This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Book the kind of job you can prep well with the tools you have. Interiors in occupied houses are a different calendar from empty move-outs and from exteriors. Pick one for the first month and write the other as a waitlist.
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.
Choose a name that fits on a proposal and a shirt. Search the state and the city. Interior and exterior can live under one name if you are honest about which one you are booking this month. The voicemail should say it.
02Form an LLC or stay a sole proprietor
Painters often start as sole proprietors and form an LLC when the jobs get larger than a few rooms or when a general contractor wants a company on the certificate. Either is a real start. The LLC filing does not decide whether a city wants a home-improvement registration. Read that separately. Ask an accountant if you are hiring painters as employees and still thinking of them as subcontractors.
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.
Some states put painting under a home-improvement or contractor registration, and some leave ordinary painting to the city. Exterior work that includes carpentry, stucco, or roof-edge repairs can cross into a classification a painting license does not cover. Read the board's list. If you are under a dollar threshold the board publishes, read the current number on that page rather than a blog. Lead-safe rules apply in older housing. The federal page is the EPA's, and the state may add its own.
Check the contractor or home-improvement board for painting, and read any project-cost threshold on that site. Exterior repairs that go past paint can be a different license. Ask the city about a business license either way.
05Insure the work
General liability for overspray, floors, and a ladder falling the wrong way. If you spray, say so to the insurer. Commercial auto when the van carries ladders and paint as the business. Workers' compensation before a second painter is on a ladder. A certificate is a normal request from a contractor who hired you for the interior.
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.
Deposits on paint and the final check should hit a business account. Material stores will put the company name on the receipt if the card matches. Keep the deposit schedule on the proposal so you are not funding a whole interior 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
Price interior and exterior separately. Rooms or elevation, occupied or empty, and what prep includes: caulk, patch, sand, primer. Color advice is optional. Prep is the job. Cabinets are their own price.
Climate decides when exterior paint will fail and when you can apply it. Build dry time into the schedule. Do not quote a whole exterior from photos without asking about the surface: stucco, wood, brick, or previously painted siding.
08Get found, then create the free site
Google Business Profile with photos of your own edges and the neighborhoods you work. Reviews should say interior or exterior and the area. The website splits those services and the form asks for rooms or elevation and timing. ServiceBase turns that into a public page and a list of requests.
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.
Painters often start as sole proprietors and form an LLC when the jobs get larger than a few rooms or when a general contractor wants a company on the certificate. Either is a real start. The LLC filing does not decide whether a city wants a home-improvement registration. Read that separately. Ask an accountant if you are hiring painters as employees and still thinking of them as subcontractors. 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 painter need a state license?
Some states put painting under a home-improvement or contractor registration, and some leave ordinary painting to the city. Exterior work that includes carpentry, stucco, or roof-edge repairs can cross into a classification a painting license does not cover. Read the board's list. If you are under a dollar threshold the board publishes, read the current number on that page rather than a blog. Lead-safe rules apply in older housing. The federal page is the EPA's, and the state may add its own.
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 painter site include?
A public page for your painter 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.
