Handyman Leads in San Mateo: Tax, Express Permits, Hours

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On the hot list, every new Bay Area job comes to your phone by text, whatever the trade or city, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jobs in the work and cities you pick here reach you first. A job you have not opened may come once more as a reminder.

1Pick the work you take
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What work do you take?

Working legally here

San Mateo's business tax certificate, paid before you start

San Mateo calls it a business tax, and the Finance page says the Municipal Code requires everyone doing business in the city to pay it each year, before the business begins work there. Chapter 5.24 gives contractors a flat annual rate rather than a gross-receipts formula, with general contractors on a higher line than all other contractors, and the code defines a contractor as anyone doing construction work for an agreed price. HdL Companies of Fresno runs applications, renewals and compliance audits online. The certificate arrives by mail and is displayed at the place of business. Renewal notices are mailed or emailed, but paying on time is your job: a penalty starts 45 days after expiration, rises 5 percent for every 30 days, and becomes 100 percent of the tax after 150 days.

City of San Mateo, Finance Department (opens in a new tab)

Permits

San Mateo permits: the express list, video review, heritage trees

Express permits with no plan check
The Building Division issues Express Building Permits for work that needs no plan review or construction drawings, at its counter or through the Online Permit Center. The list covers reroofs, stucco repair or replacement, siding repair or replacement, electrical service upgrades, temporary power poles, furnace and water heater replacement, and sewer line and waterline replacement, alongside annual permits for keeping chickens and bees. General building permit fees follow project valuation, with itemized fees for plumbing, electrical and mechanical subpermits.
City of San Mateo, Building Division (opens in a new tab)
Minor plans reviewed by video
Minor projects that do need plans can be checked in a virtual over-the-counter review. Submit through the Customer Self-Service portal with every requirement attached, and staff reply within one business day to book the session; plan checkers hold them Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon. Once the plans are approved, the permit issues within one business day of paying the fees. The city publishes which projects qualify. Since July 1, 2020, card payments carry a processor's service fee that cash, check or e-check avoids.
City of San Mateo, Online Permit Center (opens in a new tab)
Heritage trees and their roots
Chapter 13.40 makes an oak with a trunk 10 inches or more in diameter, or any other tree at 15 inches or more, measured 54 inches above natural grade, a Heritage Tree. Major pruning or removal needs a permit from the Director of Parks and Recreation, and major pruning includes taking more than 25 percent of the crown or cutting roots within six trunk diameters. Tearing roots over 2 inches across or compacting soil under the dripline counts as damage. Only City staff may prune a street tree without a permit.
City of San Mateo Municipal Code (opens in a new tab)

The homes

42,431 homes, more of them in shared buildings than detached

The ACS 2019-2023 estimates count 42,431 housing units in San Mateo, with a median year built of 1964. The 1950s are the largest decade at 21.6 percent, the 1940s through the 1970s together hold 62.5 percent, and 9.5 percent predate 1940. Detached houses are 41.2 percent of units and attached single-family homes such as townhouses another 9.8 percent, while 48.6 percent sit in buildings of two or more homes, 26.1 percent in buildings of 20 or more. Units in shared buildings nearly match houses in number. Owners occupy 50.8 percent of occupied homes, and electricity heats 39.3 percent of them.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Part by part

