Minnesota · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry licenses residential remodeling at the state level. Any business that contracts directly with a homeowner of one to four unit residential real estate to provide two or more special skills must hold a residential remodeler or residential building contractor license. The headline requirement is a designated qualifying person who passes the DLI exam.
State-level license
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Remodeling is licensed by the state, not by individual cities. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry issues the residential remodeler and residential building contractor licenses through its Construction Codes and Licensing Division in St. Paul. Minn. Stat. 326B.805, subdivision 1, says a person who meets the statutory definition of a residential remodeler must be licensed by the commissioner as a residential remodeler or a residential building contractor. Subdivision 3 makes it unlawful to act or hold yourself out as either one for compensation without that license. The license is held by the business entity. A sole proprietor is licensed as an individual, but a corporation or LLC is the licensee and the license number travels with the company name on file with the Minnesota Secretary of State. State licensure also clears a path at the permit counter. Minn. Stat. 326B.835 bars a city, county or township from requiring a state licensee to hold a second local license, or to pay a local registration fee tied to licensure, for work inside the scope of the state license. The only carve out in that section is for installers of on-site sewage treatment systems. Minn. Stat. 326B.85 works the other direction and tells political subdivisions they may not issue a building permit, or a zoning or land use permit issued in place of one, to a person who is required to be licensed and is not. The permit office must also report that applicant to the commissioner, who can bring an action. For a remodeler the practical read is simple. One state license, checked at every permit desk in Minnesota.
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Minnesota splits residential work into three license classes, and the one you pick decides what you may contract for. A residential remodeler license covers improvement of existing residential real estate only. A residential building contractor license covers everything a remodeler may do and adds new construction, including new homes and new detached garages. A residential roofer license covers roofing work and nothing else. The Department of Labor and Industry states plainly that a licensed roofer cannot contract to install gutters, downspouts, soffit or fascia, because that work needs a remodeler or building contractor license. Minn. Stat. 326B.802 carries the definitions. Subdivision 12 defines a residential remodeler as a person in the business of contracting, or offering to contract, with an owner to improve existing residential real estate by providing two or more special skills. Subdivision 11 defines the residential building contractor as the person who builds residential real estate using two or more special skills, and adds that the building contractor may also contract to improve existing property. Subdivision 13 defines residential real estate as a new or existing building constructed for habitation by one to four families, and it includes detached garages. License numbers show the class. The department issues BC numbers for residential building contractors, CR for residential remodelers and RR for residential roofers, each followed by six digits. The requirements to get a remodeler license and a building contractor license are the same. Only the exam differs. A remodeler who expects to add new construction or new garages later should weigh taking the builder exam the first time instead of upgrading later.
The trigger is not project size and it is not a dollar threshold on a single job. It is the number of special skill areas you contract to provide. Any individual or company that contracts directly with an owner of one to four unit residential real estate to provide work in more than one special skill area must hold a residential building contractor or residential remodeler license. Minn. Stat. 326B.802 lists eight special skill areas. They are excavation, masonry and concrete, carpentry, interior finishing, exterior finishing, drywall and plaster, roofing, and general installation specialties. The Department of Labor and Industry publishes the contents of each one. Carpentry includes rough framing, finish carpentry, doors, windows and skylights, porches and decks, wood foundations and drywall installation. Interior finishing includes floor covering, cabinet and countertop installation, insulation and vapor barriers, painting, tile and wallpapering. Exterior finishing includes siding, soffit, fascia and trim, stucco and rain carrying systems. A kitchen remodel that touches carpentry and interior finishing is two skill areas, so it needs a license. A contractor who only ever hangs and finishes drywall stays inside one skill area and does not need the state license, with roofing as the standing exception. An owner of residential real estate who builds or improves homes for resale or speculation must also be licensed, even though the owner is not contracting with a third party. Since July 1, 2023, a company that contracts with a homeowner to install a residential solar photovoltaic system must hold a remodeler or building contractor license as well.
Minn. Stat. 326B.805, subdivision 6, lists who falls outside the license requirement, and the Department of Labor and Industry restates the list. Employees of a licensee performing work for that licensee are exempt. Subcontractors who never contract with the homeowner are exempt from licensure, but they must register with the department through the Construction Contractor Registration Program. Material suppliers, manufacturers and retailers that furnish finished products without installing or attaching them are exempt. So are architects and engineers working inside the scope of their practice, owners doing work on their own property unless the work is for resale or speculation, landlords doing non-plumbing and non-electrical work on their own rental units, and anyone whose work is limited to residential buildings with more than four units. The small volume exemption is the one most remodelers ask about. A residential building contractor whose gross annual receipts from residential activity are under $15,000 may hold a certificate of exemption instead of a license. Gross annual receipts means the total derived from residential contracting or remodeling activity, regardless of where the activity happens, and it may not be reduced by cost of goods sold, expenses or losses. The department charges $10 for a new certificate of exemption and $10 to renew one, with a $5 late fee if the renewal arrives after the expiration date. The affidavit is notarized. Crossing $15,000 in gross annual receipts during a calendar year ends the exemption and the company must become licensed. A certificate of exemption also does not carry the local license preemption, so cities may still require their own license from an exemption holder.
