Kentucky to North Dakota: residential contractor license reciprocity
Kentucky does not issue a statewide residential 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.
A contractor license from another state counts for nothing in North Dakota, and it is not needed, because North Dakota asks nothing of a homebuilder that another state's license could stand in for. The application is a sworn form naming the class of license sought, a signed statement of the applicant's own 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. There is no trade examination, no business and law examination, no experience minimum, no bond and no net worth test, so there is nothing an arriving builder can have waived and nothing that documented out-of-state years can shorten. A contractor based outside North Dakota applies on exactly the same terms as a resident and does not have to move here, but by signing the application a nonresident appoints the registrar as their agent for service of process unless they are a foreign corporation, limited liability company or partnership already registered in the state with a registered agent on file. The Secretary of State publishes no reciprocity agreement and no endorsement route for the contractor license.
Two things that look like routes are not. First, the only appearance of the word reciprocal in the contractor chapter, NDCC 43-07-22, lets the labor commissioner make reciprocal arrangements with another state over the North Dakota resident hiring preference on public construction contracts; it is about who a contractor employs, it is administered by the labor commissioner rather than the registrar, and it has no bearing on who gets a license. Second, North Dakota does not accept the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors and is not among the agencies listed as participating in it, which is unsurprising because there is no North Dakota contractor examination for it to replace. Out-of-state experience does matter in one narrow sense: the sworn statement of experience and qualifications is part of the application, and the registrar may deny a license if the application contains false or misleading information, so describe real work honestly whichever state it was performed in. The registrar may also require criminal history record information, at the applicant's expense, from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation or a similar agency in another state. Picking a class is a business decision rather than a skill grading: the class letter caps the value of any single contract project, it can be changed at renewal by paying the new class's issue fee, and on public work a contract may not be awarded unless the contractor holds a license in the class the project's value falls within, held at least ten days before the bid date, with a copy of the license enclosed in the bid bond envelope.
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, apprenticeship, education, continuing education or qualifying party is required of anyone. A builder with thirty years and an unlimited license in another state and a builder with no credential at all face identical requirements; the only difference either can make is the class of license applied for, which is set by contract value and not by qualification.NDCC 43-07-04(1) is the complete list of what an applicant must submit and none of it is a competency test. NDCC 43-07-05, the old classes-of-licenses section, was repealed in 2015 and the class limits now sit in 43-07-07(1). The Secretary of State's contractor page prints no examination, no experience figure and no qualifying-party nomination.
- The applicant must be eighteen years of age or older and must sign the application under oath, including a statement of their own experience and qualifications as a contractor. North Dakota sets no minimum for that experience and does not verify it against another state's license.NDCC 43-07-04(1). The Secretary of State's page states that 'the application will require you to sign a statement of your experience and qualifications as a contractor'; neither the statute nor the page attaches any threshold to it.
- You must have no disciplinary action or unresolved complaints on your record.NDCC 43-07-04.1. A conviction is not an automatic bar: it disqualifies only if the person is not sufficiently rehabilitated under NDCC 12.1-33-02.1, and a denial may be appealed to the district court of the applicant's county of residence or of Burleigh County. A contractor whose license has been revoked may not be relicensed for up to five years, and a civil penalty or restitution ordered by the registrar must be paid before any new license issues.
What you'll do to get licensed in North Dakota
- 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($300). License fee, set by the class applied for rather than by the work performed: class A $450 with no limit on the value of a single contract project, 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. The $300 shown here is the class B fee, the class most single-family builders and remodelers file under; pick the class that covers the largest contract you expect to sign and pay that fee instead if it differs. Renewal is $90, $60, $45 or $30 for the same classes. A nonprofit that builds or rehabilitates a single-family dwelling to be given away or sold below appraised value to a low-income person pays no license or renewal fee. A name change costs $10 and must be reported 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. Neither the statute nor the Secretary of State's page sets a minimum policy limit, so the state does not publish one; ask the Secretary of State on 701-328-2900 or 800-352-0867 what its reviewers accept before buying a policy, and expect owners, lenders and general contractors to require higher limits by contract in any case. The coverage has to stay in place: a contractor who does not maintain it is classified as not in good standing and, if the lapse is not cured within thirty days, the license is revoked..
