North Carolina General Contracting: Business, Licensing and Liability — 4-Hour CE Elective

1. Course objectives

On completing the course you will be able to:

1. Determine whether a given undertaking requires a North Carolina general contractor license, applying the $40,000 threshold and the G.S. 87-1(b) exemptions as the statute defines them rather than as they are commonly repeated.
2. Match a project to the license held — both the classification that governs the KIND of work and the limitation that governs the SIZE of any single project — and recognize that a licensee can be inside one and outside the other.
3. Demonstrate financial responsibility by the route that fits the balance sheet: working capital, net worth at the limited tier, or the surety bond alternative, including the evidentiary standard each carries.
4. Manage the qualifier relationship as a business-continuity risk — the 20-hour test, the W-2 requirement, the 10-day separation notice, and what the 90-day window does and does not permit.
5. Apply the contract-side rules a license question reaches: bid consideration under G.S. 87-15, the unenforceability of pay-if-paid under G.S. 22C-2, the G.S. 87-1.1 route and its 25% cap, and when construction management is general contracting.
6. Treat the permit desk as the compliance checkpoint it is — the licensure and workers’ compensation proofs, the owner-exemption affidavit, the lien-agent trigger, and the inspection duties that survive leaving the site.
7. Identify exposure on all three tracks at once — Board discipline under G.S. 87-11, the Class 2 misdemeanor under G.S. 87-13, and injunctive relief under G.S. 87-13.1 — and distinguish the two separate $5,000 caps that sit in them.
8. Explain how the Homeowners Recovery Fund is financed by the licensee’s own permits, what makes a homeowner’s loss reimbursable, and how the Board’s subrogation right reaches back to the contractor.
9. Keep a license current: what a renewal must carry, who the eight-hour CE requirement actually reaches, the November 30 deadline, and the difference in cost between coming back from inactive and coming back from invalid.
10. Discharge the recurring reporting duties by habit rather than memory — license number on all contracts and bids, the 30-day change notices, the 60-day conviction report, and the shorter clocks that run inside them.

2. Module outline and estimated times

10 modules, 200 minutes in total. Times are the estimated instructional time for each module; the course records your actual credited time.

Module 1 — What Makes You a General Contractor (20 min, 2 checks)

• State the statutory definition of “general contractor” and the $40,000 cost threshold that triggers it.
• Apply the § 87-1(b) exemptions, including the owner-occupant exemption and its 12-month occupancy presumption.
• Distinguish “cost of the undertaking” and “value” as defined terms rather than everyday words.

Module 2 — Classifications and Limitations (20 min, 2 checks)

• Identify the five license classifications and the specialty subcategories each one carries.
• State the project-value ceiling for Limited, Intermediate and Unlimited licenses.
• Explain what a limitation excludes — land cost and ancillary costs to improve it.

Module 3 — Financial Responsibility: Your Statements and the Bond Alternative (20 min, 2 checks)

• State the working-capital or net-worth requirement for each license limitation.
• Explain when an agreed-upon procedures report or audited financial statement is required.
• Evaluate the surety-bond alternative and its amounts as a substitute for demonstrated working capital.
• Recognize the twelve-month currency rule and the bankruptcy-disclosure requirement.

Module 4 — The Qualifier — Your License’s Single Point of Failure (20 min, 2 checks)

• Apply the “responsible managing” test — 20 hours per week or a majority of hours worked.
• Explain the W-2 requirement for a qualifier who is not an owner, officer or partner.
• State the 90-day replacement window and what the licensee may not do during it.
• Describe how examination credentials archive after four consecutive inactive years.

Module 5 — Contracts, Bids and the Payment Chain (20 min, 2 checks)

• Explain why § 22C-2 makes “pay-when-paid” unenforceable between contracting tiers.
• State the 25% cap on general-contracting work performed under § 87-1.1.
• Distinguish licensed construction management from the development-consultant exclusions.
• Describe the licensure requirements that apply to a joint venture.

Module 6 — Permits, Inspections and the Lien-Agent Trigger (20 min, 2 checks)

• State what a permit applicant must prove about licensure and workers’ compensation.
• Identify when a lien agent must be designated and named on the permit.
• Explain the owner-exemption affidavit and the consequences of claiming it wrongly.
• Describe the licensee’s duty to obtain permits and see inspections through to compliance.

Module 7 — Liability Exposure: Discipline, Unlicensed Practice, Injunctions (20 min, 2 checks)

• List the grounds on which the Board may refuse, revoke, suspend or restrict a license.
• State the Board’s authority to recover administrative costs up to $5,000.
• Explain why unlicensed practice is a Class 2 misdemeanor and who else is exposed.
• Describe “misconduct” as the rule defines it, including lending a license or credential.

Module 8 — The Homeowners Recovery Fund (20 min, 2 checks)

• Explain what the Fund is for and how the $10 permit fee finances it.
• State what makes a loss “reimbursable” and who is excluded from claiming.
• Describe the exhaustion-of-remedies requirement and the filing deadlines.
• Explain the 10% per-claim cap and the Board’s subrogation against the contractor.

