Minnesota Water Conditioning Contractor Bond
What it is & who requires it
Businesses licensed as water conditioning contractors — the softener, filtration and treatment trade. This is the smallest penal sum in the Minnesota state family by a wide margin, and the smallness is the point: the trade is licensed, examined and bonded like the others, but the legislature set the exposure at a fraction of the plumbing figure because the work is equipment installation on an existing system rather than the system itself. Two things carry more weight than the number. First, this bond and the insurance beside it both displace municipal requirements: a licensee maintaining them cannot be made to meet any political subdivision’s bond or insurance requirements for the same work. Second, watch the boundary with plumbing — a city may by ordinance regulate and permit a person who connects water softening and filtering equipment to a private residence water system without a plumbing contractor license, but only where the connection is made at a provision already left for it or by cold water connections to a domestic water heater and no pipe is rearranged, extended or altered. Cross that line and the plumbing license and its much larger bond are what apply.
Obligee: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (Construction Codes and Licensing Division). Citation: Minn. Stat. § 326B.56, subd. 1(a)–(b) (bonds — as a condition of licensing each water conditioning contractor shall give and maintain a bond to the state; each bond shall be in the penal sum of $3,000 and must comply with § 326B.0921; no applicant maintaining the bond shall be otherwise required to meet the bond requirements of any political subdivision); Minn. Stat. § 326B.56, subd. 2 (insurance, including products liability, with the same political-subdivision displacement); Minn. Stat. § 326B.55 (licensing; qualifications; rules); Minn. Stat. § 326B.50 (definitions); Minn. Stat. § 326B.53 (local regulations); Minn. Stat. § 326B.0921 (bond requirements); Minn. R. chs. 4714 and 4716; DLI Water Conditioning Contractor Surety Bond form (penal sum printed as THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.00)).
Bond amount
The required bond amount is $3,000.
How to get it
This bond is individually underwritten, so it is not issued instantly. Request a quote and a licensed producer follows up to walk you through it.
Request a bond quote
Tell us about the bond and the project. A licensed producer follows up — these bonds are individually underwritten, so they are not issued instantly.
Term & renewal
Term: Continuous from the date of issue, cancellable by the surety only on 30 days’ written notice to the commissioner by certified mail, and required to be in force at all times the license is active.
Renewal: The bond is continuous rather than re-executed; the penal sum is cumulative and aggregates every two years the bond remains in force.
Filing
Filed with the commissioner on the department’s Water Conditioning Contractor Surety Bond form, which prints the penal sum in the AMOUNT box and in words and figures in the body and recites the governing rules chapters on its face. The statute states a fixed penal sum rather than a floor — this is one of the eleven state bonds that does — and there is no cash, certificate of deposit or letter of credit alternative anywhere in the chapter, so the figure renders without qualification. Corporate surety licensed in Minnesota. Insurance runs alongside at limits set in the same section, with a certificate on file with the commissioner and cancellation notice to the commissioner at the same time notice goes to the insured. The department publishes the bond in a packet with the new-and-renewal application, a disclosure of business owners, partners, officers and members, a certificate of responsible person, a certificate of insurance and a workers’ compensation certificate of compliance.
Source
Verified against the obligee source (last checked 2026-09-07).
Related Minnesota bonds
Frequently asked questions
- Who requires the Minnesota Water Conditioning Contractor Bond?
- It’s required by Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (Construction Codes and Licensing Division) (Minn. Stat. § 326B.56, subd. 1(a)–(b) (bonds — as a condition of licensing each water conditioning contractor shall give and maintain a bond to the state; each bond shall be in the penal sum of $3,000 and must comply with § 326B.0921; no applicant maintaining the bond shall be otherwise required to meet the bond requirements of any political subdivision); Minn. Stat. § 326B.56, subd. 2 (insurance, including products liability, with the same political-subdivision displacement); Minn. Stat. § 326B.55 (licensing; qualifications; rules); Minn. Stat. § 326B.50 (definitions); Minn. Stat. § 326B.53 (local regulations); Minn. Stat. § 326B.0921 (bond requirements); Minn. R. chs. 4714 and 4716; DLI Water Conditioning Contractor Surety Bond form (penal sum printed as THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.00))). Businesses licensed as water conditioning contractors — the softener, filtration and treatment trade. This is the smallest penal sum in the Minnesota state family by a wide margin, and the smallness is the point: the trade is licensed, examined and bonded like the others, but the legislature set the exposure at a fraction of the plumbing figure because the work is equipment installation on an existing system rather than the system itself. Two things carry more weight than the number. First, this bond and the insurance beside it both displace municipal requirements: a licensee maintaining them cannot be made to meet any political subdivision’s bond or insurance requirements for the same work. Second, watch the boundary with plumbing — a city may by ordinance regulate and permit a person who connects water softening and filtering equipment to a private residence water system without a plumbing contractor license, but only where the connection is made at a provision already left for it or by cold water connections to a domestic water heater and no pipe is rearranged, extended or altered. Cross that line and the plumbing license and its much larger bond are what apply.
- How much is the Minnesota Water Conditioning Contractor Bond?
- The bond amount is $3,000.
- How do I get the Minnesota Water Conditioning Contractor Bond?
- This bond is individually underwritten, so it is not issued instantly. Request a quote and a licensed producer follows up to walk you through it.
- What is the term?
- Continuous from the date of issue, cancellable by the surety only on 30 days’ written notice to the commissioner by certified mail, and required to be in force at all times the license is active. Renewal: The bond is continuous rather than re-executed; the penal sum is cumulative and aggregates every two years the bond remains in force.
- Is this bond insurance for me?
- No. It protects the obligee and the public — not you. If a valid claim is paid, you repay the surety.
- How is this requirement verified?
- We verify it against the obligee’s primary source (last checked 2026-09-07); the source link is on this page.
