Nevada landscape contractor license: the C-10 classification and the two lists the board publishes

Nevada's State Contractors Board says, on a consumer brochure, that planting a tree needs a contractor license and cutting one down doesn't. The brochure is two bullet lists. Under "not needed" it names mowing and edging, cleaning up and hauling debris, removal and trimming of trees and shrubs, and thatching. Under "required" it names planting trees, shrubs and other vegetation, laying sod, installing rock, sand or gravel, and landscape irrigation. The board's consumer guide to hiring a landscaper is the only page on its website we found that lists landscape work by name, so this page starts there. We read everything else on the board's website on October 1, 2026, apart from the regulation and statute text, which came from archived copies.

The brochure's not-needed list doesn't trace to a rule

The brochure is consumer guidance, and we could not trace its not-needed list to a statute or rule: the Archive copy of NRS chapter 624 we read never mentions trees, shrubs or landscaping, and the C-10 scope below includes maintaining trees and shrubs. The "required" list also includes decorative ponds that aren't engineered and landscape retaining walls up to three feet. The brochure puts no dollar figure on any item. It also says licensed contractors carry a surety bond and workers' comp, and that the Residential Recovery Fund has no provision for customers whose work was done by an unlicensed person.

The $1,000 line covers repair and maintenance, not new installs

The board's general requirements FAQ prints NRS 624.031, which exempts "any work to repair or maintain property" worth less than $1,000, labor and materials included. Five exceptions apply. The exemption is lost when a building permit is required; when the work is plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, heating or air-conditioning; when it falls in a classification the board treats as affecting public health, safety and welfare; when the job is part of a larger project worth $500 or more, or was split into contracts under $500 to dodge the law; and when a licensee or a licensee's employee does the work.

The text covers repairing and maintaining property. It doesn't say new plantings or irrigation installs get the same $1,000 pass, and the brochure gives no floor for them. The question for the board: does installing new plants, sod or a sprinkler zone under $1,000 need a contractor license?

C-10 lets a licensee plant, drain, irrigate and build small

Landscape contracting is classification C-10 under NAC 624.280. The legislature's site blocked us, so we read an Internet Archive copy dated December 14, 2025. A C-10 licensee may grade and prepare plots, plant and maintain gardens, lawns, shrubs, vines and trees, build drainage and landscape irrigation systems, install rock and gravel using xeriscape principles, hydroseed, control soil erosion, and install non-engineered ponds, trellises and arbors. In conjunction with that work, the same license allows:

• brick or stone walkways up to 200 square feet and patios up to 400 square feet;
• landscape retaining walls up to three feet;
• landscape lighting up to 24 volts.

Whether the board expects a plumbing license to connect a sprinkler system to the water supply or fit a backflow device isn't stated on the pages we read.

The license carries a dollar limit

Every Nevada license is issued with a monetary limit, the largest contract the licensee may take on for one client on one site, and the license requirements page asks for a financial statement and a bank verification form however small the limit. The statement scales with the limit. Up to $25,000, a board form or an accounting-software balance sheet with an affidavit works, and above that the board wants a CPA's compilation or better. Raising the limit later costs $75 for a single project and $250 for a permanent increase under the fee regulation.

The bond is set by the board at approval, between $1,000 and $500,000, based on the classification, the monetary limit and the applicant's finances. A cash deposit can replace it for a $200 biennial fee. Workers' comp proof is a condition of licensing and renewal unless you sign an exemption affidavit, and if your qualifier is an employee, the board says comp is required.

Four years in fifteen, two exams, three tries

Each classification on a license needs a qualifier who has at least four full years in the last fifteen as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor in that classification. Accredited college or equivalent training can stand in for up to three of the four years, per NRS 624.260. The qualifier can be the owner or a bona fide employee.

The qualifier sits a Business and Law exam, which is open book, and a trade exam, which is closed book except for certain code references, per the board's examinations page. PSI runs both at Las Vegas, Reno and Elko centers. A failed candidate waits two weeks and has three attempts. A third failure voids the application, and a new one can be filed after 30 days with a new fee. The board's FAQ says not every classification has a trade exam. Its licensure-by-endorsement chart marks C-10 "Nevada Trade Exam Required" for applicants from Hawaii, Louisiana and West Virginia, which indicates C-10 has one. PSI's exam outline wouldn't load, so we could not confirm it there.

$300 to apply, $600 every two years, and a proposed increase

The board's FAQ gives an application fee of $300 and a biennial license fee of $600, and warns that fees can change. The regulation lists $600 to issue or renew. A license runs two years from the end of the month it was issued. Residential contractors who do qualified services on owner-occupied homes also pay a Residential Recovery Fund assessment, $200 for limits up to $1,000,000, every two years.

On August 27, 2026, the board published a small business impact survey on amending NAC 624.130. It proposes raising license renewal fees by no more than $150 a year per license, the first increase in more than 25 years, and asked for responses by September 3. That is a proposal, and the $600 stands until a regulation changes it.

The number goes on the truck, the website and the job sign

Nevada requires the license number on vehicles, business cards, letterhead, signage, directories, print ads and websites. Contracting without a license is a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail on a first offense. A second is a gross misdemeanor at $2,000 to $4,000, and a third is a category E felony at $5,000 to $10,000.

The bond and workers' comp are required, and liability isn't listed

The bond is a licensing condition, and so is workers' comp proof. General liability isn't listed among the requirements on the pages we read, so a customer or HOA may be the one to ask for it. Work that needs the C-10 stays on your policy after the crew leaves, which is why the landscaping insurance page treats it differently from mowing, and the general liability guide covers the maintenance work the not-needed list protects. The irrigation license hub lines up Nevada's sprinkler rule against nine other states. A lapse in the bond is cause for the board to deny, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew the license.