.
Through the Secretary of State's licensee search. The Attorney General's consumer guidance tells homeowners to open Licensing, click Licensee Search, choose the Building and Contractors tab, then Residential and General Contractors. They are also told to run a business search on your entity and to ask you or your agent directly about liability coverage.
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