We use public records to help you make a shortlist. They show what a contractor has filed and where they have worked in Wilmington, NC. They can't tell you whether someone will be right for your home.
NC licenses general contractors, electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors.
We don't hold the licensing board's file for Wilmington, NC, so we don't show license status for the 1,329 firms on the permit file. Check each one yourself.
Ask the contractor for the license number and look it up at NC Licensing Board for General Contractors. How to check a contractor's license in North Carolina →
The middle value recorded on this contractor's matching permits. It's a permit value, not a quote or the final price. Ask for a written estimate.
Matching Wilmington, NC permits in the most recent year of our data. It shows recent recorded activity here, not every job the company did.
For contractors with at least 5 permits a year or more old, the share the County marked complete or issued a certificate for, adjusted for permit age. Permits that expire count against it. A permit can stay open because of paperwork or timing, so this isn't a workmanship grade.
How long their permits take from issue to the County's finaled date, compared with other Wilmington contractors in the trade. Shown for firms with 10+ permits.
Not shown yet for Wilmington, NC — see the note below.
About the ranking: The score combines how much of this exact work a contractor has on record, how often their older permits reached completion (where we can measure it), how well their usual job size matches your budget, how recently they've been active, and how much of their work is near you. A measure we can't calculate is left out rather than guessed, and a thin record pulls the score toward the middle. A contractor whose matched license has a problem is listed after everyone else. You set the weights with the sliders on every list.
Wilmington, NC specifics: Permits are issued by New Hanover County; only permits inside the City of Wilmington are included, so the beach towns and unincorporated county aren't in this view. On most building permits the County's recorded value is its own fee-table valuation (heated square feet times a fixed rate), not a declared price, so a typical cost is shown only for new homes, electrical, plumbing, solar and EV charger permits, and no trade shows a price comparison. The County names the contractor on only about half of the recent HVAC, electrical, plumbing and gas trade permits, so those rankings cover about half of the City's trade work; a trade permit pulled by the builder of the same house is counted as the builder's. Re-roofs need few permits here and are included in Remodel & Repair. Deck, porch and window permits often sit open until they expire, so their completion rates are low across the board. North Carolina's licensing boards publish no bulk license file, so license status isn't shown. Firm names are free text, so a few firms appear under two spellings.
Build your list All Wilmington, NC firms A–Z
The numbers: Wilmington, NC permit statistics · How long permits take in Wilmington, NC
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