Texas Contractor License Renewal Cost: TDLR's Annual Ladder, Late Fees, and the 3-Year Wall

Texas has no general contractor license, so there is no general contractor renewal to price. Renewal in Texas means three separate systems: electrician licenses and air conditioning and refrigeration contractor licenses through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and plumbing licenses through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. The three systems share almost nothing, not even their renewal dates.

Every TDLR license in this guide runs for one year from its date of issue, and must be renewed annually. That yearly rhythm is the first thing to get right, because it differs from California's two-year cycle and Florida's two-year cycle, and because a Texas license that lapses stops authorizing work on its expiration date. TDLR sends a reminder about 60 days before expiry, by email or postcard, but not receiving it does not extend the deadline.

The Texas hub lays out the first-time costs for all three systems. This guide covers only what keeping them costs: the renewal fee for each license, the continuing education that gates renewal, the late fees that apply once a license has expired, and the point at which renewal stops being possible at all.

TDLR publishes a separate renewal page for each electrician license type, and the pages agree on one pattern. The standard fee is the on-time price, and late fees are multiples of it: one and a half times the standard fee when the license has been expired for 90 days or less, and two times the standard fee after that. All TDLR electrician renewal fees are non-refundable.

• Apprentice electrician: $20 on time, $30 at 90 days or less, $40 from 91 days to 36 months
• Journeyman electrician: $30 on time, $45 at 90 days or less, $60 from 91 days to 36 months
• Master electrician: $45 on time, $67.50 at 90 days or less, $90 from 91 days to 36 months
• Electrical contractor: $110 on time, $165 at 90 days or less, $220 from 91 days to 36 months

Two smaller licenses follow the same pattern. A master sign electrician renews at $45, $67.50 and $90 on the same three steps, and a residential appliance installer renews at $30, $45 and $60. Journeyman sign, journeyman lineman and journeyman industrial licenses renew at the $30 journeyman rates, while residential wireman and maintenance electrician licenses renew at the $20 apprentice rates, with the same late multiples. Check the renewal page for your exact license type before paying, because TDLR prices by license type, not by trade family.

The fee is only part of the renewal. Individual licensees must also complete their continuing education before renewing, covered below, and an electrical contractor must file a current insurance certificate and name a master electrician of record. A renewal filed without those pieces is not a renewal TDLR can accept, and an unacceptable renewal does not stop the late clock.

Three dates divide a late renewal. Up to 90 days past expiration, the fee is one and a half times the standard fee. From 91 days to 18 months, it is two times the standard fee, and the renewal can still be filed online. From 18 months to 36 months, the fee stays at two times the standard fee, but the renewal must be filed by mail, with a completed Request to Executive Director for Expired License Renewal form.

Past 36 months, the license cannot be renewed at all. The holder must apply as a new applicant, which means a new application, a new exam where the license requires one, and new fees. That wall is the most expensive date in this guide: a journeyman who lets three years pass pays the full first-time route again instead of a $60 late renewal.

A late renewal also creates an unlicensed period, running from the old expiration date to the date the renewed license issues. Work that requires a license and is done inside that period is unlicensed work, even if the renewal is later granted. The practical rule is simple: renew before expiry, and if you have missed it, renew inside the 90-day window, where the penalty is half a fee rather than a full one.

Most individual electrician licensees must complete 4 hours of TDLR-approved continuing education in each license cycle before renewing. The hours must cover the National Electrical Code as adopted in Texas, Texas electrical law and rules, and NFPA 70E safety. Since September 1, 2026, the code Texas uses is the 2026 National Electrical Code, so a course built on an older code does not meet the current requirement.

Timing matters as much as topics. For an on-time renewal, the hours must fall inside the license term being renewed. For a late renewal, they must fall within one year before the renewal date, so hours more than a year old do not count for a late filing. An apprentice has a second option: instead of the 4 hours, an apprentice may be enrolled in a TDLR-registered apprenticeship training program.

Two licenses carry no continuing education requirement at all: the electrical contractor license and the residential appliance installer license. The contractor license renews on its fee, its insurance certificate and its master of record, and the individual master behind the business keeps his own 4-hour duty. Confusing the business license with the personal license is how contractors end up buying courses they do not need, or skipping hours they do.

An electrical contractor license renews for $110 on time, $165 within 90 days of expiry, and $220 after that, on the same ladder as the individual licenses. The fee is the smallest part of the filing. The contractor must also attach a certificate of insurance showing liability cover of $300,000 per occurrence, $600,000 aggregate, and $300,000 aggregate for products and completed operations, with the business name on the certificate matching the name on the application.

