Tennessee licenses residential remodelling in two tiers, and the lower one exists in only nine counties. A Home Improvement Contractor license covers projects from $3,000 to $24,999 in Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. Above $24,999 anywhere in the state, the job needs a full contractor license instead. Your county decides which question to ask.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateTennessee average | $127 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 Home Improvement Contractor license covers residential remodelling from $3,000 to $24,999, and it applies only in the counties that adopted it: Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. A job in Springfield or Murfreesboro falls inside that tier; the same job in Jonesborough does not, because Washington County is not on the list. So the first question about a mid-sized remodel in Tennessee is which county the property sits in, and the answer changes what the contractor is required to hold.
Above $24,999 the home improvement license stops being enough anywhere in Tennessee, and the work requires a full contractor license instead. That makes the contract value a licensing question rather than only a budgeting one, and it makes a quote that lands just under the ceiling worth a second look. If the scope grows during the job, the license that covered it at the start may not cover it at the end.
The home improvement tier starts at $3,000, so smaller residential jobs sit outside it. That is useful in both directions: it explains why a small repair arrives without a license conversation, and it means a job priced just under the floor carries none of the tier’s requirements.
Shop labor in Tennessee sits below the national figure, in the lower half of the national spread. That is an hourly rate and not a bill: the invoice is the rate multiplied by the hours the job is booked at, so a lower rate against more booked hours can still cost more than a higher rate against fewer. The table above carries the current figure and what moves it.
Start with two facts about your own job rather than about the contractor: the county the property is in, and the honest total value of the work. Those two together decide which license the job needs, and a contractor who cannot answer that pairing clearly is not somebody to hand a deposit to. Ask for the license number and confirm it with the Board rather than accepting a card or a website badge.
Watch the ceiling as the job moves, too. Scope on a remodel rarely shrinks, and a project that starts comfortably inside the home improvement tier can cross $24,999 through change orders alone. Agree in writing what happens to the license question if it does, before the first change order rather than after the third.
Nine: Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby. The tier applies only in the counties that adopted the law.
Residential remodelling from $3,000 to $24,999. Below $3,000 the tier does not apply; above $24,999 a full contractor license is required instead.
The home improvement tier does not apply there, so the question falls to the value of the work and to whatever the county or city requires. Above $24,999 a full contractor license is required statewide.
The licensing position can change with it. The ceiling is on the value of the work, not on what it was quoted at, so agree in writing before the first change order what happens if the total crosses the line.
Ask for the number and confirm it with the Board for Licensing Contractors directly, rather than relying on a card, a truck decal or a badge on a website.