North Carolina Contractor License: Requirements, Cost and How to Get One
North Carolina requires a state general contractor license for any construction project costing $40,000 or more, issued by the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. An applicant picks a classification for the work and a limitation for project size, has a qualifier pass an open-book exam, and shows the Board evidence of financial responsibility.
That two-part structure is the thing most people get wrong, so it is worth being precise about it before anything else.
The $40,000 line is what triggers the requirement
Under N.C. General Statute 87-1, anyone who bids on, builds, superintends or manages a building, highway, public utility, grading job or other improvement is a “general contractor” once the cost of the undertaking reaches $40,000. Below that figure the licensing requirement in Article 1 does not attach.
The figure is not the only trigger, though, and the statute has no handyman category at all — the definition also reaches superintending or managing work for an unlicensed person, and erecting a labeled modular building at no dollar threshold whatever. All three routes in, the three statutory exceptions, and what claiming the owner-builder exception actually requires are at when a license is required.
The threshold is about the cost of the undertaking, not your profit, and not the size of your company. Three narrow exceptions sit in G.S. 87-1(b):
- Firms furnishing or erecting industrial equipment, power plant equipment, radial brick chimneys and monuments.
- An owner building or altering on their own land — but only where both limbs of G.S. 87-1(b)(2) are met: the building is “intended solely for occupancy by that person and his family, firm, or corporation after completion”, and the owner “complies with G.S. 87-14”. If it is not occupied solely by them for at least 12 months after completion, the statute presumes it was never so intended. Relying on this exception without the G.S. 87-14 limb is how it fails.
- A farmer constructing on their own land, for their own use in farming.
Two things you choose, not one
A North Carolina license carries a classification and a limitation. They are set separately and they do different jobs.
The limitation is financial. It caps the value of any single project you may take on, and it is earned by showing working capital or posting a bond:
| Limitation | Single-project value | Working capital needed | Bond instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Limited | up to $750,000 | $17,000, or $80,000 net worth | $175,000 |
| Intermediate | up to $1,500,000 | $75,000 | $500,000 |
| Unlimited | no restriction | $150,000 | $1,000,000 |
Project value here excludes the cost of the land and any ancillary costs to improve it. The cap is per project — it is not an annual revenue limit, and a Limited licensee may run many $700,000 jobs in a year.
The classification is about scope, and it is set by which exam your qualifier passes:
| Classification | Covers |
|---|---|
| Building | Commercial, industrial, institutional and all residential building construction, plus demolition, site work, parking decks and several specialty scopes |
| Residential | Construction and demolition of residential units built to the state residential building code, with the ancillary site work |
| Highway | Grading, paving, bridges, culverts, guard rails, signage, and airport runways and taxiways |
| Public Utilities | Water and sewer mains, treatment facilities, electrical transmission ahead of the point of delivery, communications and fuel distribution |
| Specialty | Work needing a specialized trade or craft — but not anything another North Carolina board licenses |
That last exclusion matters. Electrical, plumbing, heating and fire sprinkler work are licensed by separate North Carolina boards, not by this one, so a general contractor license does not cover them.
What the Board asks of you
Before an applicant is entitled to sit an examination, G.S. 87-10(a) sets out the full eligibility requirements — an applicant shall:
- Are at least 18 years old.
- Possess good moral character, as the Board determines it.
- Provide evidence of financial responsibility.
- Submit the application fee.
- Consent to a criminal background check, if the Board requires one.
Notably absent from that list is any minimum number of years in the trade. North Carolina gates entry on money and on the exam rather than on logged experience.
Note also that the qualifier’s credential travels with the person, and the license belongs to a legal entity — a company, an LLC, a partnership or an individual — while the exam is passed by a person called the qualifier. A qualifier may qualify up to two licenses, provided they are a managing employee, owner, officer or member of each. Licenses themselves cannot be transferred between entities, although qualifying exams can move.
Set up the entity that will hold the license
A North Carolina license is issued to a legal entity — a company, an LLC, a partnership or an individual — and it cannot be transferred to another one later. These services handle entity formation, with registered-agent service where offered.
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The exams are open book, and you apply first
North Carolina exams are computer-based and delivered by PSI. They are open book — bound reference material is permitted, subject to strict conditions on what may be brought and how it is prepared, which the exam and exam prep pages set out and which are enforced by confiscation at the test center. Every exam requires 70% to pass. Length varies by classification: the Business and Law exam is 40 questions in 90 minutes, while Building is 90 questions in 200 minutes and Residential is 90 questions in 210 minutes.
The order surprises people. You complete the license application before you can schedule an exam — the Board processes the application, then emails an eligibility letter, and only then can you book with PSI.
What it costs
The Board’s own fee rule sets application fees by limitation: $75 for Limited, $100 for Intermediate and $125 for Unlimited. PSI currently charges $79 per examination. All Board fees are non-refundable.
Renewal is a separate matter, and the statute expresses it as a maximum rather than a fixed price, so we do not quote a renewal figure here — check the current amount in the Board’s renewal portal before you budget for it.
Renewal has two dates, not one
A North Carolina license expires on 1 January following its issue or renewal, and becomes invalid 60 days after that date unless it is renewed. Those are two different deadlines and conflating them is how people lose a license they thought they still held.
Renewals filed on or after 1 January carry a late payment of $10 for each month or part month. After a license has been invalid for four years it is archived permanently — at that point relicensing means starting over as a new applicant.
Working without a license is a crime
Contracting for or bidding on work covered by G.S. 87-1 without a license is a Class 2 misdemeanor under G.S. 87-13. The same section reaches impersonating a licensee, giving false evidence to the Board, using an expired or revoked certificate, and falsely claiming to be licensed.
One limb catches people who never touch a tool: an architect or engineer who recommends an unlicensed contractor for a contract award commits the same offense, unless they relied on written information from the licensing board that turned out to be wrong.
Worth knowing: the Board itself has no authority to impose civil fines or penalties — its own contractor FAQ says so in terms. Its jurisdiction runs to the license and to the qualifier’s exam credential, and enforcement beyond that is a matter for the courts.
If you are licensed in another state
North Carolina has no full reciprocity with any state. It does hold examination waiver agreements with South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — but even with a waiver, the qualifier must still pass the North Carolina Business and Law exam.
Who issues the license
A nine-member board appointed by the Governor, created by G.S. 87-2 and independent of any larger department. It issues and renews licenses, hears sworn complaints, and can revoke, suspend or restrict a license — but it has no authority to impose a civil fine. What it is and what it can do is at the licensing board.
Where to go next
Two pages carry the parts of this that take the longest.
How to get a license is the ordered procedure — seven steps, in the sequence the Board actually processes them, which is not the sequence most people assume.
Financial requirements is the one that decides most applications, because the evidence has to come from an accountant and that is usually the critical path: working capital, net worth or a bond, by tier, with the rule each figure comes from.
General information, not legal advice — for your own license or dispute, ask someone qualified. This site is not affiliated with the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, or with any other State board that licenses a trade. Fees and deadlines change; last checked 2026-09-07.