About the Minnesota Residential Remodeler license
Minnesota licenses residential contractors through the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) under Minn. Stat. Ch. 326B (326B.802 et seq.). A residential license is required for anyone who contracts directly with a homeowner to perform work in two or more "special skills" — the eight special skills are excavation, masonry/concrete, carpentry, interior finishing, exterior finishing, drywall/plaster, roofing, and general installation (326B.802). Work in only a single special skill generally does not require this license. The three residential license types are the Residential Building Contractor, the Residential Remodeler, and the Residential Roofer. The Residential Remodeler authorizes remodeling, repair, and improvement of existing residential real estate of one to four dwelling units. It does not authorize a new home or a detached garage. That work is the building-contractor license.
The license is held by a business entity, but a designated qualifying person must pass the examination and is responsible for the company's continuing education. The contractor enters into the prime contract, pulls the building permit, and is responsible for the whole project — scheduling and coordinating the subcontractors and trades, means and methods, jobsite safety, and delivering work that passes inspection and meets the contract.
Your exam is built on the 2020 Minnesota Residential Code, which DLI puts on the desk with the DLI Reference Manual for Residential Building Contractor and Remodeler License Exam. You do not bring either book. Know these scope facts cold: most work requires a permit and inspections at defined milestones (footing, foundation, framing, rough trades, insulation, final); you must work within the scope of the license you hold; and unlicensed or out-of-scope contracting is a violation that can void contracts, forfeit the right to collect payment, and carry penalties.
How Minnesota licensing works
- Qualifying person + entity: the license belongs to the business; one designated qualifying person must pass the exam and complete the continuing education.
- Exam: DLI gives the qualifying remodeler exam at its St. Paul office and at outstate sites. It is one paper. 110 questions, 330 minutes, 70 percent (77 of 110). Roughly 60 percent is the Minnesota Residential Building Code and the rest is statutes and rules. This is the QC exam for a CR license. It is not the QB builder paper and not the QR roofer paper.
- Insurance: before the license is approved, liability coverage is at least 100,000 dollars per occurrence, 300,000 dollars aggregate, and 25,000 dollars property damage, for premises, operations, products, and completed operations. Workers' compensation compliance is a separate department form. The licensing page does not list a license bond as an application item. Section 326B.86 is the insurance minimum. The same section requires a bond for a residential roofer and for a manufactured-home installer. It does not put a license bond on a remodeler.
- Application: submit the DLI application, fees, the qualifying person's exam result, certificates of insurance, and entity documents.
- Renewal: the license renews on a two-year cycle; the qualifying person must complete the required continuing education (see below) and the business must keep its insurance current.
Continuing education. The qualifying person must complete 14 hours of approved continuing education per two-year renewal cycle, which must include at least one hour on residential energy codes or energy-conservation measures and at least one hour on residential-construction business management (confirm current topic requirements on the DLI bulletin). CE is a license-renewal requirement, not an exam topic, but it is fair game as a knowledge question.
This is the opening of the full study guide. The complete guide continues into code navigation, worked calculations and solved exam questions.
