North Carolina · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
North Carolina licenses remodeling through the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. A general contractor license is required when the cost of the undertaking is $40,000 or more. Most remodelers hold the Residential or Building classification. The license is granted at a limited, intermediate, or unlimited monetary level after a qualifier passes the Board exam.
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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 at the state level in North Carolina. The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors issues the license from 5400 Creedmoor Road in Raleigh. Cities and counties do not issue a competing contractor license. They issue building permits, inspect the work, and check your state license before the permit is released. The Board draws its authority from Chapter 87, Article 1 of the General Statutes. G.S. 87-1 defines a general contractor as any person, firm, or corporation that, for a fixed price, commission, fee, or wage, undertakes to bid upon, construct, superintend, or manage the construction of any building, improvement, or structure where the cost of the undertaking is $40,000 or more. A gut kitchen, a whole-house renovation, an addition, and a finished basement all sit inside that definition once the contract price crosses the line. The Board also administers the Homeowners Recovery Fund and accepts complaints against licensed and unlicensed contractors. So the license does more than grant permission to build. It is the record a homeowner checks before signing, and the record a permit clerk checks before issuing. Nothing in Chapter 87 lets a city set the threshold higher or lower. A remodeler working across Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Asheville carries one state license and pulls separate local permits in each jurisdiction. The classification printed on that single license, not any local registration, decides what remodeling work you may legally contract for in this state.
The number that governs residential remodeling in North Carolina is $40,000. G.S. 87-1 applies the license requirement where the cost of the undertaking is $40,000 or more. The Board states the same rule in plain terms on its consumer pages: a general contractor must be licensed if the contract is valued at $40,000 or higher. Below that figure you may contract for remodeling without a general contractor license, though every other obligation in this page still applies. The threshold is measured by the cost of the undertaking, not by your profit and not by the labor portion alone. Splitting one bathroom renovation into three signed agreements to keep each paper under $40,000 does not create three undertakings. G.S. 87-14 attaches the same figure to the permit counter. A permit applicant for work costing $40,000 or more must furnish satisfactory proof to the building inspector that the applicant, or another person contracting to superintend the construction, is licensed under Article 1 or exempt under G.S. 87-1(b). The same statute requires proof of workers compensation coverage as required by Chapter 97. G.S. 87-14(a1) adds a lien agent designation requirement at the same $40,000 combined cost, and then carves out improvements to an existing single-family dwelling unit that the owner occupies as a residence. That carve-out matters to remodelers, because most of their projects are exactly that.
North Carolina does not issue a license called remodeling. It issues classifications, defined in 21 NCAC 12A .0202, and the one you hold sets the ceiling on the kind of work you may contract for. The Residential classification covers all construction and demolition activity pertaining to the construction of residential units required to conform to the residential building code adopted under G.S. 143-138. It also covers all site work, driveways, sidewalks, and water and wastewater systems ancillary to those structures, plus work done as part of such residential units under the specialty classifications of S(Insulation), S(Interior Construction), S(Masonry Construction), S(Roofing), S(Swimming Pools), and S(Asbestos). For a remodeler who works on houses, duplexes, and townhomes, Residential is usually the right classification. The Building classification is wider. It covers all building construction and demolition activity, including commercial, industrial, institutional, and all residential building construction, parking decks, site work, grading and paving, storm drainage, retaining walls, and accessory structures. Building also sweeps in S(Concrete Construction), S(Insulation), S(Interior Construction), S(Marine Construction), S(Masonry Construction), S(Roofing), S(Metal Erection), S(Swimming Pools), S(Asbestos), and S(Wind Turbine). A remodeler who also takes small commercial tenant work needs Building, not Residential. The Board also lists standalone specialty classifications in its public search, including S(Interior Construction) and S(Roofing). If your work is confined to one trade, a specialty classification can be enough. Read .0202 before you pick, because the classification is what the Board enforces.
North Carolina stacks a second decision on top of the classification. G.S. 87-10(a1) sets three limitations, and each one caps the value of a single project. A limited license entitles the holder to act as general contractor for any single project with a value of up to $750,000, excluding the cost of land and any ancillary costs to improve the land. An intermediate license raises that ceiling to $1,500,000 on the same exclusion basis. An unlimited license carries no restriction as to the value of any single project. For remodelers this is a practical business decision, not a formality. A limited license covers almost all single-family renovation work. A remodeler who wants whole-house rebuilds in high-value neighborhoods, or who bundles several units into one contract, runs into the $750,000 ceiling fast. The limitation is per project, so the test is the value of the single undertaking, not your annual volume. Moving up a tier means meeting the higher financial test in 21 NCAC 12A .0204 and paying the higher application fee, not retaking a different exam. The classification and the limitation print together on the license, and both appear in the Board's public license search, so a homeowner or a general contractor hiring you as a sub can see the ceiling. Bidding a project above your limitation is a Board matter even when the work itself is sound.
