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What does a handyman do? What the law lets one take on, state by state

A handyman does small repair and maintenance jobs that need no building permit and come in under the dollar line your state sets for working without a contractor's license: $500 in Washington, $1,000 in California, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada, $2,500 in Florida and $7,000 in Utah, counting labour and materials together (state statutes and boards, read 23 October 2026). Above that line, or on any job that needs a permit in California, Arizona or Nevada, you need a licensed contractor. Most small permit jobs in our file are already over those lines: the usual Elk Grove water-heater permit is filed at $3,150.

By Contractor Records · data through October 19, 2026

The handyman line in 18 states

From the statute or the board's own page, read 23 October 2026. "Per job" lines count labour, materials and everything else. Where a state measures yearly receipts, the size of your job does not matter; the handyman's year does.

State No license or registration needed below Measured Permit job allowed? Source
Washington $500 Per project, all items Not stated in the exemption RCW 18.27.090(9)
California $1,000 Per project, no hired workers No CSLB, AB 2622
Oregon $1,000, "casual, minor or inconsequential" Per project Not stated ORS 701.010(4)
Arizona $1,000, "casual or minor" Per project No; never gas connections A.R.S. 32-1121(A)(14)
Nevada $1,000, repair or maintenance Per job No; never plumbing, electrical, heating or A/C NRS 624.031(6)
Florida $2,500, "casual, minor, or inconsequential" Per job Not stated in the statute F.S. 489.103(9)
Utah $7,000 Per project Not stated; system work needs a licensed electrical or plumbing contractor Utah Code 58-55-305
Virginia $1,000 (Class C license from there to $30,000) Per project n/a DPOR consumer info
North Dakota $4,000 Per job ("cost, value, or price") n/a NDCC 43-07-02
Vermont $10,000 (registration) Per job n/a Vermont OPR
Tennessee $25,000 (license); $3,000 for home improvement in counties that adopted it Per project n/a TN Board for Licensing Contractors
North Carolina $40,000 (general contractor) Cost of the undertaking n/a G.S. 87-1
Minnesota $15,000 Gross receipts a year n/a Minn. Stat. 326B.805
Pennsylvania $5,000 Work in a calendar year n/a PA Attorney General
Iowa $2,000 Earnings a year from construction n/a Iowa Division of Labor
Massachusetts No floor on the page; HIC registration for work on owner-occupied homes of one to four units n/a n/a Mass.gov
New York City $200 (DCWP home improvement license above it) Per job n/a NYC311; NYC Business
Texas No state license for general contractors or handymen; electricians and A/C contractors are licensed by TDLR n/a n/a TDLR programs list

Not verified on the day, so left out: Hawaii, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio and Missouri. For those, ask your city's building department which license the job needs. Our general contractor vs handyman guide has more detail on several of these states, and plumber vs handyman the plumbing rules.

Three rules that apply almost everywhere

  1. Splitting a job does not work. Florida's exemption does not apply where a job is divided into contracts under $2,500 "for the purpose of evading" the law (F.S. 489.103), and Arizona's exemption excludes work that is part of a larger operation divided up the same way. A $3,000 job billed as two $1,500 jobs is still a $3,000 job.
  2. Permit work goes to a licensed trade. In California a project under $1,000 that "requires workers or permits" needs a licensed contractor (CSLB). Arizona and Nevada exclude permit work too.
  3. The ad has to say so. Arizona's exemption does not cover anyone whose advertising does not include the words "not a licensed contractor" (A.R.S. 32-1121(A)(14)(c)).

What the permit file says about "small" jobs

The jobs people most often ask a handyman about are the ones the permit file is full of. These are usual filed values for permits in trades no handyman exemption covers:

Job City Permits Usual filed value Over California's $1,000 line?
Water heater Elk Grove, CA 2,078 $3,150 Yes, and it is a permit job
Water heater Cary, NC 1,519 $4,253 Yes
EV charger Elk Grove, CA 1,353 $925 No, but it needs a permit, so no
EV charger Cary, NC 2,922 $1,104 Permit job
Gas line Denton, TX 573 $1,400 Permit job, licensed plumber in Texas
Electrical permit Seattle, WA 20,201 $4,067 Over Washington's $500 line

So the price test rarely decides it. An Elk Grove EV charger is filed under $1,000, and it still needs a licensed electrician because it needs a permit. A handyman's real territory is the work that never reaches this file: painting, patching drywall, hanging doors and cabinets, replacing a fixture like-for-like where your city does not require a permit.

See every Elk Grove water-heater installer by permit record →

Insurance: what a handyman should carry

Below the license line, no state in the table requires a handyman to carry insurance. The rules start where registration does:

Where What is required Source
Washington (registered contractors) Liability cover of $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to one person, $200,000 for more than one; registration is suspended if the policy lapses RCW 18.27.050
Vermont (jobs of $10,000 or more) A certificate of insurance with the registration and each renewal Vermont OPR FAQ
Utah (exempt jobs over $3,000) A one-time affirmation of liability insurance filed with the state Utah Code 58-55-305
New York City (jobs over $200) Proof of workers' compensation, plus Trust Fund enrollment or a $20,000 surety bond NYC Business

The reason to ask even when the law does not: CSLB warns that if a worker is injured on your property and the contractor has no insurance, "you could be financially liable to pay for injuries and rehabilitation", and your homeowner's policy may or may not cover it (CSLB). Ask for a certificate of liability insurance naming you as certificate holder, and call the insurer on it.

