Licences & Insurance
A plumbing licence isn’t a barber licence.
Licensing is set state by state and often city by city. Tell us your trade and your state and we set out what it takes to work legally — the licence, any bond, and the cover a general contractor will ask to see — each one with the authority that issues it, so you can prove it.
Type the job, not the job title — “backflow test”, “bed bugs”, “microblading”.
Free. Requirements research for your trade and state, with the issuing authority for every item — not legal advice.
Insurance & bonding
The certificate they ask for before you set foot on site.
A bond is not insurance, and a personal car policy is not commercial auto. Getting that wrong is what turns one bad afternoon into a business-ending bill. Here is what each one actually does.
General liability
Covers damage or injury you cause on a customer’s property. This is the one a general contractor or commercial client asks to see before letting you start.
Workers’ compensation
Covers injury to your employees. Most states require it the moment you hire anyone — in several, that includes your first part-timer.
Commercial auto
Your personal car policy usually will NOT pay out on a work vehicle or a work trip. This is a common and expensive surprise.
Tools & equipment
Covers your tools if they are stolen from a van or a site. Trade tools are frequently excluded from ordinary policies.
Surety bond
Not insurance — a guarantee to the customer that you will finish the job. Many states require one to hold a contractor licence at all.
Which of these apply to you depends on your trade, whether you have employees and whether you drive to jobs. Run the lookup above and it answers for your situation rather than listing everything.
Licensed is step two. Step one is being a business.
Most licence and bond applications want an entity and an EIN before they will take you seriously. We file the LLC with your state, get the EIN, and hand you the paperwork a bank, a supplier and a commercial client will ask for.