What Is NM-GB98?

What Is NM-GB98, Exactly?

NM-GB98 refers to the New Mexico General Building Contractor Part 2 examination, the technical licensing test administered as part of the state's GB-98 general building contractor credential. It is regulated by the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, Construction Industries Division (CID), with computer-based testing delivered through PSI. If you're researching this credential for the first time, this overview is a companion piece to our broader NM-GB98 Certification guide, which walks through the licensing path from start to finish.

Unlike a single standalone exam, NM-GB98 is really a combination technical exam made up of two parts that must both be passed: the GB-2 Residential Building Contractor Part 1 exam and the GB-98 General Building Contractor Part 2 exam. Candidates who are new to New Mexico contractor licensing also need to satisfy a separate Business and Law requirement before a license can be issued.

Who Regulates NM-GB98 and How Testing Works

The Construction Industries Division sets the licensing rules, approves examination content, and contracts with PSI to deliver the computer-based test at approved testing centers. The current PSI contractor candidate information bulletin was updated April 3, 2026, and it is the authoritative source for scheduling procedures, testing-center rules, and reference-material policy. Anyone preparing for the exam should read the current bulletin alongside a resource like our NM-GB98 Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt rather than relying on secondhand summaries.

Because CID delegates the testing logistics to PSI, most of the day-to-day questions candidates have - where to test, what to bring, how scores are reported - are answered by PSI's bulletin, while eligibility, licensing decisions, and renewal policy remain with CID.

The Two-Part Technical Exam Structure

The GB-98 combination technical exam is built from two distinct parts, and both must be passed to move forward with licensure:

• GB-2 Residential Building Contractor Part 1: 80 questions, 225 minutes.
• GB-98 General Building Contractor Part 2: 100 questions, 310 minutes.

Each technical part is open book and requires a score of 75% to pass. The combination technical exam costs $269.06 for both parts together. If you pass one part but not the other, a single-part retake costs $134.53 rather than requiring you to repeat the entire combination exam. For a full breakdown of every fee involved in this credential, see NM-GB98 Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.

The Business and Law Requirement

Beyond the technical content, new contractor candidates in New Mexico must also satisfy a Business and Law requirement, either by passing the PSI Business and Law examination or by completing an approved course. The PSI Business and Law exam costs $68.88, contains 50 questions, allows 130 minutes, is open book, and also requires a 75% passing score.

This means a first-time applicant pursuing NM-GB98 licensure is realistically preparing for three separate open-book exams: GB-2 Part 1, GB-98 Part 2, and Business and Law. Each has its own question count, time limit, and 75% passing threshold, so it's worth tracking them independently rather than treating "the exam" as a single event. Our NM-GB98 Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass article breaks down exactly how the 75% threshold applies across each part.

Inside the 17 NM-GB98 Content Domains

The technical exam content is organized into 17 domains split across the two parts. Understanding the question distribution helps you prioritize study time toward the heaviest-weighted areas rather than spreading effort evenly across topics that carry very different numbers of questions.

Part 1 (GB-2) Domains - 80 Questions Total

Part 2 (GB-98) Domains - 100 Questions Total

For a deeper breakdown of how to allocate study time across all 17 areas, see NM-GB98 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 17 Content Areas.

Eligibility: Experience, Education, and Application Fees

Before you can sit for the technical exam, you need to meet New Mexico's experience requirement: four years and 8,000 hours of qualifying construction experience within the preceding 10 years. Approved education or training may earn half-time credit toward up to one-half of that requirement, which can shorten the timeline for candidates who have completed relevant coursework.

The qualifying-party application and work-affidavit fee is $36. This is separate from the technical exam fees and the Business and Law exam fee, so budget for all three components when planning your path to licensure. Our detailed NM-GB98 Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify article walks through documentation and affidavit specifics in more depth.

Open-Book References and What You Can Bring

All three exams - GB-2 Part 1, GB-98 Part 2, and Business and Law - are open book, but "open book" comes with specific rules. Approved references include the listed 2021 New Mexico building codes, the 2021 IRC or IBC as applicable, and approved trade texts. Your references must be bound, and you're permitted to highlight, underline, index, and permanently tab them before testing. However, references may not contain handwritten notes or loose inserted papers. A silent, nonprinting, nonprogrammable calculator is also allowed.

This distinction matters enormously for how you prepare. Because you can tab and index your codebooks in advance, a large part of your preparation should focus on knowing exactly where information lives in your references - not just memorizing it. For strategies on building an efficient tabbing system tied to the domain weights above, see NM-GB98 Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts.

Eligibility Windows, Score Validity, and Renewal

Once you're approved to test, examination eligibility lasts six months, meaning you need to schedule and complete your exams within that window. Passing scores remain valid for one year, giving you time to complete other licensing steps after passing. Once licensed, General Building renewal in New Mexico carries no continuing education requirement, which is a notable difference from many other state contractor credentials. For a calendar-style look at how these windows interact with scheduling, see NM-GB98 Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.

Who Hires Candidates With NM-GB98 Licensure

The General Building classification in New Mexico is broad by design - it covers both residential and general building construction work, which is why the exam pairs a residential-focused Part 1 (GB-2) with a general building-focused Part 2 (GB-98). This makes the license relevant to general contracting firms handling residential remodels and new builds, as well as firms that take on light commercial or mixed-use general building projects.

Because the license spans such a wide scope of work - sitework, concrete, masonry, carpentry, roofing, metals, and coordination with associated trades - contractors who hold it are often positioned to bid on a wider range of projects than a narrowly scoped trade license would allow. If you're weighing whether this breadth is worth the exam investment, our Is the NM-GB98 Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 piece and NM-GB98 Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis go into more detail. You can also browse practical listings in NM-GB98 Jobs to see how the credential is used in real hiring contexts.

Building a Domain-Weighted Study Plan

Given the uneven distribution of questions across the 17 domains, a smart study plan front-loads time on the heaviest domains - General Code, Plan Reading, and Estimating in both parts, plus Carpentry and Associated Trades in Part 1, and Concrete/Reinforcement and Masonry in Part 2 - before circling back to lighter domains like Metals or OSHA Safety.

Whatever cadence you use, work through full-length practice sessions under realistic timing on our practice test platform so the 225-minute and 310-minute windows feel familiar before test day. If you want a more thorough breakdown of pacing strategy by domain, our NM-GB98 Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt and How Hard Is the NM-GB98 Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 articles go further into difficulty patterns candidates report by domain.

Frequently Asked Questions