What a Texas electrical contractor license costs

The fees that fall in the first year

Two licenses, two fees, and they are not the same license. The business needs the contractor license; the person qualifying it needs an individual master license. An electrician who already holds the master license is only adding the business fee. Someone qualifying from scratch pays both, on top of whatever the exam and the training hours cost them. Neither fee is large relative to a van or a stock of wire, which is why the insurance floor tends to be the number that decides the timing.

$110The electrical contractor business license fee is $110. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

$45A master electrician license is $45 and a residential wireman license is $20. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

The application fee is non-refundable if the application fails or is terminated. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

Why the insurance floor dominates the budget

The license fees are fixed and small. The cover behind them is neither. TDLR sets a floor rather than a price, so what you actually pay depends on payroll, trade mix and loss history, and a residential service shop and an industrial fit-out contractor with identical licenses will see very different premiums. What the rule removes is the option to start cheap: you cannot buy a token policy, because the certificate has to clear three separate limits and come from a carrier of a stated quality.

$300,000Cover must be at least $300,000 per occurrence for combined property damage and bodily injury. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

$300,000A separate $300,000 aggregate applies to products and completed operations. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

Cover must come from an admitted carrier or an eligible surplus lines carrier. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

The recurring line item after year one

Budget the license as an annual cost that does not shrink. Renewal is charged at the same rate as the original application, so nothing about being established makes it cheaper. Set the reminder against the license date rather than your financial year, because the penalty schedule keys off the expiry date and nothing else, and the renewal itself has its own prerequisites to clear first.

$110Renewal of an electrical contractor license costs $110. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

What a lapse adds, in steps

Late renewal is priced in bands, and the bands are steep relative to the base fee. Miss the date by a week and by three months and you pay the same premium; cross into the next band and it rises again. Past a certain point the schedule stops being a penalty and becomes a wall — the license is not renewable at all and the business is reapplying as a new applicant, with the fee and the attachments all over again.

$165A license expired 90 days or less renews at $165, half again the standard fee. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

$220A license expired between 91 days and 18 months renews at $220, double the standard fee. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

36 monthsA license expired beyond 36 months cannot be renewed and requires a fresh application. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-14

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