Electrician License Requirements

Contactyour local BuildingDepartment or official to find out current licenserequirements for your area. For information about continuing educationunits, check out our electricalseminars.

Examquestions come from theory, commonknowledge, and the National Electrical Code whichwould be the same in any state. The main difference in testing indifferent states are the questions involving state and local laws andrules. Check out our list of frequentlyasked questions about licensing and the electrical exam.

Somestates are now requiring an exam on Business and Law for thecontractors license.

Themajor purpose of a license is to protect public health and safety bypreventing unqualified people from practicing a given profession oroccupation. Licensing is also a formal and legal way of defining aprofession and a means of including, in practice, those who meetpredetermined standards deemed to be necessary for the protection ofthe public.

Licensingis more than passing an exam and paying a fee; it is being held responsibleand liable to penalties for incompetence or illegal/immoral actions.Having a license suspended or revoked is not only to punish and toavoid repetition of improper acts, it is to protect the general public.

Afterpassing the exam there are requirements thatmust be met in most States. These requirements must be kept up tomaintain your license. All licenses, regardless of issuance date, aresubject to renewal, on a given date by the State. Failure to maintainthe requests can cause automatic termination of the license.

Worker'sCompensation Insurance - Submit a certificate ofworker's compensation insurance from an insurance company authorized todo business in this State, and a statement from the insurance carrierthat the board will be notified of any withdrawal, termination, orcancellation of the insurance.

Liabilityand Property Damage Insurance - Submit a certificate of insurance from aninsurance company or agency authorized to do business in your State,showing full policy coverage of the applicant for comprehensivepersonal injury and property damage liability. The dollar amount willvary from State to State.

Placeof Business - A licensed contractor shallhave and maintain a definite place of business where the license may beserved notice and legal process in the State within an area zoned forsuch business and shall display therein his contractor's license. APost Office Box number is not accepted as a place of business.

Fees- License fees will be due.Specific amounts will be given at the appropriate time.

Thedifficulty for some taking an exam is the questions come froma broad area of the electrical trade and are not necessarilylimited to only the type of electrical work that you perform. For alist of books and DVDsto help you prepare for the journeyman and master electrical exam aswell as the business law exam, check out our current catalog.

Theexam is written for any electrician that sits for the test thatparticular day. You may only wire houses, but the electriciansitting behind you only wires hospitals or gas stations. Some exam questionsmay come from areas of the Code book you've never used in your work.

Localexams sometimes don't fully evaluate ones craftsmanship and knowledgeof the electrical trade. National testing organizations haveincorporated the latest technology. A task analysis is used to developa test that is a fair test of ones knowledge in the electrical trade.

Atask analysis is performed by a committee of competent experts in theelectrical field. A field survey of tradespeople performing the tasksin the field is listed in an outline with the degree of each taskevaluated and used in the exam.

Sure,I heard all the negatives of being required to take an exam over theyears. The statement that always appears in my mind was said by VinceLombardi: "Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats thesecond choice".

Thetime has come to demand accountability and it starts with you. Demand alicense.

Writtenexams whether written by a testing company, licensing board, or by theelectrical inspector are generally based on the same categories ofquestioning: Code, theory, practical knowledge, etc.

The percentage of questions asked from the category may vary due to theexams being customized to meet the requirements for the area in whichthe exam is being given.

Someexams require a larger or smaller percentage of questions asked from acategory than another area requires. This decision is made by theelectrical board members of that area.

More here:
Electrician License Requirements