Do I have to take the North Dakota general contractor exam if I'm licensed in South Dakota?

No. The trade exam is waived on this path.

What does it cost to get a North Dakota general contractor license from South Dakota?

Published fees on this path total $450, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.

Do my South Dakota work hours count in North Dakota?

No. North Dakota does not credit out-of-state hours on this path.

Does it work the other way, from North Dakota to South Dakota?

Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from North Dakota to South Dakota, the mechanism is not applicable.

South Dakota to North Dakota: general contractor license reciprocity

No credit· Start overVerified September 17, 2026· 4 sources

South Dakota does not issue a statewide general contractor license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is North Dakota's standard path for out-of-state applicants.

Your origin state does not issue a statewide license at this level, so there is no license to transfer. The destination's standard out-of-state path is shown; expect to meet it in full.

Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.

Contractor license for every applicant, wherever they come from (all states)

Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.

An unlimited or general contractor license from another state gives an applicant no advantage in North Dakota, and none is needed. Whatever the size of the project, North Dakota asks for a sworn application naming the class of license sought, a signed statement of the applicant's experience and qualifications, a certificate of liability insurance with the Secretary of State named as certificate holder, a Workforce Safety and Insurance certificate of payment or letter of good standing, and the class fee, which is $450 for class A with no limit on project value. Because there is no trade examination, no business and law examination, no experience threshold, no bond and no financial responsibility test, there is nothing for an out-of-state credential to be measured against or to replace. A contractor based in another state applies on the same terms as a resident and does not have to move here, but a nonresident appoints the registrar as their agent for service of process by signing the application unless they are already registered here as a foreign corporation, limited liability company or partnership with a registered agent on file. The Secretary of State publishes no reciprocity agreement and no endorsement route for the contractor license.

The class letters are a contract-value cap and not a skill grading, so they are chosen rather than earned: class A is unlimited, class B stops at $500,000, class C at $300,000 and class D at $100,000 for any single contract project, and a contractor may renew under a different class by paying that class's issue fee. On public work the class matters at the bid: a contract may not be awarded unless the contractor holds a license in the class the project's value falls within, the license must have been held at least ten days before the date set for receiving bids, and a copy of the license or current-year certificate goes in the bid bond envelope or the bid is returned unread. Bids to the Department of Transportation and the Public Service Commission, and federal-aid highway work, are outside that rule, and a public contract also needs a tax commissioner certificate showing no delinquent income, sales or use taxes. Two apparent routes are dead ends. The word reciprocal appears once in the contractor chapter, at NDCC 43-07-22, and it lets the labor commissioner make arrangements with another state about the North Dakota resident hiring preference on public construction contracts, not about licensure. And North Dakota does not accept the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors and is not among the participating agencies, which follows from there being no North Dakota contractor examination for it to replace.

At a glance

Trade exam: Waived
Law / code exam: Not required
Out-of-state hours: Do not count

What you must already have

No examination, minimum experience, work history review, education, continuing education, financial statement or qualifying party is required, however large the project. The class letter caps the value of a single contract project and is chosen on the application; class A carries no limit at all.NDCC 43-07-04(1) sets out the complete application contents and NDCC 43-07-07(1) sets the class limits. The Secretary of State's contractor page prints the same list and adds no examination, bond, net worth figure or responsible managing individual. The old classes-of-licenses section, 43-07-05, was repealed in 2015.
The applicant must be eighteen or older and must sign the application under oath, including a statement of their own experience and qualifications as a contractor and the class of license sought. North Dakota sets no threshold for that experience and does not check it against another state's license or classification.NDCC 43-07-04(1). Out-of-state experience is described in that statement like any other experience; the registrar may deny a license where an application contains false or misleading information, so it should be described accurately.
You must have no disciplinary action or unresolved complaints on your record.NDCC 43-07-04.1, with the rehabilitation test in NDCC 12.1-33-02.1 and a right of appeal to district court. Discipline under NDCC 43-07-15 runs to a civil penalty of up to $1,000, restitution of up to $5,000 and suspension of up to sixty months, and any penalty or restitution must be paid before a license is renewed, reinstated or newly issued.

