Hot job leads · Sunnyvale

Working in Sunnyvale: a two-year license, posted hours and mobile homes

Sunnyvale bills its business license two years at a time and counts the owner among the employees. Its own list says a retrofit window, a light or switch in an existing box, or a fence up to 7 feet needs no building permit, while every water heater swap does. Job sites must post the work hours and a contact at the entrance, and 5.6 percent of the city's housing units are mobile homes.

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New job: Electrical in Murphy Station on South Murphy Avenue, Sunnyvale. See the job and the price before you pay: thehandymansflive.com/l/…

New job: Fence repair near Mountain View. Open the link to see it.

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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.

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Business license
Two-year cycle, renewals due January 1
Source: sunnyvale.ca.gov: business licenses (opens in a new tab)
Mobile homes
5.6% of housing units (ACS 2019-2023)
Source: data.census.gov: ACSDP5Y2023 (opens in a new tab)
Median home built
1975 (ACS 2019-2023)
Source: data.census.gov: ACSDT5Y2023 (opens in a new tab)
Construction hours
Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat 8am-5pm, none Sundays or holidays
Source: sunnyvale.ca.gov: 638681188717100000 (opens in a new tab)

Working legally here

Sunnyvale's business license tax, paid for two years

Anyone carrying on business in Sunnyvale needs a City business license from the Department of Finance's business licensing section, and that includes home-based businesses. The city collects on a two-year cycle, so the Business License Tax Certificate is issued only after both years are paid; renewals fall due January 1, with penalties and interest from 30 days later. The tax follows the number of employees working in Sunnyvale, owner included, or the number of rental units if that is higher, plus the state's small disability-access fee. You can apply, renew, update or pay online through Business License Central, and the application asks for your contractor license number, type and expiration date.

City of Sunnyvale Department of Finance (opens in a new tab)

Permits

What Sunnyvale exempts, and what it never does

  • No permit: retrofit windows, device swaps, fences to 7 feet

    Sunnyvale's list of work that needs no building permit, current from January 1, 2026, includes a retrofit window that keeps the existing manufactured frame and configuration, replacing receptacles, switches and lights in existing boxes with the same type, roof repairs up to 100 square feet in a 12-month period, fences not over 7 feet and retaining walls up to 4 feet with nothing attached. Planning approval may still be needed for some fences, and for exterior paint in some zoning districts.

    City of Sunnyvale Building Safety Division (opens in a new tab)

  • Water heaters and re-roofs always need one

    Every water heater replacement needs a plumbing permit before the old unit comes out, and the city's handout spells out seismic straps in the top and bottom thirds of the tank, the lower one at least 4 inches above the controls. A re-roof, or any roof repair over 100 square feet, needs a permit before tear-off. Planning requires the new roof to keep the existing quality, so a 30-year composition roof is replaced with at least 30-year material, and new roofing must carry a Class B fire rating or better.

    City of Sunnyvale Building Safety Division (opens in a new tab)

  • Trees and Eichler windows

    A Tree Removal Permit is required for any tree over 38 inches in circumference, the city's single-family zoning handout notes. Eichler windows have their own Building Division handout: it covers like-for-like replacements only, replacement windows and sliders up to 75 square feet need a U-factor of 0.40 or lower and a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.35 or lower, and any change in a window's size or location needs Planning approval first.

    City of Sunnyvale Building Safety Division (opens in a new tab)

The homes

61,808 homes, mobile home parks among them

Of the 61,808 housing units the 2019-2023 American Community Survey finds in Sunnyvale, the median one dates from 1975. Owners occupy 43.8 percent of occupied homes. Detached houses are 36.5 percent of units, buildings of 20 or more units 23.3 percent and mobile homes 5.6 percent. The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s each built between 17.8 and 18.7 percent of today's stock, so post-war houses of three vintages stand side by side. Expect permit-checked water heaters and roofs on the houses, association rules in the larger buildings, and manufactured-home work in the parks, which are privately owned and run under park rules.