Module 9 — Renewal, CE, Inactive Status and Coming Back (20 min, 2 checks)

• State the annual requirement as two mandatory hours plus six elective hours.
• Explain the four-hour elective carry-forward and the January 1 – November 30 window.
• Describe inactive status, what it costs, and what it suspends.
• Apply the reinstatement ladder for licenses invalid one, two, three or four years.

Module 10 — Records, Reporting and Staying in Good Standing (20 min, 2 checks)

• State the requirement that the license number appear on all contracts and bids.
• Describe the 30-day notice duties for name, ownership, address and coordinator changes.
• Explain the 60-day duty to report criminal convictions and disciplinary actions.
• Summarize the licensure paths available to military-trained applicants and spouses.

3. How the course works

Access

Sign in, then enroll on the course page with your NCLBGC Qualifier ID number and the Qualifier name exactly as on file with the Board (look-up: https://www.nclbgc.org/qualifier-search/). You will confirm the Qualifier ID on each return visit. Module 1 can be read before enrolling; credit is recorded only for enrolled students.

Navigation

Modules unlock in sequence. The course outline is on the course page and at the top of every module. Your place, elapsed time and completed knowledge checks are saved automatically, so you can stop and return. Statute citations open the cited law in a side panel, in the statute's own words.

Instructional time

Seat time accrues only while the course tab is active; the timer pauses on inactivity. Module dwell credits toward the 200-minute gate up to 1.5x the module's allocated minutes. Knowledge-check time counts as instructional time. After 15 minutes without a click, key press or scroll the timer pauses behind a "Still studying?" prompt; click Continue studying to resume. Credit per module is capped at 1.5× its allocated minutes. Knowledge-check time counts.

Tools on every module page

• 🌓 Light / Dark theme · 🔊 Read aloud (⏹ Stop) · Español rendering of the lesson · 🖨 Print or save as PDF · the time chip showing credited minutes.
• Spot an issue? at the end of each module reports a wrong statement, an outdated reference, a typo or a suggestion, tagged with the module.

Knowledge checks

20 across the course, each with the correct answer and a written explanation shown immediately. They are for learning; a wrong answer does not cost credit.

4. Completing the course and your certificate

1. All 10 modules complete and 200 minutes of credited instructional time recorded. No final examination: No summative assessment: NCLBGC removed the final-assessment requirement for CE electives (Board education staff, 2026-08-04). Completion = all ten modules visited + the 200-minute verified seat-time gate.
2. The server verifies both from its own records and issues a certificate of completion with a unique certificate number (Board rule: within 10 days; normally immediate).
3. MASONBYTE LLC reports your completion to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors through the provider portal within seven calendar days (21 NCAC 12B .0204), with the course ID, your Qualifier ID and name and the completion date, and keeps registration and attendance records for four years.

5. Required notices

• Qualifier ID. At registration — and each time you access the course — you must provide your NCLBGC Qualifier ID number and the Qualifier name on file with the Board. Look both up on the Board’s qualifier search at nclbgc.org/qualifier-search.
• 90-day completion window. You have 90 days from enrollment to complete this course. If you do not complete it within 90 days, you must retake the entire course on re-enrollment.
• Availability. This course cannot be purchased, started, or completed after November 30, or at any time during the month of December.
• Technical requirements. A modern browser (current Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari) with JavaScript and cookies enabled, on desktop, tablet, or phone. A stable internet connection is required for time tracking; no speakers, printer, or plugins are needed. Content blockers may interfere with progress tracking. Supported systems: Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later, iOS 16 or later, Android 10 or later, or a Chromebook, each with a current browser.
• Support. Technical support: support@masonbyte.com — monitored business days (Eastern); include "NC CE" in the subject for fastest routing.

6. For reviewers and testers

Thank you for testing. The course is being reviewed before it is filed with the Board, and your report is the fastest way to fix anything that is wrong.

Getting in

• Testers use the real path: sign in, enroll with a Qualifier ID and name, read the modules, answer the checks, and let the timer run. That exercises the same pipeline a licensee will use.
• Board reviewers receive reviewer credentials from the CE Coordinator with the course application; the reviewer view is ungated and records no credit.

What to check

1. The Board notice appears on the course page and at the top of Module 1, and the credit hours and estimated completion time are stated before you start.
2. Every module shows its estimated time, and the outline matches this guide.
3. The 90-day window, the November 30 / December availability rule, the technical requirements and the support contact are all stated on the course page.
4. Enrollment asks for the Qualifier ID and name, and the ID is asked for again on a later visit.
5. Each knowledge check shows the correct answer and an explanation immediately.
6. The timer pauses when you leave the tab and after 15 idle minutes, and resumes on Continue studying.
7. Leaving and returning restores your place, your time and your completed checks.
8. Every statute citation opens in the side panel and the text matches the official source.
9. Light / Dark, Read aloud, Español and Print all work on each module page; the printout is legible.
10. Completion issues a certificate only after all 10 modules and 200 credited minutes.

How to report

• For anything about the lesson text, use Spot an issue? at the end of the module; it records the module for us.
• For anything else, email support@masonbyte.com with the page address, the module number, what you expected, what happened, and your browser and device. A screenshot helps.
• Please do not copy module text elsewhere; the material is proprietary to MASONBYTE LLC and is licensed for review only.