- 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 letter of good standing from WSI instead. Instructions for obtaining either document are in the FirstStop portal. At renewal the contractor certifies that all payroll taxes, WSI premiums and unemployment insurance premiums due have been paid..
- 4Business license. Obtain a business license. Business registration with the Secretary of State, taken care of before the license application because the name on the license application must match it. A sole proprietor may need to register a trade name and a general partnership a fictitious partnership name; a corporation, limited liability company or any other business structure must register, and an out-of-state entity registers as a foreign corporation, LLC, LLP or limited partnership. Keeping that registration active is a condition of the contractor license staying in good standing: letting a trade name, fictitious name, corporate, LLC or partnership registration lapse is a listed ground for the registrar to classify the license as not in good standing and then revoke it..
- 5Background check. Complete a background check (if applicable). Not part of the standard filing. The registrar may require any other information needed to decide whether an applicant is eligible to act as a contractor, and that expressly includes 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, obtained at the applicant's expense. Refusing to authorize or pay for criminal history information the registrar has asked for is a ground to refuse the license..
- 6Surety bond. Post a surety bond (if applicable). North Dakota requires no surety bond for a contractor license. The contractor's bond section of the statute was repealed in 1995 and nothing replaced it. Bonds still appear on public work, where a bid for a public contract project must enclose a copy of the license in the bid bond envelope and the awarding body may impose its own conditions, and lenders or owners may require performance and payment bonds by contract on private work..
- 7Other. Ongoing obligations once licensed. The license number must be given to the permit-issuing official whenever a building permit is applied for, and an owner building on their own property must supply the license number of each subcontractor engaged on the permitted work. The license runs to the end of the contractor year on March 1 and must be renewed on or before that date by filing a list of every project, contract or subcontract over $50,000 completed in North Dakota during the preceding calendar year, a current certificate of liability insurance and the payroll tax certification, with the renewal fee. A contractor who misses the deadline is treated as unlicensed and has until June 1 to renew by paying a $50 penalty on top of the renewal fee; after June 1 the license is expired. A license first issued in January or February runs through March 1 of the following year..
Published fees on this path total $300, 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 residential contractors
North Dakota residential contractor · “Contractor License, class A, B, C or D by single-project value”
Statewide license
Issued by North Dakota Secretary of State (Registrar of Contractors)
North Dakota licenses contractors through the Secretary of State, who is the registrar of contractors, and one license covers house building and commercial building alike: there is no separate residential builder or remodeler credential. Anyone whose job exceeds $4,000 in cost, value or price must hold the license before doing the work, and an unlicensed contractor cannot maintain a claim, action or lawsuit in a North Dakota court arising from the contracting business. The license is graded into four classes by the value of a single contract project and by nothing else: class D up to $100,000, class C up to $300,000, class B up to $500,000, and class A with no limit at all. A homebuilder picks the class that covers the largest contract they expect to sign, pays that class's fee, and may move to a different class at renewal by paying the new class's issue fee. It is a filing keyed to insurance rather than a test of skill: there is no examination, no minimum experience, no continuing education, no surety bond, no financial statement and no qualifying party, and the license is issued in the name of the person or business that signs the contracts, which must match the name registered with the Secretary of State. Skilled trades are licensed separately, so a builder who self-performs electrical or plumbing work also needs a license from the North Dakota State Electrical Board or the North Dakota State Plumbing Board.
