California Contractor Trade Classifications

The Contractors State License Board’s classification list places its numbered classifications under the label “(C) Specialty Contractor” (CSLB, Licensing Classifications). This page introduces those classifications and points to where the Board’s wording for each is quoted. How the branches divide overall is covered on the California contractor licensing page.

Where the numbered classifications sit

The Board’s classification list opens with four lettered labels: “(A) General Engineering Contractor”, “(B) General Building Contractor”, “(B-2) Residential Remodeling Contractor” and “(C) Specialty Contractor” (CSLB, Licensing Classifications). The same list shows numbered classifications under the C label only, while the A, B and B-2 labels each stand as one classification (CSLB, Licensing Classifications).

The four classifications page sets out how the lettered labels relate, and the specialty classifications page gives the statute behind the C branch.

Four of the Board’s classifications

The scopes of four numbered classifications are quoted on the specialty classifications page. The Board publishes a detail page for each of them:

• C-10 Electrical (CSLB, C-10 detail page)
• C-20 Warm-Air Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (CSLB, C-20 detail page)
• C-27 Landscaping (CSLB, C-27 detail page)
• C-33 Painting and Decorating (CSLB, C-33 detail page)

The C-10 electrical classification page sets out what the Board publishes for the first of these and what it requires of an applicant for it (CSLB, C-10 detail page).

The C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning classification page does the same for the second (CSLB, C-20 detail page), and the C-27 landscaping classification page for the third (CSLB, C-27 detail page).

The C-33 painting classification page does the same for the last of these (CSLB, C-33 detail page).

The Board’s classification list also names numbered classifications beyond these four (CSLB, Licensing Classifications). This page states none of their scopes, because a scope is the Board’s to define.

The Board states each classification’s scope on that classification’s own detail page, and the title in the classification list is a label for that scope, not a definition of it (CSLB, C-10 detail page, one example of the Board’s per-class detail pages). The scopes of the four numbered classifications covered here are quoted on the specialty classifications page, and each trade page links the Board’s own detail page for its classification. The trade examination for a classification is a separate matter, covered on the exam pages.