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Minnesota licenses the company and tests a person. Minn. Stat. 326B.805, subdivision 4, requires the examination and education requirements to be met by a qualifying person the licensee designates. Who may serve depends on the business structure. For a sole proprietorship it must be the proprietor or a managing employee. For a partnership, a general partner or a managing employee. For an LLC, a chief manager or a managing employee. For a corporation, an owner, officer or managing employee. A managing employee must be regularly employed by the licensee and actively engaged in the business of residential contracting or remodeling on the licensee's behalf. The Department of Labor and Industry adds that a qualifying person may not be an independent contractor of the company. One person can qualify more than one company only when there is at least 25 percent common ownership among those companies, and the qualifying person does not have to be the one holding that ownership. After the exam is passed the department assigns a Q registration number, not a license. The prefix is QB for qualifying builder, QC for qualifying remodeler or QR for qualifying roofer, followed by six digits. A Q registration runs two years from the exam date and renews on its own schedule, which usually will not match the company license expiration date. The Q number has to be supplied on the license application. If a Q registration lapses and stays inactive for more than two years, the individual has to retake the exam before acting as a qualifying person again. Losing the qualifying person is addressed separately in Minn. Stat. 326B.825.
There are no prerequisite experience or education requirements to sit for the residential building contractor, remodeler or roofer exam. That is unusual, and it is stated directly by the Department of Labor and Industry. The exam is the gate. The license you intend to obtain picks the exam your qualifying person takes. A residential building contractor license requires the qualifying builder exam. A residential remodeler license requires the qualifying remodeler exam. A residential roofer license requires the qualifying roofer exam. The exam has 110 multiple choice questions and the passing score is 70 percent. Candidates get five and a half hours. Roughly 60 percent of the questions come from the Minnesota Residential Building Code and the rest come from the statutes and rules that govern the residential construction industry, which means contract rules, license rules and consumer protection rules are tested, not just construction detail. Two reference books are supplied in the exam room: the Minnesota State Residential Code, 2020 edition, and the department's Reference Manual for Residential Building Contractor and Remodeler License Exam. The qualifying builder exam is available in English and Spanish, and the department asks candidates to email DLI.Exam@state.mn.us to request the Spanish version. Exams are given at the department's St. Paul office and at other Minnesota locations. Minn. Stat. 326B.092, subdivision 1, sets the application and examination fee at $50, separate from the license fee, and the license fee comes due only after the exam is passed. A candidate who fails must wait 30 days before applying to retake, and must submit a new application and a new fee.
Every published figure here comes from the Department of Labor and Industry or the fee statutes. The application and examination fee is $50 under Minn. Stat. 326B.092, subdivision 1. The base license fee is $180, which matches the two-year business license classification in subdivision 7 of the same section. On top of the base fee, a new applicant pays a Contractor Recovery Fund fee set by gross annual receipts: $320 under $1,000,000, $420 from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, and $520 over $5,000,000. Minn. Stat. 326B.89, subdivision 3, carries the same three tiers. Renewal is priced as one number that already includes the fund fee. For a complete renewal received before the expiration date the department charges $505 if gross annual receipts are under $1 million, $605 between $1 million and $5 million, and $705 over $5 million. A $90 late fee is added when a completed renewal does not arrive by the expiration date. Minn. Stat. 326B.092 also builds a $5 continuing education fee into renewal fees for licenses that carry a continuing education requirement. Application and examination fees, license fees, renewal fees and late fees are nonrefundable, with narrow exceptions in subdivision 6. A license that lapsed within the past two years can be renewed, but the application has to carry the renewal fees covering the expired period plus the late fee plus the current renewal fee. Local governments may add a surcharge of no more than $5 on each permit requiring a licensed residential contractor, purely to verify the license.
