This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with springs, cables, and openers if that is the skill you have. Add door sales when you can order, permit if required, and warranty the install. Say you do not free a wound spring for a customer to 'just hold.'
The state guides under this page cover all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each one names the filing office and the licensing board we could verify, and it says so when we could not confirm a direct address. City guides cover the metros ServiceBase writes about for this trade, including Austin, TX, Houston, TX, Dallas–Fort Worth, TX, Las Vegas, NV.
High-demand trades with thin local websites are the ones to read first: chimney sweeps and standby generator installation in cold markets, snow removal, and Christmas light installation from November through January, then landscaping, electrical, cleaning, and roofing, in the cities linked below. The steps are the same shape for every trade. The license and the first job are not.
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.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
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.
Use a name that says garage doors, so a stranded driver can tell you from a general contractor. Search the state records. The name on the invoice should match the name on the spring you warranty. Keep it short enough for a voicemail.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
A sole proprietorship is a common start for a one-truck door company. An LLC makes sense before you sell full door replacements and take deposits. The formation does not decide the license. Read the contractor board for a door classification. Some states treat garage-door installation as a contractor trade and treat a spring repair as service. Read the page. Ask an accountant once deposits are large enough to matter.
Each state guide links the filing office. Where we could verify an LLC fee from an official page, that guide prints the fee and the source. Everywhere else, the fee stays on the state's site.
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.
Springs and openers may not have a license of their own. Installation of a new door sometimes falls under a contractor classification or a local registration. Read the board's list for 'garage door,' 'door,' or a general contractor threshold that a full replacement would cross. A city registration can apply either way. Tell customers not to release a wound spring. That is safety, and it is also why the job is skilled work rather than a hardware-store errand.
Look on the contractor board for a garage-door or installation classification, and for a dollar threshold a new door would cross. Spring repair may not be listed. Check the city registration too. Do not guess that 'no line on the page' means no rule.
05Insure the work
General liability that you have described as garage-door work, including springs. Those injuries are serious. Commercial auto for the truck. Workers' compensation before a second person is on a ladder with a spring. A new-door deposit should not be taken until the certificate and the license question are settled.
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 the city you will serve.
Parts and door deposits go in a business account. A spring repair is a small ticket. A new door is not. Keep those deposits identifiable so a cancelled order is refundable without a scramble through a personal account. Set tax money aside when a door job pays.
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.
07Price the real visit
Write three prices: a spring or cable repair, an opener repair, and a new door. The first two are often same-day. The door is an estimate, an HOA approval in some suburbs, and a lead time. Say which is which.
A trapped car is a different schedule from a dented panel. Put that question on the form so you do not price them as the same visit. Include the trip in the repair price if you do not want to argue about a dispatch fee.
08Get found, then create the free site
Google Business Profile aimed at the neighborhoods that have driveways, not a downtown of street parking. Photos of doors you have hung in local subdivisions. Reviews that say spring, opener, or new door, and the area. The website separates those three and asks whether a car is trapped. ServiceBase files the request.
In your first city, 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.
A sole proprietorship is a common start for a one-truck door company. An LLC makes sense before you sell full door replacements and take deposits. The formation does not decide the license. Read the contractor board for a door classification. Some states treat garage-door installation as a contractor trade and treat a spring repair as service. Read the page. Ask an accountant once deposits are large enough to matter. The SBA page linked in the steps explains the structures in general. A lawyer or an accountant can apply them to you. This guide cannot.
Does a garage door need a state license?
Springs and openers may not have a license of their own. Installation of a new door sometimes falls under a contractor classification or a local registration. Read the board's list for 'garage door,' 'door,' or a general contractor threshold that a full replacement would cross. A city registration can apply either way. Tell customers not to release a wound spring. That is safety, and it is also why the job is skilled work rather than a hardware-store errand.
Is an EIN free?
Yes. The IRS issues an employer identification number at no charge and says you never have to pay a fee for one. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on that step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional, and the IRS fee is still zero.
What does the free garage door site include?
A public page for your garage door business and city, and a list of the quote requests that come from that page. No card. It does not form the company, get the EIN, buy insurance, or replace a license. The website guide for this trade is separate: it is about what the page should say once the company is real.
