Delaware · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
Delaware licenses concrete contractors at state level, but as a business license, not a trade exam. The Delaware Division of Revenue issues a contractor license for $75 a year under Chapter 25 of Title 30. Separately, the Department of Labor requires a contractor registration certificate before any concrete work begins. No concrete or masonry competency exam exists.
Verified against agency sources on 2026-10-26. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Delaware regulates concrete contracting through two state agencies and no construction trade board. The Delaware Division of Revenue, inside the Department of Finance, issues the contractor license required by Chapter 25 of Title 30 of the Delaware Code. The Delaware Department of Labor, through its Office of Construction Enforcement and its Office of Contractor Registration, issues the contractor registration certificate required by Chapter 36 of Title 19. Neither agency tests you on footing depth, rebar placement or slab finishing. The Division of Professional Regulation lists 37 professional licensing boards and commissions. That list includes the Board of Electrical Examiners, the Board of Elevator Mechanics, the Board of Manufactured Home Installation and the Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners. It contains no board for concrete, masonry, flatwork, foundations or general contracting. A Delaware concrete company is therefore licensed as a business and registered as a construction contractor, then measured on its filings and its labor record rather than on a trade examination. Local government adds a third layer. New Castle County operates its own contractor license through its Department of Land Use, and that county system will not take an application until you already hold a State of Delaware Business License. The City of Wilmington requires a city business license in addition to the state one. Statewide, the definition that pulls you in is broad: Chapter 25 of Title 30 treats a contractor as any person furnishing labor, or both labor and materials, in connection with construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of buildings, roads, bridges, sewers, water and gas mains and every other type of structure improving real property, whether general contractor or subcontractor, resident or nonresident.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3secure.nccde.org 4wilmingtonde.gov 5revenue.delaware.gov 6industrialaffairs.delaware.gov 7
Chapter 25 of Title 30 sets one license for every contractor working in Delaware, with resident and nonresident versions of the same thing. Anyone who wants to engage in business in the state as a contractor applies to the Division of Revenue and pays a fee of $75. The license has to be obtained, and proof of license compliance made, before or in conjunction with the execution of the contract. On competitively bid contracts above $50,000 the statute moves the deadline earlier: you must have initiated the license application before or in conjunction with submitting the bid, and a subcontractor must initiate it before the general contractor bids. The license is valid until January 1, at which point it may be renewed for a full year on application plus another $75 and the gross receipts license fee. The Division of Revenue business license search shows the activity values it issues, and construction work appears there as RESIDENT CONTRACTOR, NON-RESIDENT CONTRACTOR, CONSTRUCTION MANAGER, CONSTRUCTION TRANSPORTATION CONTRACTOR, NON-RESIDENT CONST TRANSPORT CONTRACTOR, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER and BIDDING ONLY. A company pouring driveways, slabs, footings and foundation walls sits in the plain contractor categories. The statute does not break concrete or masonry out as its own classification and does not limit the structural scope the license covers. What it does do is make the license conditional. The Division of Revenue cannot issue it until you comply with the nonresident bonding section, file a certificate of notice from the Delaware Department of Labor, and file a certificate of insurance for workers compensation. Those three conditions, not a trade test, are the gate on a Delaware concrete business.
Delaware pairs the flat $75 contractor license with a gross receipts license fee, and that second number is the one that changes how you price a job. Chapter 25 of Title 30 sets the rate at 0.6472 percent of the aggregate gross receipts paid to the contractor. It is payable monthly, on or before the twentieth day of each month, for the immediately preceding month. Each month carries a deduction of $100,000 before the fee applies. Contractors whose taxable gross receipts during the statutory lookback period do not exceed $1,500,000 file quarterly instead, due on or before the last day of the first month following the close of the quarter, with a $300,000 deduction per quarter. Branches and entities comprising an enterprise with common ownership or common direction and control get only one deduction across the whole enterprise, so splitting a concrete operation into several companies does not multiply the exclusion. Gross receipts for a contractor means all sums received for any work done or materials supplied in connection with Delaware real property. Sums paid to subcontractors come out, but only if the subcontractor is licensed and subject to the same chapter for those sums and a written agreement states the exact amount payable to that subcontractor. That rule bites on a foundation job where you sub out excavation, rebar or saw cutting: an unlicensed sub costs you the deduction and leaves the receipts in your own base. Chapter 21 of Title 30 also makes void any agreement in which someone else assumes your license tax, so you cannot contract that cost onto a builder.
