Searching to turn out to be a handyman in Florida? That&rsquos a good idea thinking of the growth of the market over the last a few years&mdashand it&rsquos anticipated to expand another two.four% in 2022.
In accordance to a study by OnePoll, 41% of millennials contact a specialist handyman rather of attempting to repair a problem on their personal, and much less than twenty five% of homeowners would phone by themselves excellent at Do-it-yourself capabilities. With this escalating reliance on outsourcing home jobs, upkeep, and repairs, there&rsquos never been a superior time to become a handyman.
Fortuitously, finding accredited as a handyman in Florida is comparatively uncomplicated. You may not even want a Florida handyman license to start your organization.
Do you require a license to be a handyman in Florida?
No, you don&rsquot need to have a license to be a general handyman in Florida. In simple fact, there&rsquos technically no &ldquohandyman license&rdquo in Florida. You don&rsquot require any authorization or documentation if you present unregulated services.
On the other hand, you will need a contractor&rsquos license if you system to supply regulated products and services like plumbing, design, and electrical function.
Other states need licenses for even standard work opportunities, and some restrict the sum of funds you can make for every challenge without the need of a license. That&rsquos not the case in Florida.
This makes it straightforward and quick for new and knowledgeable handymen alike to open up up store in Florida.
Right here&rsquos what you can do as a handyman in Florida with no a license. Take note that you can carry out a couple of constrained electrical and plumbing jobs without having a license:
- Driveway repair: Patch cracks and fill holes
- Paint tasks: Interior and exterior painting and caulking
- Tile perform: Clean and repair service tiles
- Lawn upkeep: Trim trees and make and mend fences
- Pressure washing: Clean surfaces with a force washer
- Gutter routine maintenance: Clean and maintenance gutters
- Flooring: Install carpet, wood, vinyl, laminate, or tile flooring
- Doorway jobs: Replace and repair service interior doorways and trims
- Cabinets and countertops: Install and mend cupboards and counter tops
- Electrical perform: Replace light-weight bulbs with equivalent variety and wattage, exchange fuses of the same dimension
- Plumbing perform: Repair window A/C units, change exhaust vent pipes for dryers, exchange disposable air filters, unclog drains
Want even a lot more services thoughts? Check out this checklist of handyman companies you can supply.
If you&rsquore searching to grow your companies even extra, right here are the varieties of get the job done you&rsquoll have to have a contractor&rsquos license to perform in Florida:
- Swimming swimming pools: Design, excavation, decking, and piping
- Home windows: Install and switch home windows
- Electrical function: Install, repair, alter, and style and design wiring for outlets, fixtures, and appliances
- Plumbing operate: Install new pipes and incredibly hot h2o heaters, make septic repairs
- Mildew elimination: Assess, take away, and remediate mould
- Development: Build houses, sheds, and insert-ons (features demolition)
Check out the state&rsquos full checklist of professions and solutions that require a contractor&rsquos license.
How do I get a handyman license in Florida?
Want to complete specialized work outside of Florida&rsquos handyman limits? First, you&rsquoll require to safe the right basic contractor license. There are two unique kinds of licenses in Florida:
- Accredited contractor license: Valid all through Florida
- Registered contractor license: Limited to local jurisdictions in Florida
Which license do you need? It relies upon on wherever you&rsquoll be performing
Accredited contractors have handed the state licensing examination and can do the job any place in the point out. Registered contractors haven&rsquot handed the condition test&mdashthey&rsquove just registered a certificate of competency in a unique county or municipality. They can&rsquot perform any controlled work outside of the nearby region where by they&rsquore registered.
Neither is automatically greater than the other. If you anticipate doing the job in the course of the state (or even in several counties or municipalities), it&rsquos a good idea to get a qualified contractor&rsquos license&mdasheven if you don&rsquot want it proper absent. Even so, if you don&rsquot expect to do get the job done outside your existing spot, a registered contractor&rsquos license will go well with you just great.
