Requirements by state
Rhode Island contractor license requirements
Quick answer
Rhode Island contractor license requirements
Rhode Island registers general contractors through the CRLB with no exam, requiring instead a 5-hour pre-registration course on Rhode Island contractor law, a $200 application fee, and photo identification. Underground utility contractors are the exception: they take a PSI written exam and post a $20,000 bond.
At a glance
- Exam
- Rhode Island Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB) exam (PSI (Underground Utility only))
- Vendor
- PSI (Underground Utility only)
- Fees
- Application fee $200
- NASCLA accepted
- No
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-28
License classes
- General
- General contractor registration : No exam; 5-hour pre-registration course required.
Rhode Island regulates contracting through a state contractor registration (bond and insurance based, not a competency exam). This page lays out exactly what Rhode Island requires: the licensing agency, who must be licensed, experience, exams, fees, the financial responsibility mechanism, and reciprocity, every figure sourced and dated below.
Who must be licensed in Rhode Island
Rhode Island Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB) is the licensing authority. Registration required for general contracting; a separate license applies to underground utility contractors.
Experience and qualification
No experience verification for general contractor registration; a 5-hour CRLB-approved pre-registration course is required instead.
License classes
- General (General contractor registration): No exam; 5-hour pre-registration course required.
Exam
No exam for general contractor registration. Underground utility contractors take a separate PSI written exam.
Fees
- Application fee: $200
Financial responsibility
Rhode Island uses surety bond ($20,000 (underground utility only)) as its financial-responsibility mechanism. No bond is required for general contractor registration. Underground utility contractors post a $20,000 surety bond.
Reciprocity and the NASCLA exam
Rhode Island is not on NASCLA’s participating-agencies list, confirmed directly against NASCLA’s own page, so a NASCLA Accredited Examination credential from another state does not by itself satisfy Rhode Island’s requirements. See contractor license reciprocity for what does carry over, and the 50-state comparison for which states do accept the NASCLA exam.
Official source
Verify everything at the source: Rhode Island Contractors’ Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB), crb.ri.gov. The NASCLA participating-agencies determination above is drawn from NASCLA’s own list, nascla.org, confirmed 2026-07-24.
Sources: Rhode Island Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB) (crb.ri.gov, reviewed 2026-07-28); NASCLA participating state agencies list (nascla.org, confirmed 2026-07-24). Fee, bond, and experience figures are compiled from the agency's published requirements and current industry compliance guides as of 2026-07-28; treat any figure not independently reconfirmed against a fetched primary-source page as reported pending the next freshness review, per this site's standard practice.