North Dakota · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
North Dakota licenses concrete contractors through the Office of the Secretary of State, not a trade board. Any job over $4,000 requires a contractor license under NDCC chapter 43-07. There is no concrete or masonry specialty license and no exam. You choose class A, B, C or D by project value, then file liability insurance and workforce safety coverage.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-26. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
North Dakota puts contractor licensing in the Office of the Secretary of State rather than a construction trade board. The statute calls that office the registrar. Concrete work is covered because the definition of contractor in NDCC 43-07-01 reaches construction, repair, alteration, dismantling and demolition of buildings, bridges, highways, roads, streets, dams, drainage and irrigation ditches, sewers, water and gas mains, pipelines and every other type of structure, project, development or improvement that counts as real or personal property. Flatwork, footings, foundation walls, curb and gutter and masonry all sit inside that language. The definition also names subcontractors, public contractors and nonresident contractors, so a concrete crew hired by a general contractor is licensed in its own right and cannot work under the general contractor's license. The credential is statewide. North Dakota has no county contractor license layer, and the Secretary of State does not issue a separate concrete or masonry trade certificate. Cities add requirements on top for work inside public right of way, which this page covers further down. Two groups sit outside chapter 43-07 entirely under NDCC 43-07-08. The first is any authorized representative of the United States government, the state of North Dakota, or a county, municipality, irrigation district, reclamation district or other political corporation. The second is any person who furnishes a fabricated or finished product, material or article that is not incorporated into or attached to real property so as to become affixed to it. A ready mix plant selling concrete falls in that second group. The crew placing and finishing the concrete does not.
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The trigger in North Dakota is the size of the job, not the kind of work. NDCC 43-07-02 says a person may not engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor in the state when the cost, value or price per job exceeds $4,000 without first holding a license under chapter 43-07. The Secretary of State states the same threshold on its contractors page and points to the chapter. The threshold applies to subcontractors, general contractors, public contractors and nonresident contractors alike. For a concrete business the practical effect is that almost all paid work needs the license. A residential driveway replacement, a basement floor, a garage slab, a set of footings or a block foundation will usually price above $4,000. Small repair pours, a short section of sidewalk or a stoop replacement can land under it, and those jobs are outside the license requirement. Splitting one job into smaller contracts to stay under the figure is not a strategy, because the statute measures cost, value or price per job rather than per invoice. The same section adds a second penalty that has nothing to do with fines. An unlicensed contractor may not maintain any claim, action, suit or proceeding in any court of the state related to that person's business or capacity as a contractor. A concrete crew that pours an $18,000 driveway without a license and then does not get paid cannot sue for the money. On public work the threshold appears again in the definition of public contract in NDCC 43-07-01, which covers contracts and subcontracts whose cost, value or price exceeds $4,000.
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North Dakota issues four contractor license classes under NDCC 43-07-07, and the only difference between them is the value of a single contract project. A class A license carries no limit on the value of any single contract project. A class B license may not be used on any single contract project worth more than $500,000. Class C caps a single project at $300,000. Class D caps a single project at $100,000. The limit is per project, not per year, so a class D holder can run a full season of residential driveways and slabs without touching the ceiling. The Secretary of State publishes the same four tiers with their contract amounts on its contractors page. There is no concrete specific class. A flatwork business, a foundation business and a commercial masonry business all choose from the same four tiers. The application requires the applicant to specify the class of license sought under NDCC 43-07-04. Picking too low a class is a real constraint on public work, because NDCC 43-07-12 says a contract may not be awarded to a contractor who does not hold a license in the class within which the value of the project falls. The class can be changed. NDCC 43-07-10 says a contractor applying for renewal under a class different from the one previously issued may be issued the new class on payment of the fee required for issuance of that class, not the renewal fee. Moving up mid season therefore costs the full new license fee rather than the smaller renewal figure.
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Concrete and masonry are regulated in North Dakota only through the general contractor license. There is no state concrete board, no masonry board, and no specialty classification to apply for. The Secretary of State's own list of other licenses a contractor may also need names the North Dakota State Electrical Board, the North Dakota State Plumbing Board, the asbestos abatement license from the Department of Environmental Quality and the transient merchant license from the Office of the Attorney General. Concrete, masonry and foundation work appear nowhere on that list. For a flatwork or foundation business the result is simple. One contractor license from the Secretary of State, in the class that covers your largest single project, is the state level credential. The work that does pull in a second state license is work next to the concrete rather than the concrete itself. Tying in a sanitary sewer or water service touches the State Plumbing Board rules. Setting conduit or in slab heating controls can touch the State Electrical Board. Cutting or removing older material that contains asbestos touches the Department of Environmental Quality. A concrete business that subcontracts those pieces keeps its own licensing to chapter 43-07, but NDCC 43-07-14 makes engaging in work without a trade or professional license required for that work a ground on which anyone may file a complaint against your license. The Secretary of State describes that complaint category as a contractor performing work without the trade or professional license required to perform it, and names the State Electrical Board and State Plumbing Board as examples.