How to get a contractor&rsquos license:
No matter of which license you opt for, the application course of action is the same:
- Age: Applicants must be eighteen a long time or more mature
- Evaluation: Individuals must pass the state&rsquos certification test
- Knowledge: Applicants ought to have four decades of arms-on experience or a blend of university instruction and practical experience
- Economic: Applicants have to give evidence of monetary security with credit history stories
- Fingerprints: Applicants must post digital fingerprints
- Insurance coverage: Applicants should obtain public legal responsibility and property damage insurance coverage and employees payment insurance (or an exemption from workers payment insurance coverage)
- Charge: Individuals have to fork out the required rate with their application&mdash$245 for certification amongst May possibly one of an EVEN 12 months via August 31 of an ODD yr, and $one hundred forty five for certification amongst September 1 of an ODD calendar year by April 30 of an EVEN calendar year
Submit your general qualified contractor&rsquos license application to the Division of Business and Specialist Regulation. Call the Shopper Contact Center (850-487-1395) for current submission info or mail your application and supporting documentation to:
Office of Organization and Specialist Regulation
2601 Blair Stone Road
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0783
How significantly does it value to get a handyman license in Florida?
According to the State of Florida&rsquos 2022 accredited contractor software, license applicants should pay back $245 for certification involving May one of an EVEN yr through August 31 of an ODD 12 months ($309 for registered contractors) and $one hundred forty five for certification concerning September one of an ODD year as a result of April 30 of an EVEN year ($209 for registered contractors).
These licenses don&rsquot final endlessly, nevertheless. They are only legitimate for two years. Prior to renewing your licenses, you have to have to complete fourteen hrs of continuing instruction and spend particular renewal costs.
Certified contractors have to fork out a $223.25 renewal cost ($92 for registered) if they post just before August 31, 2022. Immediately after that, the selling price jumps to $248.25 ($117 for registered).
Don&rsquot forget about the expense of the state evaluation check. These assessments selection from $135 to $215. The prices of the tests differ for specific trades (pool, plumbing, etcetera.) and count on regardless of whether you just take the test via pc or paper.
Florida handyman license requirements
Though you might not want an official point out license to perform handyman jobs in Florida, you will involve specified abilities and abilities to be successful.
As a handyman, you&rsquore typically a jack-of-all-trades. Consumers will depend on your practical experience and expertise to finish a selection of jobs. Commonly, they want to get the job done with a solitary person they trust to see a undertaking by from begin to finish. They&rsquoll be much less inclined to operate with you if they have to have to employ supplemental handymen to fill in the cracks (so to converse) in the competencies you lack.
Here are a couple basic techniques you&rsquoll require to develop into a profitable handyman in Florida:
- Exterior and inside upkeep
- Doorway installation
- Window repair service
- Flooring set up, upkeep, and repair
- Interior and exterior painting and caulking
- Lights and ceiling supporter set up and servicing
- Fence restore
- Landscaping and garden maintenance
Don&rsquot stress if you don&rsquot have every single skill on this record. It&rsquoll consider time to create your toolkit, and you don&rsquot will need to know almost everything about being a handyman to get started off.
Florida needs all registered and certified contractors to complete fourteen hours of continuing education and learning to renew their licenses. As an unlicensed normal handyman, you may possibly not have the same prerequisites, but it&rsquos not a terrible plan to sign up for an approved study course to understand new expertise and sharpen your expertise.
If you&rsquore managing your own handyman business enterprise (much more on that upcoming), you&rsquoll also have to have a handful of other techniques:
- Bidding and estimating
- Budgeting and finance
- Job management
- Preparing and scheduling
- Penned and verbal communication
- Stock management
- People today administration
Look at out this guidebook to pricing handyman work opportunities.
Necessities for enterprise homeowners

Handymen who very own their personal corporations will have to have to get hold of a business license, coverage, and permits&mdasheven if you&rsquore not a common contractor. Fortunately, you can protected all the needed licenses and insurance policy coverage without the need of too much hassles or service fees.
Florida small business license
Any business that will get paid for function need to sign-up for a business license. A organization license is the condition&rsquos stamp of acceptance that you&rsquore registered and permitted to provide goods and products and services. Thankfully, having a business enterprise license is reasonably speedy and quick.
