The NC intermediate license fee is $50 cheaper per year ($100 vs $150), has only a 3 year experience vs 4 year, and has a ridiculously low dollar limit like $30k per job and $300k per year. So resi contractors can easily get a big housing development job and blow up the total limit and just one large component like a big drive can easily blow up the per project limit. The test is very, very similar among all 3 licenses. NC is “calculation light”...mostly definitions but is supposed to be one of the toughest tests in the US. All 3 licenses are really similar. The limited license has fewer business law questions similar to the NJ journeyman vs masters licenses but since that’s just basic business law there’s really little difference between the tests. The intermediate and unlimited tests are truly identical.
