Concrete contractor requirements in North Carolina.

Concrete work follows the G.S. 87-1 threshold like every other trade: no state license below forty thousand dollars, a general contractor license at or above it. The specialty classification is S(Concrete Construction), and 21 NCAC 12A .0202 defines it as the construction, demolition and installation of foundations, pre-cast silos and other concrete tanks or receptacles, prestressed components, and gunite applications.

The exclusion is the part worth memorizing. That same rule excludes bridges, streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, driveways, parking lots and highways from S(Concrete Construction). Flatwork that most people would call concrete contracting therefore sits outside the specialty — site work, grading and paving of parking lots, driveways, sidewalks and gutters is written into the Building Contractor classification, and paving of all types belongs to the Highway Contractor classification. Choosing S(Concrete Construction) for a $60,000 driveway job would put the contractor outside the classification.

Below $40,000 none of this applies and no state credential exists. What does apply at any value is the local layer: G.S. 160D-1110(c) withholds the minor-work permit exemption from adding, repairing or replacing load-bearing structures, so a foundation or structural slab is permitted and inspected even on a small job.