Chapter 36 of Title 19, the Delaware Contractor Registration Act, requires a contractor to register before performing construction services or maintenance. The Office of Contractor Registration in the Department of Labor administers and enforces it. The chapter defines construction services to reach all building or work on a building, structure or improvement of any type, naming bridges, dams, highways, streets, tunnels, sewers, mains, shoring, drilling, blasting and excavating. Delaware One Stop publishes the NAICS codes tied to the certificate and lists 238110 for Concrete, 238140 for Brick and Block, 237310 for Paving and 238910 for Excavation. A flatwork and foundation company sits squarely inside the Act, and so does every lower tier subcontractor it hires. The application asks for the business name and address, telephone and email, entity type, FEIN or ITIN, NAICS codes, a Delaware registered agent, contact information for each person with a financial interest, your Delaware business license and number, your Delaware workers compensation policy number with a digital copy, your state unemployment insurance number, and a safety plan compliant with Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements. An out of state business also names a custodian of records. You must list any labor law violation or fraud in the last two years with dates and outcomes, including settlements, fines and court decisions. The certificate is not transferable. A registered contractor who lets the certificate expire before applying to renew must apply for registration as if for the first time, which is why the renewal window deserves more attention than most construction paperwork.
Delaware draws its line at the business, not the individual tradesperson. No finisher, form setter or rodbuster needs a personal state license to work on a Delaware slab. The company that contracts for the work needs both the Division of Revenue contractor license and the Department of Labor registration certificate. The Contractor Registration Act reaches any legal business entity that engages in construction services or maintenance under an express or implied contract on behalf of another entity or individual for profit within the state, and it says the term includes any subcontractor or lower tier subcontractor. A general contractor who hires your concrete crew, your own company, and the small outfit you bring in to cut control joints each need a certificate. The Act also lets the Department deny, suspend or revoke a certificate when a contractor contracts with or uses a subcontractor who is not registered, and it weighs whether the contractor should reasonably have known and whether it removed the unregistered sub when directed. Checking your subs is therefore self protection, not courtesy. Material suppliers are carved out of the worker definition, so a ready mix plant delivering to your site is not your worker. The Division of Revenue license reaches further than many expect, because the statutory definition of contractor covers furnishing labor, or labor and materials, for construction, alteration, repairing, dismantling or demolition of real property improvements. Breaking out an old slab counts. Replacing a public sidewalk counts. Real estate development is named separately in the same chapter, with its own gross receipts computation.