What you'll do to get licensed in North Dakota

1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($450). License fee for a class A license, which carries no limitation on the value of any single contract project. The other classes are cheaper because they are capped: class B $300 up to $500,000 per job, class C $225 up to $300,000 per job and class D $100 up to $100,000 per job. Renewal is $90 for class A and $60, $45 or $30 for classes B, C and D. A contractor may apply at renewal for a different class than the one previously held by paying the issue fee for the new class. A name change costs $10 and must be reported to the registrar within ten days..
2Insurance. Carry the required insurance. Certificate of liability insurance filed with the application, issued in the same name the contractor license is requested in and listing the North Dakota Secretary of State, 600 E Boulevard Ave, Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505, as the certificate holder. No minimum policy limit is set in the statute or published on the Secretary of State's page, so the state does not publish one; ask the Secretary of State on 701-328-2900 or 800-352-0867 what its reviewers accept, and expect owners, lenders and construction managers on commercial work to require far higher limits by contract. Coverage must be maintained and refiled at renewal; failing to maintain it puts the license out of good standing and leads to revocation if it is not cured within thirty days..
3Insurance. Carry the required insurance. Workforce Safety and Insurance coverage, evidenced by a statement from WSI that coverage satisfactory to WSI has been secured. A contractor with employees residing in North Dakota files a current WSI certificate of payment; a contractor with no North Dakota resident employees who does not meet the tests of significant contact files a WSI letter of good standing instead. At renewal the contractor certifies that all payroll taxes, including North Dakota income tax, WSI premiums and unemployment insurance premiums due at the time of renewal have been submitted..
4Business license. Obtain a business license. Business registration with the Secretary of State, completed before the license application because the name on the application must match the business registration. A corporation, limited liability company or other entity must register, an out-of-state company registers as a foreign corporation, LLC, LLP or limited partnership, and a sole proprietor or general partnership may need a trade name or fictitious partnership name registration. Letting any of those registrations lapse is a listed ground for the registrar to classify the contractor license as not in good standing, which requires the contractor to stop soliciting or entering new projects and leads to revocation if it is not cured within thirty days..
5Financial responsibility. Show financial responsibility (if applicable). North Dakota requires no financial statement, net worth figure, working capital figure or credit report for a contractor license at any class, including class A. The class letter is a cap on the value of a single contract project that the applicant selects and pays for, not a financial qualification the registrar assesses. Public owners may impose their own financial and prequalification conditions on top of the license: any administrative or governing body with power to enter public contracts may set reasonable additional requirements as a condition of awarding a public works contract..
6Background check. Complete a background check (if applicable). Not part of the standard filing. The registrar may require any other information needed to determine eligibility to act as a contractor, expressly including criminal history record information about the applicant or the officers, members or partners of a business applicant, held by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation or a similar agency in another state, at the applicant's expense. Failing or refusing to authorize or pay for that information is a ground to refuse the license..
7Surety bond. Post a surety bond (if applicable). No surety bond is required for the contractor license itself; the bond section of the contractor statute was repealed in 1995. Bonding is still a fact of commercial life in North Dakota: a bid for a public contract project must enclose a copy of the license in the bid bond envelope, public owners may impose their own bonding conditions, and private owners and lenders commonly require performance and payment bonds by contract..
8Other. Ongoing obligations once licensed. The license number must be supplied to the permit-issuing official on every building permit application. A public contract with the state or any political subdivision additionally requires a certificate from the tax commissioner showing no delinquent income, sales or use taxes. The license runs to the end of the contractor year on March 1 and is renewed by filing a list of every project, contract or subcontract over $50,000 completed in North Dakota in the preceding calendar year, the nature of that work, a current liability insurance certificate and the payroll tax certification, with the renewal fee; that project list is forwarded to the state tax commissioner. Missing the March 1 deadline leaves the contractor unlicensed until they renew, which is possible until June 1 on payment of a $50 penalty plus the renewal fee, after which the license is expired..

