Handyman Work in Union City: Tax, Permits, Hours

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Working legally here

Union City's gross-receipts business tax after Measure QQ

Chapter 5 of the Union City Municipal Code requires a business license of anyone doing business in the city, and the Finance page lists contractors and out-of-town firms by name. Voters passed Measure QQ in November 2024, folding 65 business categories into seven and moving the tax to gross receipts: contractors pay 0.2 percent plus a minimum annual registration tax, the first 25,000 dollars a year goes untaxed, and the minimum tracks the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward price index. A general or sub-contractor attaches a supplemental form with estimated yearly receipts from Union City jobs and the state license number. Firms based elsewhere may apply online; one based inside the city first needs a zoning compliance review from Planning, then emails a PDF application. Review takes about three weeks, and renewal is due before the end of the anniversary month.

Source: City of Union City, Finance Department

Permits

Union City permits: emailed records, next-day inspections, hill zones

Over-the-counter permits by email or mail
Union City handles over-the-counter permits for California-licensed contractors by email or mail. You send the application to the Building Division, the invoice comes back by email with payment made through the Finance Department, and the official hard copy is mailed to the address on the application. The work that qualifies: minor plumbing, mechanical and electrical jobs, water heater replacement, a new residential electrical service, wall furnace or HVAC changeouts with a CF1R form, reroofs that add no weight, like-for-like windows, and repair or replacement of water and gas lines.
Source: City of Union City, Building Division
Inspections booked the day before
Building inspections here are next-day only. Phone the inspection line before 3 p.m. the day before with the permit number, address, inspection type and a preference for morning, 8 to noon, or afternoon, noon to 4. The division caps the number it takes each business day, a request that misses the schedule does not roll over, and if no confirmation comes by 3:30 p.m. you call again. City inspections are not done on alternating Fridays, so read the division's operating calendar before promising a finish date.
Source: City of Union City, Building Division
East of Mission Boulevard: interface and soils zones
The Building Division's design criteria name everything east of Mission Boulevard as the city's wildland-urban interface zone, and list soils hazard zones east of Mission and west of Union City Boulevard. Ask the counter which materials and reports those zones call for before pricing a reroof, siding, vents, a deck or a retaining wall on that side. The same list fixes the figures plans are drawn to: seismic site class D, an 85 mph basic wind speed, exposure B and a presumptive soil bearing value of 1,500.
Source: City of Union City, Building Division

The homes

21,923 homes, nearly a third of them from the 1970s

The 2019-2023 American Community Survey counts 21,923 housing units in Union City and puts the median year built at 1979. The 1970s alone account for 31.4 percent of them, followed by the 1980s at 17.1 percent and the 1990s at 14.8 percent, so most of the stock is now between 27 and 56 years old. Detached houses are 60.0 percent of units, attached townhouses 11.7 percent, buildings of 20 or more units 12.7 percent and mobile homes 5.2 percent. Owners occupy 67.0 percent of occupied homes. Utility gas heats 68.5 percent of them and electricity 28.5 percent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Union City BART station and its bus plaza. Photo: LPS.1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part by part

Union City areas and the jobs they hold

Station District core by BART
The environmental report for the Station District plan describes the core around the Union City Intermodal Station as low- and mid-rise housing: Avalon Bay with 438 apartments, the Verandas with 282, Station Center with 157, Union Flats with 243 residential and work/live units, and Pacific Terrace with 216 three-story townhomes. In a rented unit, find out who approves the repair before you quote it.
Above Mission Boulevard
East of Mission Boulevard, State Route 238, the city's interface zone and one of its two soils hazard zones cover the same ground. Fence, deck and retaining wall jobs there raise questions about materials, drainage and soil, and any work that grades, excavates, fills or clears soil needs the city's separate grading permit.
Mobile home parks
Mobile homes are 5.2 percent of the city's housing units in the Census estimates, and Measure QQ gives mobile home parks a tax category of their own, charged per space instead of on receipts. Before quoting work on a manufactured home, ask the park office what it allows for parking, deliveries and work inside the park.
The Marketplace at Decoto and Alvarado-Niles
West of the station core, the Marketplace subarea holds two large single-story shopping centers, restaurants and gas stations at Decoto Road and Alvarado-Niles Road, the two largest arterials in the plan area. A tenant who remodels or changes signage needs a building permit filed with the city's commercial tenant improvement submittal list.

