Free practice questions for the North Carolina Residential Contractor exam and the separate Business & Law exam given for the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC), with a written explanation on every answer, in English, Spanish, and Russian.
8 questions, about 4 minutes. No account needed — pick an answer to see whether it's right and read the explanation, the same explanations you get on every question in the full course.
Practice across the full question bank.
Each explanation shows why the correct answer works.
Spend more time on the questions you miss.
Practice under exam-style time pressure before exam day.
Every question tells you why the correct answer is correct and defines the terms it uses — so you learn the rule, not just the answer.
Questions are written from scratch against the official codes and agency publications for this exam — never copied from the real exam.
Every question and explanation is fully translated, with the English exam term kept alongside — not a shallow machine translation.
LICENA is a practice tool, not a school. We don't promise a pass — we help you understand the material and walk in prepared.
The full course is 500 questions in 5 blocks — Block 1 is the North Carolina law tested on both exams, Blocks 2–5 the Residential Code and job safety — written from open sources: the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code (each code item checked against the 2024 edition), the North Carolina General Statutes (chapters 87, 44A, 22C, 113A, 97 and others), the board's rules in 21 NCAC 12A, the sedimentation rules in 15A NCAC 4, and 29 CFR 1926 as 13 NCAC 07F adopts it. Estimating questions give every number in the question. Honest limit: the NASCLA Contractor's Guide (North Carolina edition) and the commercial textbooks behind part of the exam — Feirer's carpentry text, Modern Masonry, the roofing and excavation books, the ACI concrete guide and BCSI — are named by title only and are not reproduced, so questions that turn on their exact tables are not in this bank.
Exam structure, topics, who needs it and official resources.
North Carolina requires a general contractor license for any job of $40,000 or more, and the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC) tests Residential applicants with one 90-question trade exam that also covers NC law. PSI gives it by computer — 210 minutes, open book, 70% to pass, $79 per attempt, in English — and candidates who qualify by exam waiver or the NASCLA route take the separate 40-question Business & Law exam. This course prepares both. Practice it in the free sample above: no sign-up, with a written explanation on every question.
North Carolina licenses general contractors statewide through the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC), under Article 1 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes and the board's rules in 21 NCAC 12A. Each classification has its own exam, and the Residential Contractor exam is the one for builders of houses and townhouses that must meet the NC Residential Code. It already contains about 10 law questions. A separate 40-question Business & Law exam exists for candidates who qualify without the full trade exam — exam-waiver applicants from listed states, for example, and candidates on the NASCLA route; ask NCLBGC which exams apply to you. This course prepares both: one 500-question bank whose first block is all North Carolina law.
Under G.S. 87-1, anyone who undertakes to build for a fee becomes a general contractor once the cost of the undertaking reaches $40,000 — the line was raised from $30,000 on October 1, 2023. The license limitation caps any single project: Limited up to $750,000, Intermediate up to $1,500,000 and Unlimited with no cap (G.S. 87-10), each with its own financial requirement. The Residential classification covers residences that must conform to the NC Residential Code. Building inspectors check the license before issuing a permit for work of $40,000 or more (G.S. 87-14).
PSI's candidate bulletin splits the 90 questions into ten areas: site work, footings and foundations 12; concrete and reinforcement 10; masonry 7; carpentry 11; associated trades, including energy and drywall, 8; roofing 6; estimating, plan reading and the general residential code 16; OSHA safety 4; licensing and business & law 10; and special construction zones — wind and coastal — with erosion and sedimentation control 6. In practice most questions are look-ups in the Residential Code: a footing size, a fastener, a span, a stair dimension, a wind-zone requirement. The skill is finding the right section quickly and doing the arithmetic (areas, volumes, slopes) without slipping on units.
The bulletin lists the books allowed in the room for the Residential exam: the 2018 North Carolina State Building Code: Residential Code, the NC Administrative Code and Policies, the NC OSHA construction standards, and the NASCLA Contractor's Guide (North Carolina edition). Several commercial trade textbooks — carpentry, masonry, roofing, excavation, concrete and truss bracing — are listed as study references the questions draw on. Code questions follow only the edition the bulletin names, the 2018 code. The 2024 NC codes have been adopted, but they take effect 12 months after a State Fire Marshal certification that has not happened yet; the earliest possible date is May 1, 2027, and it has not been set. LICENA's code questions are keyed to the 2018 text and checked against the 2024 text: where the two differ, the question names the edition.
Business & Law is 40 questions in 90 minutes, open book, 70% to pass. Its outline is licensing 21, liens and bonds 8, One Call 5, subcontractor payment 3, and erosion and sedimentation 3. The law behind it is all open: G.S. 87 Article 1 and 21 NCAC 12A for licensing, G.S. 44A for liens on real property, lien agents and bonds, G.S. 22C for prompt payment to subcontractors, G.S. 87 Article 8A — the Underground Utility Safety and Damage Prevention Act — for One Call (NC811), and G.S. 113A Article 4 with 15A NCAC 4 for sedimentation control. In LICENA's final exam, the Business & Law version draws its 40 questions from Block 1 only.
Applications go to NCLBGC, and the exam is scheduled and taken through PSI, at its North Carolina test centers in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem — follow the steps in PSI's candidate bulletin. Each attempt costs $79. The exam is in English; the bulletin offers no Spanish version, so LICENA keeps the English exam term next to every translation. Expect 5 to 10 unscored pilot questions mixed in with the scored ones.
The full course is 500 questions in five blocks: North Carolina law · site work and foundations · framing and masonry · roofing, wind, coastal and energy · life safety, plans and OSHA. At 30 questions a day that is under three weeks: one pass to find the gaps, a second pass on the blocks you missed, then the timed final. The final exam comes in two versions — Residential Contractor (90 questions, 210 minutes) and Business & Law (40 questions, 90 minutes, from Block 1) — each graded at 70%. The free OSHA construction practice test drills the federal safety rules North Carolina adopts.
Try the full bank free for 3 days — no card needed. Then $9.99 for your first month and $19.99/month after that if you decide to continue, cancel anytime. A school sells a full prepaid package; this is a question bank you can stop at any time — and you study on your phone, in your language, whenever you have a few minutes.
Continue North Carolina Residential Contractor practice The free sample above stays free. Creating an account is free — no card needed.LICENA gives you practice questions to study with. We are not an accredited school and we do not guarantee that you will pass any exam.
LICENA provides online practice only. Registration, testing and licensing are handled by the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC) and its exam vendor PSI — not by LICENA. LICENA is not affiliated with NCLBGC or PSI.