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North Carolina — North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor

North Carolina contractors are licensed by the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors. For the classifications we sell here, applicants typically sit a trade paper plus a separate North Carolina Business & Law paper. Confirm whether your classification is one sitting or two.

You selected the trade North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor. That is the classification for the work. Below is how you get that license. We sell exam prep. We do not issue licenses or file your application.

How to get this license

1. Confirm this is the right classification. A contractor license is permission to bid and perform a defined scope. North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor is the paper this path is built around. If the work you want to bid sits in a different classification, go back and pick that one. Sitting the wrong exam does not get you the license you need.
2. Read the board’s current applicant packet. The NC Licensing Board for General Contractors publishes who must be licensed, how much experience or education they will count, the application, fees, and exam bulletin. That packet is the source of truth. Years of experience, bond amounts, and fees change. We do not invent those numbers here.
3. Show that you qualify. Almost every contractor board requires documented work experience, education they accept as a substitute, or both. Someone (often a licensed contractor or employer) has to verify the work. Gather pay records, project lists, and signatures the packet asks for before you pay an exam fee.
4. File the application. Some boards let you sit the exam only after they approve the application. Others let you test first. The packet says which. Use the legal business name you will contract under, and keep copies of everything you send.
5. Know which exam(s) you must pass. This trade paper is North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor. In North Carolina we also sell North Carolina Business & Law as a separate paper. Many applicants must pass both: the trade exam for the work, and the business paper for the company. Confirm on the bulletin whether your classification is one sitting or two.
6. Sit the exam the way the bulletin describes. Re-check these figures the week you schedule. A change on the bulletin beats this page.

   North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor

   Questions100

   Time4 hours

   Passing score70%

   North Carolina Business & Law

   Questions40

   Time1 hour 30 minutes

   Passing score70%

   Sourced from PSI bulletin 454, copyright 2025, updated November 19, 2025; nclbgc.org. Confirm on our product page sitting facts.

   Bring whatever ID and references the vendor lists. If it is closed book, you cannot take code books in. If it is open book, tab only what they allow.
7. After you pass. A passing score is usually not the last step. Boards often still require a contractor bond, general liability, workers’ compensation if you have employees, and a business entity registered the way they specify. When those items clear, they issue the license number you put on bids and contracts. Until then you are not licensed to do that work.
8. Stay licensed. Licenses expire. Some states require continuing education. Keep the bond and insurance in force if the board requires them. Contracting on a lapsed license is how people get cited.

Where exam prep fits

Study in parallel with the application so you are not waiting on paperwork with an empty calendar. North Carolina Public Utilities Contractor prep is a study guide plus four official-length timed exams, with an explanation for every answer. You pay for 30, 60, or 90 days of access; the materials are the same on every term.

If this state requires a separate business paper, we sell North Carolina Business & Law standalone. It is free with a North Carolina classification that sits that exam, where we offer it. A free short sample is available before you buy.

Not affiliated with this board. For exam preparation only. This page is a map, not legal advice and not the application. Confirm sitting facts on our product page; we do not send you off-site to apply.