California Code of Regulations
Title 16 - Professional and Vocational Regulations
Division 8 - Contractors' State License Board
Article 2 - Application for License
Section 825 - Experience Requirement of Applicant

(a) Every applicant for a contractor's license must have had, within the last 10 years immediately preceding the filing of the application, not less than four years experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor in the particular class within which the applicant intends to engage as a contractor. For purposes of this section, "journeyman" means an experienced worker in the trade who is fully qualified, as opposed to a trainee, and is able to perform the trade without supervision; or one who has completed an apprenticeship program.

(b) An applicant who was formerly a qualifier on a license in the same classification applied for may compute experience without regard to the ten-year limitation.

(c) An applicant shall not be jeopardized in computing time for service in the armed forces of the United States during a National Emergency and the length of service may be added to the 10 years mentioned above.

(d) Acceptable training in an accredited school or completion of an approved apprenticeship program in accordance with the California Labor Code (commencing with Section 3070 of the Labor Code, Chapter 4, of Division 3) or its equivalent, as approved by the Registrar, in the construction trade for which application is made will be counted as experience. In no case, however, will such training or completion of an approved apprenticeship program count for more than 3 years of the experience.

(e) The required experience shall be possessed by one member of the applicant entity or by a responsible managing employee therefor, and the member or responsible managing employee shall be required to take the examination.