Official Notice - Effective July 1, 2008

RESIDENTIAL AND GENERAL CONTRACTORS MUST BE LICENSED

Pursuant to Georgia law O.C.G.A. 43-41, the following contractor types must obtain a license from the Georgia State Board of Residential and General Contractors by July 1, 2008: · Residential-Basic Contractor: Those who perform contract work relative to detached one-family and two-family residences and one-family townhouses not over three stories in height.
· Residential-Light Commercial Contractor: Those who perform contract work or activity related to multifamily and multiuse light commercial buildings and structures.
· General Contractor: Those who perform unlimited contractor services in commercial construction, including private, public, institutional and industrial contracting.

All applicants for licensure must pass a two part examination: 1) A practical section related to the license they are trying to obtain and a business and 2) a law section. Applications for examination may be found on the Board's website at: www.sos.ga.gov/plb/contractors. Once approved by the Board to sit for the examination, applicants will receive a letter with instructions to schedule the examination. Examinations are offered Monday through Friday in Atlanta, Macon, and Tifton. Please submit your application for examination well in advance of July 1, 2008 to allow sufficient time to process your application and to take the exam.

The educational and experience requirements for each license type are as follows:
· Residential-Basic Contractor: Applicants must have 2 years of experience working as or in the employment of a residential contractor, or other experience deemed substantially similar by the Board: and applicants must have significant responsibility for the successful performance and completion of at least two projects falling with the residential-basic category within the two years preceding application.
· Residential-Light Commercial Contractor: Applicants must have obtained a 4 year degree from an accredited college or university in the field of engineering, architecture, construction management, building construction, or related field and 1 year of experience working as or in the employment of a residential or general contractor; or, applicants must provide a combination of academic credits from any accredited college level courses and experience working as or in the employment of a residential or general contractor, or other experience equaling four years in the aggregate; or, applicants must have obtained 4 years of proven active experience working in a construction related field, at two least 2 years of which must have been working as or in the employment of a residential contractor; and applicants must have had significant responsibility for the successful performance and completion of at least 2 projects falling within the residential-light commercial category within the four years preceding application.
· General Contractor: Applicants must have obtained a 4 year degree from an accredited college or university in engineering, architecture, construction management, building construction, or other field acceptable to the division and 1 year of work experience as or in the employment of a general contractor: or, applicants must have a combination of college level academic accredited courses and proven experience working as or in the employment of a general contractor equaling at least four years in the aggregate; or, applicants must have a total of at least 4 years of proven active experience in a construction industry related field, at least two of which shall have been as or in the employment of a general contractor and at least one of which shall have been in or relating to administration, marketing, accounting, estimating, drafting, engineering, supervision, or project management.

For a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions, state laws, a side-by-side comparison of the contractor
categories and board rules, please visit: www.sos.ga.gov/plb/contractors.

Georgia State Board Residential and General Contractors
PO. Box 13446
Macon, Georgia 31208
478-207-2440