Why Kentucky has nothing to transfer
Kentucky residential contractor · “Building or residential contractor license or registration (city- or county-issued)”
Licensed by cities and counties
Issued by No state authority; cities and counties license or register residential building contractors
Kentucky issues no statewide residential building, home builder or home improvement contractor license, so an out-of-state residential builder has nothing at state level to transfer and no state reciprocity to apply for. What Kentucky does license is the trades: the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (HBC) says on its own home page that it "licenses/certifies plumbers, electricians, boiler contractors, sprinkler and/or fire alarm contractors and building inspectors", and its administrative regulations in Title 815 add heating, ventilation and air conditioning licensing, elevator safety, boilers and pressure vessels, manufactured homes and home inspectors. Anyone self-performing plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler or fire-protection work in Kentucky needs the matching HBC license whatever the local building rules say, and that is where the state-level reciprocity conversation belongs. Housing work itself is licensed jurisdiction by jurisdiction and the rules differ sharply: Louisville Metro issues a Building Type A - Residential contractor license with six hours of continuing education before each renewal, Lexington-Fayette registers a "general contractor, residential only" class under its Contractors Registration Ordinance, and the joint Bowling Green - Warren County Contractors Licensing Board issues a General Contractors License for remodeling and building. Owensboro and Covington sit at the other end: neither publishes a contractor competency license at all, and a builder there files an occupational business license and carries insurance instead. None of these credentials involves a trade or business-law exam, and none of them gives any weight to a license held in another state, so the practical work is registering in each place where permits will be pulled and carrying the insurance each one demands.
How local licensing works in Kentucky
How local licensing works. No Kentucky agency licenses residential builders or remodelers, and there is no state qualifying party, no state exam and no state reciprocity for this work. Each city and county decides for itself, so identify the building department with jurisdiction over the address before applying anywhere. A credential issued by one Kentucky jurisdiction does not carry into the next one, and none of the jurisdictions below grants anything for a license held in another state. Two statewide obligations apply wherever the project is: the HBC license for any self-performed plumbing, electrical, HVAC, boiler or fire-protection work, and compliance with the Kentucky Building Code adopted in 815 KAR Chapter 007.
Louisville Metro (Jefferson County). The Office of Construction Review issues the contractor licenses for the merged city-county. A builder chooses a term and then a scope. License A "lets you work on one or more permitted projects during a calendar year, which runs from January 1st to December 31st"; License B "allows you to work on only one permitted project during a calendar year." The scopes are Building A-Residential, Building A-Residential/Commercial, Building A-Commercial and Building B. Building Type A costs $125 a year and Building Type B $50 per permit, and "only one Building Type B license will be granted per person/company per renewal year." Six continuing education credit hours from a pre-approved list are required before renewal for Building A-R, Building A-RC and Building B, which is to say for everyone whose scope touches houses. The filing is a certificate of liability insurance naming the Office of Construction Review as certificate holder, workers' compensation and unemployment insurance or a signed and notarized affidavit that neither applies, an Occupational License Number from the Revenue Commission of Jefferson County on (502) 574-4860, and the application itself through the Metro business portal. Annual renewals must arrive with current liability insurance, the continuing education records for residential contractors, a workers' compensation form and a subcontractor list, and "any missing items will result in ALL items being returned." There is no exam, no experience requirement and no bond on the building categories; only the wrecking classes carry a written exam, a surety bond and a year of supervisory experience. Office of Construction Review, 444 S. 5th St., Suite 100, (502) 574-3321.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County. The Division of Building Inspection runs a Contractors Registration Ordinance: "this ordinance requires all contractors to register with the Building Inspection" and "unregistered contractors cannot obtain building permits." There are three classes under Ordinance 5-90(a). A general contractor, residential only "constructs up to 4-family homes (4-Plex), performs home remodeling, and may supervise, arrange, and/or perform more than two unrelated building trades or crafts." A general contractor covers everything larger. A specialty contractor "performs commercial, industrial, public works and residential construction and specializes in two or fewer unrelated building trades or crafts." Registration takes four steps: a $10 Home Office Certificate or a $25 Certificate of Occupancy if the business address is in Fayette County; an occupational business license from Revenue at 218 E. Main St., 2nd floor, (859) 258-3340; general liability insurance and workers' compensation with LFUCG as certificate holder, or the "Workers Comp Exempt" declaration on the application if neither applies; and the online Contractor Registration Application through the city's permitting portal with the occupational license and certificate of insurance uploaded. No exam, experience or bond is required for any of the three classes. The division's published fee schedule prices permits rather than registrations and lists no contractor registration fee, so ask Building Inspection for the current amount before filing. 101 E. Vine St., (859) 258-3770, [email protected].
