Contractor Bonds on a California License

Every active California contractor license must have a $25,000 contractor bond on file, the amount in force since January 1, 2023. In the CSLB file of Sep 24, 2026, 27,690 of 27,718 active C-10 electrical licenses and 5,504 of 5,524 active C-39 roofing licenses list exactly $25,000.

The four numbers come from the CSLB License Master file, except the first, which comes from the statute.^1,11 The last figure joins 33 C-10 and 18 C-39 licenses; two of them hold both classes and are counted once.

The Contractor License Bond

Business and Professions Code section 7071.6 makes a $25,000 contractor's bond a condition for issuing, renewing or keeping a license.¹ The current text became operative on January 1, 2023. It came from Senate Bill 607 (Stats. 2021, Ch. 367).¹

Before that date the bond was $15,000. CSLB told licensees in September 2022 that the increase also raised the bond of qualifying individual from $12,500 to $25,000.⁹ A contractor may post a cashier's check with CSLB instead of a surety bond.^7,10

An inactive license needs no bond while it stays inactive.¹ CSLB may require twice the amount, $50,000, from an applicant convicted or cited for contracting without a license, until the first renewal.¹ The rules on unlicensed work are in Unlicensed Contracting.

Who the Bond Protects

Section 7071.5 lists five groups who can claim against the contractor's bond:²

1. A homeowner who hired the licensee for home improvement on their own family residence and was damaged by a license law violation.
2. A property owner building a single-family home not intended for sale.
3. Anyone damaged by a willful and deliberate violation, or by the licensee's fraud on a construction contract.
4. An employee the licensee failed to pay.
5. A person or fund owed fringe benefits for the licensee's employees.

CSLB's steps for a claim: find the surety on the license record, collect the contract, payments and messages, then send the claim to the surety. The surety investigates and decides whether to pay.¹⁰ What a written contract must contain is in Home Improvement Contracts.

Bond of Qualifying Individual

The qualifying individual is the person who qualifies the license under sections 7068 and 7068.1. Section 7071.9 requires that person to file a separate $25,000 bond when they are not the owner, a general partner or a joint licensee.⁴

A responsible managing officer who owns 10% or more of the voting stock is exempt after certifying that fact. The same 10% rule applies to an LLC member who qualifies the license. Federally recognized tribes are also exempt.^4,7 This bond adds to the contractor's bond and cannot be combined with it. Its $7,500 cap on non-homeowner claims mirrors section 7071.6.⁴

A limited liability company also files a $100,000 bond for its employees' unpaid wages and benefits under section 7071.6.5.⁶ This one protects workers, not homeowners.

Disciplinary Bond

Section 7071.8 applies after a license is suspended or revoked for discipline. It also covers people who were officers or qualifiers of a disciplined license and later apply again.³ The Registrar sets the amount by the seriousness of the violation: at least $25,000 and at most 10 times the contractor bond, so up to $250,000.^3,8

The bond stays on file for at least two years, counted only while the license is current, active and in good standing. It is filed in addition to the other bonds and cannot replace them.^3,8 A disciplinary bond on a record tells a homeowner that the license, or a person tied to it, was disciplined before.

Bond Amounts in the CSLB File

We counted active licenses: primary status "CLEAR" and an expiration date on or after Sep 24, 2026. That leaves 230,477 of the 244,908 licenses in the file. A license is in a class if its classification list contains C10 or C39; 247 licenses hold both.¹¹

Every one of the 121 active licenses with an amount below $25,000 lists a bond that took effect before 2023 and carries a cancellation date. The 113 licenses with no amount also list no surety company. The file does not say what replaced these bonds. A cashier's check deposit is one possibility, but the file cannot confirm it.¹¹

Disciplinary Bonds on Active Licenses

We counted a disciplinary bond as on file when the record has a bond number (DBNumber) and no cancellation date on or before Sep 24, 2026. Records with a cancellation date show a bond that was required earlier and has ended.¹¹

Six of the 49 licenses with a bond on file show a $15,000 amount, below today's $25,000 floor. The floor in section 7071.8 has been operative since January 1, 2023; the file does not say when each amount was set.^3,11 Of the 33 C-10 licenses with a bond on file, 29 also show the secondary status "DISC Bond Filed"; for C-39 it is 15 of 18.

LLC Worker Bonds in the File

The file's WB fields hold a $100,000 bond on 1,843 active C-10 licenses and 351 active C-39 licenses. Nearly all belong to limited liability companies: 1,841 and 350. That matches the LLC worker bond of section 7071.6.5.^6,11 The file has no separate field for the bond of qualifying individual, so we cannot count it.

How to See Bond Information on a License Record

1. Look up the license number on CSLB's Check a License page. CSLB names this as the place to find bond details.¹⁰
2. Read the bond entries. CSLB data for each license carries the surety company, bond number, effective date and amount. A $25,000 contractor bond is the normal entry.
3. Look for a disciplinary bond entry or the status "DISC Bond Filed". Either one means past discipline.
4. If the contractor posted a cashier's check instead of a surety bond, expect a court process for any claim.¹⁰
5. Check that the classification fits the job, for example C-10 for wiring or C-39 for roofing. See California License Classifications.

A field by field guide to the record is in Reading a CSLB License Record. Workers' compensation, the other financial item on the record, is covered in Workers' Compensation on a California Contractor License.