Maryland General Contractor License: What Applies and What Does Not
What Maryland requires of a contracting business in 2026, what the LLC has to file first, and where the license and the entity are two separate steps.
By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 2026
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Maryland general contractor licensing at a glance
| State credential required for this work? | Yes, statewide |
| What they are called | Construction License, Nonresident Construction License, Home Improvement Contractor License |
| Who issues it | Maryland Home Improvement Commission |
| Must the business itself be licensed? | Yes |
Does a contracting business need a license in Maryland?
Maryland issues 3 license classes for general contractors.
Maryland runs two statewide schemes and no dollar floor under either. Any person doing construction business in the State, which means new home and commercial work, must hold a construction license issued by the clerk of the circuit court under Business Regulation 17-602. Work on an existing residence, or an apartment building of three or fewer units, is home improvement instead and is licensed by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, whose licensee is not required to hold the clerk's construction license.
The contracting business itself must be licensed or registered, not only the people doing the work.
The construction license under Business Regulation 17-602 is held by the person doing construction business, which includes a company, and a company incorporated or headquartered outside Maryland must also hold a nonresident construction license. The MHIC home improvement license runs the other way: each licensed business must have an individual who holds the MHIC license and meets the requirements for licensure.
This records what Maryland publishes, not a determination about your business. Scope, thresholds and local requirements are set by the issuing body, so confirm with them before you bid or file.
Source: Md. Code, Business Regulation 17-602, License required. Verified 2026-09-03.
What the LLC has to do first
Where the state licenses the company rather than only the individual, the LLC has to exist before the license application can name it.
The entity filing is separate from anything the license requires. In Maryland it is made with the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. File directly with the state here. The order matters wherever the license is issued to the company rather than to a person: the entity has to exist before an application can name it.
Forming an LLC as a contracting business in Maryland covers the filing itself, step by step.
Insurance Maryland general contractors are asked to show
General liability cover is the item most often demanded before a contractor license application is accepted or a job is awarded, and the certificate has to name the entity that holds the license.
We do not publish Maryland premium figures for this trade, so nothing here is a quote. Our business insurance guide for general contractors covers what each policy does and does not pay for.
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state licensing board publishes for this trade, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you whether your own work needs a licence: that turns on the scope of the job, the value of the contract, and the city or county you work in, which commonly adds its own registration on top of the state's. Confirm your own position with the board named on this page and with your local building or business licensing office before you bid or start work.
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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC
Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.