South Carolina · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
South Carolina licenses remodeling at state level through the Residential Builders Commission, part of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. A residential builder license is required once the cost of a residential repair, improvement or reimprovement exceeds five thousand dollars, and it requires one year of verified experience, an examination, and a surety bond of not less than fifteen thousand dollars.
State-level license
Yes
Public lookup
Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
The South Carolina Residential Builders Commission licenses and registers the people who remodel homes in this state. The commission sits inside the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, at 110 Centerview Dr in Columbia, and board staff answer at (803) 896-4696. Licensing is statewide. One commission credential carries you into Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Rock Hill and every other South Carolina municipality, so you are not re-qualifying trade skills at each city hall. The commission also investigates complaints and takes action against people who build or remodel without the credential. The commission defines a residential builder as a person who constructs, superintends, or offers to construct or superintend the construction, repair, improvement, or reimprovement of a residential building or structure that is not over three floors in height and does not have more than sixteen units in any single apartment building, when the cost of the undertaking exceeds five thousand dollars. Read that definition closely if you remodel. Repair, improvement and reimprovement are named in it. A kitchen gut, a bath remodel, a whole-house renovation and a structural addition all sit inside the commission's jurisdiction once the job crosses that dollar line. Offering to do the work counts the same as doing it. Work above the residential ceiling moves to a different board. The South Carolina Contractor's Licensing Board handles general and mechanical contracting, and a general or mechanical contractor license is required for regulated commercial construction over ten thousand dollars. A remodeler who also chases commercial tenant work needs both conversations.
South Carolina does not use the phrase home improvement contractor. The commission issues a specific set of credentials, and the public license lookup lists them by name: COA, Electrical, Heating and Air, Home Builders, Home Inspector, Plumbing, RB Exam Waiver, Residential Non Mechanical, Specialty and Volunteer Registration. A remodeler normally ends up holding one of four things. The Residential Builder license is the broad one. It covers residential building, repair and improvement up to three floors and sixteen units per apartment building, and it is obtained by examination. The Residential Builder Exam Waiver license is a limited version granted without the technical portion of the exam. A waiver licensee is not qualified to perform work in the mechanical trades and has to subcontract the mechanical trades on a project to an appropriately licensed person or company. Residential Specialty Contractor registration is the trade-by-trade credential. It is capped at three trade classifications at a time, and no examination is required to become a registered specialty contractor. The commission also issues full licenses, after examination, in the mechanical trades: residential electrician, residential plumber, and HVAC installer and repairer. Those mechanical credentials are separate from the specialty registrations. The fourth credential is the residential business certificate of authorization, usually called a COA. That one belongs to the company rather than the person. Practice or offer to practice residential building, residential specialty contracting or home inspecting through a firm is authorized only through entities holding a COA, including any firm practicing under a fictitious name. Pick the credential that matches the work you sell, not the work you can do.
Sourcesllr.sc.gov 1verify.llronline.com 2llr.sc.gov 3llr.sc.gov 4
Three dollar thresholds decide this, and they are not the same number. Residential specialty contracting starts at five hundred dollars. The commission defines a residential specialty contractor as an independent contractor who contracts with a licensed residential builder, general contractor, or individual property owner to do construction work, repairs, improvement, or reimprovement requiring special skills and specialized construction trades or craft, when the undertakings exceed five hundred dollars and are not regulated by Chapter 11 of Title 40. So a roofer, a painter, a drywall installer or a floor covering installer crosses into registration territory at a very low job size. Residential building starts at five thousand dollars. Above that figure, the undertaking is residential building and needs a residential builder license rather than a specialty registration. Regulated commercial construction starts at ten thousand dollars and belongs to the Contractor's Licensing Board. Two scope limits trip up remodelers. A residential specialty contractor is not authorized to construct additions to residential buildings or structures without supervision by a residential builder or other appropriately licensed person or entity. And a registered specialty contractor is prohibited from undertaking work outside the scope of the registration, including employing, hiring, contracting or subcontracting with others to perform that work on his or her behalf. You cannot register as a painter and then sell a bump-out addition with subcontractors. The classification cap matters for anyone selling full remodels. Registration is limited to three trade classifications, classifications may be changed only during the renewal period, and anyone who needs to practice more than three at a time must apply to become a residential builder.
