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 repair and maintenance if that is the skill, and add replacement when you can pull the permit and warrant the install. Say which fuels and which brands you will not touch. A page that only sells new systems attracts an argument you may not want yet. In Ohio the first customers are in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland. Heating carries the winter and cooling is no longer optional in a remodel. Heating carries the winter and cooling is no longer optional in a remodel. No-heat is the urgent call.
Ohio has humid summers, cold winters, and lake-effect snow in the north. Basements are common. Cincinnati's Kentucky side and every other river crossing is a different license. City permits sit on top of the state rule.
We could not confirm a direct filing address for Ohio. Open the SBA: state registration lookup and choose this state. We do not have a filing fee for Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. 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 progressUse a name you can say when someone is standing in a hot hallway. Search the license board and the state filing office together. The qualifier's name and the company name both end up on the record in many states. Match them on the van.
Search that name at the SBA: state registration lookup before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Cincinnati.
HVAC licenses are 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 mechanical or air-conditioning section, not a general contractor page from another trade. Form the company before the EIN if you are filing an LLC. The structure does not let you sell replacements without the license.
We do not have a filing fee for Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. 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 Ohio licensing page we could verify is the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
This board covers specific construction trades, not every lawn or cleaning business. Check the city for the rest.
Read the state mechanical or air-conditioning license, including who may handle refrigerant, and the city rule for a change-out. A maintenance visit and a system replacement are not the same credential question.
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 that understands condensers, furnaces, and attic work. Ask about refrigerant and about damage from a condensate leak, which customers often think is a roof. Commercial auto for the van. Workers' compensation before a helper is in an attic in summer. Have the certificate ready for property managers.
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 Ohio.
Equipment purchases and customer deposits need a business account before the first change-out. A maintenance plan's small monthly payments are easy to lose in a personal account. Deposit them, and set tax money aside when a replacement 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.
Lead with diagnosis. A no-cool call is a diagnostic price plus the repair, not an automatic system quote. Write the diagnostic price down, including whether it is waived if they buy the repair.
Replacement prices depend on the equipment location and the ductwork, which you cannot see from a national average. Say that you quote replacement after the diagnostic. Publish the hours you answer when the house is unsafe to stay in.
Cincinnati: humid summers, cold winters, freeze, and river-valley weather that keeps moisture on shaded walls No-cool or no-heat diagnosis, the repair, and a replacement only after you have seen the equipment. In Cincinnati, OH, list Hyde Park and West Chester together only if one crew really covers both. Columbus: humid summers, cold winters, freeze, and ice that shows up often enough to matter for roofs and lines No-cool or no-heat diagnosis, the repair, and a replacement only after you have seen the equipment. In Columbus, OH, list German Village and Westerville together only if one crew really covers both. Cleveland: lake-effect snow, hard winters, humid summers, and freeze that lasts long enough to run the heating season No-cool or no-heat diagnosis, the repair, and a replacement only after you have seen the equipment. In Cleveland, OH, list Ohio City and Parma together only if one crew really covers both.
The Google Business Profile should say repair and replacement as separate services, and it should match the season people are actually in. Photos of equipment in local attics, closets, or roofs beat a stock condenser. The website form asks for the symptom and whether anyone in the house is at risk from the temperature. ServiceBase keeps those requests in a list you can work from the driveway.
In Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, 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 Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
The Ohio licensing page we could verify is the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. This board covers specific construction trades, not every lawn or cleaning business. Check the city for the rest.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland. Close-in customers want a crew that can handle an old house. 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.
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