Contractor License & Permit Bonds in New Hampshire

New Hampshire does not license contractors — the lightest-regulation state in our directory

New Hampshire has no statewide general-contractor license, no home-improvement-contractor registration, and no state contractor surety bond. We confirmed this against the primary statutes: RSA 310-A, the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification chapter, licenses engineers, architects, surveyors, and home inspectors — but has no home-improvement-contractor program, and its only surety bond is for court reporters. Electricians and plumbers are licensed and insured, not bonded. So if a surety quotes you a “New Hampshire contractor license bond,” there is no such statewide bond — the requirement you are looking at is almost always a municipal street-opening bond or the state right-of-way permit bond.

That makes New Hampshire the lightest-regulation state in this directory: the bonds New Hampshire contractors actually post are municipal street-opening, excavation, and right-of-way bonds, plus the New Hampshire DOT right-of-way permit bond for work in a state highway. There is no county contractor-bond layer — New Hampshire bonds at the city/town and state levels only.

Street-opening and excavation bonds are New Hampshire’s signature

The most common bond a New Hampshire contractor posts is the street-opening or excavation bond, required before you cut into a municipal street, sidewalk, or right-of-way. The City of Manchester fixes its requirement by code — a $5,000 continuing surety bond required while the work is performed and through the maintenance period. It is the one New Hampshire municipal bond with a flat, mandatory amount.

Every other New Hampshire town sets the bond as one option among several — a surety bond or a cash deposit, certified check, or letter of credit — and often sizes it per permit or by the public-works director, so there is no single dollar figure to publish. We carry the Concord, Salem, Somersworth, Lebanon, Bedford, Goffstown, Exeter, Hampton, Laconia, Hanover, and Claremont bonds without a fixed dollar on the page and confirm the exact figure when you request your bond. A statewide street opening / right-of-way general-use product covers the long tail of towns beyond these.

The New Hampshire DOT right-of-way permit bond

For work inside a state highway right-of-way — a driveway, access, or utility cut — the New Hampshire Department of Transportation conditions its permit on a right-of-way permit bond payable to the State of New Hampshire. NHDOT accepts a surety bond or a letter of credit, and sets the amount as a percentage of the approved cost estimate for the work rather than a flat figure, so the exact amount is confirmed per permit. The state’s six NHDOT districts administer the one program, so it is a single bond, not six.

How New Hampshire bonds are issued

Because New Hampshire’s bonds are municipal and DOT permit bonds with obligee-set amounts, they are individually quoted rather than issued from an instant online portal. Tell us the town or the NHDOT district, the bond, and the work, and a licensed producer follows up with the exact amount and the bond. Request a quote on any New Hampshire bond page or from the form on this page.