Handyman Work in Vallejo: License, Stickers, Fire Maps

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Working legally here

Vallejo's business license: gross receipts, a July year, windshield stickers

The Finance Department says any individual, partnership or corporation conducting business in Vallejo, directly or indirectly, needs a business license certificate before starting, and new licenses, renewals and closures are handled through the city's HdL portal. Chapter 5.04 of the municipal code lists contractors in Classification B of its gross-receipts license and defines a contractor's gross receipts as the total cost of each job under contract, with no deduction for subcontracts. An annual license is due July 1 and turns delinquent at 5 p.m. on July 31, when a 10 percent penalty is added, then 40 percent more on the first day of the following month. A licensee with no fixed place of business in the city carries the license on the job or shows the windshield sticker issued for each work vehicle.

Vallejo Municipal Code, Chapter 5.04 (opens in a new tab)

Permits

Vallejo permits: a long list, six-month clocks, new fire maps

Drywall, insulation and re-roofs are on the list
The Building Division's list of typical projects needing a permit runs further than many pros expect: insulation and drywall, exterior siding, re-roofing, window and door installations or changes, and arbors or trellises of any size. Painting, tile, carpet, cabinets and countertops are exempt, as are fences up to 7 feet, though a fence over 6 feet needs Planning approval and one within 15 feet of a public way may need engineering approval. A permit stays valid six months from issue or from the last approved inspection, with one six-month extension if you ask in writing before it lapses.
Source: City of Vallejo, Building Division
CAL FIRE's 2025 hazard maps now shape permit review
In July 2025 the city adopted, as Chapter 7.57, the Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps that CAL FIRE issued for local responsibility areas on February 24, 2025. Parcels in a Moderate, High or Very High zone must meet the fire-safety rules that apply, which the ordinance names as the Chapter 7A wildland-urban interface building standards, the defensible-space law in Public Resources Code 4291 and local vegetation rules. The maps are used in building permit review and code enforcement, so look up the zone before pricing vents, siding, a deck or a re-roof.
Vallejo Municipal Code, Chapter 7.57 (opens in a new tab)
Code cases that start with roofs, fences and siding
Vallejo's Code Enforcement Division lists deteriorated exteriors such as roofs, fences and siding among the violations it typically inspects, next to overgrown weeds and cars parked on lawns. Cases start from proactive inspections or citizen complaints, and an owner appealing a notice files within 30 days. Case records and fines can be looked up in eTRAKiT, so ask the owner for the case number before you scope the repair.
City of Vallejo, Code Enforcement (opens in a new tab)

The homes

46,395 homes, half of them standing by 1975

The ACS 2019-2023 estimates count 46,395 housing units in Vallejo, with a median year built of 1975. The 1980s were the biggest single decade at 21.9 percent, yet 11.6 percent of units date from 1939 or earlier and 58.6 percent from before 1980. Detached houses are 68.2 percent of the stock, buildings of 20 or more units just 7.6 percent, and mobile homes 2.7 percent. Owners occupy 58.9 percent of occupied homes. Utility gas heats 61.2 percent of them and electricity 34.0 percent, so a furnace call is still usually a gas call.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Aerial view of downtown Vallejo: low commercial blocks, houses climbing the hills behind, and the waterfront in the distance. Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part by part

Vallejo neighborhoods and the work in them

Washington Park, West Vallejo and Home Acres
The Housing Element's 2022 look at homes for sale in the western neighborhoods, which it says take in West Vallejo, Washington Park, Steffan Manor and Home Acres, found the wear clustered there: cracked concrete on driveways, walkways and patios, tired yards, and paint or stucco due for repair. Sidewalks and driveways appear on the building code's exemption list.
Mare Island
Past the historic houses, the island holds more than 100 businesses, and its office and industrial space comes with overhead cranes and oversized roll-up doors, so commercial tenant work is part of the mix. The city is drafting a new Specific Plan with The Mare Island Company, the island's developer and manager, so confirm which plan applies before quoting exterior work.
Olympia and Vallejo Mobile Estates
These two mobile home parks sit in the denser neighborhoods near the railroad and the ferry terminal, south of Sears Point Road and west of I-80. The Housing Element counts 67.3 percent of the city's mobile homes as built between 1960 and 1979, an age it says may call for replacement or rehabilitation.
Hiddenbrooke, Glen Cove and Blue Rock Springs
The Housing Element puts Vallejo's highest-income tracts on its east and northeast sides, with Hiddenbrooke at the top and Glen Cove, Blue Rock Springs, Somerset Highlands and Henry Ranch among its other higher-income neighborhoods. These subdivisions sit well away from the old western grid and its century-old houses.

