How Much Does a Home Renovation Cost in North Dakota in 2026
The Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com) prices its midrange minor kitchen remodel at $28,458, a national average. North Dakota carpenters earn a median $27.83 an hour, below the U.S. $29.12 (BLS, May 2025). A remodeler charging more than $4,000 for the job needs a Secretary of State license.
Kitchen and bath numbers from a national survey
The report compares 28 remodeling projects across 119 U.S. markets. The figures below are its national averages, a yardstick rather than a Bismarck or Grand Forks quote. The report’s defined midrange minor kitchen remodel carried a 2025 job cost of $28,458 and a resale value of $32,141, so it recouped 113% of its cost. For the midrange bath remodel as the report defines it, the numbers were $26,138 spent and $20,915 of resale value: 80% recouped. The captured report pages do not spell out the square footage or finishes behind either project.
© 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 2,360 wage-and-salary carpenters in North Dakota for May 2025. Their mean pay was $27.88 an hour ($57,980 a year), under the national mean of $31.55 ($65,630); the median was $27.83 ($57,890) against $29.12 ($60,580). Self-employed carpenters fall outside that count. Pay is one line in a remodeler’s bid; materials and the firm’s other costs sit beside it.
Remodelers and NDCC chapter 43-07
Chapter 43-07 defines a contractor to include anyone in the business of the “construction, repair, alteration, dismantling, or demolition” of buildings. Section 43-07-02(1) requires a license once the price of a single job goes over four thousand dollars; without one, the contractor may not sue in a North Dakota court over that business. The exceptions in 43-07-08 cover just two groups: authorized representatives of the federal government, the state, and counties, municipalities, irrigation and reclamation districts or other political corporations, and a seller of a product the seller does not attach to the real property.
The Secretary of State is the registrar. License classes cap a single project’s value: class D at $100,000, class C at $300,000, class B at $500,000, class A with no cap (43-07-07). Look a firm up in FirstStop’s contractor search before any deposit changes hands.
Running the project yourself? Section 43-07-24 speaks to “a person performing general contractor’s work on that person’s own property, even if exempt from the licensing requirements”: when that owner applies for a building permit, the owner must hand the permit official the license number of each subcontractor doing work covered by the permit, “as soon as available.”
Moving a sink or a drain: the plumbing license
Plumbing has its own state board. Under NDCC 43-18-11, no one may “engage in the business of a master plumber, journeyman plumber, or plumber’s apprentice in any location of this state having a public system of waterworks or sewerage” without a state board of plumbing license. The section and the one after it leave these people out:
- an owner doing work that meets the board’s minimum standards on premises, or the part of premises, “owned and actually occupied by the person as a residence”;
- a full-time maintenance employee doing plumbing repair where that person works;
- public water system employees installing and maintaining service lines and water meters;
- employees of household-appliance dealers installing appliances, when the plumbing is incidental and could be done by a plumber’s apprentice (43-18-11.1).
The first two apply “unless otherwise forbidden to do so by a local ordinance.” A city may also require its own municipal plumbing license or registration on top of the state license (43-18-16).
Who issues the permit
Building permits come from a city, township or county that has chosen to run a code program. Under NDCC 54-21.3-03(6), a local government that chooses to enforce a building code has to adopt the state code, amended for local needs if it wishes; a county may enforce it only in areas where no city or township does (54-21.3-05). The State Plumbing Code, the state’s electrical wiring standards and the State Fire Code sit outside that chapter as separate statewide codes (54-21.3-04(1)).
A defect after completion: the six-month notice
NDCC 43-07-26 covers “an improvement with a value exceeding two thousand dollars to a dwelling.” Before any repair other than an emergency repair, or before suing for breach of warranty, the owner must mail the contractor written notice of the defect “within six months after knowledge of the defect.” The contractor then inspects, responds and, if appropriate, fixes it within a “reasonable time,” which the section defines as thirty business days after the notice is mailed or any shorter period appropriate to the circumstances. The contractor must give you written notice of this rule when the improvement is completed.
Questions from North Dakota owners
Can I redo the plumbing in my own bathroom?
Yes, in a home you own and actually live in, if the work meets the plumbing board’s minimum standards and no local ordinance forbids it (43-18-11).
Does the contractor on a $30,000 kitchen need a state license?
Yes. The price exceeds $4,000 per job, so NDCC 43-07-02(1) requires a Secretary of State contractor license.
Grout in the new shower failed after eight months. What comes first?
A written notice mailed to the contractor, within six months after you learned of the defect, before you undertake a non-emergency repair or file suit (43-07-26).
Which of the two projects held more value at resale?
The minor kitchen: 113% of cost against 80% for the bath, per the report’s 2025 national figures.