North Carolina to Tennessee: residential contractor license reciprocity

1. 1Law / code exam. Pass a law, rules, or code exam. Tennessee Business and Law examination, taken by the Qualifying Agent after the Board approves the application. It is open book, 50 questions, 140 minutes, 73% to pass, and is drawn from the Contractors' Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, Tennessee Edition. It is not waived by any trade exam waiver agreement or by the NASCLA examination; the only contractor license that does not require it is the restricted residential BC-A/r. Examination scores are typically treated by the Board as valid for two years..
2. 2Other. Request for Contractor License Verification, the Board's trade exam waiver form: the applicant completes the applicant section and sends it to the North Carolina licensing agency, which certifies the license number, issue and expiry dates, status, classifications, Qualifying Agent, trade examination taken, exam vendor, date and score, then returns it to the applicant. It is filed with the Tennessee application in place of a trade examination score, together with a copy of the license. Some states charge a fee to complete the verification..
3. 3Application fee. Pay the application fee ($250). Non-refundable application and initial license fee of $250, paid with the Initial New Contractor Application at core.tn.gov (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0680-01-.20(1)). The license renews every two years at $200, with a $20 per month late penalty for up to twelve months..
4. 4Exam fee. Pay the exam fee. Examination fee, paid to the testing company rather than to the Board. The Board's rule sets the fee as whatever the administering company charges subject to Board approval, so no amount is published by the Board; Prov began administering Tennessee contractor examinations on July 1, 2026 and publishes the current fee when an examination is booked. One fee is charged for each examination taken..
5. 5Financial responsibility. Show financial responsibility. Financial statement prepared by a licensed public accountant or CPA on the accountant's letterhead, in the name of the applicant entity, conforming to GAAP and dated no more than twelve months before the application. There is no fixed minimum dollar figure: the monetary limit on the license is set at ten times the lesser of working capital and net worth, supported by experience, so a $150,000 limit needs $15,000 of each and an unlimited license needs $300,000 of each. A reviewed opinion is required for a limit of $3,000,000 or less and an audited opinion above that. A line of credit or a Board Guaranty Agreement may be used to supplement working capital or net worth..
6. 6Surety bond. Post a surety bond (if applicable). Optional alternative to the CPA-reviewed or CPA-audited financial statement: from July 1, 2026 the Board accepts a Contractors' Surety Bond on the Board's own form in an amount of at least 50% of the monetary limit requested. A bond or Guaranty Agreement may also be required in addition to the financial statement where the statement is primarily cash without fixed assets or where a parent company guarantees the applicant..
7. 7Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($100,000). Certificate of general liability insurance in the same name as the license, listing the Board as certificate holder. The Board's minimum coverage is set by the monetary limit requested: $100,000 of coverage for a limit up to $500,000, $500,000 of coverage for a limit of $501,001 to $1,500,000, and $1,000,000 of coverage above $1,500,001 to unlimited. Workers' compensation insurance is also required unless the business has no employees and qualifies for an exemption or registers as a Construction Services Provider. The amount shown is the lowest coverage tier..
8. 8Business license. Obtain a business license. The license is issued to a legal entity in its exact name, so the corporation, LLC or limited partnership must be registered with the Tennessee Secretary of State before the license is issued; an entity formed in another state registers as a foreign entity and files its Certificate of Authority or Articles of Organization. A separate business tax license from the Tennessee Department of Revenue is needed for each city or county the contractor operates in..
9. 9Other. Letter of Reference on the Board's form from a past client, employer or code official who can speak to construction experience; it may be from outside Tennessee but may not come from a relative, and only one is needed. Also required: a Contractor's Affidavit signed and notarized by the Qualifying Agent, owners, partners, members, main officers and major stockholders, a statement of experience and management information, and a list of equipment. An interview at a Board meeting may be required, for example where the Qualifying Agent is not a majority owner and has been employed less than six months, where the experience shown is thin for the limit requested, or where there is complaint, judgment, bankruptcy or felony history..

Published fees on this path total $250, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.