Sourcesnclbgc.org 1ncleg.gov 2
North Carolina licenses the company and tests a person. 21 NCAC 12A .0300 and G.S. 87-10(a) require an applicant to be at least 18 years of age, possess good moral character as determined by the Board, provide evidence of financial responsibility, submit the appropriate application fee, and consent to a criminal background check if the Board requires one. The applicant then identifies an individual who has passed a Board-approved examination. That person is the qualifier, also called the qualifying party. The exam tests the ability to make a practical application of knowledge of contracting, reading plans and specifications, relevant matters in the North Carolina State Building Code, estimating costs, construction, ethics, the responsibilities of a contractor to the public, state law on contractors, construction, and liens, and the requirements of the Sedimentation Pollution Control Act of 1973. Under 21 NCAC 12A .0404, a passing score is at least 70. Computer-based examinations are administered by PSI Examination Services, which publishes a candidate information bulletin. Applications are filed online through the Board's system rather than on paper. The qualifier is not decoration. The Board's own guidance states that if a qualifying party leaves, the licensee must replace the qualifying party within 90 days or the license becomes invalid. A remodeling company that depends on one estimator who happens to be the qualifier should plan for that. Military-trained applicants may sit the North Carolina Business and Law exam as a proficiency exam.
North Carolina tests your balance sheet, and the test rises with the limitation you want. Under 21 NCAC 12A .0204, an applicant for a limited license must have current assets that exceed total current liabilities by at least $17,000, or a total net worth of at least $80,000. An applicant for an intermediate license must show current assets exceeding total current liabilities by at least $75,000, reflected in an agreed-upon procedures report on a Board form or an audited financial statement prepared by a certified public accountant or an independent accountant in public practice. An unlimited applicant must show at least $150,000 of that same working capital, documented the same way. There is a second route. In lieu of demonstrating the required level of working capital, an applicant may provide a surety bond. The rule sets the bond at $175,000 for a limited license, $500,000 for an intermediate license, and $1,000,000 for an unlimited license. The bond lists the State of North Carolina as obligee and runs for the benefit of any person damaged by an act or omission of the applicant that breaches a construction contract or a contract for furnishing materials. The bond must be maintained for as long as the license is held, or until the contractor demonstrates the required working capital, and proof is filed with the application and with each annual renewal. Applicants in bankruptcy, or in bankruptcy within the prior five years, face extra reporting.
Sourcesnclbgc.org 1nclbgc.org 2
Chapter 87 caps what the Board may charge, which is useful because the figures in the statute are the ceiling you can rely on. G.S. 87-10(a1) requires an applicant to pay the Board, or a provider contracted by the Board, an examination fee not to exceed $100. In addition to the cost of any criminal background check, the Board requires an application fee not to exceed $125 for an unlimited license, $100 for an intermediate license, or $75 for a limited license. The statute states that fees accompanying any application or examination are nonrefundable, so a failed exam or a rejected financial statement does not come back as a refund. Renewal is cheaper to stay on top of than to fix. G.S. 87-10 sets renewal fees not to exceed $125 for an unlimited license, $100 for an intermediate license, and $75 for a limited license. Renewal applications received by the Board on or after the first day of January must be accompanied by a late payment of $10 for each month or part of a month after January. There is one more fee a remodeler meets at the permit counter rather than at the Board. G.S. 87-15.6(b) directs the city or county building inspector to collect $10 from the general contractor for each dwelling unit constructed or altered under a permit. The county keeps $1 and forwards $9 to the Board quarterly.
