Practical guides, business tips, and operational resources for independent contractors and service providers across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and beyond.
Gas Safe registration belongs to the business, not the person holding the card. Here's what the back page covers, and what it costs when nobody checks.
Passing inspection and closing out a permit are different events. Here's what triggers one, which code edition governs your job, and what an open permit costs at resale.
You cannot lien federal property — that is why the payment bond exists. Here's what bonding costs, what underwriters look at, and why the first answer is often no.
Lien rights are preserved at the start of a job, not claimed at the end. The preliminary notice windows, the filing deadline that runs from your last real day, and the waiver that quietly releases your retainage.
Filing tells the other side you filed, because the IRS asks them too. Here's what Form SS-8 decides, what it refuses, and the relief it cannot consider.
The threshold decides which work rules apply, never whether you need a survey. Here's what NESHAP actually requires before you disturb anything.
General liability pays for what your work damages, not to fix your work. Here's the exclusion that catches contractors, and what GCs will make you carry.
Passing inspection is not the same as complying. Here's where renovation work creates ADA exposure, which dimensions actually fail, and who ends up paying.
Coverage is triggered state by state, and construction almost always gets the strictest rule. Here's what sets it off, and what skipping it costs you.
Fall protection, scaffolding, trenching — here are the OSHA compliance rules for contractors that trigger the most citations, and how to stay clear of them.