Check a handyman in five minutes

  1. Add up labour and materials and compare with your state's line above.
  2. Ask your building department, or read its exempt-work list, whether the job needs a permit. If yes, it is not a handyman job in California, Arizona or Nevada.
  3. In Arizona, read the ad: no "not a licensed contractor", no exemption.
  4. If the job is over the line, look the person up on the state board through how to verify a contractor.
  5. Ask for the insurance certificate before work starts.

What this does not tell you

Our file holds permitted work only, so it cannot rank handymen or count them. The lines in the table change: California's doubled on 1 January 2025 and the Utah text we read took effect on 7 May 2025. Cities add their own rules on top (Austin, for example, requires contractor registration with the City before a permit can be assigned). This is a summary of public rules, not legal advice.

How we know this

State lines and insurance rules are quoted from the statutes and board pages listed under Sources, read 23 October 2026; Tennessee's thresholds are from the Board for Licensing Contractors' support page and home-improvement page. Usual filed values are medians of the values contractors declared on permits in each city's three-year window ending September 2026.

Numbers come from City of Elk Grove TRAKiT building permits on single-family, duplex, mobile-home and ADU homes; City of Seattle (SDCI) building, trade and electrical permits on single-family and duplex homes (the city's open-data exports); Town of Cary building permit applications (issued permits only); City of Denton Building Safety permits on homes (the city's yearly permit reports), data through October 19, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.

Questions

  • What is a handyman?

    Someone who does small repair and maintenance jobs without a contractor's license, which the law allows only under a line each state sets. In California that is $1,000 for labour and materials together, with no building permit and no hired workers (CSLB, from 1 January 2025); in Washington it is $500 (RCW 18.27.090).

  • How much can a handyman charge without a license?

    Per job, counting materials: $500 in Washington, $1,000 in California, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada, $2,500 in Florida, $7,000 in Utah. North Dakota's contractor license starts above $4,000, Virginia's Class C above $1,000, North Carolina's general contractor license at $40,000 and Tennessee's at $25,000. Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Iowa count the handyman's yearly receipts instead.

  • Can a handyman do electrical or plumbing work?

    Not permit work. California, Arizona and Nevada take any job that needs a building permit out of the exemption; Nevada also excludes plumbing, electrical, heating and air-conditioning work, and Arizona excludes anything that connects to gas. Utah requires a licensed electrical or plumbing contractor for work on those systems.

  • Does a handyman need insurance?

    Below the line, most states do not require it. Above it, registration often does: Washington requires $50,000 of property damage cover and $100,000 for injury to one person (RCW 18.27.050), Vermont asks for a certificate of insurance once a job reaches $10,000, and Utah asks for a liability-insurance affirmation on exempt jobs over $3,000. Ask for the certificate either way.

  • Can a handyman work in New York City?

    Only on small jobs. NYC311 says the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection regulates home improvement contractors who charge more than $200, and they need its license, which requires proof of workers' compensation and either Trust Fund enrollment or a $20,000 surety bond (NYC Business).

Build your own list

Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.

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Related guides

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Sources
  1. Handyperson Exemption to Increase to $1,000 in 2025 (CSLB press release, AB 2622) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  2. Finding the Right Contractor — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-23)
  3. RCW 18.27.090 Exemptions (Washington) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  4. RCW 18.27.050 Insurance or financial responsibility required (Washington) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  5. ORS 701.010 Exemptions from licensure (Oregon) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  6. Florida Statutes 489.103 Exemptions (2026) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  7. A.R.S. 32-1121 Persons not required to be licensed (Arizona) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  8. NRS Chapter 624 Contractors (NRS 624.031) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  9. Utah Code 58-55-305 Exemptions from licensure (effective 5/7/2025) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  10. NC General Statutes Chapter 87, Article 1 (G.S. 87-1) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  11. Subcontractors / Who is Required to be Licensed — Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (accessed 2026-10-23)
  12. Home Improvement Contractor — Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (accessed 2026-10-23)
  13. North Dakota Century Code Chapter 43-07 Contractors (accessed 2026-10-23)
  14. Contractor Consumer Information — Virginia DPOR Board for Contractors (rev. 4/29/2025) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  15. Minnesota Statutes 2024, 326B.805 (accessed 2026-10-23)
  16. Contractor Frequently Asked Questions — Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (HICPA) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  17. Contractor Registration — Iowa Division of Labor (accessed 2026-10-23)
  18. Do I Need to Register as a Home Improvement Contractor? — Mass.gov (accessed 2026-10-23)
  19. Residential Contractor FAQs — Vermont Office of Professional Regulation (accessed 2026-10-23)
  20. Home Improvement Contractor License — NYC Business (accessed 2026-10-23)
  21. Home Improvement Contractor Complaint — NYC311 (KA-02173) (accessed 2026-10-23)
  22. Programs Licensed and Regulated by TDLR (accessed 2026-10-23)