I just renewed my California architect license for the next two years and for the first time in my career, the process was fully digital! In this post, I will go into what the process is like for renewing an architect license online in California, including what changed, and the continuing education requirements.
Archaic Processes
The construction industry and government agencies have a reputation for being slow to modernize, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that it took the California Architects Board until 2025 to move renewals online. As recently as 2023, architects still had to print and mail paper forms with a physical check to Sacramento. The process felt archaic. The new digital process feels like a major upgrade and a long over-due step towards modernization.
Most Building Departments were still requiring paper drawings to be submitted for plan check until Covid changed that. Once everyone was working from home, many cities quickly adopted digital review processes. I can’t think of any cities that still require paper drawings. If anyone is interested in what the archaic process was like for submitting documents to cities prior to digital reviews, let me know.
Becoming a Licensed Architect
First of all, to be able to renew an architect license, the first step is actually becoming a licensed architect. The process requires a combination of years of education, logging hours of relevant work experience, and exams. Those of us that chose to get licensed in California get the gift of an additional exam known as the California Supplemental Exam. Once you pass all those hurdles, you can become a licensed architect – congratulations!
Renewing an Architect Liscense
License renewal is required for all architects in California every two years, on odd years at the end of the month of your birthday. For me, that means the end of November 2025, then 2027, and so on. Like many other licensed professionals, there are requirements for continuing education in order to maintain a license, which makes sense. Who wants to go to a doctor that hasn’t kept up with their education?
Continuing Education Requirements
In California, architects are required to have 10 hours of continuing education every two years, including five hours on disability access and five hours on zero new carbon design. The requirement for education regarding carbon design has been a new requirement in the past two renewal cycles.
2025 has been the first year that certificates of the completion of continuing education have been required for license renewal. In previous years, education was still required, but it was an honors system that just required checking a box that said that you completed the hours but didn’t require submitting proof.
Zero Net Carbon Design
Energy production, transportation, buildings and construction, and industry and manufacturing (which includes manufacturing materials for buildings) are the biggest carbon consumers so the choices we make as architects and travelers have an impact. I plan on writing some follow up posts about zero net carbon design education and how it relates to travel.
The Online Experience for Renewing an Architect License
The process to renew online took me about 45 minutes, which was longer than anticipated, but I expect that to go down in upcoming years. Since this was my first time renewing online, it took time to set up my account and password, and there were some forms about my business that needed to be submitted online, so I had more to submit than just continuing education.
Overall, I found the new online experience to be much improved and long overdue. It was easy to upload the pdf certificates as proof of my continuing education hours. I was happy to not have to find a checkbook that remains buried in my desk as a pre-technological relic. I also saved an envelope, stamp, and a walk to the nearest post office drop box and then just hoping my application does not get lost in the mail.
As I write this I wonder if requiring architects to study zero net carbon design but still require license renewal with snail mail and paper was the hypocritical kick in the pants the state board needed to finally upgrade to a digital renewal system? Either way, I am happy for the upgrade.
What Other Processes are Still Stuck in the Past?
The process of renewing my architect license remained one of the few I have encountered recently that still required a paper application and stamp. Now that this has been updated, what other processes have you seen recently that still seem stuck in the past?
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