Tennessee · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Tennessee licenses remodeling at state level through the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors. A contractor license is required at $25,000 or more, including bidding and price negotiation. From $3,000 to $24,999 a home improvement license applies, but only in the nine counties that adopted that law, and it requires a $10,000 surety bond.
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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.
Residential remodeling in Tennessee is licensed by the state, not by individual cities. The Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, a section of the Regulatory Boards Division inside the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, issues every license that covers remodeling work. The Board was established in 1931. It regulates contractors, home improvement contractors, limited licensed electricians and limited licensed plumbers. Its licensing requirements sit in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 62, Chapter 6. The Board states its mission as protecting public health, safety and welfare through the regulation of those four programs. Two of those programs matter to a remodeler. The Contractor license applies to projects of $25,000 or more. The Home Improvement Contractor license applies from $3,000 to $24,999, and only in counties that have adopted the home improvement law. Applications for both run through CORE, the department's online licensing portal at core.tn.gov. The Board cites the governing statutes separately: contractors at 62-6-101, home improvement at 62-6-501, limited licensed electricians at 62-6-102, limited licensed plumbers at 62-6-401, and pre-licensed course providers at 62-6-138. Cities and counties still issue building permits and local business tax licenses on top of the state license. The Board's own contractor instructions tell applicants to obtain a business tax license through the Department of Revenue for each city or county where they plan to operate. So the state license is the first layer of a remodeler's paperwork, never the whole of it.
Tennessee draws the line by project value, not by trade. A contractor's license is required before contracting, which the Board defines to include bidding, offering to engage, or negotiating a price, for projects of $25,000 or more when you act as a prime contractor, as certain subcontractors, or as a construction manager or consultant. A prime contractor is one who bids or contracts directly with the owner. That is the position most remodelers occupy, because the homeowner hires them. Subcontractors need the license when they contract directly with a contractor rather than the owner to perform electrical, mechanical, plumbing, HVAC or roofing work and that portion of the project is $25,000 or more, counting materials, equipment and labor. Masonry subcontractors cross the line at $100,000 or more. Construction managers and consultants need the license when the total project value is $25,000 or more. Below $25,000, the state license question moves to the home improvement program and to local government. The Tennessee Attorney General's office and the Department of Commerce and Insurance jointly advise consumers that for work under $25,000 they should check with their local building codes office to confirm whether a state or local license is needed for home improvement, electrical, plumbing or HVAC work. The practical effect for a remodeler is that one estimate above the threshold, including the bidding conversation that precedes it, requires the license in hand first.
Tennessee's Home Improvement Contractor license is a county-adopted program, which makes it unusual. The Board states that a home improvement license is required for residential remodeling projects from $3,000 to $24,999, but only in the counties that adopted the law. The Board currently lists those counties as Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. That list covers Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga, so most of Tennessee's remodeling volume sits inside it. Home improvement is defined at T.C.A. 62-6-501(4)(A) and includes repair, replacement, remodeling, alterations or additions to any land or residential building. The Board notes it reaches driveways, swimming pools, porches, garages, landscaping, fences, roofing and painting as well. The adoption mechanism is in Board rule 0680-07-.14: a county legislative body may adopt the home improvement license law by a two-thirds majority vote, and the county must then notify the Board in writing of the effective date. Because the list can change by county vote, a remodeler working across county lines should confirm the current list with the Board rather than assume. The license is issued per business location. Board rule 0680-07-.03 states that all home improvement contractors required to be licensed have had to hold licenses since January 1, 1989, so this is not a new program.
The contractor license is issued to a business entity, and classifications control what that entity may build. Residential remodelers normally sit in the building classifications: BC-A for residential, BC for residential, commercial and industrial combined, BC-A,b(sm) for residential plus small commercial on projects under $750,000, and the restricted BC-A/r. The Board publishes a Classification Outline on its Forms and Downloads page that shows which classifications require a trade exam. Every licensed entity designates a Qualifying Agent, the person who sits the exams on the entity's behalf. The Board allows the Qualifying Agent to be an owner, a full-time employee or an officer, and a Qualifying Agent without ownership must file a Power of Attorney form. Up to two people may take each exam for the company, and the person who takes the Business and Law exam does not have to be the person who takes the trade exam. Experience is judged, not just counted. Board rule 0680-01 states that in deciding which classifications an applicant is qualified for, the Board primarily considers whether the applicant has adequate experience in the classifications requested, has an established plant such as an office, warehouse or equipment area, and has or can acquire the necessary equipment plus the experience to operate it. A Letter of Reference must be attached to the application, completed by a past client, employer or a codes official who has inspected your work, and it cannot be a family member. The Contractor's Affidavit must be notarized by the qualifying agent, owners, partners, members, main officers and major stockholders.
