Connecticut PE and architect license renewal: what firms need to track

Last checked Sep 28, 2026. Not yet confirmed with the Connecticut boards. Confirm anything you act on with the board. Not legal advice.

If your firm has engineers or architects licensed in Connecticut, you track three kinds of dates: each person’s license expiration, the end of each person’s CE period, and the firm’s own registration. Engineers answer to the Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (Department of Consumer Protection). Architects answer to the Connecticut Architectural Licensing Board (Department of Consumer Protection). Worth knowing up front: Connecticut is one of the few places with no PDH hours for PE renewal, so the engineering side is mostly about dates.

PE license renewal in Connecticut

PE licenses renew every year and expire January 31. Firm registrations also expire each year.

The board: Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (Department of Consumer Protection). Look up each engineer’s current expiration date on the board’s license lookup rather than trusting the date on an old spreadsheet.

License numbers: eLicense shows "PEN." + 7 digits; seals show the short number. This is how SealBench reads the numbers on an imported roster; it isn’t a board rule.

PE continuing education (PDH)

• Hours: No PDH hours are required to renew a PE license.
• New licensees: Not applicable: Connecticut has no CE requirement for professional engineers, so there is nothing to exempt.
• Records: Not applicable: no CE requirement, so no CE record retention rule.
• Reporting: No CE reporting or CE audit. Renewal is by fee payment through DCP.

Architect license renewal and CE in Connecticut

The architect rules on this page come from our rule tables and haven’t been checked against the architecture board’s rules yet. Check with the board before you rely on them.

Individual license renews annually and expires July 31. Architecture corporation/LLC registration renews annually (DCP says July 31; statute fee $220). Joint Practice firm registration expires April 30 annually. The board: Connecticut Architectural Licensing Board (Department of Consumer Protection); each architect’s date is on the license lookup.

• Hours: 12 hours every year, all in health, safety and welfare (HSW) topics. Statute: 12 months starting three calendar months before license expiry, i.e., May 1 - April 30 before the July 31 renewal (20-292(e)); DCP page says the same. The regulation text says 'each calendar year'.
• Carryover: Excess C.E.H. may not be credited to a future calendar year (20-289-6a(c)).
• New licensees: No first-renewal exemption found. Exemptions only for health, military service or hardship at board discretion, and for Architect Emeritus.
• Records: Six years from the date earned (20-289-6a(d)).
• Units: An AIA learning unit (LU) is one hour.

Firm registration (COA) and qualifier rules

Engineering firms

A firm offering engineering in Connecticut needs a firm credential from the board: Certificate of Registration (Professional Engineering Firm). Corporations and LLCs that practice engineering need a Certificate of Registration. Sole proprietors are not covered, and DCP says LLPs do not register separately (not yet confirmed). The firm must designate one or more Connecticut-licensed engineers in charge, and report any change within 30 days. At least two-thirds of the members or owners of an LLC or professional corporation must be Connecticut licensees holding two-thirds of the voting interest.

Architecture firms

A firm offering architecture needs a firm credential: Certificate of Authorization (Architecture Corporation/Firm Registration); Joint Practice firm registration for multi-discipline firms. Corporations (general and professional) practicing architecture need a Certificate of Authorization, and LLCs register as architecture firms (Conn. Gen. Stat. 20-298b; DCP firm page). The chief executive officer must be a Connecticut-licensed architect. Professional corporations and LLCs must be at least two-thirds owned by Connecticut-licensed architects holding two-thirds of the voting interest (ESOP alternative for PCs). The corporation files a designation of the Connecticut architect(s) in charge of architectural work and reports changes within 30 days; PCs also report changes in ownership or CEO within 30 days. DCP says LLPs do not register separately but each member must be licensed. Firms offering more than one design profession register as a Joint Practice firm.

Ownership: Professional corporations: not less than two-thirds of voting stock held by Connecticut-licensed architects (or an ESOP with two-thirds licensed trustees). LLCs and PCs: not less than two-thirds of individual members/owners must be Connecticut-licensed architects owning at least two-thirds of the voting interest (20-298b(a),(f)). General (business) corporations: no ownership percentage, but the CEO must be a Connecticut architect. Joint practice firms: two-thirds owned by CT licensees, each profession offered at least 20% owned by its CT licensees.

Architect in charge: Chief executive officer must be licensed under chapter 390 (20-298b(a)(1)). The corporation files a designation of one or more Connecticut-licensed architects in charge of its architectural work and notifies the board within 30 days of a change (20-298b(d)). Drawings by an architectural firm must be sealed by a principal member or officer (20-293). DCP requires a 'Licensee Responsible for Signing and Sealing' form.

Firm renewal: Annual, expires July 31 (architecture firm/corporation); Joint Practice firms expire April 30.

Firms that offer both

Architects and engineers have separate boards within DCP, but a single entity offering any combination of architecture, landscape architecture, land surveying and professional engineering registers once as a Joint Practice firm (expires April 30 annually). Ownership: two-thirds CT licensees overall, and each profession's CT licensees own at least 20%. Separately, 20-298a allows architect/engineer partnerships where at least half the partners are licensed architects.

Firm numbers: Firm "PEC." + 7 digits.

Who can seal drawings in Connecticut

Connecticut issues a PE license without limiting it by discipline; engineers seal only work within their competence, which your firm judges. Connecticut issues only a general professional engineer license, with no separate structural engineer license.

On architectural sheets, our data says an engineer may seal architectural work only in limited cases. A PE is exempt only for architectural work that is incidental to their engineering work and for which they are qualified (20-298(1)). However, building officials may accept plans stamped by a licensed architect or a licensed professional engineer (20-293). Exempt from the architecture law: one- and two-family dwellings and their garages/accessory buildings, farm buildings, and buildings (including additions) under 5,000 sq ft total area, except assembly, educational, institutional, high hazard and transient residential uses (20-298(2),(8)).

Before a set goes out, every sheet has to pass four checks: a Connecticut license, the right discipline, a license still active on the issue date, and the firm’s registration. Compare Connecticut with other states on who can seal drawings, by state.

Common mistakes

• Treating an engineer’s license as the firm’s. A licensed PE can’t make up for a missing Certificate of Registration (Professional Engineering Firm). In Connecticut the firm needs its own before it offers engineering, and the four sheet checks fail without it.
• Losing the firm’s qualifying engineer without noticing. If the person the firm’s registration depends on leaves, the registration can be at risk. Our data doesn’t record a replacement deadline for Connecticut, so ask the board. See what to do the day someone gives notice.

Where to file

SealBench never files anything with a board for you. Renewals, CE reports and firm registrations go to the board directly:

• Connecticut State Board of Examiners for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (Department of Consumer Protection) (engineers and engineering firms)
• Connecticut engineer license lookup
• Connecticut Architectural Licensing Board (Department of Consumer Protection) (architects and architecture firms)
• Connecticut architect license lookup

How SealBench helps

SealBench keeps every PE and architect license and every firm registration on your roster in one list, soonest expiration first. Reminders at 90, 60 and 30 days before each date are coming soon. It counts each person’s CE hours and required topics against Connecticut’s rules, and Set Check shows who can seal each sheet in a Connecticut permit set, and why anyone can’t. One license is free to track; see pricing.