A general contractor would have to manage a team consisting of subcontractors for the various activities associated with construction projects. As compensation, he would receive a percentage of the overall cost of a project which includes the expenses for materials, payments for subcontractors, and fees for permits.
In most cases, the general contractor would quote something between 10 to 20 percent of the total project cost but in certain projects, he may also charge a flat amount as fee.
For general contractors in Minnesota, it is mandatory to be registered and licensed with the state. You can register as an organization or as an individual on the Minnesota Secretary of State website.
Requirements for working as a general contractor:
- You should have a Federal Employment Identification number, and a State Tax Identification number.
- A general contractor’s license may be a residential builder’s license or a remodeler’s license.
- You should have a trade license issued by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (MN DOLI)
- You have to get through an exam to get licensed
- Proof of Liability Insurance and a compliance certificate for Worker’s Compensation in conformance with Minnesota Workers’ Compensation law.
The certificate of insurance should display a liability compensation of a minimum $100,000 for each incident. Apart from that, there should be a provision of $ 300,000 for injury to the body and $ 25,000 for property damage.
The Worker’s Compensation includes all medical costs, wage loss, rehabilitation costs, etc.
- An optional surety bond for additional protection for your business or projects. This would also make it easy for you to get hired by a client as it is a safety measure.
Details about the Minnesota contractor’s exam:
- Business and Law exam
- An exam related to your business or specialty
There would be 4 hours for completing 110 questions. The exam cut-off would be 70 % or above. In case you are unable to pass the exam, you can retake the exam after 30 days. Application fees would have to be resubmitted. The fee is $ 50 which can be sent through money order or check or can be paid online on the MN DOLI website.
Exemptions from licenses:
- Subcontractors
- Employees working under a licensed contractor
- Commercial contractors who are registered with the Contraction Registration Program
- Material suppliers
- Architects and engineers
- Residential building contractors who have a certificate of exemption
Schedule of renewal of MN contractor license:
- Annual renewal for Secretary of State filings
- Renewal of business license every two years based on the date of expiry
- The Qualifying Party registrations have to be renewed every two years according to the expiry date
If the license is renewed after the expiry date, a late fee of $60 would be applicable.
Renewal fees for contractor license are based on the gross annual revenue:
- $ 445 if the annual revenue is less than $ 1 million
- $ 545 if the annual revenue ranges from $1 to $ 5 million
- $ 645 if the annual revenue is more than$ 5 million
General Contractor Continuing Education MN during renewals:
For renewal of your contractor license, you have to complete 14 hours of continuing education (CE) course every two years. CE is required to ensure that license holders have proper knowledge of their respective fields of work.
If you need to renew your Minnesota Building Official Certification, the required CE would be in the following fields:
- Building official course consisting of 38 hours
- Building Official limited for 38 hours and
- Accessibility course of 6 hours
Coding may or may not be related to the hours mentioned and the same CE course cannot be taken more than once if it is in the same licensing cycle. All the CE courses may not be completed in one day.
Topics for the CE course:
The topics for builders, roofers, and remodelers, the subjects are one hour of energy code, one hour of business management, and non-code related topics of twelve hours duration.
Certified building officials would have to study building code administration, construction processes, building inspections, related federal and state laws, and rules and regulations for general contracting.
Post completion of the general contractor continuing education MN course, you would receive an official certificate stating that you have completed the course. This can be kept for your records, while the providers would inform the state / MN DOLI from their end about your course completion.
There would be various providers or instructors of the CE courses, but you have to choose carefully. Both the provider and the courses should be approved by MN DOLI. There would be a directory of providers on the official website of the state which you can refer to. The best thing is that you can avail online classes from most of the providers. So, you do not have to undertake the hassles of commuting.
CE is the best way to brush up on a specific skill or learn a new technique that you are interested in and would be useful in your job.
