Minnesota runs one of the larger contractor recovery funds in the country, paying up to $100,000 per licensee and $550,000 in total against any single licensee. Two conditions do the work. The contractor has to have been licensed, and you have to have obtained a final court judgment first. The application then has to be served within two years of that judgment becoming final. Both halves are easy to lose by accident.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateMinnesota average | $137 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Minn. Stat. section 326B.89 provides that the commissioner shall not pay compensation from the fund to an owner or lessee in an amount greater than one hundred thousand dollars per licensee, and shall not pay owners and lessees more than five hundred fifty thousand dollars in total per licensee. Both ceilings are worth reading, because the second is the one a homeowner arriving late runs into.
The statute conditions payment on the owner or lessee having obtained a final judgment in a court of competent jurisdiction against a licensee licensed under section 326B.83, and on the verified application being served within two years after that judgment became final. The Department of Labor and Industry describes the fund as covering a licensed contractor's fraudulent, deceptive or dishonest practices.
One wording difference is worth noting rather than smoothing over. The department's fact sheet describes payment as up to one hundred thousand dollars per claim. The statute says per licensee. Those are not the same thing where a contractor has several claimants, and the statute is the text that governs.
Minn. Stat. section 326B.805 exempts a person whose total gross annual receipts for performing the specialty skills covered do not exceed fifteen thousand dollars, on a certificate of exemption. Below that line there is no license, and with no license there is no fund.
The table above carries the Minnesota figure for auto repair labor, the one cross-trade rate with a per-state source, and it sits above the national average. Shop type and technician certification move a repair bill further than geography does.
Check the license on the Department of Labor and Industry's license and registration lookup before signing. The fund reaches licensed contractors only, so hiring an unlicensed one puts you outside it from the start.
Ask whether the contractor is operating under a certificate of exemption. That is lawful below fifteen thousand dollars of annual receipts, and it also means there is no fund behind the job.
If something goes wrong, the sequence matters as much as the merits: judgment first, then the fund application within two years. Missing the order or the clock costs the claim either way.
Up to $100,000 per licensee, with a total of $550,000 per licensee across all owners and lessees, under Minn. Stat. section 326B.89. The second ceiling is the one a homeowner arriving late runs into.
A final judgment in a court of competent jurisdiction against a contractor licensed under section 326B.83, and a verified application served within two years after that judgment became final.
The statute says per licensee. The Department of Labor and Industry's fact sheet describes it as per claim. Those differ where a contractor has several claimants, and the statute is the text that governs.
No. It reaches a licensed contractor's fraudulent, deceptive or dishonest practices, so hiring unlicensed puts you outside it before anything goes wrong.
A person whose total gross annual receipts for the specialty skills covered do not exceed $15,000, on a certificate of exemption under Minn. Stat. section 326B.805. Below that line there is no license, and with no license there is no fund.