STATE LICENSE
ConditionalTennessee Board for Licensing Contractors…
The Board for Licensing Contractors licenses prime contractors, construction managers and certain subcontractors once a project reaches $25,000, and the license must be in hand before you bid. Every license carries a classification (BC-A residential, BC-B commercial, BC-C industrial and others) and a monetary limit sized from a CPA-prepared financial statement. You may not bid above that limit, beyond a 10% tolerance.
Two 2026 changes matter. Public Chapter 1039 (effective July 1, 2026) defines 'total cost' as the aggregate value of all labor, materials, equipment, subcontracted work, overhead, profit and other expenses, no matter who pays them and whether the work runs under one contract or several. It also lets an applicant post a surety bond of at least 50% of the requested monetary limit instead of a CPA-reviewed or audited financial statement. Below $25,000, a residential remodeler needs only the state Home Improvement license, and only in nine counties.
The state sets the license floor; the county or city permit office controls filing, inspections, and local rules wherever the job site sits.
Tennessee licenses contractors at the state level; the local desk issues the permit and does the inspecting. Every contractor also needs a business tax license for each city or county where it operates. All four big metros sit inside Home Improvement counties: Davidson (Metro Nashville), Shelby (Memphis), Knox (Knoxville) and Hamilton (Chattanooga). Residential remodeling from $3,000 to $24,999 there needs the state Home Improvement license, whether or not the job needs a permit. Memphis & Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement makes every state-licensed general contractor register its license before pulling a permit. The registration costs $50 and needs a Board-issued Qualifying Agent affidavit and a Memphis & Shelby County business license. Knoxville ties every permit applicant to a registration type: state contractor, homeowner, or unlicensed/state limited license. Where a city or county does not enforce its own building code, one- and two-family dwellings fall under the State Fire Marshal's residential permit program, which uses the 2018 IRC and state-contracted inspectors.
The local offices section below names the exact permit desk for every Tennessee 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 October 2026. Local permit fees vary by project and jurisdiction — the basis is stated where a flat number does not exist.
From July 1, 2026, 'total cost' is the aggregate of labor, materials, equipment, subcontracted work, overhead, profit and other expenses, regardless of who pays and whether there is one contract or several. Splitting a job no longer gets it under the line.
Since July 1, 2026 a continuous surety bond of at least 50% of the requested monetary limit can replace the reviewed or audited statement. If the bond lapses, the license becomes invalid.
The monetary limit is 10 times the lesser of working capital or net worth, backed by experience; $300,000 in both earns an unlimited license. A 10% bid tolerance applies, except on BC-A/r.
A practical sequence for a new general contracting contractor in Tennessee. 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.
Anyone who engages or offers to engage in contracting without a valid license, or outside its classification or monetary limit, may not be awarded the contract or take part in any re-bid of the project. The Board's licensing instructions add that the offender's own license application may be denied or held for up to six months.
The Board may assess $50–$5,000 for violations of T.C.A. § 62-6-120(d) and for unlawful bidding, and $50–$1,000 for other violations of the contractor law. Each day of continued violation counts as a separate violation.
The Board's Executive Director may issue a written citation to anyone contracting without a license, ordering them to cease and assessing a civil penalty.
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 October 2026.
Pending verification: Prov's per-exam fee for the Business & Law and trade exams from July 1, 2026 is not published on tn.gov (PSI charged $57 per exam per the Board's Rev. 02/25 application package) · The full text of T.C.A. § 62-6-103/§ 62-6-120 could not be fetched from an official host (the tn.gov statute mirror pages have been removed; the official code is behind LexisNexis). Any statutory cap on what an unlicensed contractor may recover in court, and the criminal grade of unlicensed contracting, are therefore not asserted here · How the Board will apply Public Chapter 1039's new 'total cost' definition (eff. July 1, 2026), which counts amounts 'regardless of whether such amounts are paid by the owner', alongside Rule 0680-01-.13 text that still describes cost as material and labor furnished 'by or through another source other than the owner' · Rules adopted at the Board's May 19, 2026 rulemaking hearing (joint ventures, new fees for monetary-limit increases, classification revisions and name changes) were still pending executive and legislative review per the minutes; their effective date and fee amounts are not confirmed · The Board's contractor page describes the combined BC-A,b(sm) trade exam as covering projects under $750,000, while Rule 0680-01-.16 caps the BC-b(sm) classification at $1,500,000; the rule figure is used here
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.