Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: Laws for handymen

It's more about the money than the title. Bus. & Prof. Code Sec 7048 spells it out pretty clearly:

"7048: This chapter does not apply to any work or operation on one undertaking or project by one or more contracts, the aggregate contract price which for labor, materials, and all other items, is less than five hundred dollars ($500), that work or operations being considered of casual, minor, or inconsequential nature.

This exemption does not apply in any case wherein the work of construction is only a part of a larger or major operation, whether undertaken by the same or a different contractor, or in which a division of the operation is made in contracts of amounts less than five hundred dollars ($500) for the purpose of evasion of this chapter or otherwise.

This exemption does not apply to a person who advertises or puts out any sign or card or other device which might indicate to the public that he or she is a contractor or that he or she is qualified to engage in the business of a contractor."

From the above, you can see that any work done where the price exceeds $500.00 requires a license. Unfortunately, $500.00 doesn't go along way in these days - the intent is clearly to "urge" folks in the construction industry to get licensed.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,

Tom Newton

Re: Laws for handymen

The rules are pretty basic - you need no occupational license to be a handyman. You are, however, limited to charging no more than $500 for labor and materials on any given job. You cannot break a single job into several, smaller jobs to get around this. Its generally held that if you are doing work for an individual, the sum-total of jobs in a specific time frame should not exceed $500. You may need a City business license - check with your city (or County if in not in a City). The downside to not having a license is that you cannot obtain a lien against a homeowner's property for unpaid work. Your only remedy for failure to pay is to take them to small claims court.

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