About GetTradeLicense

Our Mission

GetTradeLicense exists to give contractors and tradespeople a single, clear answer to one question: what do I need to get licensed?

Every state handles contractor licensing differently. Some require exams. Others require experience hours, bonds, or specific insurance policies. Instead of hunting through 50 different state board websites, comparing PDFs, and decoding legal language, you get structured, comparable data in one place.

Free. No sign-up. No lead-gate. No “enter your email to see the answer.” Just the information you need to start your licensing process.

What We Cover

We cover 5 trades across 50 jurisdictions: General Contractor, Electrician, Plumber, HVAC Technician, Roofing Contractor. Each state/trade page includes the data points contractors actually need: experience requirements, exam details (names, formats, passing scores), fee schedules, bond amounts, insurance requirements, continuing education obligations, and reciprocity agreements.

Our reciprocity hub maps which states accept licenses from other states, so contractors expanding into new markets can see exactly what transfers and what doesn't.

Our Data Sources

We cross-reference multiple sources including official board websites, state statutes, and exam providers like PSI, Pearson VUE, and Prometric to ensure accuracy. When sources conflict, we defer to the licensing board's most recent published guidance.

How We Verify Data

Licensing requirements change. States update fee schedules, adopt new exams, and pass legislation that rewrites the rules. We take verification seriously:

• Last verified dates— every page shows when the data was last checked against its source. If a page hasn't been reverified recently, you'll know.
• Active monitoring— we track state board announcements for fee changes, exam updates, and new legislation. When states update requirements (for example, NJ's 2026 licensing overhaul or CA's 2026 workers' comp mandate for C-20 holders), we update our data and note the change.
• Flagging uncertainty— if we cannot verify a data point from an official source, we flag it rather than guess. You won't find made-up numbers here.

What Makes Us Different

Most contractor licensing “resources” online exist to sell you something. We don't.

• Not an insurance company selling you a policy (unlike NextInsurance, Thimble)
• Not a compliance firm upselling services (unlike Harbor Compliance)
• Not a 12,000-word wall of text burying the answer you need (unlike Procore's guide)

GetTradeLicense is a purpose-built lookup tool with structured, comparable data across all 50jurisdictions. We organize licensing data the way contractors actually need it — by state and trade, with the specific numbers front and center. Free and always will be.