Statutory interest rate
8% / year, fixed
Legal rate applies to contract-claim judgments unless the contract itself specifies a different (typically lower, for consumer contracts) rate.
North Carolina · Construction claims reference
Construction Claim Rules in North Carolina
Every figure below is the researched rule for North Carolina, with its citation and a direct link to the official source so you can confirm it yourself. Covers statutory interest and when it starts accruing, how Actual Cash Value is determined and whether labor can be depreciated, whether a “no damages for delay” clause is enforceable and how long you have to file, the state-specific inputs behind a fully burdened labor rate and who can be held liable for a construction-site injury.
Statutory Interest & Accrual in North Carolina
The rate itself and the date interest starts running, which differs by claim type in most states.
Accrual: breach of contract claim
From the date of breach
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 24-5(a) provides that in a contract action, interest on the amount found due accrues from the date of breach.
Accrual: property damage / tort claim
Not date of loss: from the date the lawsuit was filed
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 24-5(b) provides that in actions other than contract, which includes property-damage tort claims, compensatory-damages interest runs from the date the action was commenced, not from the date of loss.
This differs from states like New York or Florida, where property-damage interest generally runs from the date of loss; in North Carolina, filing promptly directly affects how much interest accrues.
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Actual Cash Value & Property Loss in North Carolina
How ACV is determined, whether labor cost can be depreciated and the rules on releasing withheld recoverable depreciation.
Actual Cash Value rule
Broad evidence rule
North Carolina weighs fair market value, replacement cost and other relevant evidence rather than applying a fixed formula. In Accardi v. Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. the state Supreme Court held that ACV unambiguously includes depreciation of both labor and material costs where the policy does not distinguish between them, which is an insurer-friendly result compared with most states.
ACV statute or regulation
No North Carolina statute, rule or Department of Insurance bulletin defines an ACV methodology or restricts depreciating labor. The rule allowing labor depreciation comes from case law.
The North Carolina Supreme Court held in Accardi v. Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. (2020) that an ACV calculation may include depreciation of labor where the policy's language supports it. Chapter 58, Article 44 (Standards for Prompt, Fair and Equitable Settlement of Claims) contains no valuation method and no labor or materials distinction. The Department of Insurance's consumer page on ACV versus replacement cost describes the recoverable depreciation practice but cites no rule governing the calculation.
Recoverable depreciation holdback
No North Carolina statute or regulation sets the timing or process for paying withheld recoverable depreciation, so the policy terms control.
Chapter 58, Article 44 contains no provision on recoverable depreciation payout deadlines or proof of completion. The Department of Insurance's consumer page explains that recoverable depreciation is typically paid once repairs are complete and receipts are submitted, which describes practice rather than a requirement. With no statute in play the policy is the whole of the law here, so read three things in it: what proof of completed repairs the insurer can require, how long the insured has to claim the withheld depreciation and whether that period can be extended in writing. Policy deadlines commonly run from 180 days to two years from the date of loss and they are enforced as written. Ask for the extension before the period runs rather than after.
Delay Claims in North Carolina
Whether a no-damages-for-delay clause will be enforced against you and the deadline for bringing a construction contract claim.
“No damages for delay” clause enforceability
Void by statute in public prime contracts; otherwise enforceable but construed narrowly against blanket immunity
North Carolina voids a no-damages-for-delay clause in a prime contract between a public owner and a general contractor. Outside that public-prime-contract context, North Carolina courts have held such a clause and a separate equitable-adjustment clause allocate two distinct risks: the no-damages-for-delay clause can still bar recovery of extended general-conditions/overhead costs, but a separate equitable-adjustment clause can preserve a claim for market-driven material/labor cost increases caused by the same delay, so the no-damages clause isn't automatically a complete bar to every delay-related cost.
The statute voiding these clauses in public prime contracts is well documented. The Southern Seeding holding comes from a summary rather than the opinion, so confirm its language before relying on it in a filing.
