The Contractors Board requires four (4) years of full-time work experience in order to grant a license. Real estate agents, brokers, and owner-builders are generally rejected by the CSLB because they cannot prove their work experience.
The Board is especially strict on these types of applications because they will assume that the difficult work was subcontracted out to other licensed professionals, or that the work being claimed was more of a weekend project than a full time job. The Board will want to see a lot of documentation, including, but not limited to: permits, invoices for materials, a detailed description of the work performed, the number of projects, the addresses of the projects, etc.
The good news is that we have been successful at obtaining contractors licenses for real estate agents and home flippers. But, it depends largely on the quantity and quality of the work experience and how it is documented and communicated to the Board. Contact us and we can discuss your experience and we will make an up front assessment as to your chances, as well as other licensing pathways.