The commission screens experience, money and reputation before it screens skill. For the residential builder license, a prerequisite for taking the examination is a minimum of one year of actual experience under the supervision of a licensed residential builder, or other appropriately licensed professional engaged in residential building construction involving the trades or crafts for which the license is desired, or other education or experience or a combination of these as approved by the commission. The commission states that work experience must be verified and approved before you are made eligible for the exam, so the experience review comes first and the test comes second. In examining an applicant the commission may consider experience, ability, character, financial condition, equipment, workers' compensation insurance, and other pertinent information the commission may require. That list is in the statute, and it means a thin balance sheet or missing workers' compensation coverage can stall an application that has plenty of job-site experience behind it. Credit is part of the file. A person applying for licensure as a residential builder or registration as a residential specialty contractor must submit to a credit report. Beyond the credit report, the commission may decide from the written application, personal references, written communications or complaints to the commission, and other reliable documented sources whether the applicant has a reputation for prompt payment of labor and material bills and for timely completion of other contracts. Applicants also have to list any outstanding judgments against them or entities they were associated with. Specialty registrants document experience too. The commission publishes a Specialty Registrant Work Experience Affidavit among its forms. Registered specialty contractors must be qualified and experienced in the particular areas of contracting in which they intend to engage.
Only the residential builder license and the mechanical trade licenses are examined. An examination is not required to become a registered specialty contractor. To sit for the residential builder exam you apply to the commission first, submit the application with required documentation and fees, and wait for the commission to review the file and decide exam eligibility. Approved applicants are sent examination eligibility information and the post-exam application steps by email, which is why the commission tells applicants to keep a current email address on file. Failing is survivable but slows you down. An applicant who fails may be reexamined after paying an additional examination fee, but an applicant who fails three times must wait twelve months before being examined again. Three routes skip the technical portion. First, a currently licensed South Carolina general contractor holding the Building classification or the Limited Building classification qualifies, if the license is in good standing, has been active for a year or longer, and was obtained by examination. Second, a current license obtained by examination and held for a year or longer in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi or North Carolina qualifies, with a verification of licensure sent directly from the issuing state. Grandfathered licensees do not qualify. Third, passing the NASCLA Commercial General Building Contractor exam within the past three years qualifies, with the exam transcript attached. The waiver is not a shortcut around everything. Work experience requirements and the Business Management and Law portion of the exam still apply, and the resulting license is the limited Residential Builder Exam Waiver credential that cannot perform the mechanical trades. To do mechanical work you have to apply for licensure by examination.
The commission publishes its fee tables by credential, so you can price the paperwork before you price the job. Residential Builder license fees, listed by the commission as RBB fees, are an application fee of $135, a license fee of $220, a renewal fee of $220, a renewal late fee of $50, and a reinstatement fee of $480. The commission breaks the reinstatement figure down as the $220 renewal fee plus a $260 reinstatement fee. Residential Specialty Contractor fees, listed as RBS fees, are an application fee of $100, a renewal fee of $100, a renewal late fee of $20, and a reinstatement fee of $290. Home inspector fees run on their own schedule. A home inspector license renewed by the deadline is $160. Late renewal inside the following year adds a $90 late fee for a total of $250. After that, reinstatement is $360, described by the commission as the $160 renewal fee plus a $200 reinstatement fee. There is also a $100 fee attached to the emergency license application route in the commission's regulations. Two timing notes save money. The online application states you have up to 30 days to submit, and the application is not complete until a payment is submitted. Once the application has been submitted in full, you have one year to complete and submit all required information. Paper applications are accepted by mail, but the commission points applicants to the online platform first, and applicants who started an online application before February 2, 2026 have to create a new account on the new platform. Fees are per credential. Each license and registration is renewed separately by credential number.
