Company renewal fee
California CSLB license renewal fee and cycle
Select the holder, active or inactive status, C-10 or another classification, and the expiration month on the license. The timely fee and the PDF preview update on this page. Nothing is sent until you press the button.
The checklist now, then three reminder emails before the expiration month ends: 30 days, 7 days, and 1 day.
What the fee table lists for these answers
Choose the holder, the status, the classification, and the expiration month, and the published timely row appears here.
What the PDF prints
The PDF preview fills in with these answers before you pay. A blank short name prints as Primary.
The license is held by a partnership, a corporation, an LLC, or a joint venture, and the renewal notice has arrived. On the CSLB fee table that puts you on the non-sole-owner rows: $700 for an active license renewed on time, $500 for an inactive license renewed on time. The sole-owner figures are lower, and reaching for them because the company feels small is the mistake this page prevents.
The figures below are copied from https://www.cslb.ca.gov/about_us/library/fees.aspx, read 2026-11-14. Where your notice disagrees with this page, the notice and the table come first, and the table prints 800-321-2752 for questions about either.
The $700 active timely row
An active renewal for a non-sole owner, postmarked or received on or before the expiration date, is listed at $700, and that covers another two years of active status. It does not cover the contractor bond, workers compensation coverage, an employee or worker bond for an LLC, or an Industry Expert amount the Enforcement Division has assessed against the license. It also does not cover a C-10 classification; the C-10 page shows the row that applies when electrical is on the license, and the non-sole-owner version of it is $720. Treat $700 as the state fee alone.
The $500 inactive timely row
A company that renews while inactive and on time is listed at $500. Inactive is a status in which the holder may not practice as a contractor and may not submit a bid, so the lower number is not a cheaper way to stay in business. The inactive renewal also runs four years instead of two. Paying the $500 does not restore the right to contract and does not move the license back to active. Returning to active status goes through the reactivation application and its own row.
Why one signature does not make it a sole owner
Many companies are run by one person who signs everything: the renewal check, the contracts, the bond application. None of that changes the entity. A corporation with a single shareholder is a corporation, an LLC with one member is an LLC, and a partnership of two where only one partner handles paperwork is still a partnership. The sole-owner rows are not a reward for small operations; they are a different category of holder. The sole-owner page shows how that category is tested.
Bonds the renewal expects before the signature
A contractor bond is required for an active license, for reactivation, and for the maintenance of an actively renewed license. An LLC also carries an employee or worker bond, and a responsible managing employee carries a bond of qualifying individual. None of these is priced on this page, so do not budget the $700 as if it also bought the bond. The form gets signed when the bond and the workers compensation certificate are already in place. If a bond has lapsed, resolve that first.
Why most companies cannot renew online
The online renewal path is open to a license entity with one qualifier. A license with multiple qualifiers has to mail or hand deliver the completed renewal form with payment, and those fees cannot be paid online. That is why the convenient route for a single-owner license often does not exist for a company: several qualifiers on one license is common, and the portal does not accept that shape. On the single-qualifier path the record updates when the process finishes, with no additional paperwork sent to CSLB. The online renewal page covers which path applies.
What to gather before the form is signed
Start with the wall certificate, because the name and entity type printed there decide the row. Then the license number and the expiration date, which is the closing day of the printed month. CSLB mails the renewal application about 60 days before that date, so if it has not arrived four weeks out, request a duplicate and confirm the mailing address on record. Have the bond information and the workers compensation certificate at hand; an active licensee holding a certificate certifies the three classification codes with the highest estimated payroll, or every code when the policy lists fewer than three.
When the entity changes in the middle of a cycle
A conversion, a new partner, or a move from one entity type to another is not something this page can price, and guessing at a row for a license whose holder changes mid-cycle would be dishonest. What can be said is narrower: the renewal row follows the holder named on the certificate, and the five-year window for a delinquent renewal is conditioned on ownership staying the same. When ownership does not stay the same, the question stops being about a fee and becomes a question about the license record. Call 800-321-2752 with the license number and both entity names before any money moves.
Questions
Is an LLC a sole owner for renewal purposes?
No. The CSLB table groups a partnership, a corporation, an LLC and a joint venture as non-sole owners, and the timely rows for that group are $700 active and $500 inactive. A single-member LLC is still an LLC on the certificate.
Does the $700 include the contractor bond?
No. The $700 is the renewal fee for an active license. The bond is a separate purchase, and an LLC also carries an employee or worker bond while a responsible managing employee carries a bond of qualifying individual. Budget the fee and the bonds as two different costs.
Can a company pay the renewal online?
Only if the license entity has one qualifier. A license with multiple qualifiers must mail or hand deliver the completed renewal form with payment, and those fees cannot be paid online. Count the qualifiers on the license first.
Two of us sign for the company. Are we a partnership?
Not necessarily, and the signatures are not the test. What decides it is the entity named on the wall certificate. A corporation with two officers is still a corporation.
We changed entity type this year. Which row do we pay?
This page will not assign a row to a license whose holder changed mid-cycle. The row follows the holder on the certificate, and a change of ownership also affects the five-year delinquent window. Call 800-321-2752 with the license number and both entity names before you pay anything.
What is the $39 on this site?
It is not a CSLB charge. $39 a year buys a PDF checklist and three reminder emails; $19 once buys this year's checklist only. The file lists the fee table link, the sole-owner rows, the company rows and the C-10 difference, and states that this site does not renew the license.