North Dakota does not test concrete contractors. Chapter 43-07 contains no examination requirement, no classroom hour requirement and no apprenticeship requirement. NDCC 43-07-04 sets out what an applicant actually files. The applicant must be eighteen years of age or older and must submit, on forms the registrar prescribes, an application under oath containing a statement of the applicant's experience and qualifications as a contractor. The Secretary of State repeats this on its contractors page, saying the application will require you to sign a statement of your experience and qualifications as a contractor. There is no minimum number of years attached to that statement in the statute. The registrar may require other information to help decide whether the applicant is eligible to act as a contractor, including criminal history record information on the applicant or on the officers, members or partners of the applicant, held by the bureau of criminal investigation or a similar entity in another state, at the applicant's expense. NDCC 43-07-04.1 is the eligibility screen. The registrar may deny an application, deny a renewal, or suspend or revoke a license if the application contains false or misleading information, if the applicant has been convicted of an offense that has direct bearing on the ability to serve the public as a contractor, or if the applicant has engaged in conduct as a contractor that is dishonest or fraudulent and that the registrar finds injurious to the welfare of the public. A conviction does not by itself make a person ineligible unless the person is not sufficiently rehabilitated under NDCC 12.1-33-02.1. Denials may be appealed to district court.
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The license fees are set in NDCC 43-07-07 and published on the Secretary of State's contractors page, and the two match. A class A license costs $450. Class B costs $300. Class C costs $225. Class D costs $100. Those are one time application fees for the initial license, paid to the registrar with the application. There is no separate state application processing charge and no state examination fee, because there is no examination. A name change carries its own charge. NDCC 43-07-09.1 requires a licensee to notify the registrar of a name change not later than ten days after the change, on a form the registrar provides, and the notice must be accompanied by a $10 fee. The same section blocks a name change tied to a change in legal status other than a change in marital status, and exempts corporations, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships and limited partnerships already registered with the registrar. One group pays nothing. Under NDCC 43-07-07 a nonprofit entity constructing or rehabilitating a single family dwelling that will be given to or sold below appraised value to a low income person may not be charged a fee by the Secretary of State for a license or a renewal. Of all money the registrar collects under the chapter, twenty five percent goes to the Secretary of State's general services operating fund to administer the chapter and the balance goes to the state general fund. Before paying anything, check the business registration step, because the Secretary of State requires the name on the contractor application to match the business registration name.
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North Dakota requires proof of insurance, not a state surety bond. NDCC 43-07-04 says a copy of a certificate of liability insurance must be filed with the application. The statute sets no dollar minimum for that coverage, so the amount is between the contractor and the insurer unless a city, an owner or a bid document sets a figure. The Secretary of State adds two filing details that get applications rejected. The liability insurance must be in the same name you are requesting for the contractor license. The certificate must list the North Dakota Secretary of State, 600 E Boulevard Ave, Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505, as the certificate holder. Letting that coverage lapse has a defined consequence. Under NDCC 43-07-04, a contractor who fails to maintain the liability insurance coverage required by that section or by NDCC 43-07-10 is classified as not in good standing after twenty days written notice, must stop soliciting or entering new contract projects, and faces revocation under chapter 28-32 if the deficiency is not cured within thirty days. The state surety bond is gone. NDCC 43-07-11, titled contractor's bond and requirements, was repealed in 1995. Older advice still describes a bond as part of North Dakota contractor licensing, and the City of Fargo's own guidance for homeowners says contractor licensing requires minimal liability insurance and a surety bond. The statute no longer supports the bond half of that. Bonds are still very real in North Dakota concrete work, but they come from cities and from project owners rather than from the Secretary of State.
