Maine pesticide license for lawn care: Master, Operator and firm licenses

A Maine turf license does not let you spray weeds in the cracks of a customer's driveway. The Board of Pesticides Control (BPC) says that work needs category 6B, General Vegetation Management, and that sidewalks, patios, driveways and parking lots cannot legally be treated by an applicator licensed only in 3A or 3B. BPC adds that summary reports show applicators logging jobs in areas they are not licensed to treat.

The categories a lawn company holds

BPC's licensing page, read on 2026-10-01, names lawn and landscape care, tree and shrub care and home pest control as services that need a commercial license. It defines pesticide to include herbicides such as weed and feed, so a weed and feed route is licensed work like any other spraying.

The categories that matter here:

• 3A Outdoor Ornamentals: trees, shrubs and flowers
• 3B Turf: lawns, among other turf sites
• 6B General Vegetation Management: sidewalks, driveways, parking lots and similar hard surfaces
• 3C Indoor Ornamentals: interior plantings

You test in a category for each kind of application you perform or expect to perform. Adding a category later takes only that category's exam.

Master for the owner, Operator for the crew

Maine licenses at two levels. The Master is required for one person at each company and each branch office, generally the owner or manager who makes the pesticide decisions and trains employees. An Operator is the minimum license for a technician, and it only has effect if the employer has a licensed Master. Under Chapter 31 of the Board's rules, the Master must hold every category the office performs, actively supervise the crew and be able to reach a job site within six hours' drive.

Licenses belong to a company. When a licensed employee leaves, the license is voided, and the employer is told to notify BPC within ten days. If the Master leaves or dies, every license in the company is suspended.

Exams and fees, in order

1. Study. BPC points to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Pest Management Office for Core and category manuals (800-287-0279), and mails the regulations study manual after a Master applies.
2. Apply with the exam application or the BPC online portal. Exams are $10 each for Core, each category and the regulations exam. The Master oral is $40.
3. Sit the exams. The licensing page says they are held once a month in Augusta or can be scheduled through Metro Institute at testing centers around the state, while the exam application says most are offered weekly on Wednesday mornings, so ask BPC for the next date. The passing score is 80 percent and you must be 18. After a fail you reapply, pay again and wait six days.
4. File the license application with $105, payable to the Treasurer, State of Maine.

By our sum from those pages, a Master with one category pays $10, $10, $10 and $40 in exams and $105 for the license: $175 in all. An Operator with one category pays $20 in exams and $105, or $125. You must pass Core and one category within three years of the first pass, and a missed appointment with less than 24 hours' notice costs you the exam fees.

A company with employees needs a $300 firm license

Sole proprietors with no employees who apply pesticides are exempt from the firm license. Everyone else who sprays for hire on other people's property is not: an incorporated company, a partnership, an LLC, or a sole proprietor with employees. The spray contracting firm application lists $300 for an initial license or a renewal. Chapter 31 puts the trigger at a company that is incorporated or employs more than one applicator, licensed or not.

Liability insurance has to be in force whenever an application is made. Chapter 31 sets the minimums for ground applicators:

Coverage	Minimum
Public liability, each person	$100,000
Public liability, each occurrence	$300,000
Property damage, each occurrence	$100,000

The form never asks for a copy of the policy. The owner or manager signs an Affidavit of Insurance Coverage, which the Master submits, swearing the required amounts will be in effect when employees spray, and BPC treats the affidavit as a legally binding statement. Maine's rule does not say the coverage must reach the lawn being treated. The pesticide applicator insurance guide shows what a standard general liability form leaves out.

Renewal, continuing education and the January report

Certification and license both run three years and renew by December 31. Recertification takes continuing education credits, one credit per hour: nine for a Master and six for an Operator, in topics tied to your categories. Miss them and you retake the exams. Annual summary reports of applications are due January 31, and a missing report suspends the license until it arrives.

Where the BPC pages disagree

BPC has two overlapping pages. An older certification page still online lists a $70 license for two years, a $200 firm license and six-year certification. The licensing page gives $105, $300 and three years. The exam fees agree: $10 each, plus $50 for the regulations and oral exams together. Chapter 31, in the copy BPC links that was posted in July 2025, sets the $105 per-person license fee and ends certification on December 31 of the third year, which matches the licensing page. We followed those two and treat the older page as out of date. Before you mail a check, call BPC at 207-287-2731 and ask for the fee for the date you apply.

Fertilizer-only work is not addressed on the pages we read. The pesticide license hub lays out Maine's fees and insurance beside other states.