Examinations

In order to facilitate your preparation for the Régie’s examinations, the Régie has developed competency profiles and information sheets which you may refer to on line, in the page entitled Preparation: information sheets and competency profiles, from the Evaluation of professional qualifications section of our website.

The results of the examinations are communicated only once all applicant guarantors have passed their examinations. Therefore, no fixed time frame can be determined.

Examination results can in no case be disclosed by the RBQ by telephone. The results are sent by mail to the address of the person who has taken the examinations.

When you apply for a licence and you fail a first time at the examinations, you will receive by mail a notice along with your results. You will then have ten (10) days to give your objections. After this 10 day period, you will receive a ruling stating that you have passed, or that your fail mark has been maintained. Pursuant to this ruling, if your fail mark is maintained, you shall be granted a period of 30 days from the date of the ruling to send an application for a retake of examination [Fr] – PDF (181 KB). If you fail again at the retake examination, you will have to wait 6 months before applying again for your licence. However, if you take courses given by associations which are recognized by the RBQ, you may present such certifications without having to wait the aforementioned period of 6 months. These certifications will exempt you from taking our examinations.

We suggest that you take training courses. Some of the courses offered by certain contractors associations may even, at the end of the program, exempt you from our examinations. You can also opt for a different company status, which changes the rules at hand. Indeed, if you become part of a partnership or if you become incorporated, one of the other officers of your company may then, on behalf of it, apply for a licence. It is mandatory that a person who is authorized to take the examination on your company’s behalf be linked with your company and be identified as an officer. According to the Building Act, an officer is a member of a partnership, or, in the case of a legal person, an administrator, an officer as such, a shareholder with at least 20% of the voting shares. A full time manager is also considered as an officer and can apply for a licence on behalf of a partnership or a legal person.

Before the advent of the new Regulation respecting the professional qualification of building contractors and owner-builders, it was possible to be exempted from a module of the safety management examination if one presented the proof that he/she had completed a course in safety from the Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail. But no such exemption is granted anymore with regard to examination modules.

The Regulation respecting the professional qualification of contractors and owner-builders sets forth that a person is exempted from the examinations provided for if he/she has acted, during the period of 5 years preceding his/her application for licence, as a guarantor in the field or licence class or subclass applied for.