Sue a Contractor in North Dakota Small Claims Court

You paid a contractor thousands of dollars to fix your roof, remodel your kitchen, or finish your basement. They cashed the check and vanished — or did work so bad you had to pay someone else to redo it. North Dakota Small Claims Court handles disputes up to $15,000, which covers the majority of residential contractor claims.

Confirm Your Claim Fits Small Claims Court

North Dakota's jurisdictional cap is $15,000 under N.D.C.C. § 27-08.1-01. If your contractor dispute is under that ceiling, Small Claims Court is your venue. Common contractor claims that qualify:

• Unreturned deposits — You paid an advance and the contractor never started or abandoned the project.
• Defective workmanship — The work was done but failed to meet the contract specifications.
• Incomplete work — The contractor walked off before finishing.

Your claim is for "recovery of money" — the amount you paid minus the value of any work actually completed. If you paid $6,000 and received nothing, you claim $6,000. If you paid $6,000 and got $2,000 worth of usable work, claim $4,000.

The six-year statute of limitations under N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16 applies to most contract claims, running from the date the contractor breached.

Look Up the Contractor's Legal Name

This is where most people trip up. You cannot sue "Mike's Remodeling" if Mike operates as "Michael Johnson d/b/a Mike's Remodeling" or through an LLC called "Johnson Contracting LLC."

Go to the North Dakota Secretary of State FirstStop portal and search the business name. You need:

• The exact legal entity name (the registered name, not the trade name on their truck)
• The registered agent's name and physical address — this is who you serve the lawsuit papers on

If the contractor is a sole proprietor with no state registration, name them personally: "Michael Johnson, individually and doing business as Mike's Remodeling."

Send a Demand Letter First

North Dakota does not require a pre-suit demand letter for general contract claims, but sending one creates evidence that you tried to resolve the dispute before filing. Mail it via USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. Include:

• What you hired the contractor to do and the contract price
• What went wrong (abandoned, defective, incomplete)
• The exact dollar amount you want returned
• A deadline of 10 to 14 days to pay

Keep a copy of the letter, the certified mail tracking number, and the green return receipt card. These become exhibits at the hearing.

File Form 2 and Serve the Contractor

Complete Form 2 (Claim Affidavit) with the contractor's legal name, your factual statement, and the dollar amount. File it with the Clerk of District Court in a proper venue: for an individual contractor, the county where they reside or where the underlying claim or breach occurred; for a business entity, the county where it has a place of business or where the subject matter of the claim occurred. The filing fee is $20.

You must serve the contractor a complete packet — Form 2, copies of supporting exhibits, and blank Forms 1, 3, 4, and 7 — via one of two methods:

1. Certified mail with restricted delivery and return receipt — You mail it yourself through USPS (~$10–$15).
2. Personal service by a non-party adult or sheriff — A disinterested adult 18+ hands the packet to the contractor, or the county sheriff does it for a $30 base fee plus mileage.

If the contractor operates as an LLC or corporation, serve the registered agent listed on FirstStop, or an executive officer, partner, or managing agent at the entity's principal office. File Form 6 (Affidavit of Service) with the Clerk once service is complete.

The contractor then has 20 calendar days to request a hearing or remove the case to District Court. If they do nothing, you can ask for a default judgment.

Prepare Your Evidence for the 30-Minute Hearing

Hearings are brief. Bring three copies of every exhibit — one for the judge, one for the contractor, one for yourself. Organize them in order:

• The written contract or text messages confirming the agreement
• Proof of payment (bank statements, cancelled checks, Venmo screenshots)
• Photos of defective or incomplete work
• A repair estimate from a second contractor — but the person who wrote that estimate must appear in person to testify about it. Written estimates from absent witnesses are hearsay and will not be admitted.
• Your demand letter and the return receipt showing it was delivered

The judge or judicial referee may award you the amount you prove you lost. Court costs (the $20 filing fee plus service costs) are typically added to the judgment if you win.

What If the Contractor Removes to District Court?

The contractor can pay $160 to remove the case to formal District Court within the 20-day window. This is more formal — full civil procedure rules apply, and you may want an attorney. But there is a built-in deterrent: under N.D.C.C. § 27-08.1-04, if the contractor removes the case and you win, the court must award you reasonable attorney's fees.

Get the Full Filing Toolkit

The step-by-step process above covers the basics, but the details — assembling the service packet without missing a form, calculating the 20-day deadline correctly, organizing exhibits for a 30-minute hearing — are where mistakes happen. The North Dakota Small Claims Filing Guide walks through the entire procedure with deadline calculators, a service tracker, and an evidence binder index.

See more North Dakota guides →