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Minnesota sets the floor in statute and the Department of Labor and Industry checks it before issuing or renewing. Minn. Stat. 326B.86, subdivision 2, requires every licensee to carry and maintain commercial general liability insurance that includes premises and operations coverage and products and completed operations coverage. The limits must be at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate for bodily injury, plus property damage coverage of at least $25,000. A single limit policy covering bodily injury and property damage together at $300,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate satisfies the requirement as well. The policy has to be written by an insurer licensed to do business in Minnesota, and the licensee has to keep a certificate on file with the commissioner. If the policy is cancelled the insurer must notify the commissioner at the same time it handles the cancellation with the insured. The commissioner may raise the minimum for a licensee or a class of licensees when that is needed to protect Minnesota consumers. On the paperwork side the department is strict. The business name on the insurance certificate must match the Secretary of State filing exactly, the certificate must be produced and signed by a licensed insurance agent, and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry must be listed as a certificate holder. Workers compensation compliance is a separate document on a department approved form, and neither a new license nor a renewal is approved without current liability and workers compensation information on file. Certificates and compliance forms can be uploaded during the online application or emailed to the licensing unit.
Minnesota does not require a surety bond from a residential remodeler or residential building contractor. Minn. Stat. 326B.86, subdivision 1, applies the bond requirement to licensed residential roofers, at a penal sum of at least $15,000, and to manufactured home installers, at a penal sum of at least $2,500. For remodelers and building contractors the Contractor Recovery Fund stands in for bonding, and the Department of Labor and Industry says so directly. The fund is created in the state treasury by Minn. Stat. 326B.89 and is paid for by the per-license fee tiers of $320, $420 and $520. The fund compensates owners and lessees of Minnesota residential real estate who hold a final court judgment against a licensee based on fraudulent, deceptive or dishonest practices, conversion of funds, or failure of performance arising out of a contract made directly between the licensee and the homeowner. Payment limits are set in subdivision 5. The commissioner may not pay an individual owner or lessee more than $100,000 per licensee, and may not pay owners and lessees more than $550,000 in total per licensee. Attorney fees, litigation costs and interest are excluded from the recoverable out of pocket loss, and the verified application has to be served within two years after the judgment became final. For the contractor the consequence is severe. The department states that a license is automatically suspended once a payment is made from the fund, and no reinstatement is authorized until the licensee repays twice the amount paid plus interest and obtains a surety bond of at least $40,000.
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Residential building contractor and remodeler licenses run on a two-year cycle that ends March 31, with some licenses expiring in odd-numbered years and others in even-numbered years. Minn. Stat. 326B.815 confirms the two-year term and the March 31 expiration. Four things have to be in order before the department will process a renewal. The qualifying person must hold an active Q registration. The corporate, LLC or assumed name filing with the Minnesota Secretary of State must be active. The liability insurance information on file must be current. The workers compensation compliance information must be current. Continuing education sits on the qualifying person, not the company. Minn. Stat. 326B.821, subdivision 2, requires the qualifying person to provide proof of 14 hours of continuing education per two-year licensure period, and credit cannot be earned twice for the same course in the same period, whether taken as a student or taught as an instructor. The department adds two content rules: at least one hour must relate to the Energy Code and at least one hour must relate to business management strategies. Q registrations renew automatically once the 14 hours are complete. Renewals submitted online are processed about a week sooner than mailed renewals. Timing matters beyond the fee. The department warns that after a license expires, municipalities cannot issue building permits to contractors whose renewals have not yet been processed and approved, so a late renewal can stop jobs at the permit counter. Changing business structure, such as moving from a sole proprietorship to an LLC, requires a new license application rather than a renewal.
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This is the rule most remodelers underuse and some break by accident. Minn. Stat. 326B.87, subdivision 2, requires the license number of a licensee to appear in any advertising by that licensee, and it names examples: signs, vehicles, business cards, published display ads, flyers, brochures, websites and internet ads. A website is explicitly covered, so a remodeler running Google Business Profile posts, landing pages and paid ads needs the BC or CR number on them. Subdivision 1 requires the license number on all building permits and building permit applications made to or issued by the state or a political subdivision, and on the site plan review or zoning permit in jurisdictions that have not adopted the State Building Code. It also requires the number on all business cards and all contracts for work that requires a license. Subdivision 3 requires contracts entered into by a licensee to state that the person is licensed and to state the license number. The Department of Labor and Industry adds that license numbers must appear on notices and statements relating to the filing of mechanics liens, and confirms that the law does not specify a print size or a location for the number. What the license lets you say is bounded by its class. A residential remodeler may hold itself out as a licensed residential remodeler but not as a residential building contractor, and a licensed roofer may not advertise gutters, downspouts, soffit or fascia work. Advertising outside your class is advertising work you cannot legally contract for.