Sourcesllr.sc.gov 1llr.sc.gov 2llr.sc.gov 3scstatehouse.gov 4
South Carolina attaches a surety bond to the residential builder license rather than a general liability minimum. The commission issues a residential builder's license when, as a result of examination, it finds the applicant qualified, and the applicant submits an executed bond in a form and with a surety approved by the commission in the sum of not less than fifteen thousand dollars, or proof of financial responsibility acceptable to the commission. The commission's emergency licensure regulation uses the same figure, requiring a current bond for home builders of at least $15,000 and a current bond for specialty contractors of at least $5,000. Registered specialty contractors hit a bond trigger by job size. When the total cost of materials and labor for an undertaking performed by a residential specialty contractor for an individual property owner exceeds five thousand dollars, the contractor must obtain an executed bond with a surety in an amount approved by the commission and furnish a signed original to the commission. For the examined specialty classifications, the commission's regulation sets that bond at not less than ten thousand dollars when the undertaking exceeds five thousand dollars. The bond is a live renewal condition, not a one-time filing. Before renewing online you must have a current surety bond on file with the commission. Continuation forms require the surety's and principal's original signatures, the surety company seal must be visible, and the power of attorney document must be attached. The commission does not accept DocuSign on these. Workers' compensation sits in a separate title. South Carolina's workers' compensation law does not apply to a person who has regularly employed less than four employees in the same business within the state, or whose total annual payroll in the previous calendar year was less than three thousand dollars.
Sourcesscstatehouse.gov 1scstatehouse.gov 2llr.sc.gov 3scstatehouse.gov 4
Most remodeling businesses are companies, and South Carolina licenses the company separately from the person. The practice or offer to practice residential building, residential specialty contracting or home inspecting through a firm is authorized only through entities holding a residential business certificate of authorization issued by the commission. A COA is also required for any firm practicing in the state under a fictitious name. The commission reads firm broadly: a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, professional association, professional corporation, business corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, or other legally constituted organization offering building services through licensed practitioners. Two exceptions let small shops skip it. An individual practicing in his own name as individually licensed does not need a COA. Neither does an entity where an individual holds at least fifty-one percent of the ownership interest and is the sole resident licensee for the firm. Cross either of those lines, by bringing in a partner or by trading under a name that is not your own, and the COA requirement switches on. A COA is not a standalone credential. COA applicants must have at least one resident licensee in responsible charge for each office that will engage in or offer residential building, residential specialty contracting or home inspecting work in South Carolina. A resident licensee in responsible charge spends a majority of each normal workday working out of a principal or branch office, is in responsible charge of that office and the services provided from it, including responsibility for applying for building permits for the firm, must be an officer, principal owner, or employee of the firm, and must personally hold the matching residential credential. COA renewal is strict. A COA not renewed by the deadline cannot be late-renewed. The firm has to reapply.
Residential builder renewal runs on a two-year cycle ending June 30. The commission opened the 2026-2028 renewal period and set June 30, 2026 as the deadline to renew a Residential Builder, Home Inspector or Certificate of Authorization license without penalty. Miss it and there is a one-year late window. Licenses not renewed by the deadline must complete the renewal application plus the applicable renewal fee and late fee, and the deadline for late renewal is June 30, 2027. A residential builder renewing in that window pays the $50 late fee plus the $220 renewal fee, for $270. After June 30, 2027 the license can no longer be renewed and a reinstatement application is required, at $480 for a residential builder. The statute sets harder outer limits. Renewal requires the completed renewal application, proof of financial responsibility or bond acceptable to the commission, and payment of all applicable fees. If a license has been in inactive status for more than three years, the person must file a new application as in the case of an original license and must take and successfully complete the examination again. The commission says the same thing about lapsed licenses: lapsed under three years means reinstatement, lapsed over three years means applying as a new applicant with re-examination. Continuing education is permissive rather than fixed in statute. As a condition of license renewal the commission may require by regulation that a licensee satisfactorily complete continuing education through a commission-approved program. Check the current requirement with the commission before you renew. One more duty is easy to forget. A licensee must notify the commission in writing within thirty days of any change in the information required to be on file, including the current mailing address.