Contractor applicants take the Tennessee Business and Law exam, and a trade exam is required for certain classifications. The Board reports that Prov began administering its exams on July 1, 2026, taking over from PSI, and that exams are typically valid for two years. The exam is open book. The Board lists trade exams including Residential (BC-A), Commercial (BC-B), Industrial (BC-C), the combined BC, the small commercial BC-A,b(sm) for projects under $750,000, Electrical (CE), full Mechanical (CMC), Plumbing (CMC-A), HVAC (CMC-C), Fire Sprinkler (CMC-D) and Licensed Masonry Contractor (LMC) for masonry projects of $100,000 or more. The plumbing CMC-A and full mechanical CMC exams require Board pre-approval, requested with a Pre-Approval Request Form, and that request carries a $50 fee. Exam prep must be taken through a Board-licensed provider, and the Board publishes the licensed provider list. There is a second route for residential remodelers. Under the Restricted Residential Limited License (BC-A/r), a residential contractor who wants to perform work costing less than $125,000 may complete a Limited License course through a Tennessee community college or vocational school instead of taking the BC-A residential trade exam and the Business and Law exam. Only the examination requirement is waived; every other application requirement still applies. The BC-A/r carries real constraints: no ten percent monetary tolerance, no joint ventures, and the contract or permit value may not exceed the assigned limit, which includes the contractor's cost of land and profit. Raising the limit above $125,000 means sitting the exams and filing a reviewed financial statement.
Tennessee is one of the states that sets how large a job you may take based on your books. The law requires a reviewed or audited financial statement prepared by a licensed independent accounting firm, in the exact name and mode of operation to be licensed, and it must be less than twelve months old when the initial application is submitted. A reviewed statement covers limits of $3,000,000 or less; an audited statement is required above $3,000,000. The monetary limit is the dollar amount allowed for each individual project or contract, and there is no cap on how many projects you run, as long as a job is not split into phases to get around the law. The Board calculates the limit as ten times the lesser of working capital or net worth, plus required experience. The Board's own example: a $150,000 limit requires $15,000 in both working capital and net worth. An unlimited monetary limit requires $300,000 in both working capital and net worth, plus experience. A ten percent tolerance applies to the limit, except for the BC-A/r restricted license. Applicants can supplement with a Line of Credit or a Guaranty Agreement, and a Bond in the Board's format may replace a Guaranty Agreement at $500,000, or $1,000,000 for unlimited limits. Indemnities expire at renewal and may not exceed two years. From July 1, 2026, the Board also allows a Contractors' Surety Bond instead of a CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited statement, in an amount equal to at least fifty percent of the monetary limit requested.
The home improvement program carries its own financial responsibility requirement, and it is the closest thing Tennessee's remodeling rules have to a consumer recovery mechanism. The Board requires a surety bond in the amount of $10,000, or other financial responsibility in the form of a cash or property bond or an irrevocable letter of credit. Board rule 0680-07-.13 is specific about what that bond is for: a surety bond of ten thousand dollars, issued by an approved insurance company authorized to do business in Tennessee, for the benefit of a claimant who has been damaged by the contractor's breach of a home improvement contract. If the bond ceases to be in effect, the home improvement contractor's license becomes invalid, which means a lapsed bond is a lapsed license. The letter of credit alternative is an agreement with an FDIC insured financial institution extending an irrevocable line of credit of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of honoring claims filed with the Board. Bonds are written on a form approved by the Insurance Commissioner and available through the Board, showing the principal's name as it appears on the license application. Release is slow by design. A bond may not be released until one year after the inactivation, expiration or revocation of the license, and until pending claims filed during that period have been heard and satisfied or dismissed. The Board may also refuse a bond written by a surety that has failed to meet its obligations. At renewal, home improvement licensees must provide any updates to the surety bond.
