Everything the Contractors License Board requires before it issues you a Hawaii contractor license, in one place. This is the checklist behind the step-by-step licensing path.
This is an independent guide, not affiliated with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Contractors License Board, or PSI. Licensing details change, so verify current requirements against the Board's official publications before you act.
Experience
You need 4 years of experience as a foreman, supervising employee, or contractor in the classification you are applying for, within the 10 years immediately before your application. Board-approved technical or business-administration training can substitute, but for not more than 1 year. Self-employed or unlicensed experience may be accepted at the board's discretion. Document your supervisory time with specifics: who you supervised, on what projects, and when. Vague claims get questioned.
The RME
Entities license through a Responsible Managing Employee. The RME is the person who passed the exam in the classification and stands behind the license. The principal RME must be familiar with and sign or initial contracts, know the entity's projects, ensure required records are kept, reside in Hawaii while the license is effective or a project is under construction, and is responsible for the entity's violations.
If the RME dies, dissociates, or becomes disabled: notify the board within 60 days, and within 90 days apply to qualify a new RME or place the license on inactive status. While a timely replacement application is pending, the entity may continue existing operations but may not bid or enter new contracts. Missed deadlines cause automatic forfeiture.
Exams
Two exams. Part I covers general knowledge of Hawaii's building, safety, health, labor, and lien laws plus the basic administrative principles of the contracting business. Part II covers specialized knowledge in your classification. Each part requires 75 percent to pass. Both are closed book. The Business and Law exam details are in their own post.
If you fail, you must pass within 6 months or file a new application with a new application fee. No exam is required if you qualified by written examination within 4 years before the application (or within 4 years from the date last licensed in good standing or inactive status) for the same classification.
Financials
Applicants (other than RMEs) must furnish a current financial statement prepared and signed by a CPA or RPA holder, in the board's prescribed form, along with a current state tax clearance or proof of a payment arrangement. "Current" has specific meanings: the financial statement must be prepared within 12 months of application, a credit report must cover at least the previous 5 years and be issued within 6 months of application, and the tax clearance or payment-arrangement proof must be issued within 6 months of the application or renewal date. You must notify the board in writing within 30 days of any change in the furnished documents.
The board must deny a license when the applicant fails to show financial integrity. As proof of financial integrity, the board may require a surety bond as a condition of licensure.
The license bond
The bond is discretionary, not automatic. The board may require a specialty or general contractor to post a license bond of not less than $5,000, considering the licensee's financial condition and field experience. There is no fixed upper amount and no classification-based bond tiers. Do not let anyone tell you "the Hawaii license bond is $X" as a universal rule. It depends on the board's assessment of your finances.
Insurance
For renewal, you must show:
- Liability and property damage insurance: $100,000 bodily injury per person, $300,000 per occurrence, $50,000 property damage per occurrence
- Workers' compensation coverage, self-insurer authorization, or an exclusion
- A current state tax clearance
These minimums live in the rule (HAR 16-77-8), not the statute. The statute itself requires the coverage but states no numbers. If required insurance or the bond lapses, the license is automatically forfeited effective on expiration or cancellation, with no hearing. Restoration requires proof of continuous coverage, and if the license is not restored within 60 days, you must apply as a new applicant.
Note the workers' comp trigger: Hawaii has no minimum-employee threshold. One or more employees means mandatory coverage. The same one-employee rule applies to unemployment insurance. People moving from mainland states routinely get this wrong.
The Contractors Recovery Fund
Every original applicant contributes $150 to the Contractors Recovery Fund; each renewal adds $10. The fund pays injured consumers: up to $12,500 per contract and up to $25,000 total for any one contractor. If you fail to pay a recovery-fund assessment within 60 days, the license is automatically forfeited without a hearing; you may restore it by paying the assessment plus a $10 penalty within 30 days of forfeiture, or you apply as a new applicant.
Fees
Per the Board's fee schedule:
- Application: $50
- Original license: $260 for the contracting entity, $260 for the RME
- Biennial renewal: $190 (entity) / $60 (RME), plus a $5 education fund fee and a $10 recovery fund fee
- Education fund fee with application: $10
- Restoration penalty: $50
- Inactive license: $12; reactivation: $60
- Bond-waiver and entity-conversion application: $25
- Exam fee: $80 ($85 for A-General Engineering and B-General Building), paid to PSI
Business structure requirements
A contracting entity must maintain a permanent place of business in Hawaii: a physical address where it can be served and where its license is prominently displayed. A P.O. box is not enough. Media advertising (newspapers, radio, TV, internet, directories) must identify the advertiser as a licensed contractor by listing the license name or board-filed trade name plus the license number. Notify the board of any address change within 10 business days.
Continuing education
There is no general continuing-education requirement for contractor renewal. The one exception: asbestos contractors must submit proof of a 16-hour EPA- or board-approved asbestos refresher per biennium (8 hours if licensed in the second year of the biennium), for the individual, the RME, and asbestos abatement workers.
Try the free practice quiz
The requirements are the easy part to read and the easy part to forget under exam pressure. The free 12-question Hawaii Business and Law practice quiz tests the figures in this post, with explanations for every answer.