This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with the electrical visit you can finish under the license you hold: inlets and interlocks, if that is the work you have already done, or full standby installs if you can pull the permit and warrant the unit. Add the fuel line only when that credential is real, yours or a named partner's. The search piles up when an outage is in the forecast. In a cold market that is often November into February. In Florida, Texas, and along the Gulf it is hurricane season and the weeks after a storm. The page has to be up before that week. Say, in one line, the brands you will service and the ones you will not.
The state guides under this page cover winter outages and hurricane or Gulf outage markets, including Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii. Desert metros and California are not in this set. Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego stay off. 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 Chicago, IL, Boston, MA, Minneapolis, MN, Detroit, MI.
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 generators, so a winter outage call does not land on an electrician who only changes devices. Search the license board and the state filing office together. The company name on the electrical permit has to match the name on the truck. Spell it the way you will answer the phone when the power is out.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
The electrical license is usually held by a person who qualifies the company. A sole proprietorship works when that person is you. An LLC works when the board lets the company hold the registration with you as qualifier. Read the electrical section before you file. The fuel-line credential, if it is separate, has its own qualifier rules. An LLC does not let an unlicensed owner pull either permit. This page is not legal advice.
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.
Few states print a license called generator installer. The inlet, the transfer switch, and the conductors are electrical work. Plan on the state electrical license, an exam, and a local electrical permit. The fuel line is often a second credential: plumbing, gas fitting, or a mechanical classification. Read that board before you advertise the pipe. If a licensed gas fitter will pull that permit with you, say their role on the quote. Do not imply you hold a license you do not. Cities commonly want a site plan, a load calculation, the transfer-switch spec, and an inspection that runs the unit. Some add a zoning rule for the pad, the setback, and the noise. Ask the building department. A manufacturer dealer agreement is a private contract with that company. It is not a government license, and nothing on this site enrolls you in one.
Read the electrical board for the license and who may pull a permit. Read the fuel-piping board as a separate question. Ask the city about the electrical permit, the gas permit, the pad, and the setback. A dealer badge is not either license.
05Insure the work
General liability that understands electrical work and, if it is true, fuel piping. Tell the insurer you set generators, transfer switches, and pads. A damaged service, a gas leak, and a unit that floods a yard are the claims to describe. Commercial auto for the van. Workers' compensation before a helper is in a panel or a trench. 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 the city you will serve.
A standby install pays in a large check, and the equipment house wants their share the same month. Open the business account before you take a deposit. The smaller inlet jobs belong in that account too, or the big checks will hide whether the service work pays. Set tax money aside the day a standby job clears. Permit fees should not land on a personal card.
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
Treat these as typical planning estimates, not a price list and not a survey. A portable inlet and interlock is an electrical visit, often discussed from the high hundreds into a couple of thousand dollars once the permit is in the number. A whole-home standby unit, with a pad, an automatic transfer switch, and a fuel line, is often discussed in the thousands, commonly a wide band from several thousand dollars into the mid-teens, depending on kilowatts and how far the pipe has to run. Do not publish one number for both. Write three numbers from your own hours and your supplier's quote: the inlet, the standby install you will permit, and the fuel job you refer.
Housing age, the length of the gas run, and a setback that forces a longer trench move the day more than a national per-kilowatt figure. A price that assumes a clear suburban side yard will lose money on a tight city lot. Adjust after you have permitted ten real jobs. Say on the quote which license pulls which permit, and that the number is a starting point until the load calculation is done.
08Get found, then create the free site
Claim the Google Business Profile before the outage season you actually have, with the electrical license on it and a service area made of towns where you already pull permits. That season is ice and wind in a cold market, and hurricane season on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Photos of pads and transfer switches you have installed beat a stock generator in a field. Ask reviewers to name the neighborhood and whether the job was an inlet or a standby unit. The website splits those offers, says the fuel line is its own credential, and asks what fuel is already at the house. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps the requests. It does not pull the permit or sign a dealer agreement.
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.
Do I need an LLC to start a generator installation business?
The electrical license is usually held by a person who qualifies the company. A sole proprietorship works when that person is you. An LLC works when the board lets the company hold the registration with you as qualifier. Read the electrical section before you file. The fuel-line credential, if it is separate, has its own qualifier rules. An LLC does not let an unlicensed owner pull either permit. This page is not legal advice. 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 generator installer need a state license?
Few states print a license called generator installer. The inlet, the transfer switch, and the conductors are electrical work. Plan on the state electrical license, an exam, and a local electrical permit. The fuel line is often a second credential: plumbing, gas fitting, or a mechanical classification. Read that board before you advertise the pipe. If a licensed gas fitter will pull that permit with you, say their role on the quote. Do not imply you hold a license you do not. Cities commonly want a site plan, a load calculation, the transfer-switch spec, and an inspection that runs the unit. Some add a zoning rule for the pad, the setback, and the noise. Ask the building department. A manufacturer dealer agreement is a private contract with that company. It is not a government license, and nothing on this site enrolls you in one.
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 generator installation site include?
A public page for your generator installation 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.
Why is there a generator guide for Florida but not for Phoenix?
Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii are in this set because hurricanes and long outages are a normal reason to install a standby generator. Winter ice markets stay in as well. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and the California metros are left off. Desert heat and wildfire shutoffs are real, and they are a different page from the one this set describes.
