As of late September 2026, I have a list of jobs for my Riverside ranch house that are bigger than a leaky faucet and smaller than a remodel. My old reflex was to hand that kind of work to a handyman with his own truck and tools, license or not, because I figured only the big general contractors needed one. Plenty of us here in California still think that way. The line is lower than that, and it’s written down.
The City of Riverside’s Building & Safety Division puts the risk plainly in its property owner’s package for permits: “If you contract with someone who does not have a license, the Contractors’ State License Board may be unable to assist you with any financial loss you may sustain.” The same package says that if an unlicensed contractor or one of their employees is injured while working on your property, you may be held liable for damages.
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What the Contractors State License Board says
The number a lot of us carry around is out of date. Starting January 1, 2025, the board says, a new state law “increases the minor work license exemption from $500 to $1,000.” That is the ceiling for unlicensed work now, and it is not a big number.
Why a bigger job isn’t handyman work
The $1,000 exemption comes with two more conditions: the work cannot require a building permit, and the unlicensed person cannot employ anyone for the project. The board says it is illegal for an unlicensed person to perform contracting work on any project that needs a building permit, uses employee labor, or where the combined price of labor and materials is $1,000 or more…