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.
Take punch lists you can finish in one visit. Property managers and new homeowners are the first customers if you show up when you said you would. Leave panels, gas, and roofs to the people who hold those licenses. In District of Columbia the first customers are in Washington. Old trim, drywall, and a list that mixes a legal handyman task with a licensed one.
The District is rowhouses, condos, humid summers, and cold winters. A DC registration does not license work in Maryland or Virginia. Name the jurisdiction. Flat roofs, stacks, and parking belong in the estimate.
File an LLC with the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. We do not have a filing fee for District of Columbia that we are willing to print. The DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection 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 progressYour own name works. So does a plain two-word name. Search the city and the state. The fear customers have is that a handyman will start a job that needed a licensed trade. A clear name and a clear list of jobs reduce that fear. Use the same name on the text thread and the invoice.
Search that name at the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Washington.
Most handyman businesses start as a sole proprietorship. An LLC is reasonable once you are in other people's houses every day and want the bank account and the insurance in a company name. It does not expand the list of jobs you may legally do. If a state sets a dollar cap on unlicensed work, read the current cap on the official page. Do not rely on a number from a forum.
We do not have a filing fee for District of Columbia that we are willing to print. The DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection 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 District of Columbia licensing page we could verify is the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
The same department handles business registration and many occupational licenses. Read the page for your trade.
Read any handyman or small-job exemption on the contractor board, including the dollar cap and the trades it excludes. Then get the city business license. Refer panel, gas, sewer, and roof work unless you hold that license.
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 you drill into someone's wall. Tell the insurer you are a handyman and name the jobs, so a claim is not denied for 'contractor work' you did not disclose. Commercial auto if the truck is the business. Workers' compensation if anyone helps, even occasionally. A property manager will ask for the certificate before the first punch list.
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 District of Columbia.
Small jobs paid in cash and checks disappear in a personal account. Deposit them into a business checking account and write the address on the deposit note. Set tax money aside weekly. The amounts feel too small to matter, which is why they become a tax problem.
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 from a short list: a minimum visit, an hourly rate after that, and a flat price for the jobs you repeat, such as a drywall patch or a door that sticks. Send the price before you load the truck when the list is clear.
Occupied houses take longer than empty ones. Stairs and parking change the hour. Say so. Decline the item on the list that belongs to a licensed trade, and price the rest.
Washington: humid summers, cold winters, nor'easters, and freeze-thaw that opens brick, flat roofs, and old masonry Drywall, doors, mounts, and the licensed trades you refer. In Washington, DC, list Capitol Hill and Silver Spring together only if one crew really covers both.
Google Business Profile with photos of finished small repairs in real rooms. Reviews should mention the task and the neighborhood. The website is a list of jobs you like and a sentence on what you refer out. The form lets them send several items. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps the list.
In Washington, 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 District of Columbia that we are willing to print. The DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
The District of Columbia licensing page we could verify is the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. The same department handles business registration and many occupational licenses. Read the page for your trade.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Washington. Owners, condo boards, and property managers hire differently. 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 handyman business steps · Handyman website guide
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