North Dakota workers compensation runs through a single state fund, Workforce Safety and Insurance, and the contractor license is tied to it. The Secretary of State requires a current certificate of payment from Workforce Safety and Insurance with the application if you have employees residing in North Dakota, to verify workers compensation coverage. If you do not have employees residing in North Dakota and do not meet the tests of significant contact, you must instead provide a letter of good standing from Workforce Safety and Insurance. NDCC 43-07-04 states the same requirement, saying the contractor shall submit a statement from North Dakota workforce safety and insurance that the contractor has secured coverage satisfactory to the organization. The underlying duty sits in NDCC 65-04-33. An employer may not employ any person, or receive the fruits of the labor of any person, in a hazardous employment as defined in that title without first applying for coverage by notifying the organization of the intended employment, its nature, and the estimated payroll expenditure for the coming twelve month period. Concrete placing crews are squarely in that category. The penalties are heavy. An employer that willfully fails to secure coverage for employees, or willfully misrepresents the payroll a premium is based on, is liable to the state for $5,000 plus three times the difference between the premium paid and the premium that should have been paid. The same conduct is a class A misdemeanor, and becomes a class C felony if the premium due exceeds $1,000. Where the employer is a corporation or limited liability company, officers can be reached.
North Dakota runs licenses on a contractor year, defined in NDCC 43-07-01 as March second through March first. Every license expires at the end of the current contractor year under NDCC 43-07-09, with one carve out: an initial license issued in January or February is valid until March first of the following year. The Secretary of State states the deadline plainly, telling licensed contractors to renew on or before March 1 each year. Renewal is not just a payment. NDCC 43-07-10 and the Secretary of State both require the renewal to list each project, contract or subcontract completed in North Dakota during the preceding calendar year that exceeded $50,000, with the nature of the work. The registrar forwards a copy of that list to the state tax commissioner. The renewal also needs a certification that all payroll taxes, including North Dakota income tax, Workforce Safety and Insurance premiums and unemployment insurance premiums due at the time of renewal have been paid, plus a current certificate of liability insurance naming the registrar as certificate holder. Renewal fees are far smaller than the initial fees: $90 for class A, $60 for class B, $45 for class C and $30 for class D. Miss March first and the license is not in good standing and you are deemed unlicensed within the meaning of NDCC 43-07-02. The registrar notifies you by mail within sixty days. You then have until June first to renew by paying a $50 penalty fee plus the renewal fee. After June first the license is expired. Chapter 43-07 sets no continuing education requirement.
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Chapter 43-07 contains no reciprocity provision. North Dakota does not recognize a contractor license from Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana or anywhere else as a substitute. A nonresident concrete company that wants work above the $4,000 per job threshold applies for a North Dakota class A, B, C or D license like everyone else, and the Secretary of State lists nonresident contractors among those the requirement covers. NDCC 43-07-01 defines a nonresident contractor as a contractor who does not have an established and maintained place of business in the state, or who has not reported employees in the state to North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance within the previous year and has not contributed to the fund accordingly, or who during a like period has not filed an income tax return in the state. Filing the application carries a consent that out of state contractors should read before signing. Under NDCC 43-07-19, every applicant who is not a resident of North Dakota appoints the registrar, by signing and filing the application, as the applicant's true and lawful agent for service of all lawful process in any action against that nonresident contractor. Service on the registrar has the same legal force as personal service in the state. Foreign corporations, foreign limited liability companies, foreign limited liability partnerships and foreign limited partnerships that are registered to do business in North Dakota and have a current registered agent and registered address on file with the registrar are excused from that appointment. The Secretary of State also requires nonresidents without North Dakota employees to file a Workforce Safety and Insurance letter of good standing.
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NDCC 43-07-02 makes acting in the capacity of a contractor without a license a class A misdemeanor. On top of any criminal prosecution, and on top of the license fee due when the person later applies, the registrar may assess a civil penalty of up to three times the license fee amount in NDCC 43-07-07, after written notice of intent to assess it. Any civil penalty must be assessed and collected before a license is issued, so the back penalty becomes a condition of getting legal. The civil ceiling therefore scales with the class: three times the $450 class A fee, three times the $100 class D fee, and so on. The same section bars an unlicensed contractor from maintaining any claim, action, suit or proceeding in state court related to the contracting business. The chapter also defines construction fraud. Under NDCC 43-07-02, a person commits construction fraud by receiving payment for a construction project through intentional deception as defined in NDCC 12.1-23-10, by receiving payment for materials or supplies and willfully failing to pay the supplier, or by willfully abandoning a project after receiving payment. Abandonment is defined by time: failing to substantially commence work within sixty days of a written start date or ninety days of the contract date, or failing to complete within ninety days of a written completion date or one hundred eighty days of the contract date. Grading follows the money. Payment under $10,000 is a class C felony, more than $10,000 up to $50,000 is a class B felony, and more than $50,000 is a class A felony.
