LBExamPublications
Guides
Reference pages on how the exam and its rules work, newest first.
- The solar energy system disclosure document
Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7169 puts a disclosure page on the front of every residential solar contract. What it shows, in what type, and the reminder.
- Cash or accrual: how a contractor keeps the books
The two accounting methods the IRS lets a contractor choose, when income and expenses land under each, the inventory rule and the tax year (Pubs. 334 and 583).
- Injury and illness records and the reporting clock
Which California contractors keep the Cal/OSHA Form 300, what goes on it and by when, the February 1 posting, retention, and the reporting clocks.
- The asbestos certification and the open-book exam
Two asbestos rules sit in Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7058.5: the certification for asbestos-related work, and the open-book exam every new licensee completes.
- Change orders under a home improvement contract
What Bus. & Prof. Code ss. 7159 and 7159.6 require before extra work on a California home improvement job is enforceable: writing, signatures, three items.
- The $1,000 or 10 percent down payment limit
Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7159.5 caps a home improvement down payment at $1,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less. The rule, the notice, the bond exception.
- Preliminary notice and the mechanics lien clocks
The Civil Code deadlines behind a California mechanics lien: 20 days for the preliminary notice, 90 or 60 days to record, 90 to sue, and the stop notice.
- The contractor laws that changed on January 1, 2026
Seven 2025 bills changed the Contractors State License Law on January 1, 2026, and two raised citation fines from July 1. Section by section, what each says.
- Where you can take the Law and Business exam
The 21 PSI test centers CSLB uses, how busy each one is, the 18 other states offering the Law and Business exam, and what the trade exams do differently.
- The CSLB exam waiver: what it covers, who qualifies
Five sections waive a California contractor exam and do different things: what s. 7065(d) exempts, which waiver is suspended, and what reciprocity covers.