Guides for working in California

Explore CSLB classifications, public work, home improvement contracts, project rules and payment in California.

88 guides in this market. Search and every subject below stay within California.

  1. 1

    Set the business up

    The entity, the registrations and the accounts, in the order the paperwork actually happens.

  2. 2

    Find the work

    Permits, tenders and bid lists, read the way an estimator reads them.

  3. 3

    Win the bid

    Prequalification packets, bid-ready checklists and the paperwork that gets you on the list.

  4. 4

    Price it

    What an hour really costs, the markup you set on purpose, and assumptions in writing.

  5. 5

    Run the job

    Extras in writing, the day-to-day board, and the safety rules that gate the site.

  6. 6

    Get paid

    Invoices, the statutory clocks, and the remedy that matches the amount.

  7. 7

    Stay compliant

    The tax, comp and licensing regimes that decide whether the work was legal to begin with.

The dates that cost California contractors money

One email a month. The lien deadline and prompt payment and retention arithmetic this site already does for you, the dates it turns on, and every new guide the day it goes up.

  • California lien deadline calculator: The 20-day preliminary notice, and what a recorded Notice of Completion does to your 90 days. It compresses them to 30 or 60.
  • California prompt payment and retention calculator: Two clocks, not one. Progress payments from the demand, and retention from completion rather than from your final invoice.
  • Every new guide the day it goes up. 88 are live for California right now, the most recent being "Do you need a license" on 20 August 2026.

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