Sourcesndlegis.gov
North Dakota is lighter on advertising rules than many states, and it is worth knowing exactly where the line is. Chapter 43-07 imposes no requirement to print your license number on vehicles, yard signs, websites or written estimates. The one display duty is NDCC 43-07-24, titled duty to supply license number when applying for building permit and display of number. When applying for a building permit, a contractor shall supply the permit issuing official that contractor's license number, and the official shall enter it on the permit. The same section reaches owner builders: a person doing general contractor work on that person's own property, even if exempt from licensing, must supply the permit issuing official the license number of each subcontractor engaged on the project and doing work covered by the permit, as soon as available, and the official enters each number before inspection. On public work the proof is the document itself. NDCC 43-07-12 requires all bids and proposals for a public contract project to contain a copy of the license or the current contractor year certificate, enclosed in the required bid bond envelope, and a bid submitted without it may not be read or considered and must be returned. Solicitation is where the real restriction bites. NDCC 43-07-04 says a contractor notified that the license is not in good standing shall cease soliciting or entering new contract projects, and soliciting anyway is itself a ground for revocation. Holding yourself out as a contractor while unlicensed also exposes you to a consumer fraud action by the attorney general under chapter 51-15, which NDCC 43-07-14 applies to unlicensed persons as well as licensees.
Sourcesndlegis.gov
Public concrete work in North Dakota adds rules that private work does not have. NDCC 43-07-12 requires a copy of the license or current contractor year certificate inside the bid bond envelope, and a contract may not be awarded to a contractor who does not hold a license in the class within which the value of the project falls. The timing rule catches new businesses. A contractor must hold the license at least ten days before the date set for receiving bids to be a qualified bidder. A concrete crew that applies the week of a city sidewalk letting is not eligible on that letting. Three categories of bids are exempt from that section: bids to the Department of Transportation, bids to the Public Service Commission, and bids for use of federal aid highway funds. Tax clearance is separate. NDCC 43-07-11.1 makes a contractor, resident or nonresident, ineligible to enter a public contract with any state department or political subdivision until a satisfactory showing that all delinquent income, sales or use taxes owed to the state have been paid, and a certificate from the tax commissioner satisfies that requirement. Without the certificate the public body shall refuse to execute the contract. Public bodies may also add their own conditions precedent to award under NDCC 43-07-06. Two more provisions shape cash flow and hiring. NDCC 43-07-23 allows retention of ten percent of each estimate until the project is fifty percent complete, with no further retainage after that. NDCC 43-07-20 requires a resident employment preference clause in state, county, city, school district and township construction contracts.
Sourcesndlegis.gov
Bismarck runs the most specific concrete requirement in the state, and it is aimed at concrete contractors by name. The Engineering Department publishes a packet titled concrete construction in City of Bismarck right of way. A property owner or builder may only designate a contractor who is bonded with the City of Bismarck to perform concrete work within city right of way. To get bonded with the city, a concrete contractor submits a letter requesting to be a concrete contractor bonded with the city, including company name, address, email and phone, plus a class D or higher contractor license with the State of North Dakota, contractor's liability insurance per City Specifications section 102-5, a $5,000 license and permit bond, and a meeting with engineering staff to go over specifications and procedures with documentation in hand. The bond must state concrete contractor, the city must be listed as certificate holder, and the contractor must tell the city thirty days before cancellation. The bond secures conformity for two years from final acceptance of any work. New contractors run three jobs on a trial basis, and the bond and city license may be revoked if the work does not meet specifications or complaints pile up. A permit is required to construct, repair or alter any sidewalk, curb, driveway, street, trench drain or retaining wall on or along right of way, obtained at least twenty four hours before pouring. The city's sidewalks and driveways page confirms that any work in the street right of way must be done by a city approved concrete contractor, and that work only between the sidewalk and the garage needs no permit or petition.
Minot adds a city license on top of the state one. Its standard specification for work within public right of way says the City of Minot requires a street contractor's license issued by the City Engineer in addition to any State of North Dakota license requirements, and requires all contractors performing excavation within public right of way to be licensed with both the state and the city. An excavation license is approved only for a contractor who holds a minimum North Dakota class D license, is bonded, and has shown the Engineering Department the ability to work cleanly, properly and on time. The bonding figure is much larger than Bismarck's: the contractor must provide the original copy of a $50,000 performance bond stating that it is in accordance with City of Minot ordinances, and all right of way work carries a two year warranty from the permit closed date. A right of way permit is required before any work begins, and the covered work expressly includes any sidewalk, curb and gutter, street patching and any excavation. Work hours in the right of way run 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. Fargo is lighter for concrete. The Inspections Division tells residents that all contractors doing business in North Dakota must be licensed through the Secretary of State, and names home roofers, plumbers and heating and air conditioning contractors as the trades that must also be licensed through the City of Fargo, verified through the City Auditor's Office. Fargo's inspections FAQ says permits are not required for flat work such as patios of brick, paving stones or concrete slabs on which nothing will be built.
