work-around to avoid workers comp on myself

[Dave Silva]

I'm looking at a renovation project that I would live in for a couple years. The bank requires a licensed contractor to do the work but I can work under him for whatever I want to do myself.  The guy I have in mind says he would need  19% for workers comp (we're in North Carolina) .   I have excellent health care from my day job so I really don't want to throw that money away.   I'll probably just work on some interior paining and trim.

I've researched in on the NC website. It looks like he has to show workers comp is paid for all his workers and subs.

We discussed some work-abounds, like  me marking up the materials I buy and only earning min wage for the labor.  But I was hoping there might be a better solution.

any ideas?