New Jersey contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in New Jersey, one page for each trade. The license, the least insurance you must carry, whether the state asks for a bond, when you charge sales tax, and the deadlines that protect your right to be paid.
Plumbing in New Jersey
- License you need
- Licensed Master PlumberRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimumcustomers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as anyone other than the owner works for the business for pay
- New Jersey asks a master plumber for a $3,000 bond in favor of the State but sets no liability insurance minimum. The HVACR board next door asks for $500,000 of insurance, so many plumbers assume the same rule and it is not there.
- Once you hold the state license no town can make you take another exam, buy another license or pay another licensing fee. Towns can still inspect your work.
HVAC in New Jersey
- License you need
- Licensed Master HVACR ContractorRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $500,000liability, at least
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as anyone other than the owner works for the business for pay
- You cannot get the HVACR license without showing $500,000 of liability insurance and a $3,000 bond. Both go to the board before the license is printed, not after.
- Fixing a furnace in a house is tax-free labor, but fixing the air conditioner in the same house is taxed. The heating exemption covers homes with three families or fewer and stops there.
Electrical in New Jersey
- License you need
- Licensed Electrical ContractorRenews every three years
- Insurance you must carry
- $300,000liability, at least
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as anyone other than the owner works for the business for pay
- New Jersey splits the paperwork in two. The license is yours and lasts three years. The business permit belongs to the company, needs its own fee, and cannot be qualified by a licensee who already qualifies another firm.
- The number on your truck is the business permit number, not your license number, and the letters must be three inches high.
Across states
Can you charge sales tax on labor? The rule in 25 states. Which states tax the work itself, which tax only the parts, and how a repair differs from a new install.