California Requirements for Electrician Contractors License
All Electricians who work for a contractor with a class C-10 license need to be certified to work in California as an electrician, for more information Visit the Requirements for Electrician Certification
You must have on the job experience of at least the following hours for each trade.
General electrician
Required minimum hours: 8000 hours of work for an electrical contractor installing, constructing or maintaining electrical systems covered by the National Electrical Code. The 8000 hours must consist of work in two or more of the following areas, and the maximum number of hours in a particular area that may be counted toward the 8000 hours total are as follows:
| Category | Maximum credit hours |
|---|---|
| Troubleshooting and Maintenance | 1500 |
| Finish Work and Fixtures | 600 |
| Fire/Life Safety, Nurse Call | 600 |
| Industrial Wiring | 6000 |
| Voice Data and Video Installation | 1500 |
| Underground Conduit Installation | 750 |
| Stock Room and Material Handling | 300 |
| Residential Writing | 3000 |
| Commercial Wiring | 6000 |
| Total credit hours | 8000 Required minimum hours |
Residential electrician
Required minimum hours: 4800 hours of work for an electrical contractor installing, constructing or maintaining electrical systems covered by the National Electrical Code. The 4800 hours must consist of work in two or more of the following areas, and the maximum number of hours in a particular area that may be counted toward the 4800 hours total are as follows:
| Category | Maximum credit hours |
|---|---|
| Fire/Life Safety | 300 |
| Underground Conduit Installation | 300 |
| Troubleshooting and Maintenance | 600 |
| Finish Work and Fixtures | 6000 |
| Stock Room and Material Handling | 300 |
| Residential Wiring | 4800 |
| Voice Data and Video Installation | 150 |
| Total credit hours | 4800 Required minimum hours |
Fire/life/safety technician
Required minimum hours: 4000 hours of work for an electrical contractor installing, constructing or maintaining electrical systems covered by the National Electrical Code. The 4000 hours must consist of work in two or more of the following areas, and the maximum number of hours in a particular area that may be counted toward the 4000 hours total are as follows:
| Category | Maximum credit hours |
|---|---|
| Nurse Call Systems | 300 |
| Proprietary systems training related to Fire/Life Safety | 300 |
| Stock Room and Material Handling | 300 |
| Installation, including wire pulling, terminations, control panels devices and finish work |
6000 |
| Troubleshooting and Maintenance | 750 |
| Total credit hours | 4000 Required minimum hours |
Voice data video technician
Required minimum hours: 4000 hours of work for an electrical contractor installing, constructing or maintaining electrical systems covered by the National Electrical Code. The 4000 hours must consist of work in two or more of the following areas, and the maximum number of hours in a particular area that may be counted toward the 4000 hours total are as follows:
| Category | Maximum credit hours |
|---|---|
| Stock room and material handling | 300 |
| Installations, including wire pulling, teminations, control panel devices, and finish work |
4000 |
| Troubleshooting and maintenance | 750 |
| Trade specific training related to Voice, Data, Video | 300 |
| Total credit hours | 4000 Required minimum hours |
Non-residential lighting technician
Required minimum hours: 2000 hours of work for an electrical contractor installing, constructing or maintaining electrical systems covered by the National Electrical Code. The 2000 hours must consist of work in two or more of the following areas, and the maximum number of hours in a particular area that may be counted toward the 2000 hours total are as follows:
| Category | Maximum credit hours |
|---|---|
| Stock room and material handling | 150 |
| Maintenance of lighting fixtures | 1750 |
| Installation of retrofit fixtures | 1500 |
| Troubleshooting and repairing | 500 |
| Total credit hours | 2000 Required minimum hours |
Visit the California page if you're interested in preparing to obtain your California Electrician Contractor License.
