Handyman Licenses in California – Everything You Need to Know

I believe it’s been ‘$500.00’ for too many years now. The cost of those materials & cost of living constantly rises…. why hasn’t this $500. limit increased? Also, who determines the value of those materials when there are so many variables?

Thanks for your info I read all the information you provided on being a handyman it was very interesting my name is Darrell and thanks again for the info very helpful

What about installing blinds and other window coverings?

This $500 rule is because the Contractors lobbied to restrict competition.
That’s the only reason. As in many rules, in Capitalism, its not about whats fair, but more about who is wielding that power and who has more money to lobby.

You say no license needed in California,but you still need the appropriate business license ..?? What are the appropriate business license???

It’s all covered under the law, you can’t charge over 500 dollars. So many handyman try to get away with getting the customer to sign multiple 500 dollar contracts for a 5000 dollar job. To avoid this just get your contractors license.

I understand the $500 fee limit per project. Is that one project per year, month, etc.?

There are so many misconceptions, assumptions and misunderstandings regarding this subject, especially what it means to be a contractor versus a handyman versus a tradesman. These terms have some overlap, but they are not interchangeable terms. More about that later.

Here is the history. Tradesmen are likely to be taken advantage of by opportunistic homeowners when the details of any agreement are not written into a legal instrument called a contract. Contracts are best written by lawyers and paralegals working under a licensed attorney. These days, however, a licensed attorney will charge more to write the contract than the dollar amount of the job itself. As of 2019, attorneys want $15,000 to do anything at all.

At some point in he past, and on more than one occasion, the state was flooded with a complaints from tradesmen who were not being reimbursed for expenditures of time, effort, skill and/or materials after having completed improvements or repairs to the benefit of unscrupulous property owners unwilling to pay for whatever reason. The fact is that if there is an escape hatch in the agreement, many people will take that open door for the sake of money, even when they previously agreed to pay. It still happens sometimes even when the entire process is without flaw. There are those that hold the idea that his own money is somehow more valuable than a human or that human’s time, even when that time is spent in providing him with considerable benefits in good faith. There are sociopaths. People will sometimes do the unthinkable for the sake of money, even to the detriment of their most cherished relationships (my very own brother burglarized my homes at least twice when he was the only one who knew I would be away for ten days. He had motivation, opportunity and, as a locksmith, the ability to enter without any signs of forced entry. He also had a rehearsed alibi prepared, but delivered it unconvincingly. Investigators will tell you as a matter of fact, its most often an “inside job, that we covet what we see routinely as human nature dictates. As a result of my brothers missteps, he and I are are fully estranged and indefinitely, because he violated trust for the break-ins and he compounded the breach of trust by denying it when confronted. I know he did it. Had he admitted the truth, he would have been forgiven and we would have a relationship. Trust could be reestablished. But this is not the case. Lying about it becomes the greater crim. The point is that even close family ties are sacrificed for money alone, so it happens with clients as well.
Therefor, it is unwise for anyone to supply materials and labor to anyone without the legally binding instrument and its provisions for deposits, payments for completion of predetermined phases of construction performed according to code and certified by inspectors, provisions for change orders and increases, for fees and penalties for non-compliance, etc. This has been a veritable dilemma for the state because tradesmen and homeowners, alike, were being victimized by others as if the only way to win in a transaction is if the other guy loses his shirt (as if a result ending in mutual benefit, a win-win outcome, is an in possible thing to strive for.)T
The state’s solution was to provide the training curriculum and legal authority for tradesman to do what had previously been the role of attorneys and their paralegals – to write their own contracts and to enforce them, since attorneys fees and the process of having them done was both cost and time prohibitive, which was slowing the economy, too, which wasn’t good for the state either – not only did they endure the nightmare of sorting out all the disagreements, but because of it, the construction and renovation industry was greatly debilitated because of it, which had the net effect of recession upon the state as government has always depended upon commerce to be continuous for them to exist without currency flowing through their offices since government doesn’t produce anything of actual value, but only guide, safeguard, limit and control transaction details, resulting in the protection of all parties and it’s own self-preservation.

