West Virginia contractor license requirements

West Virginia regulates contracting through a state-level general contractor license. This page lays out exactly what West Virginia 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 West Virginia

West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board (WVCLB), Division of Labor is the licensing authority. State license required for construction contracting across Building, Highway, Residential, Specialty, and R&R (limited residential/remodeling) categories.

Experience and qualification

Requirements vary by classification; the R&R Contractor category (projects up to $40,000) carries reduced requirements.

License classes

• Building (General Building)
• Highway
• Residential
• R&R (R&R Contractor): Limited to projects up to $40,000, with reduced requirements.

Exam

The Business and Law exam (Contractor Licensing Act) plus a trade exam, both administered by Prov (provexam.com), not PSI.

Fees

• Application fee: $90

Financial responsibility

West Virginia uses surety bond ($5,000 wage bond) as its financial-responsibility mechanism. A $5,000 wage bond is required for contractors employing workers in West Virginia for less than 5 years. Contractors doing only residential work, or with 5+ consecutive years in West Virginia, are exempt.

Reciprocity and the NASCLA exam

West Virginia accepts the NASCLA Accredited Examination for the commercial building classification, confirmed against NASCLA’s own participating-agencies list. If you already hold a NASCLA credential from another participating state, it can satisfy West Virginia’s trade exam requirement (any state-specific business and law exam is still required). See the NASCLA exam explained and contractor license reciprocity for the full picture, and the 50-state comparison for which other states accept it.

Official source

Verify everything at the source: West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board (WVCLB), Division of Labor, labor.wv.gov. The NASCLA participating-agencies determination above is drawn from NASCLA’s own list, nascla.org, confirmed 2026-07-24.

Sources: West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board (WVCLB), Division of Labor (labor.wv.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.