Independent reference
Licenses, permits and insurance for one-truck businesses, answered from the sources.
Every figure names its source and the date it was read. Two questions to start:
Can I legally work?
- Pressure washingWhich states treat it as contractor work, and at what dollar line
- Mobile detailingNot a licensed trade anywhere, so what applies instead
- HandymanThe four conditions that void the threshold at any price
- Lawn careMowing versus applying product, which are regulated differently
- Food truckThe commissary rule that decides whether the business is possible
- Junk removalRegulated by waste category, not by the size of the job
- CleaningWhat licensed, bonded and insured actually means, word by word
- Workers' comp checkerThe employee count that triggers it
What does the policy actually do?
- Certificate of InsuranceACORD 25
- Vehicles and LiabilityGL vs commercial auto
- Tools and Equipmentinland marine
- Policy Formspolicy forms
- Customer Propertycare, custody, control
- Types of Liabilitycompleted ops
- Liability Limitsthe $1M figure
- Cleaning Insurance
- Food Truck Insurance
- Handyman Insurance
- Junk Removal Insurance
- Lawn Care Insurance
- Detailing Insurance
- Pressure Washing Insurance
- What Insurers Publish
The starter checklist, by trade and state
Every licensing, tax and renewal line for your trade, with the official source and the date it was read on each one. Contractor licensing verified in CA, NV, AZ, FL and TX, across the 7 trades of this site. Not 50 states: the ones we have not read are absent rather than estimated.
See what the checklist coversHow this site works
- Claims are scoped to the documents that were read and the day they were read, which is why the dates are everywhere. How sourcing works.
- Every page has a section for what the coverage does not do. It is the part carrier marketing leaves out. Editorial policy.
- Referral links, where they exist, pay a flat fee per referral, never a share of your premium and never more if you buy. How we make money.
Last updated September 5, 2026. Written by Luciano Canziani.