There is no concrete contractor examination in Delaware and no documented experience hours to prove. Chapter 25 of Title 30 conditions the contractor license on three things only. First, compliance with the nonresident bonding section of Title 30. Second, a certificate of notice issued by the Delaware Department of Labor certifying that you have notified it that you have entered or will enter contracts to perform labor, or to perform labor and furnish material, for a construction project located in Delaware. Third, a certificate of insurance showing you have insured liability in the amount and manner required under Delaware workers compensation law, or a Department of Labor form showing you have been declared a qualified self insurer. Nothing on that list touches mix design, reinforcement, subgrade preparation or finishing technique. The Contractor Registration Act adds a safety plan compliant with Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, disclosure of labor law violations over the last two years, and proof of unemployment insurance coverage. That is a compliance screen, not a competency screen. Trade competency licensing does exist in Delaware for other construction work. The Division of Professional Regulation runs the Board of Electrical Examiners and the Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners, plus boards for elevator mechanics, manufactured home installation and home inspectors. If a concrete scope grows into conduit for pool deck lighting or plumbing rough in beneath a slab, that portion needs the licensed trade. For the concrete itself, Delaware leans on county building permits and inspections rather than a state examination.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2onestop.delaware.gov 3dpr.delaware.gov 4
Delaware's published numbers for a concrete company are short. The Division of Revenue contractor license costs $75 and renews at $75 a year. Chapter 21 of Title 30 allows an optional three year renewal at three times the fee in effect for that license at the time of renewal, sets a $15 charge to replace a lost or stolen license certificate, and states that no refund of license fees is payable for an unexpired term. On top of the flat fee sits the 0.6472 percent gross receipts license fee, after the monthly $100,000 or quarterly $300,000 deduction. Department of Labor contractor registration is priced by the kind of work you perform. Delaware One Stop lists a one year registration at $200 for private construction, $300 for public construction and $500 for both public and private. The statute sets the initial annual nonrefundable registration fee at $200 for a contractor without a state public works contract and $300 for a contractor with one, and sets the same amount for the second annual registration. After two consecutive years of registration a contractor may register for a two year period, which One Stop lists at $300 for private construction and $500 for public construction. Eligibility for that two year term requires continuous registration for the last two consecutive years, a renewal application received before the expiration date, and no prior violations of state or federal labor laws. All registration fees are nonrefundable. County and municipal charges, such as a New Castle County contractor license or a City of Wilmington business license, sit outside these figures.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1onestop.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3delcode.delaware.gov 4secure.nccde.org 5wilmingtonde.gov 6
An out of state concrete company faces one Delaware number that resident firms do not. Section 375 of Title 30 requires a nonresident person or firm doing business in the state to file a surety bond with the Department of Finance, payable to the State, guaranteeing payment of state income taxes, state occupational or business licenses, unemployment compensation contributions and income taxes withheld from employee wages, together with penalties and interest. For a nonresident contractor or subcontractor required to be licensed under Chapter 25, the amount is fixed: 6 percent of the contract or subcontract price on all contracts of $20,000 or more, or 6 percent of estimated cost and profit under a cost plus contract of $20,000 or more. When two or more contracts in one calendar year total $20,000 or more, the bond is 6 percent of that aggregate. The bond must be filed before construction begins, including on a contract under $20,000 once that contract pushes your calendar year total to the threshold. The Division of Revenue may prescribe cash bonds instead, and its contractor page posts a bond form, a cash bond receipt form, an irrevocable letter of credit form and a letter form for contracts under $20,000. The Secretary of Finance may waive the requirement in whole or in part if no bond is needed to protect state tax revenue, and any bond stays in force until the Secretary releases the liability. You must notify the Department within 20 days after completing every Delaware construction project. The Department issues a certificate of compliance per project on request.
Delaware publishes no general liability minimum for concrete contractors. It gates both credentials on workers compensation instead. Chapter 25 of Title 30 bars the Division of Revenue from issuing a contractor license until the applicant files a certificate of insurance showing insured liability in the amount and manner required under Delaware workers compensation law, or a Department of Labor form showing the applicant is a qualified self insurer. The Contractor Registration Act application asks for your Delaware workers compensation policy number and a digital copy, your state unemployment insurance number, and a safety plan compliant with Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements or evidence you are creating one. Delaware One Stop states that Delaware law, with limited exceptions, requires all employers to secure workers compensation insurance covering full time, part time, seasonal and occasional employees before hiring and working in the state. How you classify a finishing crew is enforced hard. The Workplace Fraud Act, Chapter 35 of Title 19, covers construction services including shoring, scaffolding, drilling, blasting and excavating. Misclassification carries a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 and not more than $20,000 for each violation, and each employee who is not properly classified is a separate violation. Failing to produce requested books and records can bring a stop work order and an administrative penalty of up to $500 for each day the records are not produced. Retaliation against someone who gives information to the Department runs from $20,000 to $50,000 per violation. A second violation inside two years is assessed at $20,000 for each misclassified employee and can bring five year debarment, and the Department posts violators on its website.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2onestop.delaware.gov 3delcode.delaware.gov 4industrialaffairs.delaware.gov 5
