Start your own company
Start your own painting company in Florida
Florida doesn't require a state license to run a painting business — interior or exterior. If you can cut a clean line and show up when you said, the distance between you and your own company is paperwork, insurance, and one federal certification most people have never heard of. Here's the whole path, in plain English — and when you're ready, the Blue Trade Alliance is built to send booked jobs to owners exactly like you.
What it takes
What it takes in Florida
Define your services — and know the legal line
Interior repaints, exterior repaints, ceilings, doors and trim, decks and fences, drywall patch-and-paint, wallpaper — all fair game without a state license. The line: anything electrical (moving fixtures, not just removing a switch plate), anything plumbing, and anything structural belongs to a licensed contractor. Write down your service list and keep every item inside that line.
Get lead-safe certified if you'll touch older homes
Federal rule, not a Florida one: disturbing painted surfaces in homes built before 1978 requires an EPA Lead-Safe certified firm and a trained renovator. The firm certification is an online application and a modest fee good for five years; the renovator class is about a day. Tampa Bay is full of pre-1978 housing — get this early and it opens up the whole market.
Register your business with Sunbiz
File an LLC with the Florida Division of Corporations at sunbiz.org. It's an online filing, the fee is a bit over a hundred dollars, and approval usually comes back within a few business days. The LLC puts a legal wall between your business and your personal savings.
Get your EIN from the IRS
A federal Employer Identification Number is free, takes minutes on the IRS website, and lets you open a business bank account and file taxes as a company instead of running everything through your Social Security number.
Pick up your local business tax receipt
Most Florida counties and many cities require a business tax receipt (the old "occupational license") to operate there. Check with your county tax collector and your city — in Tampa Bay that can mean both. It's usually a short application and a modest annual fee.
Carry general liability insurance
Not required by the state for painting work — but treat it as non-negotiable. Overspray on a customer's car, a ladder through a window, a spill on the new carpet: liability coverage is the difference between an apology and a lawsuit. Many customers, and the alliance, will ask for proof.
A BTA specialist walks you through every one of these steps, on the phone, in order — you never file anything alone.
Our specialists walk you through the steps and point you to the right agencies — they don't give legal, tax, or insurance advice. For decisions about your specific situation, talk to your own attorney or CPA.
Information reviewed July 2026
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