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 cleanouts on heights you can do safely with the ladder you own. Add hanger repairs when you understand the limit of a cleaning visit. Leave roof replacement and ice-dam work off the page until a roofer's license, or the board's exemption, says you may do them. In Louisiana the first customers are in New Orleans. Pollen, storms, and heavy rain that overflows a clogged gutter are the year.
Louisiana is extreme humidity, termites, heavy rain, and hurricane season. Raised foundations are common in older New Orleans houses and less common in suburban slabs. Cooling is most of the year. Confirm the state board and the parish.
File an LLC with the Louisiana Secretary of State (geauxBIZ). We do not have a filing fee for Louisiana that we are willing to print. The Louisiana Secretary of State (geauxBIZ) publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
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 progressPick a name that says gutters, so you are not confused with a roofer or a lawn crew. Search the state filing office and the city. Short enough to say from the bottom of a ladder. Use the same spelling on the invoice.
Search that name at the Louisiana Secretary of State (geauxBIZ) before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in New Orleans.
A ladder route often starts as a sole proprietorship. An LLC is reasonable once you hire or once a property manager wants the company on a certificate. The filing does not decide whether a repair crosses into roofing. Read the contractor board before you add that word. This page is not legal advice.
We do not have a filing fee for Louisiana that we are willing to print. The Louisiana Secretary of State (geauxBIZ) publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same 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.
The Louisiana licensing page we could verify is the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
Read this page for your trade. A city or county can require its own registration even when the state does not.
Read the contractor board for roofing or gutter work and any project-cost threshold. Cleaning and replacing are different questions. Get the city business license. State the story limit you will actually work.
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 before the ladder goes up. Tell the insurer you clean gutters and name the height. A fall and a damaged bed are the ordinary claims. Commercial auto for the vehicle. Workers' compensation before anyone else is on a ladder. Keep a certificate you can send the same day.
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 Louisiana.
Route money is a string of small tickets. Put them in a business account the same week and note the address. Dump fees for debris, if you haul it, should come out of that account. Set tax money aside before a busy fall feels like spending money.
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.
Price by the story and the length, not by a single 'whole house' guess. One story, two stories, and a steep roof are different numbers. Hauling the debris is either included or it is a line. Write that down before you are in the driveway.
Pine needles and a dry-climate dust clean are different hours. A price copied from another climate will miss. Adjust after you have timed ten houses, and do not promise the gutters will stay clear through a storm season.
New Orleans: extreme humidity, hurricane season, heavy rain, heat that barely lets up, and termites that are assumed Cleanouts to a stated story limit, and repairs only if you do them. In New Orleans, LA, list Uptown and Kenner together only if one crew really covers both.
Google Business Profile with the cities you climb in and photos of gutters you have actually cleaned. Reviews should name the neighborhood and whether it was a cleanout or a small repair. The website states the story limit and asks for it on the form. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps the requests. It does not make a roof repair legal.
In New Orleans, 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.
We do not have a filing fee for Louisiana that we are willing to print. The Louisiana Secretary of State (geauxBIZ) publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
The Louisiana licensing page we could verify is the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. Read this page for your trade. A city or county can require its own registration even when the state does not.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover New Orleans. After a storm, people hire whoever can name a neighborhood and answer. 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 gutter cleaning business steps · Gutter cleaning website guide
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