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.
If you are new, start with inspections and leak repairs you can warrant, and partner or refer the replacement until the license and the crew are ready. Say that on the page. Homeowners can tell when a repair company is quietly selling a roof they cannot build. In Pennsylvania the first customers are in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. Philadelphia roofing is rowhouse flat roofs as much as it is shingles. Older roofs, flat sections on rowhouses, and a winter that includes ice.
Pennsylvania winters are cold, summers are humid, and Philadelphia's rowhouses are not a Pittsburgh hill house or a suburban basement. The state license and the city permit are separate. Ice and old masonry are ordinary.
File an LLC with the Pennsylvania Department of State. We do not have a filing fee for Pennsylvania that we are willing to print. The Pennsylvania Department of State 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 progressUse a name that can sit on a proposal without sounding like a storm chaser. Search the state records. If you will pull permits, the company name on the permit should match the name on the truck. Out-of-town crews have trained homeowners to distrust a vague name and a rented number.
Search that name at the Pennsylvania Department of State before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Philadelphia.
Roof replacement is construction, and many owners form an LLC before the first full roof because the contract size is larger than a service call. A sole proprietorship is still legal in a lot of states for repair work. Read the license board before you pick, because some boards want the license in a company name with a qualifier. The formation fee is small next to a roof, and it is still not legal advice. Ask someone who carries malpractice insurance if the contract is going to be your own wording.
We do not have a filing fee for Pennsylvania that we are willing to print. The Pennsylvania Department of State 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 Pennsylvania licensing page we could verify is the Pennsylvania home improvement contractor registration. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
Home improvement registration is not a license for every trade. Read the page, then check the city.
Read the contractor board for a roofing classification and any dollar threshold. A reroof often needs a city permit on top of that license. A small leak repair may not use the same rule. Confirm both before you print proposals.
Read the Pennsylvania home-improvement contractor registration for roofing, including any dollar threshold on that page. Philadelphia flat roofs also go through L&I. The registration is not a permit. Get both if the pages say so.
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 at a limit a homeowner's insurer will accept, plus coverage for work at height. Ask about tools and a roof left open overnight. Commercial auto for the truck and the dump trailer. Workers' compensation before anyone is on a roof with you. A certificate, the license number, and a local phone number are the three things a careful customer asks for after a hailstorm.
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 Pennsylvania.
Roofing deposits and material bills should not run through a personal account. Open the business account before you take a deposit. Write on the invoice when the deposit is due and what it buys. Keep tax money out of the operating balance on the day a large job pays, because the material house will want their share the same week.
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 repairs and replacements as different offers. A repair quote says what you will patch and what you will not warrant. A replacement quote names the roof type, the layers you will remove, and the permit. Take photos before you talk about a new roof.
Material and dump fees move. Build the quote from those costs plus crew days, not from a per-square number you remembered from another state. Tile, shingle, flat, and metal do not share a price.
Philadelphia: cold winters, humid summers, ice, and nor'easters that test flat roofs and old masonry Flat-roof leaks, flashing at party walls, and pitched replacements in the neighborhoods you can legally and physically stage. Pittsburgh: cold snowy winters, humid summers, hills, and freeze-thaw that works on old roofs and masonry Leak inspections, repairs, and replacements as different scopes. In Pittsburgh, PA, list Lawrenceville and Cranberry together only if one crew really covers both.
The Google Business Profile needs a local service area and photos of roofs in that climate. After a storm, the profile and the website are how a homeowner tells you from a crew that arrived that week. Ask reviewers to name the neighborhood and whether you repaired a leak or replaced the roof. The ServiceBase page takes the request, including whether water is coming in now, and keeps it off a shared lead form.
In Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 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 Pennsylvania that we are willing to print. The Pennsylvania Department of State publishes it. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
The Pennsylvania licensing page we could verify is the Pennsylvania home improvement contractor registration. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. Home improvement registration is not a license for every trade. Read the page, then check the city.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. Rowhouse owners hire a crew that understands shared walls, roof access, and a street with nowhere to stage a dumpster. 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 roofing business steps · Roofing website guide
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