The rules where you work $17
A first 30 days checklist, everyday forms, licenses, workers’ comp and taxes for North Dakota, with a yearly calendar. Instant PDF download.
Buy the packet: $17Digital product, all sales final. Informational only, not legal, financial, tax or business advice.
What North Dakota expects from a new trade business
North Dakota licenses contractors through the Secretary of State, and the line is low: any job over $4,000. Workers' comp comes only from the state fund, with no private insurers allowed. Line up both before you take your first real job.
A license for any job over $4,000
You need a license from the Secretary of State when the price per job is over $4,000. The definition is broad: construction, repair, alteration or demolition of buildings and most other structures, and it includes subs. There's no handyman carve-out in the chapter.
Classes go by the size of a single project: D up to $100,000, C up to $300,000, B up to $500,000, A no limit. First-time fees run $100 to $450. You file proof of liability insurance and a statement from the state's workers' comp agency. Renew by March 1 each year. Late, you're treated as unlicensed. You can renew until June 1 with a $50 penalty. After that the license expires. Lapsed insurance or an inactive LLC puts you in bad standing.
Working without one is a class A misdemeanor, and you can't bring a claim in court over your contracting until you're licensed. Take payment and don't start within 60 days of a written start date (90 from the contract if none), or finish within 90 days of a written finish date (180 if none), and it can be construction fraud, a felony graded by amount. There are defenses.
Home jobs: put your license number on permits. Signed away from your business, the customer can cancel for 3 business days, with the required notices. Over $2,000 on a dwelling, give the warranty notice at completion. Retainage caps at 10% until 50% complete. Electricians and plumbers have their own state boards. A construction attorney can answer scope questions.
Source: N.D.C.C. Chapter 43-07 (Contractors) · N.D.C.C. Chapter 43-09 (Electricians) · N.D.C.C. Chapter 43-18 (Plumbers) · ND Secretary of State, Contractor Licensing · N.D.C.C. Chapter 51-18, personal solicitation sales
Who to call: an attorney near you
Only one comp seller: the state
You can't buy workers' comp from a private company here. Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) is the only provider. With limited exceptions, every employer has to insure every employee, including part-time and occasional help, before they start.
Owner on your own, no employees? Coverage on yourself is elective, not required. You file a Verification of Nonemployment so WSI can send the good-standing letter your contractor license needs.
Watch your subs. Each worker is presumed an employee unless proven otherwise. A sub's employee is deemed an employee of the general contractor, and the GC can be billed the premium and penalties the sub didn't pay: 100% if it all comes from one project, capped at 70% if the sub worked several. WSI's advice is to verify the sub's account first.
Uninsured employers can face a cease and desist order, a $10,000 penalty, and $100 for each day it continues. Willfully skipping coverage costs $5,000 plus three times the premium you should have paid. Not displaying your certificate costs $250. Ask WSI what premium runs for your trade, and a CPA who works with contractors to budget for it.
Source: WSI, Coverage Requirements · WSI, Common Questions (elective coverage) · WSI, Verification of Nonemployment · N.D.C.C. Chapter 65-04 (65-04-26.2)
Who to call: an insurance agent near you
Getting paid: 90 days counts more than you think
Record your construction lien with the county recorder within 90 days after your work is done. If you miss 90 days, the lien doesn't die outright, but it loses out to good-faith buyers and lenders whose rights came first, and to anything the owner already paid the contractor. Nothing can be filed more than 3 years after your first material was furnished.
- Notice before recording: written notice by certified mail to the owner at least 10 days before you record. The statute puts this in a sentence about people working under the owner's agent, contractor or sub. It appears to apply to them. If you contracted directly with the owner, ask a construction attorney.
- Notice before suing: at least 10 days by personal service, or 20 by registered mail.
- Deadline to sue: start the suit and record a lis pendens within 3 years of recording. If the owner sends a written demand, you get only 30 days.
- Account demand: within 15 days after the contract is completed, the owner can require your itemized, verified account. You can't sue until 10 days after you give it.
No lien if the owner paid the full price of your work or holds your valid signed waiver. Liens are paid in order: manual labor, materials, other subs, then original contractors. An owner who beats your lien in court gets costs and attorney's fees from you. A construction attorney can set up your forms once.
Source: N.D.C.C. Chapter 35-27 (Construction Liens)
Who to call: an attorney near you
You're the final user of what you install
North Dakota treats a contractor as the final user of anything installed into real property. You pay sales tax when you buy the materials, or use tax if the seller didn't collect it, and build it into your price. It can't be itemized as a sales tax charge on the invoice. With a sales tax permit, you can give the seller a Contractor's Certificate and report use tax on your return instead. Cities and counties add their own tax. Working for a government or school doesn't change any of that, and those contracts require a Contractor's Tax Clearance.
The exception is a labor-only contract. Since mid-2021, a sub hired just to install doesn't owe tax on the materials. Whoever supplied them does.
Selling goods over the counter is different. For that you buy with a resale certificate and charge the customer sales tax. Use the certificate only with sellers you buy from to resell. A CPA who works with contractors can help keep the two apart.
Source: ND Tax Commissioner, Contractor Guideline · ND Tax Commissioner, Tax Responsibilities for Contractors
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
Forming an LLC in North Dakota
Filing with the Secretary of State costs $135. After that the annual report is $50, due November 15. Ask the Secretary of State what a missed report costs. There's no franchise tax and no publication requirement. Remember the LLC also needs its own contractor license and its WSI account or nonemployment letter in order.
Income passing through the LLC lands on your North Dakota individual return. Above a bottom bracket that isn't taxed, the statute's rates are low: 1.95%, then 2.5%. Whether and when to elect S-corp status is a numbers question. Bring what your business clears after your floor rate to a CPA who works with contractors and ask them to run it.
Source: N.D. Secretary of State, Business · N.D.C.C. Chapter 57-38 (income tax brackets) · ND Secretary of State, Limited Liability Company · ND Tax Commissioner, Individual Income Tax
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
Education, not legal or tax advice. Rules change. Confirm anything here with a licensed pro in North Dakota before you rely on it. Last updated November 2026.