Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05

The count

Georgia Electrical License Experience: 4 Years of Hours

Four years, at 2,000 hours to the year, gained under an active licensed electrical contractor. That's the bar, and the application asks you to prove it area by area rather than as one total. Here's what counts, what only half counts, and what school can buy back.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

Four years, 8,000 hours

Before any of the hours, two board documents give two ages. Rule 121-3-.01(2) says 21 to hold a Class I or Class II license, while the affidavit on Form 44, the electrical exam application, has the applicant verify being 18 or older. Plan on 21 and ask the board if your dates sit between the two.

Board Rule 121-3-.01 requires a minimum of four years of Primary Experience, which it defines as working experience gained through the direct installation of electrical systems.

The board's application form gives the conversion: you have to document a minimum of four years, with 2,000 hours counted as one year. Four times 2,000 is 8,000 hours, though the board's language is years first and hours as the way of measuring them.

Both classes work off the same four years. What changes between Class I and Class II is the breadth of the areas you document and the size of the installations.

It only counts under a licensed contractor

The rule ties Primary Experience to work gained under an active licensed electrical contractor. Form 44 says the same in plainer words: experience has to be gained working under a licensed electrical contractor, and experience from an unlicensed contractor does not count.

That's the single most expensive thing to get wrong in Georgia. Two years of good work for somebody without a license is two years you cannot use, no matter how the work went. You can check any employer's license in seconds on the state's licensee search.

Primary experience and secondary experience

Primary Experience is the direct installation of electrical systems. That's the hands on work, and it's the only kind that carries full weight.

Secondary Experience is credited at fifty percent, per Rule 121-3-.01(5). The rule includes instruction, municipal inspection work, professional engineering design and administrative responsibility for a licensed contractor in that category.

The same paragraph caps the total. Applicants may be credited up to one year of experience based on secondary experience or education, so half credit work can shorten the road by a year at most.

What school is worth

Rule 121-3-.01(5)(b) says education may be applied toward the experience requirements as follows: completion of a two year academic diploma program counts as two years of experience, and completion of a two year academic certificate program offered by a vocational-technical school counts as two years of experience.

Read against paragraph (5), which caps secondary experience and education credit at one year, the two lines don't reconcile. We're naming both because they're both in the same rule, and neither one is a footnote to the other.

Practically, the safe plan is to treat school as worth up to a year and be pleased if the board credits more. Ask the board how it applies the paragraph before you file an application that depends on the two year reading.

The areas you have to document

Rule 121-3-.01(7) lists eight areas, and the application asks about them individually:

1. Installation of raceway systems.
2. Installation of conductors.
3. Installation of service entrances.
4. Installation of motors and generators.
5. Installation of switches, disconnects and controls.
6. Installation of materials and equipment for special occupancies.
7. Bonding of interior metal piping systems.
8. Determination of general lighting loads.

The rule says Class I applicants document at least five of them plus the general lighting loads item, and that Class II applicants document all of them. The 06-22 application form instead says a Class 1 applicant needs at least six. Same board, two documents, two numbers.

Class II applicants also document experience with installations above single phase 200 ampere systems under Rule 121-3-.01(6), or above single phase 400 amperes under the form. The license types page covers that conflict in full.

How to keep the record

Georgia gives you no official hour log, so the format is yours. What the application will want is enough detail to answer each area, so build the log around the areas rather than around weeks.

• Employer name and Georgia license number, plus the dates you were there.
• Hours by year, so the four year total is visible without arithmetic.
• The jobs behind each of the eight areas, with enough description to be believable.
• Service sizes and phases, since the Class II test is about installations above the ampere line.

Then there are the three notarized original reference forms. At least one has to come from a licensed electrical contractor, so keep in touch with the people who supervised you.

Checking where you stand

Take your years first and your hours second, since the rule is written in years. If you're near four years but light on an area, the fix is usually a few months on the right kind of work rather than a longer wait.

Our experience calculator takes what you have and shows the date the four years is met, with the rule that sets it named beside the result. It's free and it doesn't need an account.

Questions people ask

How many hours do you need for a Georgia electrical license?

Four years of Primary Experience, which the board's application form counts at 2,000 hours to the year. That works out to 8,000 hours of direct installation work under an active licensed electrical contractor.

Does work for an unlicensed contractor count?

No. Form 44 says experience gained under an unlicensed contractor doesn't count, and Rule 121-3-.01 ties Primary Experience to work under an active licensed electrical contractor. Check your employer on the state's licensee search before you start.

Does trade school count toward the four years?

Yes, but how much is not settled. Rule 121-3-.01(5)(b) credits a two year academic diploma or a two year vocational-technical certificate program as two years, while paragraph (5) caps all secondary experience and education credit at one year. Ask the board how it applies the paragraph.

What is secondary experience worth?

Half. Rule 121-3-.01(5) credits secondary experience time at fifty percent and includes instruction, municipal inspection work, engineering design and administrative responsibility for a licensed contractor.

How many experience areas do I have to document?

For Class II, all eight in Rule 121-3-.01(7). For Class I, the rule says at least five plus the general lighting loads item, while the 06-22 application form says at least six. We name both because the board publishes both.

Who has to sign my references?

Three notarized original reference forms are required, and at least one has to come from a licensed electrical contractor. That requirement appears both on the form and in the rule.

What this page cites

• Board Rule 121-3-.01 Sets four years of Primary Experience, the fifty percent secondary credit, the one year cap, the education credit lines and the eight experience areas. source
• Form 44, initial or reinstatement application States the four year minimum and the 2,000 hours to one year conversion. source
• Form 44, Application - Electrical EXAM Says experience has to be gained under a licensed electrical contractor and that unlicensed contractor time doesn't count. source
• How-to guide, electrical contractors Lists work experience documentation and three professional references among the required application items. source
• Licensee search, GOALS The state search where you can confirm an employer holds an active electrical contractor license. source