Both Tennessee programs require insurance, and the amount is tied to what you are licensed to do. For the contractor license, the Board requires general liability insurance based on your monetary limit, so a larger approved limit means a larger policy. Workers compensation insurance is also required unless proof of exemption is provided. The Board publishes an Insurance Resources document on its Forms and Downloads page with the detail. For the home improvement license, the Board lists proof of insurance as a flat requirement: general liability and workers compensation are both required. Insurance is not a one-time filing. At renewal, contractors must upload a Certificate of Insurance for general liability and workers compensation coverage, or an exemption registration, and the Board notes that the exemption route is unavailable to a licensee claiming the handyman exemption. Home improvement licensees face the same renewal documentation. The state's consumer guidance treats insurance as a hiring test rather than a formality. The Tennessee Attorney General's office and the Department of Commerce and Insurance jointly tell homeowners to make sure a contractor is insured for workers compensation, damage and general liability by requesting copies of the insurance certificates showing a current effective date. That is worth knowing from the contractor's side: a remodeler bidding residential work in Tennessee should expect to be asked for current certificates, not a verbal assurance, and should keep them ready to hand over with the estimate rather than after the contract is signed.
The Board publishes one fee schedule covering all four of its programs, and it states that every fee paid in connection with those transactions is non-refundable. For the contractor license, the initial application fee is $250, and the same $250 applies to a reinstatement or an ownership change. Renewal is $200. The late renewal penalty is $20 per month for up to twelve months. A mode of operation change is $100. Retirement costs $25 per year of renewal for up to seven years, and every seven years a $200 reset fee is required to keep the license in retirement. A duplicate contractor license is $25. For the home improvement license, the initial, reinstatement or ownership change fee is also $250, renewal is $200, the late renewal penalty is $10 per month for up to three months, and a duplicate license is $10. Board rule 0680-07-.01 confirms the home improvement initial fee of $250 and renewal fee of $200 are biennial and charged per business location. Two related programs a remodeler may touch cost less: the Limited Licensed Electrician license is $50 initial and $50 renewal, with reinstatement at $80, and the Limited Licensed Plumber license is $75 initial or reinstatement with a $50 renewal. Course providers pay $1,500 initial and $1,000 renewal. One cost that is not a Board fee: the Board requires a CPA-prepared financial statement for the contractor license, and that accounting work is priced by the accountant.
Both licenses renew on a two-year cycle, and the Board charges the home improvement fees as biennial amounts. The renewal option appears in your CORE account once you are within ninety days of your expiration date, and the Board advises submitting at least thirty days before expiration to avoid working on an expired license. The grace periods differ sharply by program. A contractor license has a twelve-month grace period, with a $20 per month late fee inside it; past twelve months expired, you must file a new application and meet every initial licensure requirement again. A home improvement license has only a three-month grace period, with a $10 per month late fee; past three months, you reapply from scratch. Renewal documentation for a contractor includes a financial statement, and the threshold is lower than at application: a renewal above $1.5 million needs a Compiled Financial Statement prepared by a licensed CPA, while a renewal below $1.5 million may use a self-prepared balance sheet on the Board's form. Continuing education applies to residential classifications. Under T.C.A. 62-6-112(g), contractors holding BC-A, BC-A/r or BC-A,b(sm) who were licensed after January 1, 2009 must show eight hours of Residential Continuing Education from a Board-approved provider as a condition of renewal. The Board states this is eight hours with every renewal. The Qualifying Agent is responsible for obtaining it, and where a company has multiple residential Qualifying Agents only one needs to complete it. Certificates are uploaded with the renewal application.
Tennessee is blunt on this point. The Board states that you cannot operate in Tennessee with a license from another state. There is no full reciprocity and no endorsement path that converts an out-of-state residential license into a Tennessee one. What Tennessee does offer is a narrower trade exam waiver. If you are actively licensed in a participating state and the Tennessee license you are requesting requires a trade exam, you may be able to waive that trade exam by having the other state complete the Board's License Verification form and returning it with your application. The Board lists the participating states and the scope of each: Alabama for general, electrical, residential and HVAC; Arkansas for commercial and residential building only; Louisiana for residential, commercial, electrical and mechanical; Mississippi for residential, commercial, electrical and unlimited mechanical; North Carolina for residential and commercial building and electrical; Ohio for electrical, plumbing and HVAC; South Carolina for commercial building, electrical, HVAC and plumbing through its Commercial Contractors Licensing Board; and West Virginia for residential, commercial and industrial building, electrical, mechanical and masonry. Tennessee also accepts the NASCLA National Commercial exam. Two limits matter. The waiver covers the trade exam only, so the Tennessee Business and Law exam, the financial statement, insurance and the rest still apply. And the Board states the waiver agreement applies only to Contractors licensed with the Board, not to the Home Improvement, Limited Licensed Electrician or Limited Licensed Plumber programs. Military applicants and spouses have a separate expedited route under Board rule 0680-07-.15, including temporary licenses.
