The City of Omaha has instituted a testing requirement to pull a building permit.  This requirement is similar to the requirements in Bellevue and Council Bluffs.  The Omaha Contractors Exam requirement goes into effect March 1st of 2012.

A number of people have asked where do I take the exam and are there prep courses for it.  Here are the answers to those questions.

First if you have passed the test to work in Bellevue, Omaha will recognize that test. In other words Omaha will reciprocate to Bellevue.

How do I take the exam?

First you need to read the bulletin information athttp://www.iccsafe.org/Accreditation/Bulletins/CO-National.pdf

Then to get signed up for a exam go tohttp://www.pearsonvue.com/icc/ or call Pearson VUE at 1-877-234-6082

What class of license should I apply for? There are five classes of license:

Class A contractors can do work on all structures up to and including high rise buildings.

Class B contractors can do work on all structures up and including four stories in height.

Class C contractors are home and duplex builders.

Class D contractors are residential remodeling contractors.

Class E contractors are roofing, siding, window and deck installers.

Are there prep courses for the exam?

There is a self study course put out by the International Codes Council just for this purpose.  To get the course go to http://education.certification-partners.com/icc/ , which is the on line training site for International Codes Council.

Next click on the box that reads “Certification Exam Practice Courses” that takes you a page titled  “Please select the primary code your course is based on to further refine the course list. Subcategories”.  Here you want to click on the navy blue button called “IBC” (International Building Codes).

That will revel a listing of all practice exams relating to the IBC (International Building Codes). Their price and how many days you can subscribe to the service. Notice there are three pages worth of listings. You are looking for the course titled “2006 IBC Standard General Building Contractor Certification Examination Practice Course”

When you find it click on the item to purchase it or for more information about the course.  Price is $79.

Of course they recommend a companion book! The 2009 IBC® Study Companion, is a comprehensive study guide to help you better understand the 2009 International Building Code®. It covers select topics of the code and includes code text, commentary and illustrations representing the provisions under discussion.

There are eighteen study sessions provide practical learning assignments. All study sessions contain specific learning objectives, commentary and illustrations and a list of questions summarizing the key points for study. Exercises and quizzes are provided at the end of each study session. Readers can measure their level of knowledge by checking the answer key provided in the back of the book. A total of 630 questions and answers are provided! It can be purchased for a non-member price of $59.

Of course you can not get this from the same web site, you have to go to

http://www.iccsafe.org/Store/Pages/Product.aspx?category=0&cat=ICCSafe&id=4017S09

Good Luck