Which license does the contractor need in North Dakota?
One license, four sizes. The Secretary of State's page: "When the cost, value, or price of a job exceeds $4,000, the person doing the work must be licensed as a contractor in North Dakota", and that includes "subcontractors, general contractors, public contractors, and nonresident contractors". The class is the cap on any single job (NDCC 43-07-07):
| Class | Largest single job | License fee |
|---|---|---|
| A | No limit ("subject to no limitation as to the value of any single contract project") | $450 |
| B | Up to $500,000 | $300 |
| C | Up to $300,000 | $225 |
| D | Up to $100,000 | $100 |
So a Class D contractor can replace your furnace or build a deck but cannot legally take a $150,000 addition. A new home in Bismarck, where the usual filed value is $310,726, is above Class C's $300,000 cap, so it needs a Class B or A license.
Two trades are licensed on top of this:
- Electricians are licensed by the State Electrical Board. Its lookup searches by last name or by "4 or 5 digit" license number.
- Plumbers are licensed by the State Plumbing Board. Ask for the number and confirm it with the board; we have not verified a public online lookup for it.
How to look a contractor up, step by step
- Open FirstStop.
- Search by the business name on the quote. Try the first word if the full name returns nothing; names on permits and licenses are often abbreviated differently.
- Open the record and read the status and class. "In good standing" is what you want. Note the expiry date; North Dakota licenses renew annually, and "License renewals must be received on or before the deadline or incur a late filing fee".
- Match the class to your job's price. A quote above the class limit is a quote the contractor cannot legally sign.
- For electrical work, run the firm's electrician through the Electrical Board lookup as well.
- Save the record. If something goes wrong, the Secretary of State takes complaints against licensed contractors; the form is linked from the contractor page.
What the status means
"In good standing" is the status to look for. A contractor told by the registrar that its license is not in good standing "shall cease soliciting or entering new contract projects", and if it does not fix the problem within thirty days the registrar revokes the license (NDCC 43-07-04). To be licensed, a contractor must file a certificate of liability insurance and a statement from Workforce Safety and Insurance (NDCC 43-07-04); ask for a current certificate, because the one filed with the application may have lapsed.
Penalties for unlicensed contracting in North Dakota
NDCC 43-07-02(2): "Any person acting in the capacity of a contractor without a license is guilty of a class A misdemeanor." On top of that the registrar may assess a civil penalty "in an amount not to exceed three times the amount set forth in section 43-07-07", meaning up to three times the license fee for the class the job needed.
What the license does not tell you
Whether the last twenty jobs were permitted and finished. That is in the City of Bismarck's permit file, and we read it. Bismarck HVAC installs finished 90.2% of the time. Furnace and AC replacement permits show a recorded final on only 24.5%, but several of the same firms finish more than 80% of their install permits, so read the replacement figure as how the city closes those permits, not as abandoned work. Electrical permits finished 84.5%, from 77 firms; new homes 76.2%, with the usual build taking 351 days to final. We have not yet matched Bismarck firms to the Secretary of State's license file, so our Bismarck pages show no license status. Run the FirstStop check yourself.
Red flags on a North Dakota license record
- No record at all for a firm quoting over $4,000.
- A Class D or C license on a quote above its cap.
- License not in good standing, or expired with no renewal.
- A license in a person's name while you are contracting with a company, or the other way round.
- Electrical work offered by a general contractor with no electrician on the Electrical Board's list.
- A license issued within the last few months on a firm that claims years of history; ask for the old number.
- A contractor who says the job is "under $4,000" when the quote in front of you is not.
How we know this
Permit counts, finished shares and usual values come from City of Bismarck building permit records, 2023-10 to 2026-09. No license match is shown for Bismarck yet: the Secretary of State's license file has not been joined to our permit data, so an absent license on our pages is our gap, not the firm's. Statute text is quoted from the Legislative Council's published Chapter 43-07; license rules from the Secretary of State's contractor page, both fetched 20 October 2026.
Numbers come from City of Bismarck TRAKiT building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits on homes, data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
See every Bismarck furnace and AC installer by their permit record →
Questions
- Where is the North Dakota contractor license lookup?
firststop.sos.nd.gov/search/contractor, run by the Secretary of State. The board's own page says to use FirstStop "to check whether a contractor's license is in good standing".
- When does a North Dakota contractor need a license?
Whenever "the cost, value, or price of a job exceeds $4,000" (Secretary of State; NDCC 43-07-02). That covers subcontractors and out-of-state firms too.
- What do Class A, B, C and D mean?
The largest single job the license allows. Class D up to $100,000, C up to $300,000, B up to $500,000, A unlimited (NDCC 43-07-07).
- What is the penalty for unlicensed contracting in North Dakota?
A Class A misdemeanor, plus a civil penalty of up to three times the license fee (NDCC 43-07-02(2)).
- Does the license cover electricians?
No. Electricians are licensed separately by the State Electrical Board, which has its own lookup at ndseb.com.
Build your own list
Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.