North Carolina renews general contractor licenses every year, and the calendar is unforgiving. The Board states that licenses must be renewed annually by December 31 for the following year, or the license expires. G.S. 87-10 provides that a license expires on the first day of January following its issuance or renewal and becomes invalid 60 days from that date unless renewed. If a license is not renewed within 60 days following expiration it becomes invalid, and the contractor is, in effect, unlicensed. Reexamination is required if a license goes unrenewed for four years, and after that four-year lapse no renewal is possible and every requirement for a new license must be met again. Continuing education is tied to the renewal. G.S. 87-10.2 requires at least one qualifier or qualifying party of a licensee holding a building contractor, residential contractor, or unclassified contractor license to complete eight hours of approved continuing education each year. Two of the eight hours must be a mandatory course approved by the Board. The remaining six are electives. The mandatory course must be taken every year. A qualifier may accumulate and carry forward up to four hours of elective credit into the next calendar year. Credit is given only for courses taught live by a Board-approved instructor, including live or previously recorded video presentations that meet the Board's proctoring or certification safeguards. Where a licensee has several qualifiers, one of them completing the hours keeps the license valid.
North Carolina allows reciprocity, but it does not hand out a license on the strength of another state's card. G.S. 87-15.1 says that to the extent other states that license general contractors provide for similar action, the Board may in its discretion grant licenses of the same or equivalent classification to general contractors licensed by other states, without written examination, on satisfactory proof that the applicant's qualifications equal those of holders of similar licenses in North Carolina, and on payment of the required fee. The Board's rules then set out what satisfactory proof looks like. Under 21 NCAC 12A, an applicant seeking reciprocity must submit with the application a copy of the license in the other state, certified by that state's licensing board as a copy of a valid license. The applicant must have taken and passed the exam offered in the state from which reciprocity is sought, or an examination offered by the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies. One test is not waived. The rules require reciprocity applicants to take and pass the Board's North Carolina law, rule, and building code examination before licensure, and state that all applicants, including those seeking reciprocity from other jurisdictions, are tested on the Board's laws and rules. For a remodeler expanding from South Carolina, Virginia, or Tennessee, the practical reading is this: your trade exam may carry over, your knowledge of North Carolina law will not be assumed.
Sourcesnclbgc.org
G.S. 87-13 makes unlicensed general contracting a criminal matter in North Carolina, not a fine on a schedule. Any person, firm, or corporation not duly authorized who contracts for or bids upon the construction of any of the projects enumerated in G.S. 87-1 without first complying with Article 1 is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. The same section reaches further than the obvious case. It covers presenting or attempting to file as your own the licensed certificate of another, giving false or forged evidence to the Board, falsely impersonating another, using an expired or revoked certificate of license, and falsely claiming or suggesting in connection with any business activities regulated by the Board that a person, firm, or corporation is licensed under Chapter 87. An architect or engineer who recommends the award of a contract to someone not properly licensed is covered too. The statute lets the Board use its funds to defray legal and other expense in prosecuting violations. The Board's consumer FAQ confirms the enforcement path: complaints can be filed and investigated for a project of $40,000 or more involving an unlicensed contractor, and where an investigation turns up evidence of unlicensed general contracting the Board may seek injunctive action. Bidding above your limitation, or letting an unlicensed entity use your number, is a separate exposure. The Board's materials state that allowing an unlicensed person or entity to use a license can bring suspension or revocation.
The Board publishes a page specifically on remodeling and home improvement contracts, and it is the closest thing North Carolina has to a home improvement contract checklist. It tells homeowners the contract should carry the contractor's complete information, including company name, address, phone number, and the full name and license number of the builder or contractor and the salesperson. It should carry a detailed description of the work, with specifics on materials such as color, quantity, size, model number, brand name, product, and cost. It should state the total contract price, the exact dollar amount owed at completion of all work listed, and it repeats that at $40,000 or higher the contractor must be licensed by the Board under G.S. 87-1. The Board tells homeowners to expect a payment schedule that parallels work completed, including a retention percentage held until the entire job is done, and to see start and completion dates with allowance for reasonable delay. It calls for a statement of permit responsibility saying the contractor will obtain all required permits and variances before work begins, a guarantee of liability coverage and workers compensation, a statement of warranty on labor and materials naming who honors the warranty, a statement of cleanup and debris removal details, and a right to cancel clause setting out the time frame for cancellation and any penalties after work has begun. A remodeler who writes to that list removes most of a homeowner's objections before they form.