Utilize in this article to sign-up your business enterprise and attain a small business license. You&rsquoll need to come to a decision no matter if you want to sign-up your enterprise as a sole proprietorship, partnership, confined legal responsibility corporation (LLC), or corporation. Taxes and filing fees for just about every will fluctuate. For illustration, registering an LLC in Florida costs a least of $a hundred twenty five.
Not confident which business entity is ideal for you? We propose achieving out to an lawyer or accountant to determine the appropriate sort for your business. They could be ready to help save you money from filing charges and tax obligations, as perfectly as prevent head aches from other unnecessary needs.
If you have to have enable obtaining a enterprise license, you can also contact your area&rsquos tax collector&rsquos place of work&mdashthey will have a skilled who can walk you phase by step as a result of the procedure.
Insurance and permit desires
You need to have the proper insurance coverage to receive a basic contractor&rsquos license in Florida, but the demands aren&rsquot as distinct if you aren&rsquot certified. Certified or not, you want insurance policy to guard your business and personal assets.
Think about getting the next forms of insurance policies protection just before likely into company as a handyman:
- Employee&rsquos compensation insurance plan: Provides protection for professional medical charges, shed wages, and go away if 1 of your staff members gets wounded on the work. Don&rsquot employ any staff without the need of this insurance policies&mdashespecially with the types of work you&rsquoll carry out as a handyman.
- Common liability insurance policy: Provides coverage in situation you accidentally damage house or a person (other than your staff) receives hurt on the task. Blunders will materialize regardless of your instruction or encounter&mdashkeep this insurance coverage in your again pocket to make certain an incident doesn&rsquot set you out of small business.
- Instruments and devices insurance policy: Provides coverage for destruction or theft to any of your work-relevant gear, this sort of as drills, saws, and all the items in your resource kit. check these guys out can get really pricey&mdashdon&rsquot depart your assets unprotected.
- Industrial vehicle insurance policies: Provides coverage for do the job-related driving incidents that benefits in clinical expenses, repairs, and towing.
As a normal contractor, you should have at least typical liability and worker&rsquos compensation insurance. Utilize for a employee&rsquos payment insurance plan exemption if you don&rsquot use any employees.
Does a handyman license increase your handyman earning probable?
No. Having a handyman or contractor&rsquos license doesn&rsquot affect the common handyman wage, but the decades of experience as a handyman does.
Our comprehensive handyman salary guidebook has up-to-day wage information and facts organized by point out and expertise. This guide, which includes normal annual and hourly wages, can assistance you establish a excellent starting up level for your have costs, or know how much to supply your new handyman if you&rsquore looking to retain the services of.
Long in the past, being a handyman was a subject of obtaining the techniques to execute odd work and/or development tasks and presenting your techniques the place necessary. Right now, on the other hand, each point out has its very own established of legal guidelines concerning the training and license acquisition for an person or business hunting to be in the handyman business enterprise.
By definition, a handyman is a versatile laborer who is expert in a wide variety of repair service, servicing, and development jobs. The essential handyman competencies necessary to turn out to be a professional contractor include things like but are not minimal to:
- Inside and exterior upkeep
- Window and door installation and maintenance
- Roofing installation and restore
- Tile set up and mend
- Portray and drywall
- Rest room and kitchen renovations
- Carpentry operate
- Flooring installation and mend
- Lights and ceiling lover installation
In addition to these skills, the complete bare minimum prerequisite for a handyman is to have suitable expertise, knowledge of industry authorised making techniques, and a shut familiarity with condition and nearby constructing and permit laws. Individuals wishing to perform operate such as electrical, plumbing, landscape style, or HVAC will have to get hold of supplemental certification in every distinctive place.
???? How to Turn out to be a Handyman Contractor?
As a common rule, each handyman ought to go a certain amount of money of training in purchase to become a skilled contractor. Not all states mandate that a handyman license is accompanied by official handyman coaching even so, there are specified rules that need to be deemed for the designation.
The specifications are as follows:
- A higher college diploma or higher
- Basic handyman competencies (outlined higher than)
- Encounter and/or education in the type of services offered
- Passing a handyman capabilities examination
- A handyman contractor license, a business enterprise license, or equally
- Handyman coverage coverage and/or bonding
???? How do I Get hold of a Contractor License in Florida?