South Carolina has a narrow and specific out-of-state path, and it is worth knowing the exact list before you bid a job across the line. The statute gives the commission general authority: a license may be granted without examination to applicants who are licensed in good standing in other states that the commission determines have comparable examinations. The commission then names the states it accepts for the exam waiver route. A current license in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi or North Carolina qualifies if it was obtained by examination and has been held for a year or longer. Grandfathered licensees do not qualify, and a verification of licensure must be sent directly to the commission by the issuing state. The NASCLA route is the other common entry. Passing the NASCLA Commercial General Building Contractor exam within the past three years qualifies for the technical exam waiver, with a copy of the exam transcript included. Either way, the waiver route produces the limited Residential Builder Exam Waiver license. Work experience requirements and the South Carolina Business Management and Law portion of the exam still apply, and the waiver licensee must subcontract the mechanical trades to appropriately licensed people or companies. After a declared emergency there is a separate temporary route. The commission's regulations allow an emergency license or registration, issued for one specific event, valid only for the scope of work permitted by the applicant's home-state license, only within the declared emergency area, and only for the duration of the emergency declaration unless the board extends it. The application requires a national criminal background report current within fourteen days, the bond figures above and a $100 fee. Project valuation is capped at $100,000 for home builders and $35,000 for specialty contractors on any single project.
The state attacks unlicensed work from four directions at once. Criminal exposure comes first. A person or firm who engages or offers to engage in the business of residential building or residential specialty contracting without first having registered with the commission or procured a license, or whose license has expired or been revoked, suspended or restricted, or who knowingly files false information to obtain a license, is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction must be fined not less than five hundred dollars or more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not less than thirty days, or both. The contract remedy is the part that ends businesses. Notwithstanding Section 29-5-10 or any other provision of law, a person or firm who has not procured a license or registered and is required to do so may not file a mechanics' lien or bring an action at law or in equity to enforce a contract for residential building or residential specialty contracting entered into in violation of the chapter. You can finish the job and have no legal way to collect. Administrative citations run in parallel. The department may issue administrative citations and cease and desist orders and assess administrative penalties, including against unlicensed persons. Penalties may not exceed five hundred dollars for a first offense, a second offense within five years goes to the commission for formal action, and no more than two thousand five hundred dollars in administrative penalties may be assessed against an entity or individual per day. For licensees found to have grounds for discipline, the commission may impose a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars per offense. Permit desks enforce it too. A building official must refuse a permit for work requiring licensure unless the applicant furnishes evidence of licensure, registration or exemption, and must report suspected violators to the commission.
Sourcesscstatehouse.gov
South Carolina gives homeowners two separate cancellation rights that remodelers need to build into their paperwork. The first is the home solicitation sale right. A buyer may cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after the day the buyer signs a complying agreement or offer to purchase. A home solicitation sale is a consumer credit sale of goods or services where the seller personally solicits the sale and the buyer's agreement is given at a residence. Cancellation happens when the buyer gives written notice to the seller at the address stated in the agreement, and mailed notice is effective on deposit in a mailbox. The seller must present a written agreement dated the day the buyer actually signs, give the buyer a copy, and include a statement of the buyer's rights under the conspicuous caption BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL. Until the seller complies, the buyer may cancel in any manner by any means. Within ten days of cancellation the seller must tender back payments, notes and goods traded in. There is a narrow emergency exception requiring a separate dated and signed non-form statement from the buyer. The second is specific to roofing. A person who signs a written contract for goods or services related to a roofing system with a party who will be paid from property and casualty insurance proceeds, and who later receives written notice from the insurer that all or part of the claim is not a covered loss, may cancel before midnight on the fifth business day after receiving that denial notice. It applies to licensed residential builders, registered residential specialty contractors, and unlicensed people doing the same work. A fee provision for anything except emergency services is unenforceable against an insured who cancels this way. Builders and contractors also may not represent, negotiate, offer or advertise to negotiate a roof insurance claim for the owner.
