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Texas

Contractor insurance in Texas

With no state contractor licence to show, your certificate of insurance is the document that decides whether you get on the site. These guides cover the coverage general contractors name, the limits they set, and the trades where the COI is doing the job a licence does everywhere else.

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9 guides on this

How to run the businessTexas has no contractor licenseTexas does not issue a general contractor license: GC, framing, roofing, painting, concrete, drywall and flooring are state-unregulated on purpose. Only electrical and HVAC (TDLR), plumbing (TSBPE), irrigation (TCEQ) and fire sprinkler (TDI) are gated. The real gates are your city and the certificate of insurance.How to run the businessYour COI is the Texas licenseTexas issues no contractor license, so the certificate of insurance decides whether you get on the job. Get the general liability limits Texas GCs ask for, the additional insured endorsement the certificate alone does not give you, and the state minimums for electrical, HVAC and plumbing under 16 TAC 73.40 and 16 TAC 75.40.How to run the businessTexas plumbing license, rung by rungPlumbing is the one Texas trade the state licenses on its own board, and the top rung is the right to contract with the public. Here is the full TSBPE ladder: 4,000 hours to tradesman, 8,000 to journeyman, three doors into master at a $25 fee, and the insurance certificate that makes you an RMP.How to run the businessTexas HVAC license: Class A or BTexas licenses HVAC through TDLR as a class plus an endorsement, and the pair decides which jobs you can sign. Class B stops at 25 tons and 1.5 million BTU per hour; Class A has no ceiling and carries higher insurance under 16 TAC 75.40. Certify as a technician first and you reach the contractor license a year sooner.How to run the businessRunning a 1099 crew in TexasTexas has no state wage withholding and workers comp is elective, so a crew of subs is the normal shape. The kit that holds it: W-9 before the first check, the COI you actually read, Labor Code s.406.123 and DWC Form-083, and the 1099-NEC at $2,000.How to run the businessTECL: contract under your own nameThe TECL is the Texas license that sits on the business, not the person: your company must be or employ a master electrician, carry $300k per occurrence under 16 TAC 73.40, and pay about $110 a year. Here is the filing, the startup cost table, and how to price the work so it pays for itself.How to run the businessDrywall and painting in TexasTexas does not license drywall contractors or painters, so the quote decides the money instead of a board. What gates you is the city permit desk, the insurance certificate, the comp election, and the EPA lead rule on pre-1978 homes. Then the finish level table that stops a level 4 price buying level 5 work.How to run the businessBid your own concrete work in TexasTexas licenses electricians and plumbers, not concrete. What actually gates your first bid is a folder: city registration, a certificate with completed operations on it, commercial auto, and the comp decision. Plus the yield table, the pour date cash gap and the subgrade change order that concrete crews argue most.How to run the businessGet on Texas GC bid listsTexas issues no GC licence, so the bid list is the gate. Here is what a Texas prequal packet asks for, from the Comptroller certificate of account status to the EMR box a non-subscriber cannot fill, plus which estimator to call and when. Houston and DFW are two different lists.

The rest of the Texas library

Texas contractor licensingBidding and prequalification in TexasPricing construction work in TexasGetting paid on Texas constructionTexas lien rights and deadlinesWorkers comp for Texas contractorsRunning a construction business in TexasStarting a construction business in Texas
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