Georgia General Contractor (Limited Tier) Exam Prep

About the Georgia General Contractor (Limited Tier) license

Georgia licenses general contractors through the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors, which operates under the Georgia Secretary of State's Professional Licensing Boards Division and is governed by O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 41. The General Contractor (Limited Tier) authorizes general-contractor work on single projects capped at $1,000,000 (the unlimited General Contractor license has no per-project dollar cap). The $2,500 figure is the residential-contractor line in O.C.G.A. 43-41-2, the higher of the value of the work or the compensation. It is not a minimum contract for this commercial limited-tier license. Limited tier is a ceiling of $1,000,000 on any one contract. A general contractor enters into the prime contract, pulls the building permit, and is responsible for the whole project — scheduling and coordinating the subcontractors and trades, means and methods, jobsite safety, and delivering work that passes inspection and meets the contract.

Your technical exam is the Georgia General Contractor Trade Examination; Georgia accepts the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors in lieu of that trade exam. Either way it is an open-book test built on the International Building Code (IBC) as adopted by Georgia and the published reference list (confirm the edition and the full reference list on the bulletin). Know these scope facts cold: the license is held through a qualifying agent (the qualifying individual for the entity); most work requires a permit and inspections at defined milestones (footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation, final); you must work within the classification and monetary limits you hold; and unlicensed or out-of-scope contracting is a violation that can void contracts, forfeit the right to collect payment, and carry penalties.

How Georgia licensing works

• Experience: Georgia requires four years of proven active construction experience as a contractor (or a four-year degree in engineering, architecture, or construction management), verified by references or a qualifying party.
• Financial responsibility: the GC and Limited-Tier licenses require proof of a minimum net worth of $25,000 (a financial statement, not a surety bond) and at least $500,000 in general-liability insurance. Workers' compensation is required once you have employees (Georgia requires it at three or more).
• Application: submit the application, fees, experience verification, financial statements, and entity documents before you are approved to sit.
• Exam vendor: PSI. Georgia requires passing both a trade exam and a separate Georgia Business & Law exam (about 60 questions, a 3-hour limit, 70 percent to pass). For the trade portion you take the Georgia General Contractor Trade Examination, and Georgia accepts the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors in lieu of it. The NASCLA exam is open book, 115 scored questions (plus unscored pretest items), a 5.5-hour (330-minute) limit, and you must answer 81 of 115 correct (≈70 percent) to pass — confirm the current cut scores, question counts, and time limits on the bulletin.
• Renewal: the license renews on a biennial (two-year) cycle; keep your insurance current.