Pennsylvania to North Dakota: residential contractor license reciprocity

1. 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..
2. 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..
3. 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..
4. 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..
5. 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..
6. 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..
7. 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.