Bonds & Surety› Contractor License Bonds › North Dakota
No. North Dakota licenses contractors through the Secretary of State in four monetary classes, and no surety bond is required. What it requires is liability insurance and workforce safety verification.
Verified August 12, 2026 against primary sources from North Dakota Secretary of State. Requirements are subject to current state statutes and agency rules, which change without notice. Confirm the figure that applies to you before you file.
No. When the cost, value or price of a job exceeds $4,000, the person doing the work must be licensed as a contractor in North Dakota under NDCC chapter 43-07. The license class you hold caps the size of a single job you may take.
| Class | Contract amount | Initial fee | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class A | Over $500,000 per job | $450 | $90 |
| Class B | Up to $500,000 per job | $300 | $60 |
| Class C | Up to $300,000 per job | $225 | $45 |
| Class D | Up to $100,000 per job | $100 | $30 |
The application asks for two things, and neither is a bond:
North Dakota is a class-limit state, and the class is the thing to watch. Class D caps you at $100,000 per job and Class C at $300,000, so the license itself becomes the ceiling on what you can bid long before your bonding capacity does. Moving up a class is a fee and a filing. Moving up in bonding capacity is a financial-statement conversation, and on public work in North Dakota you will need contract bonds regardless of your license class. Those are the two ceilings to plan against, and they are not the same ceiling.
This is the distinction that costs North Dakota contractors work. A license bond is what the state or the city requires before it will let you operate. It is a fixed amount, it renews annually, and it protects the public. It says nothing about whether you can bond a job.
A performance bond is different. That is job-specific, written at the full contract value, and it is what an owner requires before awarding you the work. Contractors who assume their license bond makes them "bonded" find out otherwise the first time they try to bid public work.
The two are connected in one direction that matters: the financial file that gets you a license bond easily is the same file a surety underwriter reads when you ask for a performance bond. Building it properly now is what makes the bigger bond reachable later. See how contractors qualify for bonds and how a bond program gets built.
A license bond is also not insurance. It does not protect you - if a claim is paid, you reimburse the surety. See surety bonds versus insurance.
Our team writes contractor license bonds nationally and we never decline a submission - our job is to find the path to yes. Tell us the classification you are applying for and we will tell you what it takes. If you are building toward bigger work, we will look at the whole program, not just the bond in front of you.
Call the Grit team: (801) 505-5500
No. North Dakota licenses contractors through the Secretary of State in four monetary classes, and no surety bond is required. What it requires is liability insurance and workforce safety verification.
There is not one. North Dakota requires no surety bond for a contractor license. The license is graded by monetary class - Class A over $500,000 per job, Class B up to $500,000 per job, Class C up to $300,000 per job, Class D up to $100,000 per job - and the application asks for liability insurance rather than a bond.
No. A license bond is a fixed annual requirement to hold your license and it protects the public. A performance bond is job-specific, written at the full contract value, and required by the project owner before award. Holding a license bond does not mean you can bond a job.
No. A surety bond protects the party the bond runs to. If a claim is paid on your bond, you reimburse the surety. Liability insurance protects your business; a bond does not.
A note on the details: Everything on this page was taken from the state's own statutes, rules or agency publications on the verification date shown at the top, and it is subject to current state code. Legislatures amend statutes, boards amend rules, and agencies set some amounts administratively so they move without any change in the law. Bond amounts, licensing thresholds and filing rules also vary by classification and by the agency issuing the license. Use this page as a starting point, not as legal advice. Confirm the current requirement with the licensing authority before you file, and confirm your own bond requirement with a licensed member of our team.
Already licensed and looking for work to bid? See where to find public construction work to bid on in North Dakota, and the national guide to contractor license and permit bonds.