Moving to North Carolina as a residential contractor: every state's rule

North Carolina licenses residential building contractors statewide through the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. A license is required for any single undertaking costing $40,000 or more, and the Residential classification covers construction and demolition of residential units built to the North Carolina Residential Building Code, together with the ancillary site work, driveways, sidewalks and water and wastewater systems and certain specialty work on those units. The license belongs to the business, not the person: it is issued to an individual, corporation, LLC or partnership and is qualified by a named qualifier, an owner, officer, member or responsible managing employee who personally passes the examination, so an inbound contractor applies as or for the entity that will sign contracts. Every license also carries a monetary limitation driven by financial responsibility rather than by skill: Limited allows single projects up to $750,000, Intermediate up to $1,500,000 and Unlimited has no project cap. North Carolina sets no minimum experience or apprenticeship hours, so out-of-state years do not shorten anything, and the Board says it does not have full reciprocity with any state; what it does have is examination waiver agreements with a short list of named states.