North Carolina Contractor License Application

The application comes before the exam, not after. You submit it online with your entity details, your qualifier, character references, financial evidence and the fee — $75 Limited, $100 Intermediate, $125 Unlimited. The Board takes about two weeks to process it, then emails an eligibility letter that lets your qualifier book with PSI.

Applications and renewals are handled through the Board’s online system. Start from the Board’s own site rather than a search result, since several commercial sites resemble the official one.

What the application asks for

• The entity being licensed. A corporation, LLC, partnership or individual. The license is issued to that legal entity and to no other, which is why it cannot later be transferred.
• The qualifier, and their relationship to the entity — responsible managing employee, owner, officer, or member.
• Character references.
• Evidence of financial responsibility appropriate to the limitation you are seeking.
• The classification you want, which determines which trade exam is required.
• The application fee, non-refundable.
• Consent to a criminal background check, if the Board requires one.

The fee, by limitation

The fee, by limitation

Application	Fee
Limited license	$75.00
Intermediate license	$100.00
Unlimited license	$125.00
Increase to Intermediate	$100.00
Increase to Unlimited	$125.00

All Board fees are non-refundable, including where an application is withdrawn or refused. The PSI examination fee is separate — see what it costs.

How long it takes

About two weeks for initial processing. If corrections are needed the Board contacts you by email or phone, and the clock effectively restarts on the corrected material.

Once the application and exams are both complete, the file goes onto a list for Board approval, and those lists are scheduled twice a month. A license is granted after that meeting.

The Board’s own summary: roughly 30 days if the application is submitted with the exam already passed. If the exam still has to be taken, add however long that takes plus two to three weeks afterwards.

Four things that send applications back

1. The financial report is not the right document. It must be an agreed-upon procedures report on the Board’s own form, or an audited financial statement, prepared by a CPA or an independent accountant engaged in the public practice of accountancy. A management-prepared balance sheet is not either of those. See financial evidence.
2. The limitation does not match the financial evidence. Asking for Unlimited on $75,000 of working capital fails; the tiers are $17,000 or $80,000 net worth, $75,000, and $150,000.
3. A bankruptcy in the last five years is not disclosed with the extra documentation. Where the applicant or any owner, principal or qualifier is in or has been in bankruptcy within five years, a Limited applicant must supply an agreed-upon procedures report or an audited financial statement with a classified balance sheet.
4. The qualifier already qualifies two licenses. The limit is two, and it is checked.

Adding, moving or removing a qualifier

Exams travel between licenses even though licenses do not travel between entities. Which form you need depends on the situation:

• Qualifier Add Form — to add the exams of a qualifier already on a North Carolina license.
• Examination Request Application — to schedule a prospective qualifier for a North Carolina exam.
• Examination Waiver Form — for someone who passed an accepted exam in another state, or a NASCLA exam, and is not currently on a North Carolina license. The other state’s board completes it, and it must be submitted together with the application.
• Qualifier Drop Form — to remove one. Allow 24 to 48 hours for it to show on the online account.

If you are moving a business to a new entity, that is a new application in the new entity’s name plus a Qualifier Add Form, not a transfer — which is why the new entity has to exist before the application can be filed at all.

What a qualifier is, how many licenses one may hold, and how the forms above fit together is set out at the qualifier role.

After you submit

Nothing to do but respond quickly if the Board asks. When the eligibility letter arrives, book the the NC exams. The whole sequence in order is at the full process.