South Carolina does not run a homeowner recovery or guaranty fund for residential building. Chapter 59 of Title 40 creates the commission, the license classes, the bond requirement and the penalty scheme, and it does not establish a fund that pays homeowners when a builder fails to perform. The homeowner's financial backstops here are the builder's surety bond, the contract itself, and civil action. That changes how you answer the question on a sales call, because homeowners who moved from a fund state will ask about it. What South Carolina does have is a mandatory pre-suit cure process. The South Carolina Notice and Opportunity to Cure Construction Dwelling Defects Act applies to civil lawsuits and arbitration proceedings for injury or loss to a dwelling or personal property caused by an alleged defect arising out of the design, construction, condition or sale of the dwelling, or a remodel of a dwelling. Remodels are named in the statute. The clock works like this. In an action against a contractor or subcontractor arising out of the construction of a dwelling, the claimant must serve a written notice of claim on the contractor no later than ninety days before filing. The notice must state that the claimant asserts a construction defect, describe the claim in reasonable detail sufficient to determine the general nature of the defect, and describe any known results. The contractor has fifteen days from receipt to advise the claimant if the defect is not sufficiently stated and to request clarification. The contractor then has thirty days from service of the notice to inspect, offer to remedy, offer to settle, or deny the claim, and the claimant must receive written notice of that election. Failure to respond within thirty days is deemed a denial. The claimant must respond to any offer within ten days. Offers of settlement, repair or remedy are not admissible in the action.
Sourcesscstatehouse.gov
This is where South Carolina differs from states that police contractor advertising hard, and knowing the difference keeps you from guessing. Chapter 59 imposes no requirement that a licensed residential builder or registered residential specialty contractor print a license number on advertising, vehicles, estimates or a website. The chapter does impose that duty on one group. For home inspectors, advertisement means any form of public notice however disseminated, and an advertisement by a licensed home inspector must include the name, business name, address and license number of the licensee. Use of any false, misleading, unfair or deceptive practice in any advertisement is grounds for discipline. If you hold a residential builder license and a home inspector license, the inspector rule follows your inspector advertising. Content is still regulated through the discipline statutes. A board may fine, suspend, revoke or restrict a license for committing a dishonorable, unethical or unprofessional act likely to deceive, defraud or harm the public, or for using a fraudulent statement in a document connected with the practice of the occupation. The commission can also act for fraud or deceit in obtaining a license, for misconduct in the practice of residential building or residential specialty contracting, for a violation of the roofing insurance section, or for a pattern of repeated failure to pay labor or material bills. What you may claim follows your credential exactly. A registered specialty contractor may advertise only within the registered trade classifications and may not sell, subcontract or hire out work outside them. A Residential Builder Exam Waiver licensee may not hold itself out for mechanical trade work and must subcontract those trades. Calling yourself a general contractor in South Carolina points at the Contractor's Licensing Board, not the Residential Builders Commission.
Sourcesscstatehouse.gov 1scstatehouse.gov 2llr.sc.gov 3llr.sc.gov 4
The state license lets you build. A local business license lets you invoice, and South Carolina standardized how those work. Unless state law provides otherwise, a county or municipality that levies a business license tax must follow the standardization article. A business license is issued for a twelve-month period beginning May first and ending April thirtieth, and each license expires April thirtieth or, if issued on a construction contract, at the completion of the construction project. It must be renewed before May first. The tax is computed on gross income for the calendar year preceding the due date, the business's preceding twelve-month fiscal year, or a twelve-month projected income based on a monthly average for a business operating less than a year. A business license related to construction contract projects may be issued per project, at the taxpayer's option. That per-project option is the useful one for a remodeler working a few jobs a year in a city far from home. Charleston follows the pattern. All businesses operating or generating income in the City of Charleston must pay an annual business license fee, annual fees are based on gross income and the rate class tied to the NAICS code, and all business licenses expire April 30 each year. Renewal forms are typically mailed in March and renewals are based on the previous year's income. Greenville requires a business license of all businesses conducting business within the city and publishes separate contractor license fee calculators. State law also protects you from a second skills test. Residential specialty contractors are not exempt from county and municipal business license ordinances or other regulatory ordinances, and a county or municipality may require examination and licensure under its own standards, but if a specialty contractor has passed a commission-approved examination in his area of contracting, no additional examination may be required by a county or municipality.