Construction contract filing deadline
3 years for a contract action, express or implied
North Carolina's limitations period for an action on a contract, express or implied, is three years. That is shorter than the four to six years common elsewhere and it applies to a written construction contract too. Two deadlines sit in front of that one on most construction claims. A mechanic's lien and a payment bond claim each run on their own, far shorter clock, counted from last furnishing rather than from breach and missing either one removes the security while leaving the contract claim alive but unsecured. Check those dates first. Accrual is the other half of the question: the period runs from breach, which on a payment dispute is usually the date payment came due rather than the date the work was done.
Do not assume a longer out-of-state deadline applies to a North Carolina project.
Labor Burden Inputs in North Carolina
The state-specific rates and requirements that sit underneath a fully burdened hourly labor cost.
State unemployment insurance (SUTA)
New-employer rate 1.0%; experience-rated range 0.06% to 5.76%; 2026 taxable wage base $34,200.
North Carolina assigns new employers a standard rate of 1.0%. Established, experience-rated contributory employers range from 0.06% to 5.76%, based on a three-year experience-rating period ending July 31, which considers payroll history, tax payments and benefits charged against the employer's account. The 2026 taxable wage base is $34,200 per employee.
North Carolina resets its wage base and rate schedule annually, so reconfirm both on the Division of Employment Security's employer tax page. The $34,200 base is correct; North Carolina runs one of the highest wage bases in the country.
Workers' compensation rating
Independent state rating bureau: the North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB), not NCCI.
North Carolina does not use NCCI advisory rates for workers' compensation. The North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB), a non-profit, unincorporated rating bureau created by the North Carolina General Assembly, provides rate filings, classification services and policy forms for automobile, property and workers' compensation insurance in the state, functioning as North Carolina's own independent rating organization.
The NCRB page describes its general role providing workers' compensation rate filings and reference materials but did not explicitly state, in the content retrieved, whether it holds sole statutory rate-setting authority or works in coordination with NCCI on any lines; this general characterization as North Carolina's independent bureau reflects the NCRB's well-established public role.
Prevailing wage law
North Carolina has no state prevailing-wage law for public works.
North Carolina is listed by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division among the states without a state-level prevailing wage law for public works contracts. Only the federal Davis-Bacon Act, applicable to federally funded or assisted contracts, governs prevailing wages on North Carolina construction projects; there is no state or local prevailing-wage statute layered on top of it.
Construction Site Injury & Third-Party Liability in North Carolina
OSHA enforcement structure, how much weight an OSHA violation carries in a negligence case and whether an injured worker's own employer can be pulled back in.
Comparative / contributory negligence rule
Pure contributory negligence, any fault bars recovery entirely
Any fault attributable to the injured worker, even 1%, defeats the claim. This is the harshest of the four systems and only a handful of jurisdictions still apply it.
North Carolina retains pure contributory negligence. Any fault attributable to the injured worker defeats the claim entirely.
s 99B-4(3) applies the same bar by statute in a product liability action, which matters where the third party is an equipment manufacturer: there is no separate, softer rule for the product claim.
The exits matter more than the rule. In every contributory jurisdiction the bar is absolute on its own terms, so a worker's case usually turns on getting outside it rather than on percentages. Two routes recur:
Last clear chance. Where the defendant had a final, separate opportunity to avoid the harm after the worker's own negligence and failed to take it, the bar can be defeated. In practice it is narrow and rarely carries the day.
Conduct beyond ordinary negligence. Contributory negligence is generally not a defence to wilful, wanton or reckless conduct, or to an intentional tort. On a construction site that is the live route: conduct supporting a wilful OSHA violation is the kind of evidence that takes a claim out of ordinary negligence altogether.
The precise scope of both exits varies by jurisdiction, so check the state's own cases before relying on either one.
No percentage model can express any of this. A calculator can only report that any fault bars the claim. Whether the claim is really inside the bar is a pleading question, not an arithmetic one.