Bowling Green and Warren County. A single joint Contractors Licensing Board licenses for both the city and the county under Ordinance 91-58 WC and Ordinance 91-25 BG. A General Contractors License is needed by anyone "doing any type of general contract work in Bowling Green / Warren County including pulling permits for building or remodeling, construction management, or if you would have two or more subcontractors per job", and costs $250. A Specialty Contractors License covers subcontract work or a job with at most one subcontractor, and costs $100. Both fees are non-refundable and renewals are annual, pro-rated for a mid-year filing. The filing is the application plus a certificate of insurance naming the board as certificate holder, with "a minimum requirement for General Liability Insurance [of] $100,000 per occurrence", workers' compensation coverage shown on the certificate or a notarized Affidavit of Exemption, and a notarized Partnership Agreement for a partnership. Licenses are non-transferable and "any change in ownership nullifies previous licenses." There is no exam and no experience review, and the board says so directly: "the Contractors Licensing Board does not warrant that you are otherwise qualified to perform your trade or specialty by the issuance of its license." A Bowling Green occupational license is also needed for work inside the city limits and a Warren County occupational license for work outside them. Contractors Licensing Board, 1141 State Street, Suite 200, 270-781-3530.
Owensboro and Daviess County. There is no Owensboro contractor license. The Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission's Building & Electrical Division "issues all building and electrical permits required by the Kentucky Building Code and National Electrical Code" for Owensboro-Daviess County, along with HVAC, sign and parking lot permits and certificates of occupancy, and it issues no contractor credential of any kind. What a builder needs instead is the city's business registration: "any person, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity must register with the Occupational License Division prior to conducting business inside the city limits", with "a minimum license fee of seventy-five ($75.00) dollars due with registration." New construction draws at least three field inspections - footer and foundation, framing and final - before a certificate of occupancy issues. Occupational License Division, 101 East 4th Street, 270-687-5600.
Covington and Kenton County (Northern Kentucky). Planning and Development Services of Kenton County is the building department for Covington and the surrounding communities, and its rule is short: "when completing work within Kenton County, all contractors must obtain and maintain a Kenton County occupational license and provide proof of Kentucky workers' compensation insurance coverage. In addition, the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings, and Construction requires a license for electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and fire suppression work. Contractors must provide copies of all these items before any permits can be issued." There is no residential builder license, exam or bond. In Covington itself a zoning permit from the city, and a certificate of appropriateness where a historic preservation overlay applies, must come before PDS will issue the building permit. PDS, 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Suite 3400, Covington, 859-331-8980; building permits 859-957-2408.
Storm-damaged communities. The Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection runs joint emergency contractor registration programs with the City of Mayfield and Graves County, the City of Princeton and Caldwell County, the City of Dawson Springs and Hopkins County, and the City of Bremen and Muhlenberg County, "to register contractors looking to assist storm victims." The program "requires contractors to register prior to doing business", and registrants are issued placards that must be displayed on the job site and in the vehicle. It is a consumer-protection registration aimed at transient storm-chasers rather than a skill license, and it applies only in those communities. Details on (502) 871-2424.
Everywhere else. The remaining Kentucky cities and counties each set their own rules, from a full licensing board like Bowling Green's to nothing beyond an occupational license and proof of insurance. Ask the local building department what it requires before bidding, and expect to repeat the filing in each jurisdiction.
- Louisville Metro / Jefferson County (Office of Construction Review - Building Type A and B contractor licenses)
- Lexington-Fayette Urban County (Division of Building Inspection - general contractor, residential only registration)
- Bowling Green and Warren County (joint Contractors Licensing Board - General and Specialty Contractors License)
- Owensboro and Daviess County (Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission - permits only; city occupational license)
- Covington and Kenton County (Planning and Development Services of Kenton County - occupational license and insurance only)
Common questions
- Do I have to take the North Dakota residential contractor exam if I'm licensed in Kentucky?
- No. The trade exam is waived on this path.
- What does it cost to get a North Dakota residential contractor license from Kentucky?
- Published fees on this path total $300, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Kentucky 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 Kentucky?
- Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from North Dakota to Kentucky, 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.