Hi, If you have an A license and want to perform B license duties, do you still need both licenses?

Good morning! And you pose a fantastic question.

I strongly suggest calling the Contractors State License Board to verify, but I believe the type of project you seek to work on must fall within the Class A description in order to be properly licensed. An A license is for fixed works that require special engineering knowledge/skill, like excavating, grading, trenching, etc. Projects like streets, tunnels, bridges, railroads, harbors, etc.  

Business and Professions Code section 7056 provides: A general engineering contractor is a contractor whose principal contracting business is in connection with fixed works requiring specialized engineering knowledge and skill, including the following divisions or subjects: irrigation, drainage, water power, water supply, flood control, inland waterways, harbors, docks and wharves, shipyards and ports, dams and hydroelectric projects, levees, river control and reclamation works, railroads, highways, streets and roads, tunnels, airports and airways, sewers and sewage disposal plants and systems, waste reduction plants, bridges, overpasses, underpasses and other similar works, pipelines and other systems for the transmission of petroleum and other liquid or gaseous substances, parks, playgrounds and other recreational works, refineries, chemical plants and similar industrial plants requiring specialized engineering knowledge and skill, powerhouses, power plants and other utility plants and installations, mines and metallurgical plants, land leveling and earthmoving projects, excavating, grading, trenching, paving and surfacing work and cement and concrete works in connection with the above mentioned fixed works.

Again, I would contact the Contractors State License Board to verify, but it seems that you might need a Class B license to move forward with a standard apartment building project.