NASCLA Accepted States

Last verified: October 4, 2026, against NASCLA's participating-agency pages and the state licensing sources cited below.

Twenty licensing agencies in 17 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands accept the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors:

• Alabama (2 boards)
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Florida
• Georgia
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• South Carolina (2 boards)
• Tennessee
• Utah
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• U.S. Virgin Islands

Passing NASCLA is not a license. Depending on the agency, it can replace or satisfy a trade-exam requirement, an experience requirement, or pre-license training; you still have to meet that jurisdiction's remaining licensing requirements. Looking for the electrical exams? They have a separate participating-agency list.

What NASCLA gets you in each state

Each agency decides how a NASCLA pass is used. Rows marked NASCLA note rely on NASCLA's current agency page where the licensing board's own public page did not state the same NASCLA-specific detail. Confirm the exact classification and current application requirements before you file.

The full official list lives on NASCLA's participating-agencies page. NASCLA says every agency on that page accepts the Commercial General Building exam.

Is your NASCLA score recent enough?

Your NASCLA result itself doesn't expire. NASCLA's FAQ says that directly. But some licensing agencies impose their own recency rules, and a purchased transcript is only available for the receiving regulatory agency to view for up to two years after purchase.

For the other rows, no additional NASCLA-specific score-age rule was identified in the sources reviewed for this audit. That is not a promise that no other application deadline or exam-validity rule applies.

Quick math: where a board says “within two years” or “within three years,” adding that many calendar years to your pass date is a useful planning check.

Example: you passed on January 15, 2025. A two-year window reaches January 15, 2027, and a three-year window reaches January 15, 2028.

Boards decide how they apply a deadline at the boundary, so confirm close calls with the licensing agency.

Does passing NASCLA make you licensed in these states?

No. NASCLA says plainly that its exam “is not a license or certification.” It takes care of one piece of the process for a participating agency.

You still:

• apply to the licensing agency;
• complete any remaining business-and-law, rules, code, or other examination that applies;
• meet the jurisdiction's experience, financial, bond, insurance, entity, background, and application requirements that apply to your license.

Until the licensing agency issues the required license, a NASCLA pass by itself is not permission to contract there.

Is NASCLA the same as reciprocity?

Not by itself. Reciprocity usually means one jurisdiction recognizes a license or examination from another jurisdiction under a defined agreement. NASCLA is an accredited examination program that participating agencies agree to accept or administer in specified ways.

California blends the concepts: CSLB places its NASCLA B-General waiver inside its reciprocity requirements and limits that route to qualifying out-of-state licensees with five years in good standing. Utah expressly says it does not have reciprocity; instead, it allows licensure by endorsement, while a NASCLA commercial pass can satisfy its experience requirement.

Accepting vs. administering agencies

NASCLA uses two terms:

• Accepting agency: accepts a NASCLA Accredited Examination as a waiver in place of its state-specific trade examination.
• Administering agency: uses a NASCLA Accredited Examination as its agency's state-specific trade examination. Candidates may apply through the administering agency or through NASCLA. Every administering agency is also an accepting agency.

Those definitions come from NASCLA's FAQ.

The important exception is that individual agency pages can describe a special use that does not look like the ordinary trade-exam-waiver pattern. Arkansas, for example, says it administers the examination in lieu of candidates providing appropriate experience on the application. Utah says a passing score satisfies its construction-experience requirement. Always use the agency-specific rule for your application.

What the NASCLA exam costs and how it works

If you apply through NASCLA, pay the current $65 application fee, take the $130 exam, and then buy one $45 transcript, those three NASCLA/PSI charges total $240. That does not include the destination jurisdiction's application, license, business-law, insurance, bond, background, education, or other fees.

Sources: NASCLA application page, NASCLA FAQ, PSI Candidate Information Bulletin (updated July 7, 2026).

How to send your NASCLA score to a state

1. Pass the exam. PSI sends the result to NASCLA for the National Examination Database (NED).
2. Use one account at ned.nascla.org. NASCLA says result upload/linking can take several business days and creating multiple accounts can delay linkage.
3. Buy a transcript for each regulatory agency. The agency receives it electronically. Candidates do not receive the NASCLA transcript themselves.
4. File that jurisdiction's separate license application and complete its remaining requirements.

If you took a NASCLA exam through an administering state agency, NASCLA's FAQ says to send your score report to info@nascla.org for review and upload to your record.

Before you apply in another state

• Match the exact license classification, not just the state name.
• Check what the NASCLA result actually changes there: a trade exam, experience, training, or another specific requirement.
• Check any remaining business-and-law, code, rules, or state examination.
• Check any state-specific time rule on the exam result or the license history required for the waiver.
• Gather the experience records, financial documents, bond, insurance, and entity documents your application requires.
• Purchase the transcript for the correct licensing agency when you are ready to use it.

Are the NASCLA electrical states the same?

No. NASCLA runs a separate Accredited Electrical Examination Program with its own participating-agency list. That list includes jurisdictions that are not on the commercial-building list, including the District of Columbia, Idaho, and Kentucky. A jurisdiction appearing on one list does not mean it treats the other NASCLA program the same way.

For electrician licensing across states, see our electrical license reciprocity by state research.

What if my state isn't on the list?

If a licensing agency is not on NASCLA's current commercial participating-agency list, do not assume the commercial NASCLA result will count there. Check that licensing agency's current rules before relying on it.

Sources

• NASCLA — Commercial exam participating state agencies and individual agency pages linked in the table
• NASCLA — Accredited examinations FAQ
• NASCLA — Administering vs. accepting agencies
• NASCLA — Apply for NASCLA exams
• NASCLA — Electrical exams participating agencies
• PSI — NASCLA Commercial General Building Contractor Candidate Information Bulletin (updated July 7, 2026)
• Arizona ROC — Applying for a license; Licensing fees
• California CSLB — Reciprocity requirements
• Florida DBPR — Construction Industry FAQs
• Georgia — PSI Candidate Information Bulletin (updated April 28, 2025)
• Louisiana LSLBC — Licensing application questions
• Mississippi State Board of Contractors — Testing
• Nevada State Contractors Board — FAQ Central
• New Mexico CID/PSI — Qualifying Party Application Instructions (document now shows updated August 2025 text)
• Oregon CCB — CCB License
• South Carolina LLR — Residential Builder
• Tennessee BLC — Trade Exam Waiver (Reciprocity) with Tennessee (Rev. 06/2026)
• Utah DOPL — Contracting FAQ; General Contractor License
• Virginia DPOR — Contractor License Application A501-27LIC (Rev. 08/01/2026); Board for Contractors

How we checked this page: On October 4, 2026, the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team rechecked NASCLA's commercial participant list, NASCLA's FAQ and application pages, and the primary licensing sources cited for the state-specific claims above. Where the licensing agency's own public source did not state a NASCLA-specific detail, the table labels the claim as a NASCLA note or narrows it to what NASCLA's agency page supports. We did not contact the boards. This is source verification, not legal or professional review.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent exam prep publisher and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by NASCLA, PSI, or any state licensing agency. Exam and credential names identify the subjects discussed; trademarks belong to their respective owners.

By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team