How to Get a North Carolina Contractor License

Under G.S. 87-1, you are a general contractor if, for a fixed price, commission, fee or wage, you bid on, build, or superintend or manage the construction of a building, highway, public utility, grading job or other improvement costing $40,000 or more. Erecting a North Carolina labeled modular building also counts, whatever the price.

The statute exempts an owner who builds on his or her own land for the owner's own occupancy, provided the owner complies with G.S. 87-14; if the owner does not live there for at least 12 months after completion, the law presumes the building was not meant for the owner's own use. Farmers building for their own farm use are exempt too. G.S. 87-14 ties the same $40,000 figure to building permits: to pull a permit for work at that cost, you must show the permit office that you, or the person managing the job, hold the right license.

G.S. 87-10(b) and 21 NCAC 12A .0202 set five classifications: Building, Residential, Highway, Public Utilities and Specialty, with subclassifications under the last two. Building covers commercial, industrial, institutional and all residential building work, plus site work and several specialties. Residential covers homes built under the North Carolina Residential Code and the site work and utilities that serve them. Rule .0403 requires a separate exam for each classification you want on the license.

Every license also carries a dollar limitation per project, excluding land costs. A limited license allows single projects up to $750,000, an intermediate license up to $1,500,000, and an unlimited license has no cap. Moving up later takes a new financial showing and a fee under Rule .0504, but no new written exam.

A North Carolina license is issued to a person or company, but the exam is passed by a qualifier. G.S. 87-10 and Rule .0205 let an individual, a responsible managing employee, an officer, or a W-2 member of the personnel take the exam for the firm. Responsible managing means working for the applicant at least 20 hours a week or most of the hours the business operates, whichever is less.

One person may qualify no more than two licenses. If a qualifier goes four straight years without qualifying an active licensee, that person's exam credentials archive and the exam must be passed again. When a qualifier leaves, the licensee must tell the board within 10 days; the license stays in force for 90 days, but the company may not bid or take new contracts until a new qualifier is in place.

G.S. 87-10(a) lists what you need before you can sit for the exam: be at least 18, show good moral character and financial responsibility as the board determines, pay the application fee, and consent to a criminal background check if the board asks. The statute does not set a years-of-experience requirement for general contractors.

You send the License Application or Examination Request Form to the board in Raleigh. Once approved, the board issues an Examination Eligibility Letter with an identification number you use to schedule with PSI. The PSI bulletin says the letter is valid for 120 days and covers one exam in that window. PSI's fee is $79 per exam, paid for each attempt, and the statute caps the exam fee at $100.

Plumbing, heating and fuel piping contractors apply to the plumbing board, not NCLBGC. Its License Definitions describe P-I (Plumbing Class I) as potable water and drain, waste and vent piping in any building, and P-II as the same work limited to single-family detached dwellings. The board's applicant page requires 2 years (4,000 hours) of on-site, full-time experience in the related work to sit for a plumbing or heating contractor exam, and up to half of that may come from directly related academic or technical training.

The board has no reciprocity with other states. It does have a technical exam waiver agreement with South Carolina for plumbing and HVAC contractors, but those applicants must still pass the North Carolina business and law exam. The application packet requires a nationwide background report from the board's named provider, and applicants must already own the required code books, the board's Laws and Rules book and its Business and Project Management book when they apply.

The board's FAQ lists a nonrefundable examination application fee of $150. After approval you have a 90-day window to test with PSI. Passing candidates must send the License Activation Form and fee within 45 days or retest, and the annual license fee under G.S. 87-22 may not exceed $150.

An NCLBGC license expires on the first day of January after it is issued or renewed and becomes invalid 60 days later unless renewed. Renewal fees mirror the application fees: $75 limited, $100 intermediate and $125 unlimited, with a late fee of $10 for each month or part of a month after January 1. Renewals include an attestation of continued financial responsibility and proof of any required continuing education.

G.S. 87-10.2 requires at least one qualifier of a Building, Residential or unclassified licensee to complete eight hours of board-approved continuing education each year: a two-hour mandatory course plus six elective hours, with up to four elective hours carried forward. The plumbing board works differently. Its licenses expire every December 31 and renew annually, and its FAQ says mandatory continuing education ended on December 31, 2012, replaced by disciplinary education assigned after a complaint.

None of the steps above can be skipped with a prep product. If you want structured practice before the PSI exams, ContractorPrepHQ sells original practice questions written from the official outlines and reference lists for North Carolina's Building Contractor and Residential Contractor exams ($149 each, business and law questions included because those exams embed them), the plumbing board's Business and Law exam ($99) and P-I Plumbing Class I ($149, which includes that Business and Law prep). Each comes with a diagnostic, topic drills with explanations and timed practice exams with a readiness score, for a one-time price with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee.