Residential Continuing Education (RCE) General Information & FAQ’s

Public Chapter 186 – Residential Continuing Education

A new provision in the law requires Residential contractors, only those licensed after January 1, 2009, with a residential license classification of BC-A, BC-A/r, and BC-A,b(sm), will be required to obtain eight (8) hours of Board-approved Residential Continuing Education (RCE) as a prerequisite to renew. A list of RCE providers are available on the Board’s website at: https://www.tn.gov/commerce/regboards/contractors/license/rce.html

Residential contractors, starting with ones expiring on January 31, 2022 and thereafter, will be required to show proof of eight (8) RCE hours with their contractor’s license renewal from any of the RCE Approved Providers and will need to attach to the contractors online renewal’s “File Attachment” as “Other - Disclosures and Additional Info” along with their Financial Statement and Certificate of Insurance. An individual designated as a Qualifying Agent (QA) on the contractor’s license will be responsible for attaining RCE on behalf of the licensed entity. For contractors with multiple qualifying agents, only one (1) will be required to obtain RCE to fulfill the license renewal requirements.

RCE may be offered by classroom, online, as well as having membership from a Board approved professional trade organization. To be approved as an RCE provider, programs and associations will need to complete a written request to the Board with an outline of their curriculum, pursuant Tenn. Code Ann. §62-6-112(g), showing how their RCE contributes directly to the professional competence of the licensee. An application may be obtained from Contractor.app@tn.gov.

Rules may be reviewed at:  https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules_filings/04-30-21.pdf Law may be reviewed at   https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/111/pub/pc0186.pdf

FAQ’s – Residential Continuing Education (RCE)

  1. Which licensees with the Board for Licensing Contractors will be required to obtain Residential Continuing Education (RCE)?
    • Licenses issued after January 1, 2009 with a Residential building classification as follows: BC-A; BC-A/r; and those with a combination BC- A,b(sm) license classification. If a new QA was designated after January 1, 2009, but the original date of the license was prior to that date, RCE would not be required since the requirement is determined by the original license issue date.
  2. Will contractors having a BC or BC-B or BC-b(small commercial) classification be required to have RCE to renew?
    • No, those with a BC classification would not be required to obtain RCE to renew. Those with a BC-B or BC-b (small commercial) classification will not be required to obtain RCE to renew, unless, they also have a residential classification “BC-A” as part of their license, such as a BC- A,b(sm) combination classification.
  3. When will a Residential contractor licensee need to start obtaining and reporting their RCE?
    • Starting with contractors expiring on January 31, 2022, they will be required to provide 8.0 of RCE hours at the time of renewal. Renewal notifications are sent out 90 days in advance. To ensure you renew prior to the license expiring, the law requires submitting your renewal a minimum of 30 days in advance.
  4. How will residential contractors need to report their RCE?
    • *Currently, they will only need to do so at renewal time and include their proof of RCE along with the rest of their other renewal documents (such as with their Financial Statement, Certificate of Insurance, etc.) and may do so on the online renewal as an “Other-Disclosures and Additional Info” file attachment. RCE should not be sent separate from the renewal, therefore, do not rely on the RCE provider to report on your behalf. *Note: In the future, there may be a means to upload your RCE to your Core license account prior to renewal.
  5. Who will be required to take the RCE for the license?
    • The Qualifying Agent (QA) designated on the contractor’s license is the only individual who may obtain RCE for the license. The QA is considered the person who passed the residential trade exam. If more than one person passed the residential trade exam, only one (1) QA is required to obtain RCE to fulfill the requirements for the license.
      For licenses where an individual did not take the exam, such as the BC- A/r, then the person who took the Limited Residential course is considered the QA.
  6. Is there a list of approved RCE?
  7. How may I apply to become an approved RCE provider?
    • Send an email to: contractor.app@tn.gov for an application to become an approved RCE provider. Providers will be reviewed by the Board at their regularly scheduled meetings. Once a provider is approved, they will be added to the list on the website.
  8. Can RCE courses that were taken prior to the provider approval date be used?
    • Yes, it is acceptable to use RCE hours from an approved provider, if taken during the (2) year period prior to the license expiration date (beginning January 1, 2020).
  9. If I have more than one (1) license, and the second was issued after January 1, 2009, will I need RCE for the second company.
    • Yes. Licenses are associated with the company, not an individual. The second license is a new license that was issued on or after January 1, 2009, to a completely new entity. The “contractor” is the entity that the license is issued to and not to an individual.