The contractor must also have a master electrician of record: either employ a licensed master electrician, or hold a master license itself. One master license may be assigned to only one electrical contractor, unless the master owns more than half of the contracting business. If the master of record changes, the contractor must notify TDLR and designate a new master of record, because a contractor without one cannot renew.

Keeping both licenses, the personal master license and the business contractor license, costs $155 a year on time: $45 for the master and $110 for the contractor. That pair figure is the one to budget for a one-master shop, and it matches the electrician page schedule for the same route.

An air conditioning and refrigeration contractor license renews annually for $65, with 8 hours of approved continuing education each year, including one hour on Texas law and rules for licensees. TDLR advises starting the renewal 30 to 60 days before expiry, because an expired ACR license means no contracting until it is renewed, and the late fees below apply on top of the delay.

Late ACR renewals follow the same multiples as electricians, set by the same late-fee rule. Expired 90 days or less, the fee is one and a half times $65, which is $97.50. Expired more than 90 days but less than 18 months, it is two times $65, which is $130. From 18 months to less than three years, the fee stays at two times the standard fee, with executive director approval required for the renewal.

Technicians renew on a separate track from contractors. A registered technician renews annually for $20, and a certified technician for $35, each valid for one year from issue. The 8-hour continuing education requirement described above is the contractor license requirement; technicians should confirm their own renewal requirements on TDLR's technician renewal page rather than assuming the contractor rules apply to them.

Plumbing renewals do not run through TDLR at all. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners licenses plumbers, and the working pair is a Master Plumber license plus the Responsible Master Plumber designation that lets a company operate. Renewing the pair costs $375 a year on time: $75 for the Master license and $300 for the designation, with 6 hours of continuing education a year.

That pair figure is the on-time price only. Late charges, reinstatement terms and any grace period for plumbers are set by the TSBPE, not by the TDLR late-fee ladder in this guide, so a plumber reading the electrician table as their own schedule would misprice their renewal. The plumber page carries the full TSBPE route, and the board's own renewal schedule is the authority for a late plumbing renewal.

One rule holds across all three Texas systems: none of them uses a surety bond. The financial gate at renewal is liability insurance, at the limits each board sets, not a bond premium. Any renewal quote that adds a bond charge to a Texas electrician, ACR or plumbing renewal is adding a cost the state does not charge.

The pattern is easier to trust once it is applied. Each example below uses only figures from the tables above.

• Journeyman electrician, two months late: $45, plus 4 hours of continuing education inside the last year.
• Master electrician and electrical contractor, both six months late: $90 plus $220, a $310 late bill for the pair, plus the contractor's insurance certificate.
• Apprentice electrician, two years late: $40, filed by mail with the executive director request form.

• ACR contractor, two months late: $97.50, plus 8 hours of continuing education including the law and rules hour.
• Master and contractor pair, both on time: $155 for the year, the cheapest way to hold both licenses.

The pattern in every example is the same: the fee is small while the license is current, and grows in fixed steps once it lapses. The cheapest renewal in Texas is always the on-time one, and the most expensive is the one that waits past three years and becomes a new application.

The first mistake is quoting a single Texas renewal fee. Texas has no single renewal fee: an apprentice pays $20, a journeyman $30, a master $45, a contractor $110 and an ACR contractor $65, and each of those moves once the license expires. Any page giving one number for Texas renewal is describing one license and hiding the rest.

The second mistake is treating the contractor license as the license that needs coursework. It does not: the 4 hours belong to the individual licensee, and the 8 hours belong to the ACR contractor. The third mistake is reading the late fee as a flat fine. It is a multiple of the standard fee, so a late contractor renewal costs $55 more at 90 days and $110 more after that, while a late apprentice renewal costs $10 more and then $20 more.

The fourth mistake is working while expired and assuming the later renewal fixes it. It does not: the unlicensed period stays on the record, and the work done inside it was unlicensed work. The fifth mistake is letting the three-year wall arrive unnoticed, because after it, no late fee exists at any price. Renewal in Texas rewards one habit above all: filing before the date on the license.

Renewal keeps an existing license alive; it does not upgrade it. Moving an ACR Class B license to Class A is a separate change, with its own form, a $25 change fee and a new exam at $74, and it is not part of any renewal fee in this guide. Adding a classification, changing a master of record, or changing the business behind a contractor license are separate filings with their own requirements.

Figures in this guide were checked against TDLR's electrician renewal pages, its air conditioning and refrigeration contractor and technician renewal pages, and the Texas Administrative Code fee and late-fee rules, on November 4, 2026. Plumbing renewal figures are the on-time pair already verified on this site's Texas pages against the TSBPE schedule, and TSBPE's late terms are outside this guide. If TDLR changes a fee, the tables above change with it, and this page will be re-checked against the same board pages.