Where a South Carolina general contractor license transfers

Commercial and unlimited building work in South Carolina runs through the Contractor’s Licensing Board, which licenses General Contractors for any general contracting where the total cost of construction is more than $10,000. The license belongs to the business, not to the person: an individual, corporation, LLC or partnership holds it and must designate a Primary Qualifying Party for each classification, an individual in a management role who personally passes the examinations, so an inbound contractor applies as or for the entity that will sign contracts and pull permits. The Building classification covers commercial, industrial, institutional, modular and all other building construction including residential structures, and carries the Wood Frame Structures, Nonstructural Renovation, Masonry, Pre-engineered Metal Buildings, Roofing, Structural Framing and Miscellaneous Metals subclassifications. Every license also carries a group limit driven by money rather than skill: Group 1 bids and jobs up to $100,000 through to Group 5 with no cap, each set by working capital, net worth or a surety bond. The qualifying party for a Group 1, 2 or 3 license passes either the limited building contractor examination or the unlimited general contractor examination, while Groups 4 and 5 require the unlimited examination, and structures built under a limited building examination are restricted to three stories.