Tennessee enforces this at the bid, not at the final invoice. Board rule 0680-01-.18 provides that no person, firm or corporation who engages or offers to engage in contracting without a valid contractor's license, or in violation of the terms and conditions of their license, shall be awarded any contract for the project on which it contracted unlicensed, and may not participate in any re-bidding of that project. Losing the job and the rebid is the structural penalty. Money follows. Board rule 0680-01-.19 sets a civil penalty schedule: $50 to $1,000 for violations of 62-6-101 et seq., $50 to $5,000 for a violation of 62-6-120(d), and $50 to $5,000 for violations of rules 0680-01-.13(4) and 0680-01-.18. Under rule 0680-01-.21 the Board's Executive Director may issue citations against persons acting as a contractor without a license in violation of T.C.A. 62-6-103, each carrying $50 to $1,000. The home improvement side has its own schedule in rule 0680-07-.16, including $50 to $1,000 for a violation of 62-6-502, the licensing requirement itself, and up to $25,000 for certain violations of 62-6-510. Both schedules treat each day of continued violation as a separate violation, and both let the Board weigh whether the penalty is a substantial economic deterrent. Enforcement is active: the Attorney General's office reported that in 2024 the Board received 884 complaints and took disciplinary actions totaling $990,896.25 in civil penalties arising from 299 of them.
Sourcespublications.tnsosfiles.com 1publications.tnsosfiles.com 2tn.gov 3
Tennessee puts a specific advertising duty on home improvement licensees, and it is easy to breach by accident. Board rule 0680-07-.04 provides that a licensed home improvement contractor may not solicit home improvement business by way of advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, circular or printed document, or by way of television or radio announcement, unless the name and license number of the contractor is stated in the advertisement. Name alone is not enough; the number has to be there. The same rule bars a licensee from publishing, directly or indirectly, any advertisement relating to home improvements, including finance or credit terms, that contains an assertion, representation or statement of fact that is false, deceptive or misleading. It also restricts specific claims: phrases such as Factory to You, Direct to You, Buy from the Manufacturer, Save the Middleman's Profit, or phrases of similar meaning may not be used unless the advertiser actually makes or produces the merchandise being advertised. A related rule governs the name you trade under. Rule 0680-07-.17 states the licensee has an affirmative responsibility to enter contracts and operate under the name in which it is licensed, so that the public is not confused about licensure status, and contracting under a different name is a violation subject to discipline. Rule 0680-07-.05 requires written notice to the Board within thirty days of any change of ownership control, management, address or trade name. Advertising violations fall inside the Board's civil penalty schedule rather than outside it.
Sourcespublications.tnsosfiles.com
A Tennessee remodeler's paperwork is governed by both the Board and consumer protection law, and the state publishes guidance on what a homeowner should expect. The Tennessee Attorney General's office and the Department of Commerce and Insurance state plainly that state law prohibits requiring more than a one-third down payment. That is the single most commonly broken term in residential remodeling, and it applies to the contract you write, not just to what you collect. The same guidance tells homeowners not to pay the total amount before work is complete, not to pay in cash, and not to turn over an insurance check. The Board's rules add contract-side duties. Rule 0680-07-.17 requires the contract to be entered in the name in which the entity is licensed. Rule 0680-07-.18 lists failure to abide by a warranty agreement as misconduct that can lead to suspension or revocation, so the warranty you write becomes enforceable through the license. The same rule makes it misconduct to pull a building, electrical, plumbing or similar permit for a job where an unlicensed contractor is acting as general contractor, or to let your license number be used by an unlicensed or improperly licensed contractor. Timing matters to both sides: under rule 0680-07-.06 the Board may summarily dismiss a complaint brought more than one year after the date of the home improvement contract the complaint arises from, unless the Board finds the delay justified. The statutory contract and cancellation terms sit in T.C.A. 62-6-501 and following.
A state license does not pull a permit by itself. In Nashville and Davidson County, the Metro Nashville Department of Codes and Building Safety runs residential permitting, and its own guidance states that contractors who are properly licensed and bonded with the Department of Codes and Building Safety may obtain a building permit within the limits established for their licenses. Registered contractors apply for residential building permits through the ePermits system. A property owner can self-permit, but then assumes all responsibility for meeting zoning, building and trades codes. Nashville also publishes a work-by-work list of what triggers a rehab permit for one and two family dwellings, which is useful when scoping a remodel: replacing any structural element, roof decking over 64 square feet, drywall repair or replacement greater than 100 square feet, wall removal even if non load bearing, new or remodeled stairs that change tread or riser, roofing that replaces more than a third of the roof, new shower or bath enclosures, and chimney repair over 25 percent all require a permit, while cabinet installation with no electrical or plumbing, flooring, painting and window replacement that does not change the opening do not. Davidson, Shelby, Knox, Hamilton, Rutherford, Bradley, Haywood, Marion and Robertson counties have adopted the home improvement license law, so in those counties the $3,000 to $24,999 band needs a state home improvement license as well as the local permit. Separately, the state advises that construction contractors generally need a county business license if annual gross receipts exceed $3,000.