Non-economic damages cap
No general cap on non-economic damages
Most states cap non-economic damages only in medical malpractice actions, which does not reach a third-party construction claim. Economic losses, medical bills, lost wages, future earning capacity, are not capped by these statutes.
OSHA plan
Full state plan (NC OSH), private + public sector
North Carolina operates a full OSHA-approved state plan (NC Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Division) covering both private and public-sector employers. A state plan must be at least as effective as federal OSHA and may set stricter standards, so check the state rule before assuming the federal text applies. Two practical consequences follow. A state plan covers state and local government employees, which federal OSHA does not, so a public works injury is inside the state agency's jurisdiction. Citations are issued by the state agency and contested before the state's own review body rather than the federal commission, which changes where the file lives when you go looking for it. Reporting deadlines follow the federal rule: a work-related fatality within 8 hours, an inpatient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. For a construction claim the inspection file matters more than the citation: photographs, measurements, witness statements and the inspector's narrative are usually obtainable and are often the best contemporaneous record of the site.
Weight of an OSHA violation in a negligence case
OSHA standards are evidence of construction industry custom in North Carolina, relevant to reasonableness rather than negligence per se. The state Supreme Court has not ruled.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that OSHA standards constitute evidence of construction industry custom, which is relevant to a jury's assessment of whether the defendant acted reasonably , a construction-specific application of the majority 'evidence, not per se' rule. Evidence rather than negligence per se means the violation goes to the jury as one fact among several. The worker still proves duty, breach, causation and damages in the ordinary way and the defendant can argue the standard did not apply to it, that the cited condition did not cause this injury, or that the citation was contested or withdrawn. The reverse is also true: compliance with OSHA is not a defence, since the standards are a floor rather than a definition of reasonable care.
Third-party contribution against the employer
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-10.2 directly and explicitly bars a third party from seeking contribution against the employer, even where the employer's own negligence concurred in causing the injury.
Under § 97-10.2, if a jury finds the employer's negligence joined and concurred with a third party's negligence in causing the injury, the court reduces the damages awarded against the third party by the amount the employer would otherwise recover via subrogation. The statute explicitly states the third party 'shall have no further right by way of contribution or otherwise against the employer,' except for an express contractual indemnity right.
Injury-severity gate on contribution claims
Exclusivity can be pierced through the Woodson v. Rowland intentional-tort exception (conduct substantially certain to cause injury).
N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 97 generally bars employer claims and can protect statutory employers. Woodson v. Rowland recognizes an employer intentional-tort exception to exclusivity. In practice exclusivity takes the direct employer off the tort table entirely, whatever the OSHA file shows. The claim runs against the other parties on the site: the general contractor, the owner, another subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer. The employer or its carrier then asserts a lien against whatever the worker recovers from those parties, so the figure the worker actually keeps is the recovery less the lien, the fee and the costs. Whether the lien is reduced for the cost of obtaining the recovery is a separate state question worth asking early, because it moves the net more than most people expect.
Distinctive state doctrine
"Woodson claims" (North Carolina's named intentional-misconduct exception)
Named after the 1991 NC Supreme Court case Woodson v. Rowland, this narrow exception to exclusivity applies where an employer intentionally engages in misconduct knowing it is substantially certain to cause serious injury or death to employees and an employee is in fact injured or killed by that misconduct.
Put these North Carolina rules to work on your own numbers
ClaimDuke's calculators compute delay and extended overhead (Eichleay), fully burdened labor rates, ACV/RCV property loss, claim interest and construction-injury settlement ranges. Every calculation is free and live; a documented, citation-backed report is $19.
This page is reference information for your own verification. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for confirming the current rule with the official source linked above or with counsel. Several states' interest rates float and reset on a schedule (monthly, quarterly or annually), so always check the live source for the figure as of today rather than relying on what is shown here. Which rule actually applies to your specific claim is itself a legal question this page cannot answer for you.