Sourcesnclbgc.org 1ncleg.gov 2
North Carolina has no general three-day cooling off period for every remodeling contract. It has a specific one, and remodelers who sell at the kitchen table should know exactly when it bites. G.S. 25A-38 defines a home-solicitation sale as a consumer credit sale of goods or services in which the seller, or someone acting for the seller, personally solicits the sale at the buyer's residence and the buyer's agreement or offer to purchase is given there. The definition excludes a sale to a buyer who previously engaged in a similar transaction with the seller, a sale under a preexisting revolving charge account, and a sale negotiated on the premises of a business establishment at a fixed location where such goods or services are offered for sale. Where it applies, G.S. 25A-39 gives the buyer the right to cancel until midnight of the third business day after the day the buyer signs. Cancellation happens when the buyer gives written notice to the seller at the address stated in the agreement. G.S. 25A-40 requires the seller to present a fully completed written agreement containing the seller's name and address, and, in immediate proximity to the buyer's signature line in bold face type of at least 10 points, the statutory cancellation statement. The seller must also hand over a detachable Notice of Cancellation form in duplicate. A buyer who requests urgent performance in a separate writing may lose the right.
North Carolina puts your license number on paper by rule. 21 NCAC 12A .0501(a) states that license numbers shall be included on all contracts and bids. That is the display rule remodelers most often miss, because it covers the bid as well as the signed contract. The Board's remodeling contract guidance repeats it from the homeowner's side, telling consumers the contract should name the builder or contractor and the license number. There is no separate state rule requiring the number on vehicles or yard signs for general contractors, but putting it on your estimates and proposals is not optional. What you may claim is also regulated. G.S. 87-13 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to falsely claim or suggest, in connection with any business activities regulated by the Board, that a person, firm, or corporation is licensed under Chapter 87. Advertising as a licensed general contractor while your license is invalid for nonrenewal falls inside that language. Two titles are protected and earned. G.S. 87-15.4 provides that a licensee who completes the educational requirements of the North Carolina Builders Institute is designated by the Board as a North Carolina Certified Accredited Residential Builder or a North Carolina Certified Accredited Master Residential Builder. The designation holds only while the license is in effect and the licensee completes at least eight hours of continuing education each calendar year. Those designations appear as searchable classifications in the Board's public license search.
Sourcesnclbgc.org 1nclbgc.org 2ncleg.gov 3portal.nclbgc.org 4
The Board runs a free public license search at portal.nclbgc.org. A homeowner can search by license number, qualifier number, company name, first or last name, phone number, street address, city, zip, or classification type, and the classification dropdown lists Residential, Building, Unclassified, the Accredited Builder designations, and each specialty code. The Board sends consumers there directly, telling them to search for proof that the contractor is licensed because a general contractor must be licensed if the contract is valued at $40,000 or higher. Assume every serious prospect looks you up. North Carolina also backs homeowners with money. G.S. 87-15.6 establishes the Homeowners Recovery Fund as a special account of the Board to reimburse homeowners who suffered a reimbursable loss in constructing or altering a single-family residential dwelling unit, funded by the $10 per dwelling unit permit fee. G.S. 87-15.5 defines reimbursable loss as a monetary loss from dishonest or incompetent conduct by a general contractor that the contractor has not paid and that no bond, surety agreement, or insurance contract covers. The Fund is a last resort. The claimant must have sued the contractor and obtained an unsatisfied judgment, must exhaust bankruptcy remedies if the contractor filed, and must apply within one year of the conclusion of all civil proceedings. 21 NCAC 12A .0910 caps any single approved payment at 10 percent of the total in the fund when the Board approves it.
Sourcesportal.nclbgc.org 1nclbgc.org 2nclbgc.org 3ncleg.gov 4ncleg.gov 5nclbgc.org 6
Permits are local, and the two largest North Carolina metros run them differently. In Charlotte, Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement issues the building, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical permits, from offices at 2145 Suttle Avenue. The county states that permit issuance is one of its primary responsibilities under G.S. 160D-1110, that its Land Use and Environmental Services Agency fee ordinance carries the permitting fees, and that permits are required for residential work on one- and two-family dwellings and townhomes. It offers Trade Internet Permitting for contractors and a separate Homeowner Internet Permitting path, and a permit search covering permits issued to a property within the last six years. In Raleigh, the city's Planning and Development department runs permits, and applications go through the Permit and Development Portal under a registered account. Raleigh draws the residential line at single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes, and routes multifamily apartments through the commercial codes. State law sets the floor both cities build on. G.S. 160D-1110(c) provides that no permit is required for construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing $40,000 or less in a single-family residence performed to the current State Building Code, unless the work touches load-bearing structures, changes plumbing design, changes heating, air conditioning, or electrical design beyond like-kind device replacement, uses materials the Code does not permit, adds roofing rather than replacing it, or triggers the Fire Code. Window, door, siding, and deck decking replacement are named exceptions.
