North Dakota Contractor License Requirements

01 The North Dakota model

North Dakota is not California, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Colorado or Washington. It is a four-class license jurisdiction: one statewide contractor license from the Secretary of State, with the class chosen by the value of a single contract project, plus separate trade credentials and a local permit layer.

• The license attaches above $4,000 per job — NDCC 43-07-02(1) bars anyone from acting as a contractor when the cost, value or price per job exceeds $4,000 without the license, and from suing on that work. (Rule ND-LICENSE-REQUIRED.) S-ND-43-07-02
• Four classes by single-contract value — class A no limitation, class B up to $500,000, class C up to $300,000, class D up to $100,000; a public bid must be for a class covering the project value. (Rules ND-CLASS-SCOPE, ND-BIDS-LICENSE.) S-ND-43-07-07
• No examination, no bond — the license is obtained by a sworn statement of experience with liability insurance and WSI evidence; the ch. 43-07 section list contains no examination and the 43-07-11 bond is not operative. (Rules ND-NO-EXAM, ND-NO-BOND.) S-ND-43-07-TOC
• Two trades live outside the license — electrical (ch. 43-09) requires a master, class B or power limited electrician to contract, and plumbing (ch. 43-18) requires a licensed master plumber in charge. (Rules ND-ELEC-CONTRACT, ND-PLUMB-MASTER.) S-ND-43-18
• LOCAL permits are a separate system — the building permit is issued by a city or county; ch. 43-07 only makes the contractor supply the state license number. (Rules ND-PERMIT-NUMBER, ND-LOCAL-PERMIT.) S-ND-43-07-24

02 Who regulates

03 State vs local

North Dakota splits the state license from the local permit; the state requires the credential and its number, the locality issues the permit:

04 The four-class license

The class is a value ceiling, not a trade skill. The 11 classification rows below are the complete STATE credential surface:

Full classification scopes, conditions and rules →

05 Exemptions and the $4,000 threshold

The threshold is per job, and the statutory exception list is short:

• The $4,000 trigger is per job — 43-07-02(1)/43-07-01(1); repeated small jobs can still be the business of construction. (Rule ND-MINOR-4K.) S-ND-SOS-CONTRACTORS
• The two statutory exceptions — 43-07-08 lists government representatives and unaffixed fabricated products. S-ND-43-07-08
• The owner-occupant question is OPEN — 43-07-24 acknowledges owners may be exempt, but 43-07-08 enumerates none; the rule returns NOT_DETERMINED. (CONFLICT-ND-001.) S-ND-43-07-24
• Plumbing homeowner path — 43-18-11 exempts work on an owner-occupied residence unless a local ordinance forbids it. (Rule ND-PLUMB-HOMEOWNER.) S-ND-43-18

06 Bond and insurance

Liability insurance: A certificate of liability insurance is mandatory at application and at every renewal (NDCC 43-07-04(1), 43-07-10(1)) and must name the Secretary of State as certificate holder; an applicant whose liability insurance lapses is classified 'not in good standing' (43-07-04(3)(a)). The chapter and the SOS page publish NO minimum general-liability dollar figure for the ch. 43-07 contractor license — the $500,000 minimum is an NDSEB electrical-contracting condition, not a general contractor figure. S-ND-SOS-CONTRACTORS

Workers' compensation: At application the contractor must 'submit a statement from North Dakota workforce safety and insurance that the contractor has secured workforce safety and insurance coverage satisfactory to workforce safety and insurance' (NDCC 43-07-04(1)), and renewal requires certification that WSI premiums are paid (43-07-10(1)); the Secretary of State requires a WSI certificate of payment if the business has employees residing in North Dakota, or a letter of good standing if it does not meet the significant-contact tests. S-ND-43-07-04

07 Renewal

The contractor license renews annually by March 1; the electrical and plumbing certificates renew on their own cycles:

The license runs by contractor year (March 2 – March 1) and must be renewed before March second / by the March first deadline (43-07-10(3), SOS page); the renewal application lists each in-state project over $50,000 completed the preceding calendar year, includes a certificate of liability insurance naming the registrar, and certifies that payroll taxes, WSI premiums and unemployment insurance premiums are paid. Missing the deadline makes the license 'not in good standing' and the contractor 'deemed to be unlicensed within the meaning of section 43-07-02'; renewal is still possible until June first on payment of a $50 penalty plus the renewal fee, after which unrenewed licenses are EXPIRED. S-ND-43-07-10

Electrician CE: NDSEB verbatim: 'Eight (8) hours of continuing education (4 of which must be code) must be on file with the North Dakota State Electrical Board' to renew; master, class B and power limited licenses expire each year on April 30 and journeyman licenses on March 31; annual renewal fees are $50 (master/power limited), $40 (class B) and $25 (journeyman); an expired license requires a reinstatement fee equal to the annual fee. S-ND-SEB-ELEC-RENEWAL

08 State fees

The 18 verified state fees — the four class issuance and renewal fees and the electrical / plumbing schedules. Local permit fees are deliberately withheld:

Full fees page →

09 Business-practice duties

• License number on the permit — 43-07-24. (Rule ND-PERMIT-NUMBER.) S-ND-43-07-24
• Public bids need the class license — 43-07-12. (Rule ND-BIDS-LICENSE.) S-ND-43-07-12
• License is a prerequisite to suit — 43-07-02(1). (Rule ND-REG-TO-SUE.) S-ND-43-07-02
• Construction fraud — felony ladder — 43-07-02(3)-(5). S-ND-43-07-02
• Nonresident contractors — service through the Secretary of State (43-07-19). S-ND-43-07-19

10 Trade credentials

• Electrical contracting — only a master or power limited electrician may contract; class B is limited to farmstead / small-town residential wiring; the business also needs a ch. 43-07 contractor license and liability insurance of at least $500,000. (Rules ND-ELEC-CONTRACT, ND-ELEC-CE.) S-ND-SEB-ELEC-CONTRACTING
• Plumbing — a firm installing plumbing where a public waterworks or sewerage system exists must keep a licensed master plumber in charge; in cities under 1,000 population and rural areas a licensed journeyman may run the business. (Rule ND-PLUMB-MASTER.) S-ND-43-18
• Plumbing advertising — must name the license number (43-18-11.3). (Rule ND-PLUMB-AD.) S-ND-43-18
• Electrical business prerequisites — SOS registration + contractor license + NDSEB application. S-ND-SEB-ELEC-CONTRACTING

11 Solar

• No standalone solar license — verified absence — rooftop photovoltaics are electrical work under ch. 43-09, so a contracting master or power limited electrician (and the electrical-business prerequisites) is the credential. (Rule ND-SOLAR-CREDENTIAL.) S-ND-SEB-ELEC-CONTRACTING

Solar installation project page →

12 Official lookup

Before hiring, check the official lookups — linked, not mirrored, so the status vocabulary is whatever the agency publishes:

• North Dakota Secretary of State — Contractor Licensing — https://firststop.sos.nd.gov/
• The Secretary of State's FirstStop portal searches registered contractors to see whether a license is in good standing; the NDSEB and the State Plumbing Board publish their own license surfaces.

13 Project examples

14 Sources

Blue badge = official source with a retrieval/verification date. The NDCC section text was read through the FindLaw mirror of the Century Code because the official ndlegis.gov chapter PDF was not machine-readable — disclosed on each source row and in the research record.

15 Known conflicts and limitations