San Mateo districts where the rules or the buildings differ

North Shoreview and North Central
A FEMA map in force from 2001 put areas north of Highway 92 in a special flood hazard area, and a 2019 map added more North Central addresses. In 2023 the North Shoreview Flood Improvement Project raised a 1,300-foot levee segment and upgraded the Coyote Point and Poplar Avenue pump stations, and a FEMA revision effective October 11, 2024 removed about 1,600 addresses from flood zones. Check the current map before assuming flood rules apply.
Bay Meadows
The 75-acre site of the former Bay Meadows Racetrack has been redeveloped under a specific plan first adopted in 1997. Phase I brought 734 homes, offices, shops and a 310-room hotel, and Phase II allows 1,250 more homes and 15 acres of park, so this housing is recent next to the city's mid-century stock.
Mariner's Island
Between Marina Lagoon and the Foster City line, the 263 net acres of Mariner's Island were built out mostly in the 1970s and 1980s with offices, retail and residences, the Edgewater Isle condominiums among them, so most of it is now 40 to 50 years old. The specific plan that shaped it was first adopted in 1973 and last revised in 1995.
The Hillsdale and Hayward Park station areas
The 2005 Rail Corridor Transit-Oriented Development Plan runs along El Camino Real from about 16th Avenue south into Belmont and aims new development within half a mile of the Hillsdale and Hayward Park Caltrain stations. The 2011 Hillsdale Station Area Plan adds detail for a pedestrian-oriented hub around a relocated Hillsdale station.

Getting around

A San Mateo workday: short weekends, reserved meters, permit streets

Section 23.06.060 allows work regulated by the building code from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and only noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays and holidays. Fully enclosed interior work is exempt if it stays below the exterior ambient noise level measured ten feet from the property lines, and approved exemptions are posted at the site. On a metered block, the city can reserve specific spaces for construction, repainting or maintenance next to them, one permit per space, posted on the meter. In residential permit areas near hospitals, schools and businesses, cars without a sticker or visitor tag get two hours.

How hot leads work

From the first text to the homeowner's door

Confirm your mobile
A texted code proves the number is yours. No app, no password, no card.
A text for each new job
It names the trade and the area, with a link to the job. Texts go out from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
See it before you pay
The link shows the job and the price. Skip any job you do not want.
Pay, then call the homeowner
After you pay you get the homeowner's name, number and address. Price and timing are between you.

Questions

Working in San Mateo: what pros ask

Do I owe San Mateo business tax if my shop is in Redwood City?

Yes. The Finance page says the code requires all persons or businesses doing business in San Mateo to pay the annual tax, and the contractor section charges every person conducting the business of contractor. Pay before the first job there, through HdL's online application site. Renewal notices are mailed or emailed, but the city puts the burden of paying on time on you, and the penalties start 45 days after expiration.

How late can I run a saw on a San Mateo job on Saturday?

Until 5 p.m. Saturday work under the building code runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays and holidays only from noon to 4 p.m.; weekdays allow 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Outside those hours you need a written exemption from the Building Official, given for emergencies or exceptional circumstances, or one written into a planning approval.

Does replacing stucco on a San Mateo house need drawings?

No drawings, but it needs a permit. Repair or replacement of stucco is on the city's Express Building Permit list, issued without plan check at the Building Division counter or through the Online Permit Center. Siding repair or replacement and reroofs are on the same list, as are furnace and water heater replacement.

Is the big oak in a San Mateo backyard protected?

If its trunk is 10 inches or more across at 54 inches above natural grade, yes: it is a Heritage Tree, and other species qualify at 15 inches. Removing it, or major pruning such as taking more than a quarter of the crown or cutting roots within six trunk diameters, needs a permit from the Director of Parks and Recreation. Private-property tree removal applications can be filed in the city's online portal.

Can I sign up for the hot list in San Mateo and get jobs in other cities?

Yes. The list texts every new job in the Bay Area as it goes on sale, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., whatever the trade or the city, so San Mateo work arrives with the rest. Each text gives the trade, the area and a link to the job with its price, and you pay only for the jobs you pick. There is no subscription and no bidding, and STOP ends the texts.

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Where this page belongs

Trade pages for San Mateo

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Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and fees change: confirm license and permit requirements with the city before work starts.

San Mateo job rules: express permits, heritage oaks and noon-to-4 Sundays

Get job leads in San Mateo from today

You're on the hot list

San Mateo's business tax certificate, paid before you start

San Mateo permits: the express list, video review, heritage trees

Express permits with no plan check

Minor plans reviewed by video

Heritage trees and their roots

42,431 homes, more of them in shared buildings than detached

San Mateo districts where the rules or the buildings differ

North Shoreview and North Central

Bay Meadows

Mariner's Island

The Hillsdale and Hayward Park station areas