North Carolina contractor license requirements

North Carolina regulates contracting through a state-level general contractor license. This page lays out exactly what North Carolina requires: the licensing agency, who must be licensed, experience, exams, fees, the financial responsibility mechanism, and reciprocity, every figure sourced and dated below.

Who must be licensed in North Carolina

North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC) is the licensing authority. $40,000 or more, or any residential project subject to the Board’s jurisdiction, depending on classification.

Experience and qualification

No fixed statewide years requirement; the license tier is instead set by working capital or net worth.

License classes

• Limited: Up to $750,000 per project; $17,000 working capital or a $175,000 bond.
• Intermediate: Up to $1,500,000 per project; $75,000 working capital or a $500,000 bond.
• Unlimited: No project cap; $150,000 working capital or a $1,000,000 bond.

Exam

The PSI computer-based exam (Business and Law plus a classification-specific section), fee capped at $100.

Fees

• Application fee, Limited: $75
• Application fee, Intermediate: $100
• Application fee, Unlimited: $125
• PSI exam fee: up to $100

Financial responsibility

North Carolina uses surety bond ($175,000 to $1,000,000 (or working capital)) as its financial-responsibility mechanism. Each tier accepts either working capital/net worth ($17,000 to $150,000) or the matching bond ($175,000 Limited, $500,000 Intermediate, $1,000,000 Unlimited).

Reciprocity and the NASCLA exam

North Carolina accepts the NASCLA Accredited Examination for the commercial building classification, confirmed against NASCLA’s own participating-agencies list. If you already hold a NASCLA credential from another participating state, it can satisfy North Carolina’s trade exam requirement (any state-specific business and law exam is still required). See the NASCLA exam explained and contractor license reciprocity for the full picture, and the 50-state comparison for which other states accept it.

Official source

Verify everything at the source: North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC), nclbgc.org. The NASCLA participating-agencies determination above is drawn from NASCLA’s own list, nascla.org, confirmed 2026-07-24.

Sources: North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC) (nclbgc.org, reviewed 2026-07-28); NASCLA participating state agencies list (nascla.org, confirmed 2026-07-24). Fee, bond, and experience figures are compiled from the agency's published requirements and current industry compliance guides as of 2026-07-28; treat any figure not independently reconfirmed against a fetched primary-source page as reported pending the next freshness review, per this site's standard practice.