Three obligations sit outside Chapter 87 and still decide whether a North Carolina remodeling job is legal. Workers compensation comes first. G.S. 97-2(1) defines employment to include all private employments in which three or more employees are regularly employed in the same business or establishment. G.S. 87-14 then requires a permit applicant for work of $40,000 or more to furnish proof of workers compensation insurance as required by Chapter 97. Second, your general contractor license does not cover the trades. G.S. 87-43 bars anyone from engaging or offering to engage in the business of electrical contracting without a license from the State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors, and requires a current certificate of license displayed in the principal place of business and each branch. G.S. 87-21 sets up the parallel system for plumbing and for heating groups one, two, and three. Subcontract that work to licensed trades. Third, sales tax. The North Carolina Department of Revenue states that services to real property are generally repair, maintenance, and installation services subject to sales and use tax unless a person substantiates otherwise. The gross receipts are not taxed as services where the work is performed as part of new construction, reconstruction, or remodeling, where a State Building Code permit is required and the transaction is not a repair or replacement of electrical components, gas logs, or a water heater, or where substantiation requirements for a capital improvement under G.S. 105-164.4H(a1) are met.
These are common details other guides publish about North Carolina, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Only if the cost of the undertaking is $40,000 or more. G.S. 87-1 sets that threshold, and the Licensing Board for General Contractors states the same rule for homeowners. Below $40,000 you may contract without a general contractor license. Permits, trade licenses, workers compensation, and sales tax rules still apply to the job.
The cost of the undertaking, which is the value of the project, not your profit or the labor portion alone. G.S. 87-1 uses that phrase, and G.S. 87-14 applies the same figure at the permit counter. Dividing one renovation into several smaller written agreements does not turn one undertaking into several separate ones.
Usually Residential. Under 21 NCAC 12A .0202 it covers construction and demolition for residential units that must meet the residential building code, plus ancillary site work and work under the S(Insulation), S(Interior Construction), S(Masonry Construction), S(Roofing), S(Swimming Pools), and S(Asbestos) specialties. Take Building instead if you also bid commercial or industrial work.
The qualifier, or qualifying party, is the individual who passed the Board exam and on whose knowledge the company license rests. The Board's guidance states that if a qualifying party leaves, the licensee must replace that person within 90 days or the license becomes invalid. Name a second qualifier before you need one.
Yes. 21 NCAC 12A .0204 lets an applicant provide a surety bond in lieu of demonstrating working capital: $175,000 for a limited license, $500,000 for an intermediate license, and $1,000,000 for an unlimited license. The bond names the State of North Carolina as obligee and must be renewed with the license each year.
A Class 2 misdemeanor under G.S. 87-13. The same statute covers using another contractor's certificate, using an expired or revoked license, and falsely claiming or suggesting that a person or firm is licensed under Chapter 87. The Board investigates complaints on projects of $40,000 or more and may seek injunctive action.
Licenses renew annually by December 31 for the following year. G.S. 87-10 provides that a license expires the first day of January after issuance or renewal and becomes invalid 60 days later unless renewed. Renewals received on or after January 1 carry a late payment of $10 for each month or part after January.
Eight hours a year. G.S. 87-10.2 requires at least one qualifier of a building, residential, or unclassified licensee to complete eight approved hours annually, of which two must be the Board's mandatory course and six are electives. Up to four elective hours carry forward one calendar year. Courses must be taught live by an approved instructor.
Possibly. G.S. 87-15.1 lets the Board grant an equivalent classification without written examination on satisfactory proof of equal qualifications. Board rules require a certified copy of the out-of-state license and a passed exam from that state or from NASCLA. You still must pass the Board's North Carolina law, rule, and building code examination.
Yes. 21 NCAC 12A .0501(a) states that license numbers shall be included on all contracts and bids, so a proposal carries it too. The Board's remodeling contract guidance tells homeowners to look for the contractor's full name and license number. Claiming licensure you do not hold is a G.S. 87-13 offense.
Through the Homeowners Recovery Fund, as a last resort. G.S. 87-15.6 funds it with a $10 per dwelling unit permit fee. The homeowner must sue, hold an unsatisfied judgment, and apply within one year of the end of all civil proceedings. 21 NCAC 12A .0910 caps a payment at 10 percent of the fund.
Often not. G.S. 160D-1110(c) exempts work costing $40,000 or less in a single-family residence built to the current State Building Code, unless it touches load-bearing structures, changes plumbing or mechanical or electrical design, adds roofing, uses non-Code materials, or triggers the Fire Code. Window, door, siding, and deck decking replacement are named exceptions.
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