Minnesota regulates the paperwork, not just the license. Minn. Stat. 326B.809 requires all agreements between a licensee and a customer to be in writing, and it sweeps in proposals, estimates, bids, quotations, contracts, purchase orders and change orders. Each one must contain a detailed summary of the services to be performed, a description of the specific materials to be used or a list of standard features to be included, and either the total contract price or a description of the basis on which the price will be calculated. Before signing, the licensee has to give the prospective customer written performance guidelines for the services, and those guidelines must be included in the agreement or incorporated by reference. Agreements are signed and dated by both sides, and the licensee must hand the customer a signed and dated copy at no charge, including performance guidelines and mechanics lien waivers. Insurance restoration work carries extra rules. Minn. Stat. 325E.66 bars a residential contractor paid from property or casualty insurance proceeds from advertising or promising to pay any part of the homeowner's deductible, or offering compensation for an inspection, for making a claim, or for referrals. The same section bars giving an authorization to repair without a good faith itemized estimate, and bars interpreting policy provisions or adjusting the claim unless the contractor is a licensed public adjuster. A written notification of the section must go out with the initial estimate. The Department of Labor and Industry states that contractors who offer to cover a deductible face enforcement including fines up to $10,000 per violation.
Two separate cancellation rights reach remodeling work in Minnesota, and both are the contractor's obligation to disclose. The first is the home solicitation sale right. Minn. Stat. 325G.07 gives the buyer the right to cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after the day the sale occurs. Cancellation is effective on written notice to the seller at the address stated in the agreement, it does not have to take any particular form, and a mailed notice is effective when it is deposited in the mailbox properly addressed with postage prepaid. Minn. Stat. 325G.08 sets out what the seller has to do at the time of sale: tell the buyer orally about the right to cancel, give the buyer a completed contract or receipt showing the date and the seller's name and address, and place a cancellation statement in boldface type of at least ten points right next to the signature space. The seller must also attach a detachable duplicate NOTICE OF CANCELLATION form with the statutory wording. Refunds are due within ten business days of the seller receiving the cancellation notice. The second right is specific to insurance funded work. Minn. Stat. 326B.811 gives a homeowner who contracted with a residential building contractor, remodeler or roofer for work to be paid from insurance proceeds 72 hours to cancel after the insurer notifies the insured that the claim was denied. The contractor must furnish a boldface ten point statement of that right and a duplicate cancellation form before the contract is signed.
The exposure runs on three tracks. First, criminal. Minn. Stat. 326B.845, subdivision 1, makes an individual who violates an order of the commissioner, or who is the manager, officer or director of a person who violates such an order, guilty of a gross misdemeanor. The Department of Labor and Industry states that a person whose company is required to be licensed and who performs unlicensed work as a residential building contractor or remodeler is guilty of a misdemeanor. Second, lien rights. Subdivision 2 of the same section says an unlicensed person who knowingly violates the residential contractor licensing sections has no right to claim a mechanics lien under Minn. Stat. 514.01 and the lien is void. That voids the main collection tool on an unpaid remodel. The lien rights of material suppliers and licensed contractors are not affected. Third, administrative. Minn. Stat. 326B.082 lets the commissioner issue monetary penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation of applicable law, and assess a civil penalty of $5,000 per day for each day a person operates in violation of a stop work order. Minn. Stat. 326B.84 lists the grounds for sanctions against a licensee or anyone required to hold a license, including fraudulent, deceptive or dishonest practices, failure to reasonably supervise employees and subcontractors, negligent performance or breach of contract that harms the public, conviction of a State Building Code violation or refusal to comply with a correction order, and using customer payments for something other than the labor and materials on that job while those costs remain unpaid.
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State preemption does real work here. Because Minn. Stat. 326B.835 bars a political subdivision from requiring a second license from a state licensee, a licensed remodeler does not buy a Minneapolis or Saint Paul contractor license for work inside the state license scope. Minneapolis states it directly: if you hold a State of Minnesota Residential Building license you do not need a Minneapolis residential specialty contractor license, and roofers do not need a Minneapolis license at all because they need the state roofer license. The city license exists for the single skill specialist. Minneapolis issues a residential specialty contractor license for one of excavation, masonry, carpentry, interior finishing, exterior finishing, drywall and plaster, or general installation, and the application requires a surety bond on the city's $10,000 bond form. Minneapolis also tells permit applicants that a contractor applying for a building permit must show either a city residential specialty contractor license or a state residential building contractor, remodeler or roofer license, and that anyone who builds or improves more than one property within any 24-month period needs the state license. Saint Paul says the same thing from the other side: contractors performing two or more special skills require the state residential building contractor or remodeler license, and roofing requires the state roofer license. Saint Paul's own city contractor license is built for exemption certificate holders and registered specialty contractors, and it requires a notarized $2,500 city bond form plus liability coverage with a combined single limit of $500,000, or $500,000 bodily injury with $200,000 property damage and 30 day notice of cancellation.
