Glossary · Licensing & Bonding
One-time bond exemption
In short
A per-project certificate for a contractor who is not on the annual list. Issued at the Department's discretion.
In full
The one-time bond exemption is a certificate the Department may issue for an individual project, to a qualified contractor who does not appear on the annual exemption list.
It exists to solve a specific problem. A city building authority will not issue a permit to a contractor absent from the list without certification from the Department, so a contractor who is otherwise in good standing but not listed has no route to a permit without one.
It is discretionary and per project. The Department states that it may issue such a certificate; nothing in the published guidance describes an entitlement, and it covers the individual project rather than the contractor generally.
It is distinct from the annual exemption, which is a standing listing renewed each August, and from the exemption from the bonding requirement itself, which is applied for on Form 10205 when a contractor applies for a TPT license. All three are commonly called a bond exemption and none of them is the same instrument.
A.R.S. § 42-5007; ADOR Bond for Contractors; ADOR Publication 539 (revised August 2025)