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Texas

Texas contractor licensing

Texas has no general contractor licence, and that is the whole trap. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC and irrigation are licensed hard at the state, everything else is licensed by whichever city you happen to be standing in. These guides cover which rung of which ladder you are on and what it takes to hold the next one.

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19 guides on this

How to run the businessRegister in the right Texas cityTexas has no state contractor license, so the permit desk decides. Houston asks a general contractor for nothing and Austin is free, Dallas is $120 a year, Fort Worth is $168.75, and San Antonio wants $150 plus an FBI background check. Five cities, with the fees, the terms and what each one asks you to attach.How to run the businessTexas electrician license ladderTexas counts the whole electrical ladder in hours worked: 4,000 for residential wireman on a $20 application, 8,000 for journeyman, 12,000 plus two years held for master. The top rung is the TECL, a business license you can hold in your own name. Every licensed rung renews annually on 4 hours of CE.How to run the businessMaster electrician: own the shopTexas gates the master license at 12,000 hours, two years holding a journeyman license and one exam, for a $45 fee. The rung matters because a master can be assigned to just one electrical contractor, so every TECL in the state runs through somebody, and it may as well be your own company.How to run the businessJourneyman electrician in TexasTexas counts the electrical trade in hours, not semesters: 8,000 of on the job training under a master, with the exam open at 7,000. Plan the test date around the hour count and the card lands the week your hours do. The hours table, the annual 4 hour CE, and how to keep a record no employer can lose.How to run the businessBecome a Texas master plumberTexas issues no license to a plumbing company. A plumbing business is a master plumber who holds the Responsible Master Plumber designation, so the $25 TSBPE exam application is the form for owning your own shop. Three qualifying routes, the real fees, and what a master on staff is worth.How to run the businessJourneyman plumber in TexasTexas journeyman plumber is 8,000 hours under a licensed plumber, 48 hours of board-approved classroom and the exam. The rung underneath it, Tradesman Plumber-Limited at 4,000 hours and 24 classroom hours, is a real licence for one-family and two-family dwellings that plenty of apprentices walk straight past.How to run the businessIrrigation license: TCEQ, not TDLRLandscape irrigation is licensed by TCEQ, not TDLR, and that one wrong search costs people weeks. Three credentials, $111 each, valid three years, with no experience requirement. Texas leaves landscaping unregulated, so a licensed irrigator can sell work the crew next door legally cannot.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 businessStart a Texas construction businessTexas does not license general contractors or tax your income, so the gap between deciding and invoicing is a week of filing. Every stage in order with its cost: the $300 Certificate of Formation, the free sales tax permit, the 15 May franchise report, the comp choice, and what each big city charges to register.How to run the businessForm the LLC: what $300 buys youTexas does not license general contractors, so the entity is the one line you control. Form 205 costs $300 and takes an afternoon, the franchise tax report is free below $2,650,000, and a single member LLC files the same Schedule C you file today. Side by side, with a straight recommendation.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 businessRMP: plumb in your own nameTexas issues no plumbing company license. The Responsible Master Plumber designation attaches to you, and the only gate on top of your master license is a $300,000 general liability certificate filed with the board before you work. The filing order, the startup cost and how to price the work are all here.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 businessRoofing in Texas without a licenseTexas issues no roofing license, so you can be quoting re-roofs this month. What actually gates the work is the WPI-8 certificate across 14 first-tier coastal counties, the ASTM D7158 Class H shingle spec, and city registration that runs from free in Austin to $120 a year in Dallas.How to run the businessThe Texas framing sub they call firstTexas licenses no framers, so you can be on site next week. What the square foot bid has to include, labor-only versus turnkey, a lumber escalation clause a builder will sign, the three-draw schedule, and the 10 percent Tex. Prop. Code s.53.101 already holds for you.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.

The rest of the Texas library

Bidding and prequalification in TexasPricing construction work in TexasGetting paid on Texas constructionTexas lien rights and deadlinesWorkers comp for Texas contractorsContractor insurance in TexasRunning a construction business in TexasStarting a construction business in Texas
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