STATE LICENSE
RequiredArizona Registrar of Contractors (AZ ROC)
Arizona does not split contractor licensing between a state board and city registrations. The Registrar of Contractors (AZ ROC) licenses the trade statewide, and A.R.S. § 32-1101.01 forbids cities, charter cities, towns and counties from requiring their own license of anyone the state has already licensed. What a city can still do is refuse the permit: A.R.S. § 32-1169 makes every permit desk collect a signed statement of the applicant's license number before issuing.
The general classes are B (General Residential), B-3 (General Remodeling and Repair), B-1 (General Commercial), B-2 (General Small Commercial, capped at $2,000,000 per project), and the dual KB-1 and KB-2. The trap sits inside every one of them: electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, boilers, swimming pools, spas and water wells must be subcontracted to separately licensed contractors. A B-1 holder cannot legally wire or plumb its own building.
The state sets the license floor; the county or city permit office controls filing, inspections, and local rules wherever the job site sits.
The license is statewide and locally unduplicable: A.R.S. § 32-1101.01 bars cities, towns and counties from imposing their own contractor license. What they control is the permit. Under A.R.S. § 32-1169 the Phoenix Planning and Development Department (SHAPE PHX), Tucson Planning and Development Services and Maricopa County Planning and Development (Permit Center, for unincorporated areas) must each collect a signed statement of your license number — or the basis of your exemption plus the licensed subcontractors' names and numbers — before issuing. A false statement on that application is unsworn falsification. Separately, prime contracting is taxed under A.R.S. § 42-5075 on 65% of gross proceeds, with both state and city transaction privilege tax due.
The local offices section below names the exact permit desk for every Arizona county on file.
Each row names the issuing authority, cost, timeline, citation, and status behind the requirement — verified against the official source.
Published fees from the issuing authorities, as of September 2026. Local permit fees vary by project and jurisdiction — the basis is stated where a flat number does not exist.
Arizona does not ask a general contractor to prove net worth. The financial gate is the license bond sized to contemplated annual volume, plus the residential recovery fund assessment.
B, B-3 and CR-61 now share one trade exam, and B-1, B-2, KB-1 and KB-2 share another. A passing score is 70%, and results must be within two years of the application.
Under A.R.S. § 41-1080.01 the Registrar waives the initial application fee for a first-time sole proprietor who is a military spouse, a veteran discharged within two years, or under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines — but the recovery fund assessment is still owed.
A practical sequence for a new general contracting contractor in Arizona. Actual agency processing times are noted in the ledger above.
Each item names the issuing authority, cycle, and citation.
Statutory consequences with their citations — not estimates, not “commonly cited” guesses.
Engaging in the business of contracting, bidding, or holding yourself out as a contractor without a license in good standing is criminal.
An unlicensed contractor cannot commence or maintain any action in an Arizona court for collection of compensation for work that required a license.
The Registrar may issue a cease-and-desist citation carrying a civil penalty for each violation, and each violation by an unlicensed person is a separate offense.
Inside city limits, the city office listed here issues the permit; the county office serves unincorporated areas. Every office links to its official page.
Every fact in this file was checked against these official sources on September 2026.
Pending verification: ROC background-check vendor fee amount (set by the vendor, not published on roc.az.gov) · Typical elapsed time from a complete application to license issuance — the ROC publishes no service-level target on its applying-for-a-license page
General information, not legal advice. Always confirm requirements, deadlines, and forms with the issuing authority before filing or contracting.
Store licenses, permits, policies, and renewal dates in one place.