California C-36 Plumbing Exam — Course Modules

Everything you need to know about the C-36 exam: format, scoring, domains, and study strategy.

Blueprint reading, material takeoffs, cost estimating, code awareness, and plumbing math. 22% of the trade exam.

Underground piping, DWV rough-in, water supply rough-in, fuel gas piping, venting, and testing. 22% of the trade exam.

Fixture installation, water heaters, backflow prevention, traps and interceptors, and specialty systems. 20% of the trade exam.

Troubleshooting, drain and supply problems, leak detection, sewer repair, remodel work, and emergencies. 19% of the trade exam.

Job site safety, trenching, hot work, confined spaces, hazardous materials, and tool safety. 17% of the trade exam.

Contracts, change orders, payment rules, liens, licensing, employment law, and legal compliance.

Business finance, organization types, tax responsibilities, insurance, recordkeeping, risk management, and job costing.

What CSLB requires after you pass, the 90-day clock, the bonds, workers' compensation, and the mistakes that hold a license up.

Entity choice, the money setup, city licenses, the insurance stack, the sales tax rule most plumbers get wrong, and the taxes that come due every quarter.

Where the first jobs come from, the relationships that feed a plumbing business, the advertising rules that can suspend a license, pricing, and estimating as a method rather than a guess.

The home improvement contract with every required notice, the deposit cap that CSLB cites most, change orders, the 20-day notice, mechanics liens, collections, and three cases where a contractor lost money on paper before losing it on the job.

One diagnostic method applied to every call a new C-36 gets: permits, the daily-use code, gas, water heaters, sewer and drain, leaks, pressure, sewer gas, treatment, fixtures, materials, commercial basics, Cal/OSHA, lead and asbestos, and the cases where the method decided the outcome.

Presenting price without apologizing, the cheaper competitor, bad news, the four- and ten-year liability windows, a warranty that protects you, the CSLB complaint process from your side, and reviews.

Hiring under the ABC test, wage and hour, apprentices, adding classifications, systems, the numbers that predict failure, fleet and inventory, being an RMO for others, and selling or stepping back.

Renewal, the bond and workers' compensation lapses that suspend a license automatically, the 90-day change rule, tracking code cycles, and what to keep for how long.