Project splitting

Definition

Cutting one job into small contracts to stay under a licensing threshold.

Why It Matters

The handyman exemption is a dollar limit and this is the rule that makes it a limit on the PROJECT and not on the invoice. California, Washington and Arizona all say it in nearly identical words. The exemption does not apply where the work is only part of a larger operation, whether or not the same contractor does it, or where the operation is divided into smaller contracts to evade the chapter. California's threshold is a thousand dollars and applies only where the work needs no building permit; Arizona carries the same permit carve-out, and Washington's threshold is still five hundred. The exposure is not a fine. Unlicensed contracting can void the right to be paid and reach work already done, so it sits on revenue a seller has already recognized. Read the job book for two invoices to one address in one week, and read the seller's own advertising, which can strip the exemption by itself.