Guides
Handyman compliance checklist: questions before day one
A handyman compliance checklist grouped by the authority that answers each item, from the licensing board to the IRS, with a dated record to keep for each one.
What to take away
- Work the checklist by authority, not by topic. Each body answers a different question and none of them will answer another one's.
- Every item has the same closing stepwrite down the answer, the date, and who gave it.
- The checklist states what has to be established, because the answers differ by state and often by city. The California example under group 1 shows what a settled answer looks like.
- Do the licensing group before the service menu, the insurance group before the first job, and the employment group before the first helper.
- Put a renewal date on everything with an expiry, in a calendar rather than in your memory.
Group 1: the state licensing board
- Established which categories of work require a license for your intended service list
- Established whether a registration tier exists for work below the license level
- Established what happens to a contract signed for work performed without the required license
- Established whether reciprocity applies if you work near a state line
- Confirmed how a license or registration is renewed, and when
- Written down each answer with a date and the name of the person who gave it
Here is what a settled answer looks like in one state. In California, the Contractors State License Board announced that Assembly Bill 2622, effective January 1, 2025, raised the threshold for work requiring a contractor's license from $500 to $1,000. An unlicensed person may complete small projects up to $1,000 only if they do not hire workers and no building permits are needed; if a project under $1,000 needs workers or permits, a contractor's license in the right classification is required. For a California handyman, that is the answer to the core licensing question: which small jobs can be done without a license and which cannot.
Do this group first. The answers decide which services can go on your menu at all, which is why the package shortlist has to be filtered through them rather than assembled independently.
State Licensing Board Questions
- Which work categories require a license
- Whether a registration tier exists below license
- What happens to unlicensed contracts
- Whether reciprocity applies near state lines
- How and when a license renews
- Record each answer with date and name
Group 2: the local building department
- Established which items on your service list are permitted work in this jurisdiction
- Established who is allowed to apply for those permits
- Established what inspection, if any, follows the work
- Established how the rules differ in any neighboring city or county you will drive to
- Asked specifically about work in spaces the public enters, where accessibility obligations may apply
On that last point, the Department of Justice's ADA guide for small businesses explains what the obligation looks like in principle. Who carries it on a particular job is a question for the department and the property owner, not something to settle on site.
Group 3: registration and tax
- Business structure chosen and registered
- Trading name filed where required
- Local business license or registration obtained for the address you operate from
- Federal and state tax registrations completed for the structure chosen
- Sales tax position on materials established, because it differs by state and by whether you resell
- Renewal dates recorded
The federal registration most new businesses need is an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. You can get it directly from the IRS online, and you never have to pay a fee for an EIN, so a website that charges for one is not the IRS.
Group 4: insurance
- Described the actual work to the broker, including heights, tools, and anything near a system you do not hold a license for
- Read the exclusions rather than the certificate
- Established what the policy says about work performed outside a license or permit
- Established what happens to a claim arising from a subcontractor
- Confirmed whether any customer type you want to serve requires coverage you do not hold
- Diarized the renewal, and a review a month before it
The coverage detail behind these items is set out in what handyman insurance actually covers. The checklist item is simply that it has been asked and recorded.
Insurance Questions for the Broker
- Describe actual work, heights, tools
- Read exclusions, not the certificate
- Policy position on unlicensed or unpermitted work
- Claims arising from a subcontractor
- Coverage required by customer types you want
- Diarize renewal and a month-before review
Group 5: safety
- A written statement of the hazards your work involves, however short
- A standing check of ladders, cords, and access equipment before the working week
- A rule about what nobody attempts alone
- Personal protective equipment present, fitted, and replaced rather than repaired
- Fall protection arrangements for work at height, per OSHA's fall protection guidance for residential construction
- A record that the checks happened
OSHA's recommended practices for a safety and health program describe this as an ongoing program with an owner, rather than as a document. At a small scale it can be a page and a two minute routine, and it still counts.
Group 6: employment
Trigger this group before the first person works for you, not after.
- Established whether the person is an employee or an independent contractor, as a legal determination rather than a preference
- Established the pay, hours, and record obligations that follow
- Established what applies if the person is under eighteen
- Established the position on workers compensation in your state
- Decided who keeps the records and where
- Completed Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for every person hired as an employee
The I-9 is the one federal form in this group with no state variation: all U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for every individual they hire for employment in the United States.
Group 7: the customer-facing documents
- A written scope goes out before work starts, with exclusions on the same page as inclusions
- A change to scope is approved in a form that is not a memory
- Payment terms stated before the job rather than on the invoice
- A refusal list exists, with the licensed trades you refer each category to
The review that keeps this alive
Set one date a year. Walk every group, confirm nothing has expired, and re-ask the two questions most likely to have changed: what the licensing board says about your current service list, and what your policy excludes.
Between reviews, one trigger matters more than the calendar: whenever you add a service, run it through groups one, two, and four before it goes anywhere near a customer. That single habit keeps a compliance position from drifting.
That is why where the licensing line sits is a document you return to, not read once. The list of registrations and licenses your specific business needs is worked out in what licenses a handyman business needs.
Common questions
How long does the whole checklist take?
The parts you control take an afternoon. The parts that depend on a licensing board or a department answering the phone take as long as they take, which is why they go first.
Can I start trading while some items are outstanding?
Groups one and four are not optional before the first paid job. The rest can run in parallel, provided the outstanding items are written down with an owner and a date rather than being quietly forgotten.
What if two authorities give conflicting answers?
Get both in writing, or at least both noted with names and dates, and ask each about the other's answer. Conflicts usually turn out to be two bodies answering two different questions, and the note is what lets you see that.
Do I need all of this as a solo operator with no employees?
Every group except six, and six becomes relevant the first time somebody helps you for a day. The threshold for that is not what you assume it is, which is exactly why it belongs on a checklist.
