Step by step. Official links included.
This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with troubleshooting and small circuits if that is the work you have already done under someone else's license. Add panel changes when you can pull the permit in your own name. Say, in one line, whether you do solar or utility-side work. The calls you decline are part of the business. In Texas the first customers are in Austin, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, San Antonio, McAllen–Edinburg. Austin electrical work is panel upgrades in older central houses and new circuits in slabs that were not built for an EV, an ADU, or a hotter attic. Houston electrical calls follow storms and humidity. Dallas–Fort Worth electrical work splits between older Fort Worth and Oak Cliff houses and the new panels in Frisco and Plano that are already full of smart gear. San Antonio electrical work is attic heat, older houses near King William and Alamo Heights, and newer load in Stone Oak and Converse. Valley electrical work is heat load.
Texas is several markets: Gulf humidity, north-Texas hail, a short freeze that still breaks pipes, and a Valley that almost never freezes. The license depends on the trade. City permits sit on top. Do not use one city page for the whole state.
File an LLC with the Texas Secretary of State business filings. The Form 205 instructions linked from the Texas Secretary of State list the certificate-of-formation filing fee. When those instructions were read for this site, the fee was $300. The same office says it cannot tell you which entity to choose. Open the instructions and confirm the number before you pay. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
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The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Create a free account to track your progressPut your last name or a plain word in the name, and skip 'solutions.' Customers search the failure, then check the license. The company name has to match the name on the license application and the name on the truck, or the careful customer will think you are hiding a subcontractor.
Search that name at the Texas Secretary of State business filings before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Austin.
Electrical work is a licensed trade in most states, and the license is often held by a person, not by the LLC. You can be a sole proprietor under that license, or you can form an LLC and list the licensed qualifier the board requires. Read the board's page for 'qualifier,' 'responsible managing employee,' or the local equivalent before you file. An LLC does not let an unlicensed owner pull permits. If the application is still pending, do not advertise electrical work the board says requires the license.
The Form 205 instructions linked from the Texas Secretary of State list the certificate-of-formation filing fee. When those instructions were read for this site, the fee was $300. The same office says it cannot tell you which entity to choose. Open the instructions and confirm the number before you pay. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
The Texas licensing page we could verify is the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
TDLR licenses some trades, including electricians and air-conditioning contractors. Its program list does not include a general landscaper license. Irrigation and pesticide work have their own offices below. Cities can still require a registration.
Treat the electrical license and the permit as two steps. Read the state board for the exam and the qualifier, then the city permit counter for panel changes, chargers, and new circuits. Put the license number where a customer can check it.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses electricians. Read that program for the exam and the company registration. A city permit is a second step for panels, chargers, and new circuits. The landscaping and irrigation links on the state list are for other trades.
A city or county can require its own registration even when the state page is quiet. The city guides name the local permit counter. Call that office and write down what they say. Do not pay a third party that promises a license until you have read the official page.
General liability with the electrical classification the insurer understands, not a generic handyman policy. Ask whether completed operations are included. Commercial auto for the van. Workers' compensation before a helper is on a ladder or in an attic. A property manager will ask for the certificate and the license number in the same email.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in Texas.
Keep permit fees, material houses, and customer deposits in the business account. A supply house will want a card or a check that matches the company name. Set tax money aside on the day you deposit a panel job, because those invoices are lumpy and the tax is not.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
Separate a service call from a panel change. The service call covers diagnosis and a small repair. The panel, the charger, and the new circuit are quoted after you have seen the equipment, with the permit named in the quote. Write the service-call price down. Improvising it on the porch trains customers to argue.
Do not publish a statewide 'from' price for a panel. Housing age changes the job. Say that you diagnose first and that the permit is part of the work when the city requires one.
Austin: long summers that sit above 100°F, flash floods on dry ground, and a short cold snap that still breaks pipes Panel upgrades, EV chargers, troubleshooting partial power, and permitted circuits for ADUs and attic equipment. Houston: Gulf humidity, hurricane season, and street flooding that reaches houses the maps called safe Generator inlets, panel upgrades, storm-damage troubleshooting, and rewires in older houses inside the loop. Dallas–Fort Worth: hail season, tornado warnings, 100°F summers, and the occasional ice storm Panel upgrades, EV chargers, generator inlets, and troubleshooting in the cities you name. San Antonio: long heat, limestone and clay, sudden rain, and watering rules tied to the Edwards Aquifer Panel upgrades, EV chargers, attic-circuit troubleshooting, and permitted work on a stated map. McAllen–Edinburg: extreme heat, a mild winter, irrigation culture, and tropical wind and rain Panel upgrades for AC load, generator inlets, troubleshooting, and a Valley town list.
The Google Business Profile should list the license and the cities where you pull permits. Photos of panels you have opened beat a stock breaker. The website names the failures you want: partial power, a warm panel, an EV charger, a generator inlet. The quote form asks what stopped working. ServiceBase keeps those requests in one list so a Sunday-night charger question is not stuck in a text thread.
In Austin, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, San Antonio, McAllen–Edinburg, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
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Signup asks for an email and a password. No card. This guide opens the next step with the trade filled in. You can change every line after.
The Form 205 instructions linked from the Texas Secretary of State list the certificate-of-formation filing fee. When those instructions were read for this site, the fee was $300. The same office says it cannot tell you which entity to choose. Open the instructions and confirm the number before you pay. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
The Texas licensing page we could verify is the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. TDLR licenses some trades, including electricians and air-conditioning contractors. Its program list does not include a general landscaper license. Irrigation and pesticide work have their own offices below. Cities can still require a registration.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Austin, Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, San Antonio, McAllen–Edinburg. Owners compare a local page with a Google profile and a marketplace lead. A statewide claim is a weak service area.
Yes. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on the EIN step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero.
All electrical business steps · Electrical website guide
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