Access control installers in South Dakota: who can wire your doors

For most electrical jobs in South Dakota, you need a license from the State Electrical Commission. Under state law, chapter 36-16 treats unlicensed work as a Class 2 misdemeanor.

The chapter goes on to specify which people are not required to hold an electrician’s license. Employees who wire Class 2 or Class 3 signaling circuits (power-limited) for an alarm and communications company are covered by item 9. These are the low-energy circuits that the National Electrical Code sets, and they deliver power to keypads, card readers, door contacts and most electric strikes. The item includes power-limited fire protective signaling circuits as well.

There is a requirement, though. A person qualified in the work must design it, oversee it or install it.

The exemption ends where power-limited wiring ends. Adding a 120-volt circuit for a door controller, gate operator or power supply is regular electrical work. That portion calls for a licensed electrical contractor or a licensed electrician.

The Commission requires a $10,000 undertaking from an electrical contractor or Class B electrician before a license is issued. They also have to hold liability insurance that covers no less than $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 total.

• Apprentice route: 4 years and 8,000 hours with a contractor, then you sit for the journeyman exam.
• Journeyman path: another 2 years and 4,000 hours, including 2,000 in commercial work, before the contractor exam.
• To renew: 16 hours of continuing education, and at least 8 of those hours must cover the code.

The Electrical Commission will check a license if you ask. Its complaints and verification page gives the phone number 605.773.3573 and an email contact. Request the license number of the person handling the power side.

If a firm only does low-voltage work, there is no state alarm license for you to verify. Instead, ask the company who designs and oversees its jobs, and reach out to your city to see if a local business license is needed.

Permits arriving on or after November 12, 2024 get inspected by the Electrical Commission against the 2023 National Electrical Code.

Under chapter 11-10, any local non‑residential building ordinance must meet the 2024 International Building Code. In a town or county with no such ordinance, the same 2024 code governs the design of any building started after July 1, 2026. The rules that say how a locked exit must open during an emergency are in the IBC.

It is not required when an alarm and communications company employee wires the power-limited Class 2 or Class 3 circuits. The line-voltage feed that powers the equipment is separate work, and it calls for a license.