Tennessee maintains a free public license lookup at verify.tn.gov, and the state actively points consumers to it. The Attorney General's office and the Department of Commerce and Insurance tell homeowners to visit verify.tn.gov before hiring a contractor, describing it as a free online database for checking the license status of thousands of professionals and businesses. The Board's own Consumer Resources page carries the same Verify a License link, plus a separate Verify a Qualifying Agent tool, which lets a homeowner confirm who sat the exams for your company. Status alone is not the whole record. The state tells consumers that for complaint and disciplinary history they should contact the Board for Licensing Contractors directly by phone at 615-741-8307 or by email, and that the Division of Consumer Affairs can provide complaint history for companies by email as well. Consumers are also directed to the Tennessee Secretary of State business search to confirm the company is organized in Tennessee or holds a Certificate of Authority, and to the county clerk to confirm the local business license. For a remodeler this is worth treating as a sales asset rather than a hurdle. Your license status, your classification, your monetary limit and your Qualifying Agent are all publicly checkable, and a homeowner comparing bids has been told by the state to go check them. Making the license number easy to find, which the advertising rule already requires, shortens that check.
These are common details other guides publish about Tennessee, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
It depends on the price and the county. A Tennessee contractor license is required at $25,000 or more, including during bidding and price negotiation. From $3,000 to $24,999 you need a home improvement license, but only in the nine counties that adopted that law. Below those thresholds, check your local codes office.
The Board for Licensing Contractors currently lists Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. Counties opt in by a two-thirds vote of the county legislative body and must notify the Board of the effective date, so the list can change. Confirm with the Board before bidding in a new county.
The initial application fee is $250, filed through CORE at core.tn.gov, and the same $250 applies to reinstatement or an ownership change. Renewal is $200 on a two-year cycle. Late renewal adds $10 per month for up to three months. A duplicate license is $10. All Board fees are non-refundable.
Yes. The Board requires a $10,000 surety bond, or other financial responsibility such as a cash or property bond or an irrevocable letter of credit. The bond exists for a claimant damaged by a breach of a home improvement contract. If the bond stops being in effect, the license becomes invalid.
No. The Board states you cannot operate in Tennessee on another state's license. Tennessee offers only a trade exam waiver for active licensees in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia. That waiver covers the trade exam alone and does not apply to the home improvement program.
The Tennessee Business and Law exam, plus the BC-A residential trade exam for most residential classifications. Exams are open book and typically valid for two years. Prov became the Board's exam provider on July 1, 2026. Up to two people may sit each exam for a company, and they need not be the same person.
By your financial statement. The monetary limit is ten times the lesser of your working capital or net worth, plus required experience, and it applies per project. The Board's example is that a $150,000 limit needs $15,000 in both working capital and net worth. An unlimited limit needs $300,000 in both.
Yes, within limits. The Restricted Residential Limited License, BC-A/r, lets you complete a Limited License course at a Tennessee community college or vocational school instead of the BC-A trade exam and the Business and Law exam, for work under $125,000. No ten percent tolerance and no joint ventures apply.
Every two years, with renewal appearing in CORE ninety days before expiration. The Board advises filing thirty days early. A contractor license has a twelve-month grace period at $20 per month; a home improvement license has only three months at $10 per month. After that you reapply and meet every initial requirement.
Yes for residential classifications. Under T.C.A. 62-6-112(g), contractors holding BC-A, BC-A/r or BC-A,b(sm) who were licensed after January 1, 2009 must show eight hours of Residential Continuing Education from a Board-approved provider at each renewal. The Qualifying Agent obtains it, and only one agent per company needs to.
Yes. Board rule 0680-07-.04 bars a licensed home improvement contractor from soliciting business by newspaper, magazine, circular, printed document, television or radio unless the advertisement states the contractor's name and license number. The same rule prohibits false, deceptive or misleading advertising, including claims about finance or credit terms.
You lose the job. Board rule 0680-01-.18 bars awarding any contract to an unlicensed contractor for that project and bars participation in any re-bidding of it. Civil penalties run from $50 to $5,000 depending on the violation, citations for unlicensed practice run $50 to $1,000, and each day counts separately.
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