Published fees on this path total $450, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.

What you'll need to buy or arrange

Liability insurance

Some states require proof of general liability or workers' compensation coverage at licensing time.

Insurance
Insurance

Business registration

If you plan to contract in your own name, budget for a business license or entity registration on top of the trade license.

Business license

Surety bond

A license or contractor bond is bought from a surety, not the state. Price is a small percentage of the bond amount and depends on your credit.

Surety bond · if applicable

How North Dakota licenses general contractors

North Dakota general contractor · “Contractor License, class A (no limit on project value) through class D”

Statewide license

Verified September 17, 2026· 3 sources

Issued by North Dakota Secretary of State (Registrar of Contractors)

North Dakota has one contractor license for every kind of building work, issued by the Secretary of State as registrar of contractors, and it is the same license a homebuilder holds: the difference between a commercial general contractor and a residential builder here is the class letter they choose, not a different credential. A license is required of anyone whose job exceeds $4,000 in cost, value or price, including subcontractors, public contractors and nonresident contractors, and an unlicensed contractor cannot maintain a claim or lawsuit in a North Dakota court over the contracting business. The class letter caps the value of a single contract project: class A carries no limit, class B stops at $500,000, class C at $300,000 and class D at $100,000, so an unlimited or commercial builder applies for class A, and on a public contract the license must be in the class the project's value falls within and must have been held at least ten days before the bid date. There is no examination, no experience or work history review, no bond, no financial statement, no net worth or working capital test and no qualifying party or responsible managing individual: the license is issued to the individual or business that contracts, on proof of liability insurance and Workforce Safety and Insurance coverage. Electrical and plumbing work are licensed separately by the North Dakota State Electrical Board and the North Dakota State Plumbing Board, so any of that scope must be performed under the right board license.

Moving to North Dakota Leaving North Dakota

Why South Dakota has nothing to transfer

South Dakota general contractor

Licensed by cities and counties

Verified September 17, 2026· 10 sources

South Dakota has no state general, commercial or building contractor license and no state board that examines or qualifies builders, so there is nothing at state level for an out-of-state general contractor's license to transfer into. The Department of Labor and Regulation's occupational licensing list has an Electrical Commission, a Plumbing Commission and a Board of Technical Professions for architects and engineers, and no contractor board, so the credentials that matter at state level are the electrical and plumbing licenses held by the subcontractors and the design professionals who stamp the drawings. Commercial building is governed locally, and most of the state's larger cities license less at this level than at the residential one: Sioux Falls states that it 'does not require Commercial Building Contractors to be licensed at this time', Aberdeen says commercial contractors are not required to be licensed through the city because commercial projects are designed and overseen by architects and engineers, and Brookings publishes a residential contractor license and no commercial equivalent. Rapid City is the exception, licensing a Class A general contractor for construction of all types of structures on the ICC National Standard General Building Contractor (A) examination. Every contractor, commercial included, must hold a free contractor's excise tax license from the Department of Revenue before starting work anywhere in the state, and the 2% contractor's excise tax falls on the prime contractor's gross receipts.

How local licensing works in South Dakota

How it works in South Dakota. No South Dakota agency issues a general, commercial, building or unlimited contractor license, and there is no state qualifying party, business-and-law examination or financial responsibility test. Commercial construction is controlled through the building permit and the plan review, and by the state's requirement that commercial projects be designed and overseen by licensed architects and engineers. The one thing the state does require of every commercial contractor is a contractor's excise tax license from the Department of Revenue: 'an individual must be licensed before starting work in South Dakota. All contractors must be licensed regardless of the amount of the receipts they have or the amount of tax due.' It is free, it is applied for online, and the 2% contractor's excise tax is imposed on the gross receipts of the prime contractor. Get it first; cities ask for the card.

