North Carolina General Contractor Exam Practice Test
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| Administering body | North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (NCLBGC) — exam delivered by PSI Services LLC |
|---|---|
| Questions | 40 questions |
| Time limit | 90 minutes |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Fees |
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| Languages offered | Not published by PSI (North Carolina contractor bulletin) What we read and found nothing in: PSI — North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors Candidate Information Bulletin (updated 11/19/2025) |
Frequently asked questions
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A full bank of original North Carolina General Contractor Exam practice questions across the official content areas, weighted like the real exam, with explanations. Free, no signup.
What is the North Carolina General Contractor Exam exam like?+
A multiple-choice exam. Practice by topic here, then take the full timed mock exam to gauge readiness.
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PrepPass practice is in English, 中文 and Español. The official exam is in English — switch the question language to English any time to rehearse the exact terminology you'll see on test day.
Sample practice questions
A few real questions from this free bank, with full explanations. Use the practice tool above for the whole set.
- 1. Business Organization & Licensing
A construction business is organized as a corporation. If the corporation is sued and cannot pay a judgment, what is generally at risk?
- a.The personal homes and bank accounts of every shareholder
- b.The personal assets of the highest-paid officer only
- c.The corporation's own assets
- d.Only assets the corporation pledged as collateral
Answer: c
Explanation: A corporation is a separate legal entity from its owners (shareholders). This separation creates limited liability: creditors and judgments generally reach only the assets the corporation owns, and shareholders risk losing only what they invested — not their personal homes or savings. That protection can be lost only in unusual cases such as fraud or 'piercing the corporate veil.'
- 2. Estimating & Bidding
One roofing 'square' equals how many square feet of roof area?
- a.10 square feet
- b.50 square feet
- c.100 square feet
- d.1,000 square feet
Answer: c
Explanation: In roofing, one 'square' is a standard unit equal to 100 square feet of roof surface. If a roof measures 2,400 square feet, it is 24 squares. Roofing materials and labor are commonly priced per square, so converting the measured area into squares (area divided by 100) is a routine and frequently tested estimating step.
- 3. Estimating & Bidding
A continuous footing is 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep and runs 135 linear feet. How many cubic yards of concrete does it contain?
- a.10 cubic yards
- b.120 cubic yards
- c.270 cubic yards
- d.30 cubic yards
Answer: a
Explanation: Put every dimension in feet: 24 in = 2 ft wide, 12 in = 1 ft deep. Volume = 2 x 1 x 135 = 270 cubic feet, and 270 / 27 = 10 cubic yards. Reporting 270 means the cubic feet were never converted, 30 comes from dividing by 9 rather than 27, and 120 comes from treating the 24-inch width as 24 feet.
- 4. Contracts & Contract Law
A homeowner posts a notice reading, 'I will pay $500 to anyone who repairs my leaking roof valve today.' A roofer sees it and completes the repair. This is best described as:
- a.A bilateral contract, because both sides exchanged promises before any work began
- b.An unenforceable arrangement, because a public posting can never create a contract
- c.An implied warranty, because the posting guaranteed the quality of the finished repair
- d.A unilateral contract, accepted by performing the requested act rather than by promising
Answer: d
Explanation: In a unilateral contract one party offers to pay in exchange for an act, and acceptance happens by completing the act rather than by giving a return promise. A bilateral contract, the ordinary form in construction, is a promise exchanged for a promise: the contractor promises to build and the owner promises to pay. A general offer made to the public can be accepted by whoever performs.
- 5. Business Organization & Licensing
A sole proprietor transfers $4,000 from the business account to a personal account for living expenses. For tax purposes this is best characterized as:
- a.An owner's draw against equity, not a deductible wage expense of the business
- b.A salary, from which the business must withhold income and payroll taxes
- c.A loan, which the owner must repay to the business with interest each year
- d.A dividend, taxed to the owner again after the business pays its own tax
Answer: a
Explanation: A sole proprietor cannot be an employee of the business, so money taken out is a draw against owner's equity rather than payroll: nothing is withheld and the draw is not a business deduction. The owner is taxed on the business's net profit whether or not it is withdrawn. By contrast, a shareholder-employee of a corporation who works in the business must be paid reasonable compensation through payroll.
- 6. Safety & OSHA
A crew is moving equipment beneath an overhead line whose voltage nobody on site knows. How must the crew treat that line?
- a.As de-energized, because utilities cut power to lines above active job sites
- b.As safe to touch, since the black weatherproof covering insulates the wire
- c.As energized only during business hours, when the utility carries peak load
- d.As energized until the owner says otherwise and it is visibly grounded
Answer: d
Explanation: 29 CFR 1926.600(a)(6) requires that any overhead wire be considered an energized line until the person owning the line or the electrical utility indicates otherwise and the line has been visibly grounded. For lines rated 50 kV or below, at least 10 feet of clearance must be kept between the line and any part of the equipment or load, with more required at higher voltages. The dark covering on a distribution conductor is weatherproofing, not insulation rated for contact.
- 7. Project Management & Scheduling
What distinguishes quality control from quality assurance on a construction project?
- a.Quality control applies to subcontracted work; quality assurance applies to self-performed work
- b.Quality control is performed by the building department; quality assurance by the architect
- c.Quality control happens at closeout; quality assurance happens during the bidding phase
- d.Quality control inspects and tests the finished work; quality assurance is the system that prevents defects
Answer: d
Explanation: Quality control is the inspection and testing of work that has been performed, catching defects after the fact. Quality assurance is the planned program of procedures, qualified personnel, approved submittals, and mockups intended to keep the defects from occurring in the first place. Both are the contractor's responsibility and both run throughout the job, independently of the building department's code inspections.
- 8. Financial Management & Accounting
In construction cost control, a 'committed cost' is best described as:
- a.An amount obligated by a signed subcontract or purchase order but not yet invoiced
- b.The share of the contract price the owner agrees to release at project closeout
- c.Any cost the contractor has actually paid out in cash during the current month
- d.The profit the company has promised to distribute to its owners at year end
Answer: a
Explanation: Committed costs are dollars the company is already legally on the hook for through executed subcontracts and purchase orders, even though no invoice has arrived and no cash has moved. Comparing committed plus actual costs against the budget shows the real remaining exposure on a job, while looking only at invoices paid to date makes a job appear far healthier than it is. The gap between committed and actual is simply work ordered but not yet billed.
- 9. Employment & Labor Law
For overtime purposes under the FLSA, how is an employee's workweek defined?
- a.Monday through Friday, with weekend hours counted separately
- b.The seven days ending on the employer's regular payday
- c.A fixed, regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour days
- d.Any seven consecutive days the employer picks after the hours are known
Answer: c
Explanation: 29 CFR 778.105 defines the workweek as a fixed and regularly recurring 168-hour period that may begin on any day and at any hour but, once set, stays fixed. It need not match the calendar week and need not end on payday. Choosing the week after the fact, to spread hours across a boundary and avoid the premium, is exactly what the fixed-week rule prevents; a change is permitted only if it is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the Act.
- 10. Financial Management & Accounting
A contract is worth $900,000 with an estimated total cost of $720,000. Costs to date are $288,000. Under the percentage-of-completion method, how much revenue has been earned?
- a.$288,000
- b.$360,000
- c.$450,000
- d.$540,000
Answer: b
Explanation: Percent complete measured by cost is $288,000 divided by $720,000, or 40 percent, and 40 percent of the $900,000 contract price is $360,000 of earned revenue. $288,000 is the cost incurred, not the revenue earned on it. $450,000 assumes the job is half finished, which the cost ratio does not support, and $540,000 is the revenue still to come rather than the revenue already earned.