What permits do you need to open a contractor or trade in Bucks County?

Sewage Waste Hauling Vehicle Operating License

A contractor hauling septic or sewage waste in Bucks County needs an annual Sewage Waste Hauling Vehicle Operating License from BCDH for each vehicle or piece of hauling equipment, priced at $295 per year under the current ADM-71 fee schedule. Bucks County's own complete 169-ordinance index (buckscounty.gov/195/Ordinances-Resolutions) contains no separate general contractor-registration ordinance, so this hauling-vehicle license is the only county-level license here reaching a contractor-type business directly at the county level.

Contractor License — Pennsylvania position (licensed locally)

The Department of Labor and Industry states that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania "currently has no licensure or certification requirements for most construction contractors (or their employees)", so no state amount is shown. The same page states that some of Pennsylvania's 2,562 municipalities have established their own licensure or certification requirements for contractors, typically for home improvement, electrical and plumbing work, that the Department maintains no records of which municipalities have done so, and that the information can only be obtained from the municipality where the work will occur. The state-level exceptions the page lists are home improvement contractor registration with the Attorney General, asbestos and lead removal certification, crane operator licensure and manufactured housing installer certification.

Home Improvement Contractor Registration

$100 for two years, and check any figure you see elsewhere — the Attorney General's own frequently asked questions page carries BOTH $100 and a stale $50, the $50 being the original statutory amount. The live registration portal states $100 three separate ways, and that is the figure recorded here; it adds a $2 processing fee for online credit card payment, and none for ACH. It is a registration rather than a license, and it only bites above a threshold: a contractor doing less than $5,000 of home improvement work in a calendar year is exempt, as is a home improvement retailer worth more than $50 million. Insurance is a prerequisite — at least $50,000 of personal injury and $50,000 of property damage cover. Subcontractors register separately in their own right. New home construction is not home improvement and is outside this entirely. Any contract over $500 must be in writing.

Shared with other businesses in Bucks County

• Private/Residential Well Construction & Certification Permit — Bucks County Department of Health, $10–$435 well certification (3 field inspections) $420, each additional inspection $270; abandonment, hydrofracturing, pitless adaptor, monitoring well, casing extension or deepening $280; geothermal well (up to 3 holes) $435, each additional 3-hole increment $330; permit transfer $130; bacteriological water analysis $25, replacement sample bottle $10, per permit; well certification and other well actions are billed separately. Also required for restaurants, retail stores, childcare centres, fitness studios, veterinary clinics and auto repair shops; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.