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Minnesota publishes a public license lookup, and smart remodelers point customers at it instead of waiting to be asked. The Department of Labor and Industry hosts license and registration lookup through iMS, its licensing management system, at secure.doli.state.mn.us. No account is needed. A homeowner selects Continue as guest and enters a complete license or registration number, or uses the search function to look up a license holder by other criteria. The same lookup shows continuing education completion, bond information and whether there are enforcement actions against a license, and the department runs a separate online verification for registered contractors. The license number on your website, truck and estimate is what makes that search land on your record instead of on nothing. Behind the license sits a statutory warranty you owe whether or not it appears in your contract. Minn. Stat. 327A.02, subdivision 3, requires a home improvement contractor selling home improvement work involving major structural changes or additions to warrant the work free from defects caused by faulty workmanship and defective materials for one year from the warranty date, and free from major construction defects for ten years. Work involving the installation of plumbing, electrical, heating or cooling systems carries a two-year warranty against faulty installation. Those warranties survive dissolution of a corporation or LLC. Minn. Stat. 326B.875 adds a written disclosure duty when a licensee sells a home it built and occupied, covering the loss of the statutory warranty and, after a year of occupancy, the loss of recovery fund eligibility.
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These are common details other guides publish about Minnesota, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
A residential remodeler license from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry covers improvement of existing one to four unit homes. A residential building contractor license covers the same work plus new construction. Both require the same insurance, fees and continuing education. Only the qualifying person exam differs, so pick based on whether you will ever build new.
No. The license requirement starts when you contract directly with a homeowner to provide work in more than one of the eight special skill areas. A contractor who only hangs drywall stays inside one area and needs no state license. Roofing is the exception and always requires a state license, and gutter work falls outside the roofer class.
No. The Department of Labor and Industry states there are no prerequisite experience or educational requirements to take the residential building contractor, remodeler or roofer exam. The exam itself is the qualification. It runs 110 multiple choice questions with a 70 percent passing score and a five and a half hour limit, and about 60 percent covers the residential code.
One designated qualifying person. For a sole proprietorship that is the proprietor or a managing employee, for an LLC a chief manager or managing employee, and for a corporation an owner, officer or managing employee. A managing employee must be regularly employed and actively engaged in the business, and cannot be an independent contractor of the company.
The application and examination fee is $50 and the base license fee is $180 for the two-year term. On top of that a new applicant pays a Contractor Recovery Fund fee based on gross annual receipts: $320 under $1,000,000, $420 from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, and $520 above $5,000,000. All of those are set by statute.
Licenses run two years and expire March 31. For a complete renewal received before expiration the department charges $505 if gross annual receipts are under $1 million, $605 between $1 million and $5 million, and $705 above $5 million. A $90 late fee applies after expiration, and municipalities cannot issue permits while a renewal is unprocessed.
No. Bonds are required of licensed residential roofers, at a penal sum of at least $15,000, and manufactured home installers at $2,500. Remodelers and residential building contractors instead pay into the Contractor Recovery Fund, which the Department of Labor and Industry describes as the replacement for bonding. Saint Paul and Minneapolis require bonds only for their own city licenses.
Commercial general liability including premises and operations plus products and completed operations, with at least $100,000 per occurrence, $300,000 aggregate for bodily injury, and $25,000 property damage. A single limit policy of $300,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate covering both also qualifies. The insurer must be licensed in Minnesota and the department must be a certificate holder.
On all advertising, which the statute spells out as signs, vehicles, business cards, display ads, flyers, brochures, websites and internet ads. Also on every building permit and permit application, on contracts for licensed work, and on notices relating to mechanics lien filings. No print size or placement is specified. Contracts must also state that you are licensed.
Fourteen hours per two-year licensure period, completed by the qualifying person rather than the company. The department requires at least one hour on the Energy Code and at least one hour on business management strategies. The same course cannot be counted twice in one period. Q registrations renew automatically once the hours are finished.
Often yes. A home solicitation sale may be cancelled until midnight of the third business day after the sale, and you must say so orally, in boldface type beside the signature line, and on a detachable cancellation form. Insurance funded work carries a separate 72 hour cancellation right after the insurer denies the claim.
Through the Department of Labor and Industry license and registration lookup, with no account required. The record shows license status, continuing education completion, bond information and any enforcement actions. Neither city issues a competing license to state licensees, so the state record is the one that matters. Putting your number on every ad makes that search succeed.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.