Home Improvement Certification Exam

Effective July 1, 2000 all contractors involved in the business of home improvement (in other words, virtually anything other than new construction) must be a certified home improvement contractor. Fortunately, getting a Home Improvement Certification (HIC) is a fairly simple process. The HIC exam is free, it's open-book, you take it on your own time either by mail or on'line, and you can take it as many times as necessary. It's also a short exam, 20 multiple-choice questions.

To take the exam you can either call the CSLB at (916) 255-3900 to have an exam packet mailed to you, or log on to their web site at www.cslb.ca.gov  and take the exam on-line. On line exams are scored immediately and are by far the easiest way to get the certification.

The reference for the exam is the Home Improvement Certification Reference Booklet. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view this document. This is included from our Free Software Site and in the exam packet or can be downloaded from the CSLB web site. This is the "book' the CSLB is talking about when they say it's an open-book exam, so make sure you have your copy handy when you take the test.

There are many, many, many different versions of the exam, but all the versions are very similar. The following questions have appeared on a handful of different HIC exams, and are representative of what you will see on the test you take. Remember, the test is open book, so don't bother trying to memorize these, just review them so you're familiar with the information. (If you do want to test your memory, slide the scroll bar down the page to cover the answer as you read each question.) All page references are to the Home Improvement Certification Reference Booklet. If no page reference is given, it means the question is most directly answered by another source, usually the CSLB reference book. 

When you are ready to take the exam follow the instructions at www.cslb.ca.gov .