U.S. Census Bureau (opens in a new tab)
Historic Murphy Avenue in downtown Sunnyvale
Historic Murphy Avenue in downtown Sunnyvale. Photo: The Sands of Time 0, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part by part

Sunnyvale areas and the work they bring

  • Taaffe-Frances heritage blocks

    The homes on South Taaffe Street and South Frances Street between Olive Avenue and East El Camino Real have their own heritage neighborhood design guidelines, written to keep the historic character of the two streets. Exterior changes there are weighed against those guidelines, so a call to Planning comes before swapping siding, windows or a front door.

  • Mobile home parks

    The city Housing Division's 2018 park inventory lists 13 mobile home parks with 3,862 spaces on about 415 acres, from Casa de Amigos with 909 spaces and Plaza del Rey with 800 down to Aloha Mobile Village with 39. On a manufactured home the usual handyman jobs are entry steps, skirting, interior doors, cabinets and fixtures, and the city's rent agreements leave each owner free to enforce the park's own rules.

  • Murphy Station on South Murphy Avenue

    The 100 block of South Murphy Avenue is Sunnyvale's original downtown, and most of its buildings went up between 1900 and 1940: one- and two-story storefronts with glazed-tile knee-walls and recessed entries. It is the city's Murphy Station Heritage Landmark District, where a designated historic building may not be altered without a Landmark Alteration Permit from the Heritage Preservation Commission, so storefront, door and tile repairs start with Planning.

Getting around

Posted hours, holidays and the permit center

Under Municipal Code 16.08.030, crews may work 7 a.m. through 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Saturday, but never on Sundays or the eight national holidays when City offices close, from New Year's Day to Christmas. The longer homeowner hours do not cover hired help. The hours and a contractor or owner contact must be posted at the site's public-facing entrance. The permit center is on the second floor of City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., with one- and two-hour visitor spaces in the underground garage off Olive Avenue.

How hot leads work

From the first text to the homeowner's door

  1. Confirm your mobile

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  2. 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.

  3. See it before you pay

    The link shows the job and the price. Skip any job you do not want.

  4. 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 Sunnyvale: what pros ask

Does Sunnyvale count me as an employee if I work alone?

Yes. The application asks for the number of employees working in Sunnyvale including the owner, so a sole operator is a business of one. The tax is set from that number, or from rental units if you have more of those, and it is billed for two years together: the Business License Tax Certificate arrives only after both years are paid. Renewals are due January 1.

Do I need a Sunnyvale permit to swap a light fixture or a window?

Not for a like-for-like swap. The city's exemption list covers replacing receptacles, switches and lights in existing boxes with no change of type, and a retrofit window that keeps the existing manufactured frame and configuration. A window that changes size or location needs Planning approval, and Eichler window replacements follow their own Building Division handout, so read it before quoting one.

Can I start at 7 a.m. on a Saturday in Sunnyvale?

No. Saturday work runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. under Municipal Code 16.08.030, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays and the listed national holidays are off. The extended homeowner hours apply only when the owner does the work, with up to two unpaid helpers. A waiver for other hours can be requested, but the city says it is typically not allowed next to homes.

Does a 6-foot backyard fence need a permit in Sunnyvale?

Not a building permit, which starts at fences over 7 feet. Front yards are stricter: up to 4 feet needs no permit, a fence over 4 and up to 6 feet needs a planning permit, and anything over 6 feet needs a use permit. Nothing may exceed 3.5 feet in a driveway or corner vision triangle unless it is an open fence, and an HOA may add its own limits.

Do I pay anything before I see a Sunnyvale job on the hot list?

No. Seeing a job costs nothing: the text gives its trade and area, and its link opens the description with the price shown first. Only a job you decide to buy is charged, and there is no monthly plan, no bid to enter and no share taken from what the customer pays you. Sending STOP as a reply ends the texts.

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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.

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