North Dakota gives homeowners an easy way to check a concrete contractor, and the sales value of being on it is real. The Secretary of State runs a public contractor search through its FirstStop portal, and invites the public to search contractors registered in North Dakota to see if a license is in good standing. NDCC 43-07-13 backs that up by requiring the registrar to keep a complete indexed record of all applications, licenses, current contractor year certificates, revocations and expirations, open to public inspection during office hours. Bismarck publishes a second, narrower list: a dated roster of city licensed and bonded concrete contractors approved for sidewalks, curb ramps, driveways, curb and gutter and retaining walls on city right of way. Complaints are split by subject. The Secretary of State states plainly that complaints about workmanship and the quality of work are not filed with that office, because it has no authority to investigate them. What it does take are abandonment of contract, diversion of funds or property, fraud causing damage above a combined $3,000, false statements or legal issues, performing work without a required trade or professional license, and failure to refund an advance payment. Under NDCC 43-07-15 the registrar may suspend or revoke the license, order a civil penalty of not more than $1,000, order restitution of not more than $5,000, and suspend for up to sixty months. A revoked license may not be relicensed for up to five years under NDCC 43-07-17. NDCC 43-07-26 requires an owner to give the contractor written notice of a defect before suing for breach of warranty.
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These are common details other guides publish about North Dakota, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Concrete, flatwork, foundation and masonry work are covered by the general contractor license from the Office of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's list of other licenses a contractor may need names the State Electrical Board, the State Plumbing Board, asbestos abatement and transient merchant permits. Concrete and masonry are not on it.
Class D fits most residential concrete businesses. It limits any single contract project to $100,000, which covers driveways, garage slabs, patios, sidewalks and footings. Class C raises the single project cap to $300,000, class B to $500,000, and class A has no project cap at all. The limit is per project, not per year.
Not under state law. NDCC 43-07-02 applies when the cost, value or price per job exceeds $4,000. Below that figure the state license requirement does not attach. City rules can still apply. In Bismarck, any concrete work in the street right of way must be done by a city approved and bonded concrete contractor regardless of price.
No. Chapter 43-07 has no examination, classroom hour or apprenticeship requirement. NDCC 43-07-04 asks for an application under oath from someone eighteen or older containing a statement of experience and qualifications as a contractor. The registrar may also order criminal history record information on the applicant or its officers, members or partners, at the applicant's expense.
The initial license fee depends on class: $450 for class A, $300 for class B, $225 for class C and $100 for class D. There is no state exam fee. Liability insurance premiums and, if you have North Dakota employees, Workforce Safety and Insurance premiums are separate costs the state does not set a figure for.
Not any more. NDCC 43-07-11, the contractor's bond section, was repealed in 1995. The state asks for a certificate of liability insurance naming the Secretary of State as certificate holder. Bonds in North Dakota concrete work now come from cities and project owners, such as the $5,000 bond Bismarck requires for right of way work.
The contractor year runs March second through March first, and licenses expire at the end of it. The Secretary of State says renew on or before March 1 each year. One exception: an initial license issued in January or February stays valid until March first of the following year, so a winter application does not cost you a renewal weeks later.
The license stops being in good standing and you are treated as unlicensed under NDCC 43-07-02. The registrar notifies you by mail within sixty days of March first. You then have until June first to renew by paying a $50 penalty fee plus the renewal fee and filing the application. After June first the license is expired.
No. Chapter 43-07 has no reciprocity provision, and the Secretary of State lists nonresident contractors among those who need a North Dakota license. Signing the application also appoints the registrar as your agent for service of process, unless your entity is already registered in North Dakota with a current registered agent on file.
Chapter 43-07 does not require it. The one display duty is NDCC 43-07-24: when applying for a building permit you supply the permit issuing official your license number, and the official enters it on the permit. On public bids, NDCC 43-07-12 requires a copy of the license inside the bid bond envelope or the bid is returned unread.
The City of Bismarck Engineering Department. You submit a written request to become a bonded concrete contractor, a class D or higher North Dakota license, liability insurance per City Specifications section 102-5, a $5,000 license and permit bond stating concrete contractor, and attend a meeting on specifications. New contractors then run three jobs on a trial basis.
Workmanship complaints do not go to the Secretary of State, which says it has no authority to investigate quality of work. That office handles abandonment, diversion of funds, fraud above a combined $3,000, false statements, unlicensed trade work and failure to refund advance payments. NDCC 43-07-26 requires written notice of a defect to the contractor first.
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