Sourcesscstatehouse.gov 1charleston-sc.gov 2greenvillesc.gov 3scstatehouse.gov 4
South Carolina publishes a free public lookup, and the smartest remodelers point customers at it before the customer thinks to ask. The Residential Builders Commission licensee lookup lets anyone search by last name, first name, license number, city or company name, and filter by license type. The type list is the same one the commission issues against: COA, Electrical, Heating and Air, Home Builders, Home Inspector, Plumbing, RB Exam Waiver, Residential Non Mechanical, Specialty and Volunteer Registration. The lookup tells searchers to enter numbers only when searching a license number, to search the individual's name rather than a trade name, and to try the commercial Contractors licensing board if a search returns zero records. It also explains status codes, including that an active licensee is current and properly licensed to work and pull permits in the state. Two more public records sit beside it. The commission posts board orders through the department's public orders site, so disciplinary history is visible. The commission also publishes complaint filing information and investigates complaints, and any person may file an initial complaint against a licensee or registrant in writing, sworn to by the person filing it. Use this in your sales process. Put your exact licensed name and license number in your proposal, tell the homeowner which lookup to use, and tell them what credential type to expect to see. A homeowner who finds you as Home Builders with an active status has verified you themselves, which settles the question faster than any claim you make about yourself. If your company trades under a name different from your personal license, make sure the COA is findable too, because that is the record the customer will search.
These are common details other guides publish about South Carolina, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes, once the cost of the undertaking exceeds five thousand dollars. The Residential Builders Commission defines residential building to include repair, improvement and reimprovement of a residential structure above that figure. Below five thousand dollars the work may fall under residential specialty contractor registration instead, which begins at five hundred dollars for specialty trades.
The builder license is examined and covers residential building, repair and improvement broadly up to three floors and sixteen units per apartment building. Specialty registration requires no examination, is limited to three trade classifications at a time, and cannot cover additions without supervision by a residential builder or other appropriately licensed person.
A minimum of one year of actual experience under the supervision of a licensed residential builder or other appropriately licensed professional engaged in residential building, or other education or experience approved by the commission. The commission verifies and approves that experience before you are made eligible to sit for the examination.
The commission lists a $135 application fee and a $220 license fee for the Residential Builder credential. Renewal is $220, the renewal late fee is $50, and reinstatement is $480. Specialty contractor registration is $100 to apply, $100 to renew, $20 late, and $290 to reinstate.
Yes. The commission issues a residential builder license on an executed bond of not less than fifteen thousand dollars, with a surety it approves, or proof of financial responsibility it accepts. Registered specialty contractors must post a bond once a job for an individual property owner exceeds five thousand dollars.
Possibly. The commission waives the technical exam for current licenses obtained by examination and held a year or longer in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi or North Carolina, verified directly by that state. Grandfathered licenses do not qualify. Passing the NASCLA Commercial General Building Contractor exam within three years also qualifies.
The commission runs a two-year cycle ending June 30. It set June 30, 2026 as the deadline to renew for the 2026-2028 period without penalty, with late renewal possible through June 30, 2027 using the late fee. After that date the license cannot be renewed and reinstatement is required.
If you practice through a firm, yes. A residential business certificate of authorization is required, including for any firm using a fictitious name. You are exempt if you practice in your own individually licensed name, or if you own at least fifty-one percent and are the sole resident licensee for the firm.
It is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars or more than ten thousand dollars, imprisonment of at least thirty days, or both. Worse commercially, you cannot file a mechanics lien or sue to enforce the contract. Building officials must also refuse permits and report you.
Sometimes. A home solicitation sale signed at a residence after personal solicitation can be canceled until midnight of the third business day, and the contract must carry a BUYER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL statement. Roofing contracts paid from insurance proceeds can be canceled within five business days of a written coverage denial.
Chapter 59 of Title 40 creates no homeowner recovery or guaranty fund for residential building. The homeowner's protections are the builder's surety bond on file with the commission, the contract, commission discipline and civil action. The state does require a pre-suit notice and cure process for alleged construction defects.
Chapter 59 sets no license number display rule for residential builders or specialty contractors. It does require licensed home inspectors to include name, business name, address and license number in advertising. Deceptive or misleading advertising remains grounds for discipline, and specialty registrants may advertise only their registered classifications.
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