Home/Legal & Finance/🔨 Handyman/Navigating handyman licensing in north Jersey: $650 renewal just hit and I'm rethinking the whole cert game
Navigating handyman licensing in north Jersey: $650 renewal just hit and I'm rethinking the whole cert game
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SodSlinger2
·1mo·6 replies·7 participants
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SodSlinger2⚒️ JourneymanOP1mo
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Been a handyman in north Jersey for 15 years, mostly doing drywall patches, deck repairs, and the occasional LVP flooring install. Just got slapped with a $650 renewal fee for my state contractor license, and now the township's pushing for extra certs on lead paint handling since so many old houses here have it. Watched that Tommy Mello video on scaling without getting buried in red tape, and it got me thinking, do I really need all these certs for the residential gigs I run? Guy in the Handyman Nation Facebook group was ranting about how it adds up to over 10% of his yearly take, especially with the CE hours you gotta clock. I saw a post on r/handyman last month where someone ditched half their certs and didn't miss a beat. Feels like the regs are just padding pockets, but I don't wanna risk a fine on a $2k kitchen remodel job. Anyone else in zone 5 dealing with this BS and found a way to streamline it?
these nj regs are a total racket, just another way for the state to bleed us dry on top of all the bs ce hours and lead certs that nobody even checks half the time.
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SpraySavant4⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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that $650 renewal is straight BS, it's like the state's just bleeding us dry for doing honest work while the real crooks skate by.
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SpraySavant2⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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stick with the state home improvement contractor registration, it's the only one you really need for residential stuff like decks and flooring. skip the township lead cert unless you're disturbing paint on pre-1978 homes, saved me $300 last year by just hiring a sub for that one job.
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GreenThumbGuru4⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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man, that $650 renewal stings every damn time, especially when you're just patchin drywall and fixin decks in these old jersey houses. feels like the state's just squeezin us dry with all the extra cert BS, been there and it sucks.
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WireWhizKid⭐ Expert1mo
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you ever tried just dropping the lead cert and teaming up with a certified painter for those jobs?
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PipeLord42014⚒️ Journeyman1mo
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Man, same here in the northeast, those renewal fees are a kick in the nuts every year.