Getting around

A Vallejo workday: freeways, downtown lots, quiet hours

I-80, I-780 and State Route 37, which the city's plans call Sears Point Road, frame the older neighborhoods by the Mare Island Strait. Downtown, the city-owned lots charge from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and are free on evenings and weekends, while the Waterfront lots and the Vallejo Station garage charge around the clock; oversized vehicles, RVs included, are barred from every Park Vallejo lot. Downtown streets are swept from 5 to 7 a.m. Chapter 7.84 bars power saws, drills, sanders and grinders, and loading or unloading building materials, from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. when the noise carries onto a residential property.

How hot leads work

From the first text to the homeowner's door

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Questions

Working in Vallejo: what pros ask

Does handyman work in Vallejo mean a city sticker on my truck?

Plan on it. The code has the city issue one windshield sticker for each vehicle used in the business, a vehicle added later needs its own, and section 5.04.265 makes it unlawful to drive a work vehicle without one or to move the sticker to another vehicle. A licensee with no fixed place of business in the city also carries the license or shows the sticker while working.

Can I deduct my subcontractors from Vallejo gross receipts?

Not under the code's definition. For contractors, gross receipts include the total cost of the job or project under contract, with no deduction for subcontracts, whether the contract is fixed-price, cost-plus or one where you act as the owner's agent. You may report on a cash or an accrual basis, provided it matches the basis used on your federal income tax return.

Is one service call enough to need a Vallejo license?

Under section 5.04.595 it is. A single act of selling, offering or taking an order for a service, or making a delivery, is enough for the code to treat you as in business in the city. The Finance Department's page asks for the certificate before the business begins operating, and new applications go through the HdL portal.

Does replacing a stretch of drywall in Vallejo need a permit?

Insulation and drywall are on the Building Division's list of typical projects that require one. The exemptions it quotes from the residential code cover painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops and similar finish work, so a paint-only job is clear. Ask the division where a small patch falls before you quote it.

Will the hot list send me only Solano County jobs?

No. Where you are based changes nothing about what arrives: each new Bay Area job, in any trade, is texted between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. with its trade, its area and a link. That link opens the job and its price before you pay, you pay only for the jobs you take, nothing is billed monthly, nobody bids against you, and STOP 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.

vallejo.gov: business license
library.municode.com: municipal code
vallejo.gov: permit related questions
library.municode.com: municipal code
library.municode.com: municipal code
vallejoca.hosted.civiclive.com: code enforcement
vallejoca.hosted.civiclive.com: learn about parking
vallejoca.hosted.civiclive.com: mare island
sta.ca.gov: Vallejo Revised Draft HE tracked 070324
data.census.gov: ACSDP5Y2023
data.census.gov: ACSDT5Y2023

Before a Vallejo job: the July license tax, truck stickers and permit list

Get job leads in Vallejo from today

You're on the hot list

Vallejo's business license: gross receipts, a July year, windshield stickers

Vallejo permits: a long list, six-month clocks, new fire maps

Drywall, insulation and re-roofs are on the list

CAL FIRE's 2025 hazard maps now shape permit review

Code cases that start with roofs, fences and siding

46,395 homes, half of them standing by 1975

Vallejo neighborhoods and the work in them

Washington Park, West Vallejo and Home Acres

Mare Island

Olympia and Vallejo Mobile Estates

Hiddenbrooke, Glen Cove and Blue Rock Springs