Arkansas leaves residential work at or below $2,000 outside contractor licensing entirely, then closes the obvious workaround: the exemption falls away where the job is divided into separate contracts each under that figure. Commercial work crosses at $50,000. So the size of the job decides whether there is a license to check at all, and a quote arriving as three small contracts is worth a second look.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateArkansas average | $116 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
The Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board requires a residential builder license where the cost of the project is more than two thousand dollars including labor and material, and a commercial license where the work reaches fifty thousand dollars or more. Below the residential figure, no license is required.
What makes the Arkansas rule unusual is the provision closing the workaround. The exemption does not apply where the construction work necessary to complete the project is divided into separate contracts each below the threshold. A single job written up as three small agreements is still a single job for licensing purposes.
The board issues a limited residential remodeler license covering only projects under fifty thousand dollars including labor and material, and an unlimited one with no cap. A contractor holding the limited license is working outside it on a larger job, and which one they hold is checkable before signing rather than after.
The table above carries the Arkansas figure for auto repair labor, the one cross-trade rate with a per-state source, and it sits below the national average. Arkansas also sits at the bottom of the national range for a full traditional denture, which is a useful reminder that a state's position varies by service rather than being one thing across the board.
Work out the total first, including materials, because the threshold counts both. A project quoted at eighteen hundred dollars of labor with materials on top is over the line even though the labor figure alone is not.
Above the line, ask for the license number and check it against the board's contractor search before any money moves. Ask which class it is, because a limited residential remodeler license does not reach a larger job.
If a contractor proposes splitting the work into separate contracts, ask why. There are legitimate reasons to phase a project and there is one illegitimate one, and the difference is worth hearing out loud before you agree to it.
Where the cost of a residential project is more than $2,000 including labor and material, or where commercial work reaches $50,000 or more. Those are the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board's own figures.
No. The exemption does not apply where the construction work necessary to complete the project is divided into separate contracts each below the figure. A single job written as several small agreements is still a single job for licensing.
One covering only residential remodeling projects under $50,000 including labor and material. The unlimited version carries no cap, and a limited holder taking a larger job is working outside the license.
Through the Contractors Licensing Board's contractor search, published by the state alongside the board's licensing pages.
No. Arkansas is not among the jurisdictions carrying a vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program on the EPA's published list.