Tradesmen, then, needed to have adequate knowledge of the legal aspects of contracts, and to enforce them as legally binding instruments, including the use of mechanics liens to recover potential losses.Tradesmenwere given the ability to write contracts, after having received certificate of such training be the state, hence the term “contractor.” Contractors write contracts to protect themselves.

As it turns out, licensure to contract gives contractors the advantage due to property owner naïveté regarding the trade, shortcuts,, knowing which things can be skipped without raising red flags, etc. I call it a license to kill, because of the things I’ve seen, how only the bare minimums of construction code are adhered to – how code standards are mainly only the minimums of acceptability in construction for safety and durability to begin with. Also, just because a contractor is properly licensed to contract, it is no indication of his skill level. A licensed contractor should not be automatically trusted to be honest and competent. But moreover, to provide the ability for tradesmen to contract has been a good move, as it has facilitated successful transactions by multitudes for the effort of keeping both sides honest. It’s critical that a tradesman entering into agreements with homeowners over dollar amounts to be trained in doing do, to be completely descriptive of the work being performed, and adhering strictly to the entire contracting process to preclude liabilities and prevent his own losses. In my opinion, it is also the best policy to be trustworthy, to not put profits first, but to have a bonafidebinterst in providing the expected benefit the client seeks, to begin and end with the win-win result of mutual benefit.

Maybe it’s not so confusing how a handyman may or may not be a tradesman or a contractor, that tradesmen are not necessarily contractors, but may be wirking as an employee of another, whether the employer is a contractor or property owner.

I have found it to be largely without the ability to profit while working as a skilled laborer/handyman/multitradesman at an hourly rate equal to that of a journeyman.

Homeowners are allowed to operate as their own project manager, hiring unlicensed tradesmen to provide services of skilled labor at an hourly rate, regardless of dollar amounts or types of work performed, as long as code standards are adhered to and the property owner has adequate knowledge of the work being performed, especially where repairing to original condition or performing non-improvement tasks, or where permits are not otherwise required, that standards in safety and common practices are met or exceeded, which will result in jobs performed correctly, which result in client satisfaction and confidence, and will easily meet or exceed state-mandated warranties on all work performed by any service provider, whether he be licensed to write contracts or not. I always offer four years minimum on all work and materials without question, just to be safe. I seldom need to honor such a promise, but it always does exist.

California is an “at-will” state when it comes to employment – at-will as opposed to a contractual agreement by implication or inference, that a definitive outcome of some completion or permanence is not to be assumed, that, instead, either the property owners/employers or the laborer/service provider may quit the arrangement for any reason without ability to make demands to complete any job or to expect pay for hours not works, but with the only real obligation of the property owner to pay the laborer for hours worked at his established rate, payable at the time cessation of work is ordered, or that final payment for all hours worked be made available to the laborer/handyman/service provider within three days in the case where the (handyman/laborer is the one to quit – as detailed in California’s labor laws, enforced by the labor board and its commissioner.

I am now experienced enough and confident enough to obtain the license to contract, where I will estimate jobs for two or three times what I expect the job to cost, with a minimum dollar figure for any contract at all, and will also offer theat-will hourly pay arrangement, starting with a higher dollar amount.

Until then, though, I maintain strictly an hourly pay arrangement for any task, because verbal agreements are so loose, and writing contracts for $500 is senseless these days. In the time that law was established, $500 was the price of a new car. These days, $500 is what I need to receive daily just to remain at low-income/poverty level.

I’ve spoken directly with a California State investigator, and he clarified that the limit was nothing over $499 per DAY for combined parts & materials, not per project. The CSLB likes to perpetuate the myth of $500 per project, but what the law actually says and what the investigators look for is more than $499 per DAY.

SO, fellow handymen/women, the safest method is to only charge for labor, and make sure that your rate combined with the maximum hours you’ll work per day won’t exceed that limit, AND have your customer purchase all the materials directly. Give your customer a detailed list, or even be willing to go shopping with them.

That way, you won’t have to worry about dealing with the California Dept Tax & Fee administration either, because you’re not collecting sales tax from your customer & won’t have to file returns for it.

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Taylor Faeth