The rules where you work $17
A first 30 days checklist, everyday forms, licenses, workers’ comp and taxes for Utah, 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 Utah expects from a new trade business
Utah licenses construction at the state level and gives handymen an unusually clear lane: jobs under $7,000. The trap is the State Construction Registry. Miss the 20-day preliminary notice and you can lose lien rights on the early work, or all of them.
State license, with a handyman lane under $7,000
Construction trades in Utah are licensed by the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL). The statute effective January 1, 2027 lists a 25-hour course, a five-hour business course, an exam and two years of full-time paid construction experience for every applicant except construction trades instructors. Don't assume a specialty license skips that. Ask DOPL what applies on your application date.
The handyman exemption is written in the statute: work under a total value of less than $7,000, labor, materials and all changes included. It doesn't reach electrical or plumbing systems or their parts (even a faucet or outlet), gas appliances, combustion systems, water-based fire protection, HVAC or radon systems.
Above $3,000 there's paperwork. Through December 31, 2026, you file a one-time affirmation with DOPL that you carry liability insurance and, if it applies, workers' comp. From January 1, 2027, you register with the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code and send DOPL documentation of that insurance.
Your license number goes on contracts and bids. On a house or duplex, your written contract has to state what the owner must do to be protected from a lien.
Working unlicensed has a price: you can't sue to collect for licensed work unless you allege and prove you were properly licensed when the contract was signed and the claim arose. The act is rewritten effective January 1, 2027, and 58-55-305 and 58-55-604 become 58-55-110 and 58-55-210. A construction attorney can look over your contract.
Source: Utah Code 58-55-305 · Utah Code 58-55-604 · DOPL Contracting FAQs · Utah Code 58-55-110 (effective January 1, 2027) · Utah Code 58-55-203 (effective January 1, 2027) · Utah Code 58-55-210 (effective January 1, 2027) · Utah Code 58-55-107 (effective January 1, 2027) · Utah Code 38-11-108
Who to call: an attorney near you
One worker triggers it, and your uninsured subs can land on you
In Utah, anyone who regularly employs one or more workers is an employer and has to secure workers' comp, through an authorized insurer or approved self-insurance. Regular includes seasonal work in your usual trade. If an employer doesn't, an injured employee can apply for compensation with the state's Division of Adjudication.
Sole proprietors and partners aren't covered unless they elect in. Corporations can elect to exclude directors or officers by written notice.
The part that bites: if you hire a sub, supervise the work, and it's part of your trade, that sub and its workers count as your employees for comp. A sole proprietor or partnership sub comes off your list if you get and rely on a certificate of coverage or a state Workers' Compensation Coverage Waiver. Collect one before they start. An insurance agent who writes contractors can tell you what your paperwork should look like.
Source: Utah Code 34A-2-103 · Utah Code 34A-2-104 · Utah Code 34A-2-201 · Utah Code 34A-2-208
Who to call: an insurance agent near you
Getting paid: it starts with the State Construction Registry
The clock starts with the job:
- Preliminary notice: file with the State Construction Registry within 20 days of starting work. File late and you can't lien for work done before 5 days after filing, and a notice filed more than 10 days after a notice of completion has no effect. No notice means no lien.
- Record your lien with the county recorder within 180 days of final completion of the original contract, not your last day. If a notice of completion was filed, it's 90 days from that filing, never past the 180.
- Copy to the owner by certified mail or delivery within 30 days of filing. Miss it and you lose costs and attorney fees against the owner, not the lien.
- Sue within 180 days of filing the lien, or it's void. Record a notice of pendency in that window, or the lien is void except against parties and people with actual knowledge.
Owner-occupied homes: serve the owner with DOPL's instructions and form with your complaint, or you can't enforce the lien. If you didn't contract with the owner, you're barred when the owner paid a licensed or exempt contractor in full under a written contract, or the general contract was $5,000 or less. Your remedy may be the Lien Recovery Fund: sue the nonpaying party within the earlier of 180 days from your lien or 270 days from completion, then apply within 1 year of judgment. It pays at most $75,000 per project.
A construction attorney can set up your filing routine.
Source: Utah Code 38-1a-501 · Utah Code 38-1a-502 · Utah Code 38-1a-701 · Utah Code 38-11-107 · Utah Code 38-11-204 · Utah Code 38-11-203
Who to call: an attorney near you
You pay tax on materials, however you write the contract
Utah makes this one easy. A contractor who turns materials into real property is the consumer of those materials, no matter what type of contract you use. So you pay sales tax at the counter and build it into your price.
Selling the finished real property isn't taxed, and neither is labor on real property. On a furnish-and-install job, the customer doesn't pay sales tax to you. You paid it when you bought the materials.
The line that trips people: items that stay personal property, like throw rugs. Those you can buy for resale and collect tax on. Buy tax-free for resale and then install it, and you owe use tax. Repair labor on personal property is taxable too. A CPA who works with contractors can walk your trade through it.
Source: Utah Admin. Code R865-19S-58 · Utah State Tax Commission Publication 42
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
One of the cheapest LLCs around, with a flat state income tax
Forming an LLC with the Division of Corporations costs $59. The yearly renewal is $18, due in your anniversary month, and late renewal adds $10. Those fees come from the schedule effective July 1, 2025, and a newer one may have changed them, so check the Division's fee page. There's no franchise tax and no publication requirement.
Utah taxes individual income at a flat 4.45% for 2026, so a typical one-owner LLC's profit lands on your personal return at that rate. Your federal self-employment tax comes on top of that.
When an S-corp election pays off is a numbers question. Bring what the business clears after your floor rate to a CPA and ask them to run it.
Source: Utah Dept. of Commerce FY2026 fee schedule · Utah Code 59-10-104
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 Utah before you rely on it. Last updated November 2026.