CSLB Law and Business: Insurance and Liens
Section 4 of CSLB’s Law and Business study guide · about 12% of the exam
115 questions across every section on the 3½-hour clock, with a score for insurance and liens so you know where you stand.
Free insurance and liens drillA construction lender receives an unbonded stop payment notice from a supplier. What may the lender do?
Insurance and Liens on the Law and Business exam
Workers’ compensation, liability and other business insurance, mechanics liens, stop payment notices, payment bond claims and lien releases.
- Share of the exam
- About 12% (CSLB study guide); 14 of the 115 questions in our practice exam
- CSLB’s topics
- Workers’ compensation insurance · Business insurance · Liens and other remedies
- Our drill
- 10 questions from 54 insurance and liens questions, untimed, an explanation after every answer; one free attempt, unlimited with a pass
What insurance and liens questions test
- Workers’ compensation: who must carry it, the classifications that need it even with no employees, the exemption filing, and the penalties for going without
- Business insurance: general liability, builder’s risk, commercial auto, umbrella and bonds, and what each one covers
- Mechanics liens: who can record one, the preliminary notice, the recording deadlines after completion, a notice of completion or a notice of cessation, and the deadline to foreclose
- Other remedies: stop payment notices, payment bond claims, and the four statutory lien release forms (conditional and unconditional, progress and final)
Sit the full exam under the real clock
115 questions across every section on the 3½-hour clock, with a score for insurance and liens so you know where you stand.
Free insurance and liens drillHow to study it
- Draw a mechanics lien timeline: preliminary notice, completion, notice of completion, recording deadline, foreclosure deadline. Lien questions are almost all deadline questions.
- Learn the difference between a conditional and an unconditional release and when it is safe to sign each.
- Know the current workers’ compensation rule: which licensees must carry it with no employees, and which may file an exemption.
Common questions
Do all California contractors need workers’ compensation insurance?
Every contractor with employees must carry it, and C-8 concrete, C-20 HVAC, C-22 asbestos abatement, C-39 roofing and tree service licensees must carry it whether or not they have employees. Other licensees with no employees file an exemption with CSLB. Under SB 1455 (2024), from January 1, 2028 every active license needs it except a joint venture with no employees.
Where are California’s lien rules?
In the Civil Code, Part 6 of Division 4 (Works of Improvement), starting at section 8000. The Contractors License Law & Reference Book reprints the sections contractors use most.
115 questions across every section on the 3½-hour clock, with a score for insurance and liens so you know where you stand.
Free insurance and liens drillThe other Law and Business sections
Section topics and weight from CSLB study guide: Law and Business (13E-LAW, 03-2026), checked November 2026.
Original independent practice questions written to CSLB’s published study guide outline. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) or PSI.