How to get a Texas electrical contractor licence
How do I get an electrical contractor licence in Texas?
- Hold a Texas master electrician licence, or hire someone who does
- Settle the business name, keeping it inside the 40-character limit
- Get a federal EIN for the business
- Buy general liability cover that meets all three TDLR floors
- Decide how you will satisfy the workers' compensation rule
- File Form ELC-LIC-003 with the $110 non-refundable fee
- Clear every outstanding requirement within twelve months of filing
Start with the master electrician, not the paperwork
The sequencing trips people up. You cannot file a useful contractor application until a named master electrician is attached to it, and that person signs the application themselves. If you are not a master yet, the qualifying path is long: the hours have to be logged under supervision and the journeyman licence has to be held for a period before the master exam is open to you. Hiring a master instead is faster, but it makes your licence dependent on one employee staying.
12,000 hoursA master electrician licence requires 12,000 hours of on-the-job training under a master electrician. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
2 yearsA master electrician candidate must have held a journeyman licence for at least two years. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
8,000 hoursA journeyman electrician licence requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job training. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
Get the insurance certificate in hand before filing
The certificate is an attachment to the application, so shopping for cover after you file wastes the clock. Give the broker all three numbers at once, and give them every assumed name the business trades under — the name on the certificate has to match the name on the application. Ask the broker to confirm the carrier's A.M. Best rating in writing, because a cheap quote from an unrated carrier is not a saving.
A certificate of insurance must be attached to the electrical contractor licence application. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
30 daysProof of cover must come on a form carrying a 30-day cancellation notice. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
Pick your workers compensation route and evidence it
This is a declaration, not a purchase decision you can defer. If you carry cover, the certificate is attached like the liability one. If you do not, you file a notice of no coverage with the Texas Department of Insurance through its non-subscriber reporting tool, and that filing is what satisfies the application. Skipping the box because you have no employees yet is the common way an application stalls.
Employers electing not to carry workers' compensation must file a notice of no coverage with the Texas Department of Insurance. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
The non-subscriber election is made under Subchapter A, Chapter 406 of the Texas Labor Code. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
File Form ELC-LIC-003 and pay the application fee
One form covers both the electrical contractor and the electrical sign contractor licence, but you tick one type per application and file separately if you want both. The fee does not come back if the application fails, so it is worth being slow on the attachments and fast on the form. Cheques and money orders are made payable to TDLR, and nothing you send in is returned to you.
$110The electrical contractor licence application fee is $110 and is non-refundable. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
A separate application must be completed for each licence type. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
The twelve-month clock on an unfinished application
Filing does not freeze your position. Every requirement has to be satisfied within a year of the filing date or the application is terminated outright, and a terminated application means the fee is gone along with it. If you are waiting on an exam result or a master electrician's signature, that wait is running against the same clock as everything else.
12 monthsAll requirements must be met within twelve months of the filing date or the application is terminated. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14
YOU MUST MEET ALL REQUIREMENTS WITHIN TWELVE MONTHS OF THE FILING DATE, OR THE APPLICATION WILL BE TERMINATED.
Questions
Can I file the application before I have a master electrician lined up?
You can file, but the master electrician section has to be completed and signed by that person, so the application cannot be finished without one. The twelve-month clock starts at filing either way.
Does the business name on the insurance certificate have to match exactly?
Yes. The name or assumed name on the certificate of liability must match the name on the application, and every assumed name the business trades under should be listed.
What is the character limit on the business name?
Forty characters, as it will appear on the licence. Assumed names are recorded by TDLR and listed on its website, but they are not printed on the licence itself.
Is an electrical sign contractor licence the same application?
It is the same form but a separate application and a separate fee. A sign contractor may assign either a master electrician or a master sign electrician, which the plain electrical contractor licence does not allow.