GA-CAC Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis

How the GA-CAC License Shapes Earning Potential

Georgia's Conditioned Air Contractor Class II (Unrestricted) license doesn't come with a published salary chart from the Georgia Construction Industry Licensing Board, and any site that tells you otherwise is likely borrowing numbers from an unrelated credential that happens to share the "GA-CAC" acronym. What the Board does publish is something arguably more useful for a serious tradesperson: the exact scope of work, experience thresholds, and technical domains that determine what kind of jobs you're legally allowed to sign your name to. Earning potential in this trade follows scope of work, and scope of work is exactly what this license controls.

This guide breaks down the earnings logic of the Class II license by connecting it to the concrete facts of the credential itself - the exam structure, the experience requirements, and the renewal obligations - rather than inventing numbers that don't exist in the Board's materials. If you want the full mechanics of the exam first, start with the overview of what GA-CAC certification actually is and the complete requirements breakdown.

Why "Unrestricted" Matters for Your Paycheck

The word "Unrestricted" in the license name isn't marketing language - it's a legal scope designation from the Division of Conditioned Air Contractors. Contractors and technicians who hold restricted licenses are typically capped on system size or building type. The Class II Unrestricted credential removes those caps, which means license holders can pursue commercial installation, maintenance, and repair contracts on large systems without needing a second contractor to sign off on the bigger jobs.

In practical terms, that scope difference is what allows an unrestricted license holder to bid on hospital HVAC retrofits, large multi-tenant office buildings, or industrial conditioned-air systems - work that pays differently than single-family residential service calls precisely because of the complexity, liability, and equipment size involved. The exam itself reflects this: it requires reference-permitted, code-based competency across the 2024 Georgia Gas and Mechanical Codes with Georgia amendments and the 2023 NEC, not just basic residential troubleshooting.

How Each Exam Domain Translates Into Billable Skill

The GA-CAC Class II exam is organized into four domains, and each one maps to a category of paid work in the field. Understanding this mapping helps explain why certain domains carry more exam weight - they also tend to carry more complexity, and complexity is what commercial clients pay for. For a full breakdown of each domain's content, see the complete guide to all four content areas.

Your Five Years of Experience Are Already an Earnings Asset

Before you can even sit for the exam, Georgia's current Class II law requires five years of full-time qualifying experience, broken into specific categories:

• Two years of commercial supervisory experience
• One year as a service technician or service supervisor
• Two years of installation as a lead mechanic, with at least one commercial year on systems exceeding 175,000 BTU heating and 60,000 BTU cooling

This structure matters for earnings analysis because it means Class II candidates aren't entry-level workers studying for a credential to break into the trade - they're already supervisors, lead mechanics, and service leads by the time they qualify to test. The exam and license formalize a level of responsibility the candidate has typically already been performing. That existing supervisory and commercial track record is, functionally, an earnings asset independent of the license itself - the license simply makes that experience portable and legally recognized for unrestricted contracting.

Applicants also submit experience affidavits and references and pass a criminal background check as part of Board approval, which happens before scheduling is even possible. For the full eligibility breakdown, see the GA-CAC requirements guide.

Weighing the $110 Application Fee Against Career Investment

The Class II licensure-by-examination application fee is $110. On its own, that number tells you little - but in context, it's a small transactional cost compared to the years of qualifying experience, EPA certifications, and Board-approved heat-loss/gain and duct-design training (Manuals J&D and N&Q) candidates must already hold before they're even eligible to pay it. For a full pricing breakdown covering every cost component beyond the application fee itself, read the GA-CAC certification cost breakdown.

It's also worth noting that after two failed attempts, Georgia requires a Board-approved review course before a third exam attempt is permitted. That's a real cost consideration worth planning around, which is why a structured first-attempt strategy - outlined in the GA-CAC study guide for passing on your first attempt - has value beyond just the exam fee.

Who Hires Class II Licensed Contractors

Because the Class II license is unrestricted, holders are positioned for a wider range of employers and contract types than a restricted-scope license would allow. This includes:

• Commercial mechanical contracting firms bidding on large-tonnage installation and retrofit work
• Design-build HVAC firms that need staff capable of Manual J/D/N/Q-compliant load and duct calculations
• Service and maintenance companies handling both residential and large commercial refrigerant systems under EPA 608 Type II/III authority
• General contractors who need a licensed mechanical subcontractor of record for commercial projects

For a closer look at how the license connects to specific job roles and hiring patterns in Georgia's HVAC trade, see GA-CAC jobs and the broader discussion of whether GA-CAC certification is worth it.

Continuing Education and Long-Term Income Stability

Earnings analysis isn't just about the day you pass the exam - it's about staying licensed and employable over time. Georgia Class II licenses renew by November 30 of odd-numbered years, and license holders must complete four CE hours per year, or eight hours per renewal cycle. This isn't a heavy burden compared to other licensed trades, but it's a recurring obligation that keeps your unrestricted scope active. Letting a license lapse means losing the very scope advantage that separates Class II earning potential from restricted-license work.

Factors That Move Your Earning Ceiling

Rather than fabricate a salary chart, it's more accurate - and more useful - to look at the structural factors the Board itself has built into this license, and how each one plausibly affects the type and size of work you can pursue.

Getting From Exam Day to Payday

The path to actually using this license commercially runs through the exam itself: two 3-hour 30-minute sections, 100 scored questions plus 20 unscored beta questions, computer-based and multiple-choice, with a minimum final scaled score of 70 required to pass. Only approved references may be used during testing - the 2024 Georgia Gas and Mechanical Codes with Georgia amendments and the 2023 NEC for exams scheduled May 1 through December 31, 2026 - and only permanent tabs, highlighting, and underlining are allowed in those references. Photocopies and handwritten notes are prohibited.

Knowing exactly what score you need and how the scaled scoring works removes a lot of exam-day anxiety; see the GA-CAC passing score breakdown for specifics. If you want a sense of how challenging candidates generally find the exam relative to their trade experience, the GA-CAC difficulty guide and pass rate analysis are useful companion reads. And because System Design carries more than half the exam's weight, it deserves proportionally more of your prep time - a scheduling point covered in depth in the GA-CAC study guide.

Once you're licensed, the practical next step is putting the unrestricted scope to work - bidding jobs, pursuing commercial contracts, and building the service base that turns a license into income. You can sharpen your exam readiness anytime using the practice testing tools on the main GA-CAC practice test platform, which mirrors the reference-permitted, multiple-choice format you'll see on exam day.

Frequently Asked Questions