Rapid City. This is the one city of the four that licenses commercial builders, and its Class A license is the most demanding contractor credential in South Dakota. Class A is the 'General Contractor' class, 'for construction of any and All types of structures', and it is issued on the ICC National Standard General Building Contractor (A) examination, known as the G11, taken through Pearson VUE: 4.5 hours, 90 multiple-choice questions, open book, based on the 2018 International Building Code and the 2018 International Residential Code, with an examination fee of $115.00 and testing at the Career Learning Center, 730 E Watertown St. The license itself is $200 initially and $100 to renew, runs three years and carries six hours of continuing education per period. Every applicant files a certificate of insurance naming the City of Rapid City as certificate holder, and no other form is accepted, with minimum general aggregate liability of $1,000,000, $300,000 fire damage and $1,000,000 each occurrence, plus a workers' compensation certificate or a signed statement of non-participation. A copy of the South Dakota excise tax certificate is part of the packet, and an electrical contractor class separately requires proof of a South Dakota electrical contractor's license. No verifiable experience is required for Class A, and the packet offers no waiver, credit or reciprocity for a contractor license held in another city or another state: a licensee who lets the license lapse beyond the one-year grace period must reapply and pass the examination again. Building Services is on (605) 394-4120.

Sioux Falls. The city's position is one sentence long: 'The City of Sioux Falls does not require Commercial Building Contractors to be licensed at this time.' What it requires instead is that each individual project goes through plan review and obtains the proper permits. Note that apartment buildings count as commercial for construction purposes even though they are residential in use, so a multifamily builder falls outside the residential license as well. The electrical, mechanical, plumbing, refrigeration, sign and right-of-way trades are separately licensed by the city, and right-of-way contractors must be bonded and insured before working in a city right-of-way. Plans examiners are on 605-367-8248 and building inspectors on 605-367-8251.

Aberdeen. 'Because the majority of commercial construction projects are required to be designed and overseen by design professionals (i.e. Professional Architects and Professional Engineers), Commercial Contractors are not required to be licensed through the City of Aberdeen. Commercial Contractors are required to obtain a South Dakota Excise Tax License.' Electricians are licensed by the state, with state permits and state inspections in Aberdeen; plumbers are licensed by the state but permitted and inspected by city inspectors. Building Inspection is at City Hall, 123 South Lincoln Street, 3rd Floor, 605-626-7017.

Brookings. Community Development issues a residential contractor license, a plumber license, building permits and rental licenses, and publishes no commercial or general building contractor license; all work must conform to the International Building Code and electrical and plumbing work must be done by trades licensed by the state and the city. Because the city publishes no commercial contractor application, confirm what is expected of a commercial builder with Community Development on (605) 692-6629 before bidding. Building permits also apply on nonagricultural land in the joint jurisdictional area about three miles beyond the city.

Everywhere else. Other South Dakota cities set their own permit and licensing rules, and the further from the larger cities you go the more likely it is that a permit and proof of insurance are all that is asked. Check with each building official, and hold the state excise tax license wherever you work.

Moving to South Dakota Leaving South Dakota

Common questions

Do I have to take the North Dakota general contractor exam if I'm licensed in South Dakota?: No. The trade exam is waived on this path.
What does it cost to get a North Dakota general contractor license from South Dakota?: Published fees on this path total $450, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
Do my South Dakota work hours count in North Dakota?: No. North Dakota does not credit out-of-state hours on this path.
Does it work the other way, from North Dakota to South Dakota?: Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from North Dakota to South Dakota, the mechanism is not applicable.

Sources

NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors · National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies · Other · verified September 17, 2026
North Dakota Century Code Chapter 43-07 - Contractors · NDCC 43-07-01, 43-07-02, 43-07-04, 43-07-04.1, 43-07-07, 43-07-08, 43-07-09, 43-07-10, 43-07-11, 43-07-12, 43-07-19, 43-07-22, 43-07-24 · North Dakota Legislative Branch · Statute · verified September 17, 2026
North Dakota State Electrical Board - Home (license types and reciprocal license agreements) · North Dakota State Electrical Board · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
North Dakota Secretary of State - Contractors (licensing, classes, fees and renewal) · NDCC ch. 43-07 · North Dakota Secretary of State · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026

Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.

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