South Carolina general contractor bonds.
$1,600 flat.
Also known as the South Carolina General Contractor License Bond.
South Carolina lets a licensed general contractor skip the net-worth financial statement by filing a surety bond with the Contractor’s Licensing Board instead. This page issues the $80,000 bond, and ours is $1,600 flat.
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How much does a South Carolina general contractor bond cost?
$1,600 at the $80,000 amount, the same for every applicant.
Three steps. One sitting.
A contractor bond filed in place of financials is about the simplest thing in surety. Here is the entire process:
Apply online
Entity details, years in business, an effective date, and the term you want. No balance sheet, no CPA review, no scavenger hunt for schedules.
Pay & e-sign
Contractor bonds like this are among the thousands of bond types that issue right after purchase. If a check ever runs it is a soft pull that will not touch your score. Issued when you pay. One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
File with the Board
Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to attach to a new license application or a renewal packet. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the contractor bond actually guarantees
South Carolina licenses general contractors through the Contractor’s Licensing Board, an agency of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR). A license is required once the total cost of construction exceeds $10,000, and every licensee is slotted into a license group that caps what it may bid or take per job.
The group is normally proved with a financial statement showing minimum net worth or working capital. Section 40-11-262 gives an applicant a second route: file a surety bond written by a surety authorized in South Carolina and skip the financial statement entirely. That is the filing this page issues — a bond in place of a balance sheet, which is why contractors who do not want to hand the state audited financials use it.
The bond names the State of South Carolina as obligee and runs for the benefit of anyone damaged by the contractor’s breach of the contracting laws. It must be continuous for as long as the license is held, it supplements rather than replaces any bid, performance, or payment bond a project requires, and cancellation takes 30 days’ notice. If the bond ever comes off, the licensee has 10 days to prove the net worth for its group or the license is subject to suspension.
It is not insurance for you. If the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety. The Board may also require an increased bond after a finding of a violation — proportional to how serious or repeated the offense is — and may reduce it again after a year once the violations are cured. We track your expiry and notify you at 60 and 30 days so the filing never lapses.
You need this bond if you’re
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $80,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The bond runs to September 17 whatever day you buy; the premium covers the period to that date.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the Board. Your executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready to attach to a new license application or a renewal packet. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $1,600 at the $80,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — entity details, your effective date, and a one-time consent that authorizes a soft credit pull only.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other South Carolina bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Your license group, proved without a balance sheet.
$1,600 flat, soft pull only, bond often issued in the same sitting. Free until issued.