Neither Delaware credential asks for continuing education, and both run on calendars worth posting in the office. The Division of Revenue contractor license is valid until January 1 and may then be renewed for a full year, and every year after, on application plus $75 and the gross receipts license fee. Chapter 21 of Title 30 states that licenses issued under that title run one year, expiring December 31 or on the date prescribed by the provision under which they were issued, and offers an optional three year renewal at three times the current fee. The Department of Labor certificate of registration is valid for one year from the date of registration, or for a period ending two years from the date of registration if the contractor successfully completes two years of registration. It must be renewed no less than 30 days before its expiration date, and the Department may deny renewal if the contractor violated the Act or a listed law during the expiring registration period. Delaware One Stop opens renewal only within 90 days of expiration and warns that a certificate allowed to expire before renewal forces a brand new application. The discounted two year option disappears if you renew late. A certificate of registration is not transferable, so restructuring or selling a concrete company means applying again rather than assigning paperwork. Nothing in either chapter requires classroom hours, exam retakes or trade continuing education for concrete, masonry, flatwork or foundation work.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3onestop.delaware.gov 4
Delaware has no contractor license reciprocity to offer, because it issues no trade competency license to reciprocate. A Maryland, Pennsylvania or New Jersey concrete company transfers nothing into Delaware. It starts from the beginning: a Division of Revenue contractor license at $75, a Department of Labor registration certificate, and the nonresident surety bond under Section 375 of Title 30 at 6 percent of any contract of $20,000 or more. The Contractor Registration Act application asks an out of state business for the full contact information of its custodian of records and for a Delaware registered agent. Two statutory duties catch firms that assume a single job is too small to notice. Section 2503 of Title 30 requires every architect, professional engineer, contractor or construction manager to furnish the Department of Finance, within 10 days of entering any contract with a contractor or subcontractor who is not a Delaware resident, a statement of the total value of the contract together with the names and addresses of the contracting parties, with a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per occurrence for failing. The builder who hires your out of state crew reports you. Section 375 separately requires you to notify the Department within 20 days after you complete each Delaware project. Going the other direction, a Delaware contractor license does nothing for you in another state. One point of relief inside Delaware: Chapter 21 of Title 30 says a person who procures an occupation license may carry on that occupation in any county of the state, so New Castle, Kent and Sussex need no separate state license.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3delcode.delaware.gov 4
Delaware puts real money behind both requirements. Section 2119 of Title 30 makes carrying on an occupation or business for which a license is required, without first obtaining a proper license, punishable by a fine of not more than $3,000 or imprisonment of not more than 2 years, or both, and leaves the offender liable for the license fees as well. The individuals composing a firm and the president and directors of a corporation are each exposed. Section 2117 lets agents of the offending business be proceeded against as principals. Justices of the peace and constables are directed to report unlicensed activity to the Department of Finance. The Contractor Registration Act is harsher. A knowing violation draws a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 and not more than $85,000 per violation, where a violation means a project or contract on which work is done by a contractor who is not registered. A violation that is not knowing draws up to $1,000. Knowing means actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard. The Department of Labor may bring a civil action to enforce the Act, including an action in the Court of Chancery to enjoin work by an unregistered contractor, and it need not post a bond or filing fee to do so. It may deny, suspend or revoke a certificate for up to five years, and may require a surety bond not exceeding $10,000 per worker. The nonresident bonding section adds a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per occurrence, and a wilful or knowing failure is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $3,000, imprisonment up to 6 months, or both.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3
