Eligibility for the Electrical Contractor Licence

The electrical contractor licence sits at the top of a short ladder. To understand who can hold one, start at the bottom rung and climb. A person becomes a construction electrician by earning a certificate of qualification. The certificate makes the person eligible for an electrician's licence. Two years of experience after qualifying, combined with that licence, makes the person eligible to support an electrical contractor licence, either their own or one held by a business that employs them. This lesson works through each rung and then applies the rules to the people at Tantramar Electric.

Rung one: the certificate of qualification

Construction electrician is a designated, compulsory trade in New Brunswick. Compulsory means that a person needs to be a registered apprentice or a certified journeyperson to work in the trade; it is not enough to learn on the job informally. The certificate of qualification is issued by Skilled Trades NB, the provincial apprenticeship and occupational certification office. There are two main routes to it. An apprentice registers with an employer, completes the required hours of work experience and the blocks of technical training, and writes the certification exam. A trade qualifier, someone who has worked in the trade without completing a New Brunswick apprenticeship, applies to have their experience assessed and, if it is accepted, writes the same exam.

Construction electrician is also a Red Seal trade. The certification exam is the interprovincial Red Seal exam, and a person who passes it receives a certificate endorsed with the Red Seal, which other provinces and territories recognize. The province's own statistics show how demanding the exam is: in the year ending March 31, 2025, roughly three in four New Brunswick apprentices passed it, while fewer than half of trade qualifiers did. Lesson 4 looks at the exam itself.

Owen's situation shows how the certificate works across provinces. He holds a Nova Scotia certificate of qualification with the Red Seal endorsement. The New Brunswick electrician's licence asks for a New Brunswick certificate, so Owen asks Skilled Trades NB how to have his certificate recognized here. In the meantime, the regulation lets the Chief Electrical Inspector issue a construction electrician identification card to a person who holds a certificate from another province, so that he can work while the paperwork is completed. Lesson 3 explains how to apply.

Rung two: the electrician's licence

Holding a certificate of qualification does not, by itself, authorize electrical work under the electrical regulation. Regulation 84-165 lists the licences whose holders may make, repair and maintain electrical installations: the electrician's licence in Class 2 or Class 3 and the industrial electrician's licence. The Class 3 licence is the one issued today. To qualify, a person must hold a New Brunswick certificate of qualification as a construction electrician. The fee in the regulation is fifty dollars, the licence lasts one year from issue or renewal, and it must be renewed every year.

The Class 3 licence also qualifies its holder to act as electrician in charge of any type of installation. The older Class 2 licence, still renewable by people who held it before 1968, qualifies its holder as electrician in charge only of the smaller installation types the regulation describes. The industrial electrician's licence is narrower in a different way: its holders work in establishments that permanently employ electricians, such as mills and plants, and the licence rests on a certificate in the industrial electrician trade rather than the construction electrician trade.

Apprentices do electrical work too, but not on their own authority. The regulation allows registered apprentices to work under the supervision of a licensed electrician, and the supervision rules in the apprenticeship program set the ratio and the level of supervision. Logan, Tantramar's second-year apprentice, therefore works under Émilie or Owen on every job. Lesson 7 returns to supervision because it is one of the duties that falls on the contractor.

Rung three: two years of experience

The step from electrician to contractor is set out in section 10 of the regulation. A person may hold the Group 3 electrical contractor licence if they hold a Class 3 electrician's licence and have at least two years of experience as an electrician since they qualified. A business that is not itself a qualified person may hold the licence if it employs someone with those qualifications and certifies that fact in writing. The Group 3 licence covers all installation types. Group 2 licences, like Class 2 electrician licences, are renewal-only for licences issued before 1968.

The phrase since qualifying matters. Time spent as an apprentice does not count toward the two years, even if the apprentice was doing much of the work; the clock starts when the person becomes a qualified electrician. Émilie qualified in 2021, so she passed the two-year mark in 2023. Owen qualified in Nova Scotia in 2022; whether TIS counts his experience outside New Brunswick toward the two years is a question to put to TIS directly, with records of his work history ready.

