South Carolina contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in South Carolina, one page for each trade. The license, the least insurance you must carry, whether the state asks for a bond, when you charge sales tax, and the deadlines that protect your right to be paid.
Plumbing in South Carolina
- License you need
- Mechanical Contractor, plumbing classification (PB), Contractor's Licensing BoardRenews every two years
- Workers' comp
- Requiredonly once you cross both thresholds
- Credit score
- None
- South Carolina has two plumbing licenses from two boards. A residential specialty license from the Residential Builders Commission covers house jobs over $500. A mechanical contractor license from the Contractor's Licensing Board is needed once a job costs more than $10,000. Many websites still say $5,000. That figure changed in May 2023.
- The state does not set a minimum liability insurance amount for plumbers in the statute or the board rules read for this record. Instead it asks for proof of money. A Group One mechanical license needs a net worth of $7,000, and you can post a $7,000 bond instead.
HVAC in South Carolina
- License you need
- Mechanical Contractor, air conditioning (AC), heating (HT), packaged equipment and refrigeration classifications, Contractor's Licensing BoardRenews every two years
- Workers' comp
- Requiredonly once you cross both thresholds
- Credit score
- None
- A residential HVAC license from the Residential Builders Commission stops at 5 tons of cooling and 175,000 BTU per hour of heating per unit. Anything bigger, or any job over $10,000, needs a mechanical contractor license from the Contractor's Licensing Board.
- The mechanical license threshold is $10,000, not the $5,000 most websites quote. It changed in May 2023.
Electrical in South Carolina
- License you need
- Mechanical Contractor, electrical classification, Contractor's Licensing BoardRenews every two years
- Workers' comp
- Requiredonly once you cross both thresholds
- Credit score
- None
- South Carolina files electrical under mechanical contracting, alongside air conditioning, heating and plumbing. There is no separate electrical board.
- The statute draws the line at voltage. The electrical classification covers work under 600 volts. Above that, check with the board before you bid.
Across states
Can you charge sales tax on labor? The rule in 25 states. Which states tax the work itself, which tax only the parts, and how a repair differs from a new install.