Oregon contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in Oregon, 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 Oregon
- License you need
- CCB contractor license (the business license every contractor needs)Renews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $300,000liability, at least
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you pay one worker who is not an independent contractor
- A plumbing business in Oregon holds two licenses from two agencies. The Building Codes Division issues the plumbing business license for $150. The Construction Contractors Board issues the contractor license for $400. You need both before you take a job.
- Oregon has no sales tax at all. You never add tax to a bill and never pay it on pipe, fittings or fixtures.
HVAC in Oregon
- License you need
- CCB contractor license (the business license every contractor needs)Renews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $300,000liability, at least
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you pay one worker who is not an independent contractor
- Oregon has no HVAC license of its own. The business runs on a CCB contractor license, and the trade cards that matter are electrical ones from the Building Codes Division.
- A service business that only fixes commercial equipment can hold the Limited Maintenance Specialty Contractor HVAC/R license for $75, which buys three years. It stops at the disconnect switch and never covers a new install.
Electrical in Oregon
- License you need
- CCB contractor license (the business license every contractor needs)Renews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $300,000liability, at least
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you pay one worker who is not an independent contractor
- An electrical business cannot open without a general supervising electrician on the payroll full time. That person needs 8,000 hours as a journeyman first, so the path from apprentice to owner is eight years.
- The trade license and the business license come from different agencies. The Building Codes Division charges $375 for a three-year electrical contractor license, and the Construction Contractors Board charges $400 for two years on top.
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.