The rules where you work $17
A first 30 days checklist, everyday forms, licenses, workers’ comp and taxes for Oklahoma, with a yearly calendar. Instant PDF download.
Buy the packet: $17Digital product, all sales final. Informational only, not legal, financial, tax or business advice.
What Oklahoma expects from a new trade business
Oklahoma's Construction Industries Board licenses the electrical, plumbing and mechanical trades and registers every roofer. General contractors aren't on its list. Comp covers nearly every employer, though an owner can stay out unless they elect in. On liens, the prime gets four months and everyone under them gets 90 days.
One board for the trades, plus roofers
The Construction Industries Board handles the trades. It licenses plumbing, electrical and mechanical work under separate acts. Replacing faucets, outlets or minor fixture parts is excluded. Mechanical licensing is its own act, but gas piping, floor furnaces, wall heaters and radiant-floor heating can be done under either a mechanical or a plumbing license.
The board also runs the Roofing Contractor Registration Act:
- All roofers register every year for $75, with at least $500,000 of liability insurance for residential work and $1,000,000 for commercial. Acting as a roofer without a current registration is unlawful, unless you fall under an exemption in that act.
- An unregistered roofer can't sue in an Oklahoma court over roofing work.
- Commercial roofers need an endorsement. A residential endorsement is required starting January 1, 2027. Registered roofers in good standing have until January 1, 2028. New applicants can't sell or bid residential roofing until endorsed.
- Roofing takes a written contract with your registration number and a statement that everyone on the work is covered by comp. A roofer can't promise to pay an insured's deductible.
The board's trade list doesn't include general contractors, remodelers or handymen. Don't read that as permission to touch a panel or a gas line. If the work falls in a licensed trade, the trade law applies. Call the city's building office before you bid, too.
On any home job, lying about terms or conditions to get the work is home repair fraud, a felony. A construction attorney can tell you where a mixed job lands.
Source: Oklahoma Statutes Title 59 (1000.1 et seq., 1151.3, 1680 et seq., 1850.1 et seq.) · Oklahoma Construction Industries Board · Oklahoma CIB, Residential roofing endorsement · 59 O.S. 1151.3 (registration, no suit) · 59 O.S. residential endorsement section · 59 O.S. roofing fee section · 59 O.S. roofing insurance section · 59 O.S. 1151.7 (contracts, number) · 15 O.S. 765.3 (home repair fraud)
Who to call: an attorney near you
Every employer is in. Owners can stay out
Oklahoma's act binds every employer and employee unless it says otherwise. There's no headcount floor for a regular crew. The small exception is an employer with five or fewer employees who are all close relatives or household dependents.
Owners are out unless they elect in: sole proprietors, partners, LLC members who own at least 10%, and corporate stockholder-employees with 10% or more.
Subs matter. If a sub doesn't carry required comp, the prime contractor is liable for the sub's employees, though it can recover the cost from the sub. A sub with an unexpired Affidavit of Exempt Status on file is presumed not covered and not your employee. That doesn't cover the sub's own employees. The affidavit fee can't exceed $50, and it expires after 2 years. Failing to carry required comp is a misdemeanor, with a fine up to $10,000. An insurance agent who writes contractors can help.
Source: Oklahoma Statutes Title 85A (sections 2, 3, 36, 40)
Who to call: an insurance agent near you
Getting paid: four months for primes, 90 days for subs
Oklahoma's clocks start at the last day you furnished material or labor, and it depends who hired you:
- Contract with the owner: file your lien statement with the county clerk within 4 months.
- Sub or supplier: file within 90 days.
- Pre-lien notice, if you're not the original contractor: send it to the original contractor and an owner before filing and no later than 75 days after your last supply.
- Home an owner lives in: that notice is mandatory, whatever the amount. No lien is valid without it.
- Other jobs: the notice isn't required if your total claim is under $10,000, or on a project of four or fewer units with no owner living in any of them. Retainage held by agreement never needs it.
- At filing, if you're not the original contractor: give the county clerk a notarized affidavit that you complied with the notice rules.
- After filing: the county clerk mails notice of the lien by certified mail within 5 business days. You furnish the addresses and pay the fee. If the owner or other party can't be found after due diligence, file an affidavit, then serve the occupant or post the property within 60 days of filing.
- Sue: within 1 year of filing, or the lien is cancelled.
Money you receive on a building or remodeling contract is held in trust for lienable claims on that job. An original contractor who lies to a dwelling owner about liens commits a felony. A construction attorney can set up your forms once.
Source: Oklahoma Statutes Title 42 (sections 141, 142, 142.6, 143, 143.1, 172) · 42 O.S. 142 (original contractor) · 42 O.S. 142.6 (pre-lien notice, affidavit) · 42 O.S. 143 (subs) · 42 O.S. 143.1 (notice of lien) · 42 O.S. 172 (suit) · 42 O.S. 152 (trust funds) · 42 O.S. 142.4 (false statements)
Who to call: an attorney near you
Contractors are consumers
The Oklahoma Tax Commission's rules say it straight: contractors are consumers or users. You pay sales tax on materials, supplies, equipment and taxable services you buy to develop, repair, alter, remodel or improve real property. The rule names painting, grading, electrical and plumbing contractors as examples.
There are narrow exceptions. A contractor can buy based on another entity's exempt status only in the limited cases the law spells out, such as certain public contracts with a city, county or school district. Otherwise, count the tax as a cost in your price.
A person working for a salary or wage isn't a contractor under the rule. If you sell goods as well as install them, have a CPA who works with contractors look at how to handle both.
Source: Oklahoma Tax Commission, OAC 710:65 (710:65-7-13), 2022 compilation
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
A $100 LLC with a $25 yearly certificate
Forming an LLC with the Secretary of State costs $100, plus a small online convenience fee of about $4. Every year after that, you file an annual certificate for $25 on your anniversary date. A trade name report is $25. There's no franchise tax or publication requirement on the LLC. Remember that being an LLC member who owns 10% or more keeps you outside comp unless you elect in, which is worth deciding on purpose.
Income from a pass-through LLC goes on your Oklahoma individual return. S-corp timing is a numbers question. Bring what your business clears after your floor rate to a CPA who works with contractors, and have them run it with the current state rates.
Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State, Business · Oklahoma Secretary of State, Fees
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
Education, not legal or tax advice. Rules change. Confirm anything here with a licensed pro in Oklahoma before you rely on it. Last updated November 2026.