Contractor licence for tree work in Oregon: ORS 701, endorsements, exam and fees

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB) position as read on its own pages and on the Legislature's text of Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) chapter 701 on October 8, 2026. A short phrase in quotation marks is the source's own.

What the statute says about tree work

ORS 701.005(5)(e) lists, among the people the chapter calls a contractor, a person engaged as an independent contractor "to remove trees, prune trees, remove tree limbs or stumps or to engage in tree or limb guying." The paragraph excepts a landscape contracting business, a nurseryman, a gardener and a person engaged in the commercial harvest of forest products. Section 701.021(1) says that, except as provided in section 701.010, a person or joint venture that undertakes, offers to undertake or submits a bid to do work as a contractor must have a current licence from the board and an appropriate endorsement. Section 701.990(1) says a violation of section 701.021 is a Class A misdemeanor.

Section 701.010 lists the people who are exempt from licensure under the chapter. Subsection (4) covers a person working on one structure or project when the total price of all contracts for labor, materials and other items is less than US$1,000 and the work is of a casual, minor or inconsequential nature. The subsection says it does not apply to a person who advertises or puts out any sign, card or other device that might indicate to the public that the person is a contractor. Subsection (5) exempts an owner who contracts for work to be done by a licensed contractor, and subsection (7) covers a person doing work on property that person owns.

What the board's licence page says

The board's page on getting a licence says Oregon law generally requires anyone who works for compensation in any construction activity involving improvements to real property to be licensed. Its list of work that requires a licence includes tree servicing. Its list of work that does not require a licence includes gutter cleaning, power and pressure washing for cleaning, and debris clean up of a yard or construction site.

The page gives these steps for a new licence: at least 16 hours of pre-license training from an approved provider, the Oregon exam, a corporation, LLC or assumed business name filing where one applies, a surety bond, proof of general liability insurance naming the board as certificate holder, workers' compensation insurance if the business hires employees, and an application. It says the person who passes the exam is the Responsible Managing Individual, who must be an owner or employee of the business and manage or supervise its construction activities, and that an applicant must be at least 18 years old.

The exam is based on the Oregon version of a national contractors' guide to business, law and project management. The page says it has 80 multiple choice questions, that a passing score is 70 percent (56 correct answers), that the time allowed is three hours and that the exam costs US$60. It says an applicant must apply for the licence within 24 months of passing, and that a contractor whose licence lapses for more than 24 months has to retake the training and pass the test again. Applications, it says, may take six to eight weeks.

Endorsements, bonds and insurance

The board's endorsement chart, dated November 2024, says a contractor with a residential endorsement may work on residential and small commercial structures, and a contractor with a commercial endorsement may work on both large and small commercial projects. It describes the residential specialty contractor endorsement as work involving one or two unrelated building trades, with a US$20,000 residential bond and US$300,000 per occurrence insurance, and the residential general contractor endorsement as an unlimited number of unrelated building trades, with a US$25,000 bond and US$500,000 per occurrence insurance. The chart and the board's licence page do not say which endorsement a tree service business takes.

The board's bond page says the 2023 Legislature raised each endorsement's minimum bond by US$5,000 from January 1, 2024. Its table gives the new amounts as US$25,000 for residential general, US$20,000 for residential specialty, US$15,000 for residential limited, US$80,000 for commercial general level 1 and US$55,000 for commercial specialty level 1. On workers' compensation, the licence page says it is required if the business has employees, that commercial contractors must have it, and that businesses without employees are ordinarily exempt contractors.

Fees

The licence page lists a US$400 fee for a two-year licence as part of a complete application. The board's fee notice says the board approved a US$75 increase of the two-year fee, from US$325 to US$400, the first increase since 2010. It says the new fee applied to renewal of an existing licence from July 1, 2024 and applies to an application for a new licence from July 1, 2025.

Other states that license tree work through contractor boards are on the contractor licences overview, and the California board's rules are on the page for California. Where a licence number has to appear on advertising, see the page on licence number display rules.