In buy to receive a contractor license, you have to fulfill the pursuing prerequisites:
- Ascertain the handyman providers that you would like to offer you and the related license expected.
- Ascertain no matter if you will require a normal handyman license and/or specialty licensing for distinct expert services.
- Get ample professional teaching on your solutions of selection.
- Register for and go a handyman license test with issues pertaining to the constructing industry, handyman treatments, organization, and legislation, etc.
- Carry your evidence of specialist schooling, company license, money statements, and evidence of insurance coverage to the exam.
While the state of Florida does not now have licensing specifications for handymen, it imposes stringent limitations on the operate that an unlicensed unique can execute. Also, a handyman business enterprise is needed to have a State of Florida Contractor certification. Firms with employees have to have a federal Employer Identification Amount (EIN), and those people that sell constructing supplies and other goods have to have a vendor&rsquos permit.
phase 1.
Exploration and prepare your organization. Develop an intensive small business strategy finish with begin-up summary, promoting approaches and economical designs. Obtain out every little thing you can about other handyman products and services or other organizations in your region that focus in equivalent work, such as plumbers, carpenters, and air conditioning or appliance restore services. The National Tiny Business Association and the Florida Business enterprise Portal have sources to help you start out your new business enterprise.
step two.
Apply for a organization license. Get in touch with your town or county govt to get hold of an occupational license unique to your variety of organization. For a handyman enterprise in Florida, you require a general upkeep license.
move three.
Select a lawful construction for your enterprise. Make a decision irrespective of whether you&rsquod like to be a corporation, confined liability enterprise, sole proprietorship or partnership. A company is the most intricate and high priced type, and almost certainly inappropriate for a handyman enterprise. A sole proprietorship is the least difficult enterprise structure to form and function, and may work very best for a modest handyman business enterprise.
move four.
Sign up your enterprise with the Florida Division of Business and Professional Regulation.
step five.
Attain financing. Both equally the Nationwide Tiny Business enterprise Affiliation and the Florida Business enterprise Portal provide start-up funding for new firms. A lender loan is one more possibility.
move 6.
Get legal responsibility insurance coverage in circumstance of home harm or damage to people today whilst your enterprise is doing a position. Liability insurance coverage is high-priced, but you will need at the very least $300,000 truly worth to include probable mishaps and lawsuits. This kind of occurrences have the opportunity to wreck a handyman enterprise that does not have legal responsibility insurance policies.
action 7.
Get tools and machines. A handyman small business demands a ton of equally hand and electrical power equipment, which you can get at both chain or area hardware shops or, for a larger handyman company, from wholesalers.
You will will need hammers, saws, Phillips- and flat-head screwdrivers, wrenches and numerous other equipment, all in different sizes. You'll need drill/motorists, and ladders of various dimensions. You'll require items as small and low-cost as work gloves, nails and screws, and as huge and highly-priced as vans.
step 8.
Employ the service of handymen who have expertise in functioning with applications and equipment in both workplace and residential properties. Complete a background check out on future handymen to make confident you can belief them and depend on them to do the function correctly with no injuring themselves or other folks.
stage nine.
Register your handyman enterprise for point out taxes with the Florida Office of Revenue. Each and every small business ought to sign-up for condition taxes. More hints ought to get a sales tax certificate and get a sales tax quantity.
step 10.
Simply call the U.S. Internal Revenue Provider at 800-829-4933 and use for an Employer Identification Quantity (EIN). The IRS will check with for specific business enterprise and personalized details, this kind of as the variety, title and telephone variety of the business enterprise and your personal identify, deal with and telephone range. Have this data helpful. In buy to file taxes, as expected by regulation, all businesses should have an employer identification quantity.
action 11.
Promote your company widely, such as in newspapers, in magazines and on neighborhood radio stations. Also use fliers, company cards and banners. Advertise your handyman organization on vehicles you use for support phone calls this is an simple and inexpensive way to publicize. Go away your business enterprise cards in outlets and anywhere else folks will let you leave them. Emphasize that your handyman business enterprise can do some of the identical positions that much more hugely paid out professionals do, but at decreased price tag.
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