Individual or business

The two routes in section 10 suit different situations. A sole proprietor who is a qualified electrician can hold the licence personally on the strength of their own qualifications. A partnership or corporation is not a qualified person, so it holds the licence on the strength of an employee who has the qualifications, and it certifies that employment in writing. Tantramar Electric Ltd. is a corporation. Its licence has always rested on Gilles. When he retires, the company needs another employee with a Class 3 licence and at least two years of experience to take his place, and it must tell TIS about the change.

A business that relies on one person is exposed. If that person leaves, dies or loses their licence, the business may no longer meet the condition for its licence. Prudent companies therefore have more than one qualified person on staff and keep their records up to date, so that a replacement can be named quickly. Nicole keeps a file for each electrician with copies of their certificate, their current licence and the date they qualified, so that the company can show TIS who it relies on at any time.

Sign installers and lightning protection

Two specialized fields have their own licences, and contractors run into them often. A sign installer contractor licence lets a business install signs; it requires the business to employ someone with a sign installer licence. The sign installer licence requires a course satisfactory to the Chief Electrical Inspector, at least 2,000 documented hours of sign installation work and a competency test acceptable to the chief inspector. This is the only place in the electrical licensing rules where a test is written into the regulation. Sign installer helpers carry an identification card and must work for a sign installer contractor or an electrical contractor.

Lightning protection systems are licensed separately again. A supplier registers with the Chief Electrical Inspector by affidavit that its equipment meets the installation code for lightning protection systems, and an agent appointed by a licensed supplier must be a New Brunswick resident who satisfies the chief inspector that they are qualified. An electrical contractor licence does not, by itself, authorize lightning protection work. If Tantramar is asked to install a lightning protection system on the Sussex grain building, it should check whether it needs to work with a licensed supplier and agent.

Checking eligibility before you apply

Most refused or delayed applications come from missing documents rather than from a person failing a condition. Before applying, gather proof of each rung: a copy of the certificate of qualification, the current electrician's licence number and expiry date, and evidence of the date of qualification. If the applicant is a business, add proof of the business registration and the written certification that it employs the qualified person. Lesson 3 covers the application itself; for now, check that every condition is met and documented.

from datetime import date

def contractor_eligible(licence_class, qualified_on, today):
    # Group 3 contractor licence: Class 3 licence and two years since qualifying
    if licence_class != 3:
        return False, "needs a Class 3 electrician licence"
    two_years = date(qualified_on.year + 2, qualified_on.month, qualified_on.day)
    if today < two_years:
        days = (two_years - today).days
        return False, f"two years reached on {two_years} ({days} days to go)"
    return True, "meets the licence and experience conditions"

today = date(2026, 11, 10)
people = {"Emilie": (3, date(2021, 6, 18)), "Marie": (3, date(2025, 5, 2)), "Logan (apprentice)": (0, date(2026, 1, 1))}
for name, (cls, q) in people.items():
    ok, why = contractor_eligible(cls, q, today)
    print(f"{name:<20} {'yes' if ok else 'no ':<4} {why}")

Emilie               yes  meets the licence and experience conditions
Marie                no   two years reached on 2027-05-02 (173 days to go)
Logan (apprentice)   no   needs a Class 3 electrician licence

The function checks only the two conditions in section 10. Real applications also need a valid licence on the day of application and the supporting documents, so treat a yes from the function as the start of the checklist rather than the end.

Keeping proof of experience

The two-year condition is easy to state but sometimes awkward to prove, especially for electricians who have changed employers or worked outside the province. Useful records include pay stubs or tax slips showing employment as an electrician, letters from employers confirming dates and duties, and copies of the electrician's licence for each year. Keep them together from the day you qualify, even if you have no plans to become a contractor; it is much easier than reconstructing a work history years later.