Moving to Maryland as a general contractor: every state's rule

No Maryland county or city licenses commercial building contractors on competence. The construction license is bought from the Clerk of the Circuit Court, who is a state judicial officer rather than a county licensing board, and the license is good statewide wherever it was issued; the only county-by-county variation is the fee, which is $15 in most counties, $40 in Baltimore City and Baltimore County and $30 in Cecil County. Clerks publish their own counter procedures and add a small issuing fee, for example $2 in Carroll County. Buy it in the county of your principal place of business, or, if the business is incorporated or headquartered in another state, in the county where you first do construction business in Maryland.

Baltimore County. The New Commercial Structure or Shell Building Permit requires construction plans signed and sealed by a registered design professional licensed in Maryland and the usual submittals, and names no contractor license, registration or qualification. For residential work the county checks state credentials instead, asking for the Maryland Home Builders Registration number on a new dwelling permit and the Maryland Home Improvement License number for an alteration or addition.

Baltimore City. The Department of Housing and Community Development handles permits through its ePermits and ePlans systems. Neither the residential nor the non-residential and commercial new construction category asks for a contractor license; the only contractor credential the city's construction permit guidance requires is on category III interior demolition, where the application needs the contractor's name and registered license.

Montgomery County and Prince George's County. Both license new home builders, and only new home builders: Montgomery County under Chapter 31C of its code, through the Office of Consumer Protection and a Board of Registration, and Prince George's County through a Building Contractor's License approved by its Board of Registration for Building Contractors and required 'to build ANY new residential home from the ground up.' Neither county license reaches commercial or general building work, and neither involves an examination. See the residential level of this page for what they require.

Local building departments everywhere in Maryland still issue the permits, review the plans and inspect the work, and a municipality may levy its own business taxes and fees, so ask the permitting office in each jurisdiction what it wants before you bid.