How To Get Your C-27 Contractors License

Lanscaping contractors rake in the money. Pun intended. Lanscaping is one of the more lucrative of the licenses, and so that’s awesome you’re trying to get yours.

Or, to put it better, you’re going to get your Landscaping License.

With our help, nothing can stop you.

And you’ll be free to take your own jobs: cutting lawns and shaping lawns and recreating people’s landscapes and moving the Earth around and making things beautiful and all of that good stuff.

Requirments To Get Your C-27

1. Four years of journey-level experience doing Landscaping

2. You must be at least 18 years old.

3. You must have a valid social security or ITIN number.

AND THEN, TWO MORE BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

California Tests

You must submit an application to get your Contractors License to the Contractors State License Board (also known as CSLB). When they accept your application, they’ll have you take two tests:

A law test — which covers construction law in the state of California.

A trade test — which covers all things landscaping.

Guess which test is harder?

You’re right: they’re both hard.

But the landscaping test is easier because you already know landscaping because you already have four years of expereience doing your thing in that industry.

The law test trips up contractors the most, because it has to do with a lot of things that (if you haven’t already owned your own business) you might not be familar with: contract law, lien law, bonding and more.

It’s our job, as a Contractor School, to help you to pass these tests.

And we have a hundred percent success rate with our students because our guarantee is this: if you pass our practice tests you’ll pass the state tests. Because our tests are so similar.

We provide you with classes (online or in-person), testing (tons of tests, covering everything you’ll need to know, as well as audio lectures you can listen to while you’re driving from place to place (and even from planet to planet). Cool, right?

You’re right.

Incorporating Your Business

Now, there is the deal of incorporating your business. You’ll have to decide your business structure (you can do this before or after taking your tests). We recommend you figure this out before taking your tests. You don’t have to figure it out just yet. In our classes, we go over incorporating in much greater deal.

Forming your business into a corporation, rather than defaulting on a sole-proprietorship, is important, because it offers valuable asset-protection as well as a myriad of other benefits

Like I said, we talk about this more in-depth in our classes.

Final Step: Qualifying Signature

Finally, to the question you’ve been waiting to be answered, how do you prove you have four years of experience?

Simple, when you fill out your application to CSLB, you have someone qualify you (verify your experience) by signing your application. This person must be someone who can verify your experience: in other words, a boss, a coworker, or a client.

You only need one signature.

Simple as that.

How Long Does It Take?

We get it, you’re a landscaper and you want to move fast — like a turbo-charged lawnmower.

Settle down, speed demon.

The process, no matter how you slice it (even seven ways from Sunday), takes a bit of time.

Anywhere from a few weeks to few months depending on you. Our classes usually take our students about a month (often two months) to get through. Then you must take the tests and do a few more simple things like getting livescanned and bonded (these things are inexpensive).

The process can seem daunting at times, and even confusing.

But we’ll lead you through the entire process from start to finish.

It may be hard at times, but every good thing worth doing is.

And, after all, this is going to set you up for your future.

You’ll be able to start your own business and take your own jobs and be your own boss.

Great things like that come at a cost.

Description Of The C-27 License (from Contractors State Licensing Board).

Here’s the legal description of the landscaping classification, taken from CSLB’s website:

California Code of Regulations
Title 16, Division 8, Article 3. Classifications

A landscape contractor constructs, maintains, repairs, installs, or subcontracts the development of landscape systems and facilities for public and private gardens and other areas which are designed to aesthetically, architecturally, horticulturally, or functionally improve the grounds within or surrounding a structure or a tract or plot of land. In connection therewith, a landscape contractor prepares and grades plots and areas of land for the installation of any architectural, horticultural and decorative treatment or arrangement.

Authority cited: Sections 7008 and 7059, Reference: Sections 7058 and 7059 (Business and Professions Code)