North Carolina Contractor License Requirements
Every figure below was read off the NCLBGC or the statute, and the sentence it came from is listed at the bottom of this page. Where a figure could not be verified this page says so rather than showing a number.
What the state requires
- Licence
- General Contractor licence, issued at one of three limitations — Limited, Intermediate or Unlimited — and in a classification such as Building Contractor
- Issued by
- North Carolina Licensing Board for General ContractorsN.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 87, art. 1; 21 N.C.A.C. ch. 12
- Exam
- One classification examination. It tests practical application of contracting knowledge, reading plans and specifications, the North Carolina State Building Code, cost estimating, ethics, a contractor's responsibilities and state lien law, and the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973.PSI
- Exam fee
- $100The statute states these as caps ('not to exceed'). The application fee is tiered by limitation: $125 unlimited, $100 intermediate, $75 limited — application_fee_usd carries the unlimited figure. The examination fee cap is $100, paid to the Board or its contracted provider. Renewal mirrors the application tiers at $125 / $100 / $75, plus $10 for each month or part of a month after 1 January if late. There is no separate initial licence fee beyond the application fee. A criminal background check, where the Board requires one, costs extra.
- Application fee
- $125
- Initial licence fee
- No verified figure
- Licence bond
- Not requiredA surety bond is an ALTERNATIVE to proving working capital, not a requirement. An applicant who posts one must hold $175,000 for a limited licence, $500,000 for an intermediate licence, or $1,000,000 for an unlimited licence, continuous in form, from a surety rated A- or better by A.M. Best, running to the State of North Carolina as obligee for the benefit of anyone damaged by the contractor's breach. Because it is optional, bond_amount_usd is left null.
- General liability
- Not requiredNeither G.S. 87-10 nor the Board's financial-responsibility rule conditions licensure on a general liability policy at a stated amount; the gate is financial responsibility, tested by working capital, net worth or a surety bond. No insurance figure appears in the Board's laws and regulations book, so nothing is recorded.
- Workers compensation
- No verified rule
- Experience
- No verified figureNorth Carolina sets no years-of-experience bar. The prerequisites to sit the exam are age 18, good moral character as determined by the Board, evidence of financial responsibility, the application fee, and consent to a criminal background check if required. What an applicant must supply instead is a 'qualifier' or 'qualifying party' — a named individual who has passed a Board-approved examination — and the licence lapses into non-renewable territory if that person departs and is not replaced.
- Financial requirement
- Working capital (current assets exceeding current liabilities) of $17,000 for a limited licence — or $80,000 net worth for that tier — $75,000 for intermediate, and $150,000 for unlimited, shown in an agreed-upon procedures report on a Board form or in a CPA-audited financial statement. A surety bond of $175,000 / $500,000 / $1,000,000 substitutes for the working-capital showing.
- Continuing education
- 8 hours a yearEight hours a year, completed by at least one qualifier or qualifying party, of which two hours are a mandatory Board-approved course taken every year and six are electives. Up to four elective hours carry forward to the next calendar year. It applies to the building contractor, residential contractor and unclassified classifications. The CE year runs 1 January to 30 November.
- Renewal
- Every year
- NASCLA exam
- AcceptedAccepted in place of the North Carolina examination for the BUILDING classification only. The applicant sits the NASCLA exam through NASCLA before applying to the Board; every other classification still requires the PSI-administered North Carolina exam.
What people get wrong
ncleg.gov is Cloudflare-blocked from this network, so the statutes were read from the Board's own published 2026 Laws and Regulations book, which reprints G.S. ch. 87 art. 1 and 21 NCAC ch. 12 in full. Two things an applicant commonly gets wrong: the $40,000 threshold in G.S. 87-1 is the trigger for needing the licence at all, and it is separate from the $750,000 / $1,500,000 / unlimited project limits that the three licence tiers carry. And the licence attaches to a qualifier — if the qualifying party leaves, the licensee may not take on additional contracts until the licence is reinstated.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a contractor licence in North Carolina?
- Yes. North Carolina issues a state general contractor licence — General Contractor licence, issued at one of three limitations — Limited, Intermediate or Unlimited — and in a classification such as Building Contractor — through the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. ncleg.gov is Cloudflare-blocked from this network, so the statutes were read from the Board's own published 2026 Laws and Regulations book, which reprints G.S. ch. 87 art. 1 and 21 NCAC ch. 12 in full. Two things an applicant commonly gets wrong: the $40,000 threshold in G.S. 87-1 is the trigger for needing the licence at all, and it is separate from the $750,000 / $1,500,000 / unlimited project limits that the three licence tiers carry. And the licence attaches to a qualifier — if the qualifying party leaves, the licensee may not take on additional contracts until the licence is reinstated.
- How much continuing education does North Carolina require?
- 8 hours a year. Eight hours a year, completed by at least one qualifier or qualifying party, of which two hours are a mandatory Board-approved course taken every year and six are electives. Up to four elective hours carry forward to the next calendar year. It applies to the building contractor, residential contractor and unclassified classifications. The CE year runs 1 January to 30 November.
- Does North Carolina accept the NASCLA exam?
- Yes. Accepted in place of the North Carolina examination for the BUILDING classification only. The applicant sits the NASCLA exam through NASCLA before applying to the Board; every other classification still requires the PSI-administered North Carolina exam.
Sources
“The Board shall require an applicant to pay the Board or a provider contracted by the Board an examination fee not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00). In addition to the costs of any criminal background check, the Board shall also require an applicant to pay the Board a fee not to exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00) if the application is for an unlimited license, one hundred dollars ($100.00) if the application is for an intermediate license, or seventy-five dollars ($75.00) if the application is for a limited license.”
https://www.nclbgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Laws-And-Regulations-Book-DEC-3-2025_final-1.pdf“the construction of any building, highway, public utilities, grading or any improvement or structure where the cost of the undertaking is forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more ... shall be deemed to be a "general contractor" engaged in the business of general contracting in the State of North Carolina.”
https://www.nclbgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Laws-And-Regulations-Book-DEC-3-2025_final-1.pdf“A license shall expire on the first day of January following its issuance or renewal and shall become invalid 60 days from that date unless renewed, subject to the approval of the Board. Renewal applications shall be submitted with a fee not to exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00) for an unlimited license, one hundred dollars ($100.00) for an intermediate license, and seventy-five dollars ($75.00) for a limited license.”
https://www.nclbgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Laws-And-Regulations-Book-DEC-3-2025_final-1.pdf“As a condition of license renewal, at least one qualifier or qualifying party of a licensee holding a building contractor, residential contractor, or unclassified contractor license classification shall complete, on an annual basis, eight hours of continuing education approved in accordance with this section.”
https://www.nclbgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Laws-And-Regulations-Book-DEC-3-2025_final-1.pdf“The applicant shall maintain the bond in the amount of one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000) for a limited license, five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for an intermediate license, and one million dollars ($1,000,000) for an unlimited license.”
https://www.nclbgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Laws-And-Regulations-Book-DEC-3-2025_final-1.pdf“the holder of an intermediate license shall be entitled to act as general contractor for any single project with a value of up to one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000)”
https://nclbgc.org/classifications-and-limitations/“Computerized-based examinations for the Licensing Board for General Contractors are administered by PSI Examination Services.”
https://nclbgc.org/license-applicants/“8 hours of CE must be completed ... by at least one qualifier”
https://www.nclbgc.org/faq-contractors/
Then there is the exam
Practise North Carolina exam questions free, with explanations that cite the reference book and section.