Pennsylvania contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania
- License you need
- Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration, statewideRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $50,000plus $50,000 for property damage
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you have one employee, full time or part time
- Pennsylvania has no state plumbing license. The state only registers you as a home improvement contractor. The trade license itself comes from your city or township, and each one has its own rules.
- You must register with the Attorney General before doing any home improvement work once your home jobs top $5,000 in a year. Under $5,000 a year you are exempt.
HVAC in Pennsylvania
- License you need
- Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration, statewideRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $50,000plus $50,000 for property damage
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you have one employee, full time or part time
- No state office licenses HVAC work in Pennsylvania. The state registers you as a home improvement contractor, and whether you need a trade license depends on the city you work in.
- Philadelphia has no HVAC license at all. An HVAC company there needs the city's general Contractor License, $126 a year, with $500,000 of liability insurance and an OSHA 30 card.
Electrical in Pennsylvania
- License you need
- Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) registration, statewideRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- $50,000plus $50,000 for property damage
- Workers' comp
- Requiredas soon as you have one employee, full time or part time
- Pennsylvania does not license electricians at all. There is no state board, no state exam and no state license number. Cities license the trade, and the rules change when you cross the city line.
- What the state does run is a registration, not a license. If you do $5,000 or more of home improvement work in a year, you register as a Home Improvement Contractor with the Attorney General. It tests nothing about your electrical skill.
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.