Understanding the CE Timeline for OK CIB Licensees

If you hold a license with the Oklahoma Construction Industries Board (CIB), you might have multiple deadlines to mark down. Specifically, a lot of licensees have to renew on a yearly basis but only need to complete continuing education (CE) every three years.

In fact, when you zoom out and look at all CIB license types, you’ll see a pattern emerge. To make it easier to understand how much CE you need to renew your license, when it’s due, and how to get it, we built this guide.

CE deadlines for licensees and registrants

The deadline we’re about to go over applies to:

Roofing contractor registrants
Contractor and journeyman mechanical (e.g., HVAC) licensees
Contractor and journeyman plumbing licensees
Contractor and journeyman electrical licensees

There’s no single CE deadline for licensees and registrants across Oklahoma. Instead, when your CE is due is based in part on when your license/registration is set to expire. For each of the license and registration types we just outlined, that’s the last day of your birth month every year.

That isn’t your CE deadline, though. In fact, there’s no CE deadline at all. Instead, the state makes sure you get CE by requiring it for renewal. In other words, if your license or registration is about to expire, you might need to get your CE hours done before you’ll be eligible for renewal.

Again, though, your CE requirement doesn’t align with your renewal deadline. That’s because while you need to renew annually, the CIB only requires CE for renewal every three years (or 36 months).

So if you’re a roofing contractor or you have a plumbing, mechanical, or electrical license, you’ll have to keep a close eye on things. While your license renewal is due annually by the last day of your birth month, your CE requirement is triennial. That can get confusing so it might be helpful to mark your calendar every three years from your original registration issue date. This will give you the heads-up you need to make sure you know which renewal cycles require CE.

The CE you need

The number of hours you need vary by license/registration type, but one thing is always true: your CE needs to come from a CIB-approved provider. Look for someone who has been approved by the Construction Industries Board or your hours won’t count toward your renewal requirement.

Now, let’s look at the actual number of hours you need:

Roofing contractors: 4 hours (see options here) every three years
Contractor and journeyman plumber licensees: 6 hours (see options here) every three years
Contractor and journeyman electrical licensees: 6 hours (see options here) every three years
Contractor and journeyman mechanic licensees: 6 hours (see options here) every three years

Here’s the good news: you can take those hours online. All of those links we just listed will take you to CIB-approved CE that you can work on whenever you have time from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. That way, even if you only remember that you need CE at the last minute, you can still get it done before you submit your renewal to the CIB.