Concrete scopes on schools, roads and municipal buildings bring a second rulebook. Section 6960 of Title 29 requires prevailing wage provisions in the specifications for every contract or aggregate of contracts relating to a public works project in excess of $500,000 for new construction, or $45,000 for alteration, repair, renovation, rehabilitation, demolition or reconstruction, to which the state or a subdivision is a party and for which the state appropriated any part of the funds. The Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Industrial Affairs, determines the rate for each craft or class of laborers and mechanics in the county where the work will be performed. The Office of Construction Enforcement publishes building, heavy and highway construction rates, a classification of workers guide, a certified payroll report form, a certified wage rates request form and a prevailing wage debarment list. Your registration fee reflects this work: $300 a year for public construction against $200 for private, or $500 for both. Section 6962 of Title 29 sets the bonding. Every bid must be accompanied by a bond or assigned security for a sum equal to at least 10 percent of the bid, and a bid submitted without it is not opened or read and is rejected. Simultaneously with execution of the formal contract, the successful bidder executes a bond with corporate surety authorized to do business in Delaware in a sum equal to 100 percent of the contract price, on the standard form issued by the Office of Management and Budget. That performance bond also guarantees payment in full to every firm furnishing material or performing labor, which is how a concrete sub gets paid when a general fails.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1industrialaffairs.delaware.gov 2onestop.delaware.gov 3
A Delaware contractor license works statewide, but it does not clear you with local government. Chapter 21 of Title 30 says a person who procures an occupation license may carry on that occupation in any county of the state, so New Castle, Kent and Sussex ask for no separate state license. New Castle County, which contains Wilmington and Newark, runs its own contractor license through its Department of Land Use. The county contractor licensing system identifies your business by Federal Employer Identification Number, or by Social Security number for a sole proprietor, together with your Delaware Business License number, and states that before applying for a New Castle County Contractor License you are required to have a State of Delaware Business License. Businesses the county has on record as building or utility companies that previously required a permit endorsement are routed to the Land Use permit section by phone. The City of Wilmington adds another layer: to operate within city limits, business owners must hold not only a state business license but a city business license as well, handled by the city Wage and Business License Division, and the city collects a head tax of $15 per month for every employee in excess of five. Treat each pour location as its own permit question. Driveway aprons, sidewalk replacement, curb cuts and anything inside a public right of way usually answer to a county or municipal engineering office rather than to either state agency, and the permit sits on top of your state license and registration rather than replacing them.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1secure.nccde.org 2wilmingtonde.gov 3
Delaware runs no statewide rule putting a contractor license number on your truck, your yard sign or your website. The display duty it does impose is physical. Section 2109 of Title 30 requires every person holding any state license authorizing the conduct of any business, trade or vocation to expose that license in a conspicuous manner in the principal office or place of business, and fines each individual, firm member, director and officer who fails to comply not more than $100. The same section states that it does not repeal penalties imposed by other statutes on any particular class of licensees. Chapter 21 of Title 30 also ties a license to a place: a license that specifies the place of business does not authorize the licensee to carry on that business anywhere else, though it may be transferred if you move. Wording matters more here than signage. Because Delaware licenses no concrete, masonry or general contractor competency, calling yourself a licensed and registered Delaware contractor is accurate once both credentials are in hand, while advertising yourself as a state certified or master concrete contractor claims something the state does not issue. Electrical and plumbing titles belong to their own boards. Section 916 of Title 11 makes it home improvement fraud to fail to provide your own true name, or to provide a false name, address or telephone number of the business offering the home improvements, and to make an untrue statement of a material fact relating to the terms of the contract. Your advertising copy sits inside that statute.
Sourcesdelcode.delaware.gov 1delcode.delaware.gov 2dpr.delaware.gov 3
Delaware gives a homeowner two public registries and a dispute process, and a concrete contractor should know all three. The Division of Revenue runs a Delaware Business Licenses Search covering businesses currently licensed in the state, searchable by business name, business activity, address and city, with activity values including RESIDENT CONTRACTOR and NON-RESIDENT CONTRACTOR. The Department of Labor runs a separate public registry of businesses certified as construction contractors in Delaware, searchable by name, ZIP code, certification number or NAICS code, so a search on 238110 reaches concrete companies. That registry states that a contractor who is not listed either has not submitted an application or has been removed, and that a contractor previously listed and now absent may have failed to reregister, may be under review, or may have been suspended or revoked. Anyone can call the Department at the number posted there for a status check. Individual professional licensing is verified separately through the Division of Professional Regulation. Delaware also runs a home improvement dispute resolution process. Subchapter VI of Chapter 25 of Title 29 directs the Division of Consumer Protection in the Department of Justice to establish it and post it online. A buyer first sends the contractor a written request to resolve the dispute on a form approved by the Director, signed under penalty of perjury, stating that the contractor has 20 days to respond in writing, then files an application with the Division. Participation is mandatory, and the Contractor Registration Act lets the Department of Labor act against a certificate when a contractor fails to participate in good faith.
