Hawaii Contractor Licensing & Classifications
Hawaii licenses contractors through a single statewide board and sorts them into engineering, building, and specialty classes. This chapter covers who issues the license, the Class A / B / C system, the Responsible Managing Employee, and Hawaii's distinctive closed-book examination.
The Contractors License Board and HRS Chapter 444
Contractors in Hawaii are licensed by the Contractors License Board (CILB), which sits in the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA). Its authority comes from Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapter 444. The board sets qualification standards, administers the business/law and trade examinations through its testing vendor, issues licenses, and disciplines contractors. Licensing is statewide, so a single CILB license — not a county competency card — authorizes contracting across the islands.
Classes A, B, and C
Hawaii uses three license classes. Class A is the General Engineering contractor, whose work involves fixed works requiring specialized engineering knowledge (highways, bridges, utilities, and similar). Class B is the General Building contractor, whose work involves structures built to house or shelter people, animals, or property. Class C covers more than sixty specialty trades (for example plumbing, electrical, roofing, and masonry). A Class B general building contractor generally must involve at least two unrelated trades, or else hold or subcontract the relevant Class C specialty license for single-trade work.
The Responsible Managing Employee and the closed-book exam
A Hawaii license is tied to a qualifying individual called the Responsible Managing Employee (RME) — or a Responsible Managing Owner — who has the required experience and passes the examinations on the licensee's behalf. Licensure requires passing both a Business and Law examination and a trade examination for the class sought. Hawaii is unusual in that these exams are CLOSED book, and the passing score is 75% (60 of 80 on the 80-question business and law exam). Because Hawaii runs its own Class A, B, and C trade exams, the NASCLA Accredited Commercial General Building Contractor exam is not accepted here.