California Contractor License Requirements & SBA Loans – How Did You Handle It?

June 25, 2025
by a searcher from University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business in San Diego, California, United States
We’ve been evaluating several home services businesses in California, and a recurring theme is that most of them require a California Contractor’s License (often a specific classification like C-27, D-52, etc.) in order to operate and to qualify for an SBA loan.
For those of you who’ve acquired a business with this kind of license requirement:
- Did you or your partner already hold the license?
- Were you able to satisfy the requirement using an RME (Responsible Managing Employee) or RMO (Responsible Managing Officer)?
- How did that impact your SBA loan qualification or close timeline?
Curious to hear how others navigated this. Any advice or real-world examples would be super helpful!
from Arizona State University in Los Angeles, CA, USA
from United States Air Force Academy in Escondido, CA, USA