Sourcesrevenue.delaware.gov 1contractorregistry.delaware.gov 2delcode.delaware.gov 3delcode.delaware.gov 4dpr.delaware.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Delaware, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Delaware issues no concrete, masonry or general contractor competency license, and the Division of Professional Regulation keeps no board for that work among its 37 boards and commissions. The Division of Revenue contractor license turns on tax bonding, a Department of Labor certificate of notice and proof of workers compensation coverage. The registration certificate turns on paperwork, insurance and a safety plan.
The right to contract. Chapter 25 of Title 30 lets you engage in business in Delaware as a contractor once you apply to the Division of Revenue and pay $75. It stays valid until January 1 and renews for $75 plus the gross receipts license fee. It carries no trade classification and no limit on the kind of concrete work you perform.
Yes. Chapter 36 of Title 19 says a contractor must register before performing construction services or maintenance, with no project size floor written into it. Delaware One Stop lists NAICS 238110 Concrete among the codes tied to the certificate. A violation is any project or contract worked while unregistered, and a knowing one starts at $5,000.
A Division of Revenue contractor license at $75, a Department of Labor registration certificate, and a surety bond under Section 375 of Title 30 at 6 percent of the contract price once the contract reaches $20,000. You also name a Delaware registered agent and a custodian of records, and notify the Department within 20 days of finishing.
Six percent of the contract price, which is $3,600 on a $60,000 contract. Section 375 of Title 30 fixes that rate for every nonresident contractor contract of $20,000 or more and aggregates two or more contracts inside one calendar year. Cash bonds and an irrevocable letter of credit are accepted alternatives, and the Secretary of Finance may waive it.
No statewide Delaware rule requires it. Section 2109 of Title 30 requires you to expose the license conspicuously in your principal office or place of business, with a fine of not more than $100 for failing. Your advertising still has to carry your own true business name, address and telephone number under Section 916 of Title 11.
The Department of Labor may sue, including an action in the Court of Chancery to enjoin your work, and may deny, suspend or revoke a certificate for up to five years or require a surety bond of up to $10,000 per worker. A knowing violation runs from $5,000 to $85,000 per violation. A violation that is not knowing draws up to $1,000.
Only if they truly qualify. The Workplace Fraud Act covers construction services and sets a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 and not more than $20,000 for each violation, counting each improperly classified employee as its own violation. A second violation inside two years is assessed at $20,000 per employee, can bring five year debarment, and the Department posts violators.
The Division of Professional Regulation holds the Board of Electrical Examiners and the Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners, plus boards for elevator mechanics, manufactured home installation and home inspectors. If a concrete scope picks up conduit or under slab plumbing, that portion needs the licensed trade rather than your contractor license.
The Division of Revenue contractor license is valid until January 1 and then renews for a full year. The Department of Labor certificate runs one year from the date of registration, or two years once you have completed two years of registration, and must be renewed no less than 30 days before expiration. One Stop opens renewal only inside the final 90 days.
New Castle County issues its own contractor license through its Department of Land Use, and its system states you must already hold a State of Delaware Business License to apply. Your state contractor license covers any county, but it does not stand in for a county license, a municipal business license or the building permit for the work.
Subchapter VI of Chapter 25 of Title 29 gives them a Division of Consumer Protection dispute process. They send you a written request on an approved form, signed under penalty of perjury, giving you 20 days to respond in writing, then apply to the Division. Participation is mandatory, and failing to participate in good faith can cost you your registration.
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