Hawaii Contractor License Requirements

Hawaii contractor license requirements vary according to the type of license you obtain.

They all require a specified amount of training and experience as well as an examination.

When you apply for a Hawaii electrical contractor license, you must submit your history of employment and training.

The board will then determine the license you are eligible for and will send you the information you need to apply for the examination.

• The Supervising Electrician license requires four years work experience as a journeyman or its equivalent.
• A Journey Worker Electrician license is awarded after five years or 10,000 hours of electrical work in all aspects of commercial and residential wiring.
• A Supervising Industrial Electrician needs to have four years work experience as a licensed industrial technician.
• A licensed Journey Worker Industrial Electrician needs at least 10,000 hours or 5 years worth of industrial wiring experience.
• A Maintenance Electrician license can be obtained after completing an accredited two year electrical trade school or one year of on-the-job training.
• A Supervising Specialty Electrician needs to have four years working as a specialty electrician.
• A Journey Worker Specialty Electrician must have five years working with specialty wiring work in order to become licensed.

When the Hawaii electrical contractor licensing board approves your application, your next step is to register with the approved testing agency and pay the examination fee. Each test costs $65 and they are administered by Experior which has several locations throughout the islands. The test is open book and has 40 questions. It must be completed in two hours and a score of 75% is needed in order to pass.

The test covers topics such as general electrical knowledge, grounding and bonding, feeders, branch circuits, services, raceways, enclosures, cables, conductors, controls, motors, equipment, and low voltage circuits. The NFPA 70 National Electrical Code 2008 Edition is provided for reference during the test. The following texts were used to create questions for the test but are not allowed in the testing center: Alternating Current Fundamentals and Delmar's Standard Textbook of Electricity.

There is an application fee of $40 in addition to examination fees. The Hawaii contractor license test is good for three years and the cost of the license depends upon the year in which you first obtain it. The full fee is $225 for three years initially and $80 per renewal.

Applications for the Hawaii electrical contractor license can be downloaded from the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website.