Getting around

A Union City work day: I-880, Mission Boulevard and Sunday hours

The Station District plan names Interstate 880, the Dumbarton Bridge, Decoto Road and Mission Boulevard as the regional routes into the middle of the city. Municipal Code 9.40.053 lets permitted construction run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and holidays, provided no single tool tops 83 dBA at 25 feet or the noise at the property line stays at or under 86 dBA. The Building Division counter opens Monday to Thursday, 9 to 5, and every other Friday morning.

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Questions

Working in Union City: what pros ask

Can I run my handyman business from my house in Union City?

Only within tight limits. A home business needs a zoning compliance review before the license, and Section 18.32.020.G allows no employees, no business use of the garage or sheds, and no outside storage. One business vehicle may be kept, parked inside the garage, with tools and supplies kept in the house or in a half-ton truck parked there. Repair services and handicraft work such as woodwork, cabinetry and metal working may not be carried on at the home.

How does Union City figure business tax for a contractor?

On gross receipts. Contractors pay 0.2 percent of receipts plus the minimum annual registration tax, and the first 25,000 dollars a year is not taxed, though every business pays at least the minimum. A first license uses your estimate of receipts from Union City jobs for the period; a renewal uses the previous year's actual figure. The receipts you report are subject to audit by the city.

Can I get a Union City inspection the same morning I call?

No. Inspections are scheduled for the next business day only, and the request has to reach the inspection line before 3 p.m. the day before. The division calls back by 3:30 p.m. to confirm. Asking for a morning or afternoon slot is a request, not a booking, and once the day fills up a request does not carry over, so you call again.

Do I need anything besides a building permit for driveway or slope work in Union City?

Often, yes. The city issues encroachment permits for construction in the public right-of-way, such as sidewalks, and grading permits for projects that grade, excavate, fill or clear soil, both separate from the building permit. East of Mission Boulevard, where the interface and soils hazard zones overlap, ask the Building Division which apply before you price the job.

Will the hot list text me Union City jobs only?

No. The hot list texts every new Bay Area job as it goes on sale, whatever the trade or city, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Each text gives the trade, the area and a link, and the link shows the job and its price before you pay. You pay only for the ones you pick, with no subscription and no bidding, and replying STOP ends it.

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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.

unioncityca.gov: Business License
unioncityca.gov: BLT Information Fact Sheet March 2025 v2
unioncityca.gov: 12 General Sub Contractor Supplemental Form v 03 21 2025
unioncityca.gov: 3 Business License Tax Schedule eff 07 01 2026 v3 006 003
unioncityca.gov: Zoning Compliance Review Residential Application
unioncityca.gov: Permits
unioncityca.gov: Building
unioncityca.gov: 3729
unioncityca.gov: FINAL Inspection Handout
unioncityca.gov: 166
unioncityca.gov: 2 Project Description
data.census.gov: ACSDP5Y2023
data.census.gov: ACSDT5Y2023

Union City for pros: Measure QQ, emailed permits and Sunday hours

Get job leads in Union City from today

You're on the hot list

Union City's gross-receipts business tax after Measure QQ

Union City permits: emailed records, next-day inspections, hill zones

Over-the-counter permits by email or mail

Inspections booked the day before

East of Mission Boulevard: interface and soils zones

21,923 homes, nearly a third of them from the 1970s

Union City areas and the jobs they hold

Station District core by BART

Above Mission Boulevard

Mobile home parks

The Marketplace at Decoto and Alvarado-Niles