Start a handyman and furniture assembly service

  1. Look up your state’s handyman exemption ceiling
    1 hour

    This step produces the one-page exemption note your whole service lives inside — the ceiling that separates legal handyman work from work that needs a contractor’s licence. The trick: there is no national rule. Some states licence even small jobs, some have no state licence at all, and the threshold is usually counted per job or per project — so a single figure without its wording is not an answer.

    On your state’s contractor licensing board site — reach it through the directory below — search for “handyman exemption”, “small jobs exemption” or “minor home repair”, then:

    • Record the dollar ceiling per job and how it is counted: per job, per project or per year.
    • Record the excluded trades — electrical, plumbing, HVAC, structural and roofing work top most lists.
    • Copy the URL and the date you read it underneath the figure.
    • If the page is silent, call the licensing board and ask: “Does a handyman service whose jobs stay under the threshold need a contractor’s licence, and which trades are excluded?”
    • If your state has no contractor licence at all, ask your county or city licensing office the same question — the rule moves down, it does not disappear.