Contractor License ($25,000) Bond - City of Independence, OH in Ohio

Brief Summary

Two things before you buy. The bond attaches to a registration, and Independence issues more than one. Section 1321.02 requires a general contractor doing electrical, plumbing, HVAC, refrigeration, hydronics, water and sewer, excavation and grading, paving or specialty work to register separately for each of those in addition to the general registration. Confirm with the Building Official how many bonds that means for your firm before you order. And the bond is not the item that usually holds people up. The insurance is. Independence wants $1,000,000 bodily injury coverage plus workers compensation and a RITA registration, and none of that is same day.

Section 1321.06 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Independence provides that as a condition for the issuance of a registration to any contractor, such contractor shall give a bond to the City in the principal sum of twenty five thousand dollars. The bond secures that the registrant performs work in accordance with state laws, city ordinances and approved plans, and becomes effective upon default. The Law Director prescribes the bond form, and the bond must be filed with the Finance Director with sureties approved by the Building Official before the registration takes effect. The whole of Chapter 1321 was enacted by Ordinance 2025-94, passed 8-12-25.

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How to Apply for a Contractor License ($25,000) Bond:

• Ask the Building Official at 216.524.1019 how many registrations your firm needs. A general contractor doing specialty work under 1321.01(b) through (g) registers separately for each specialty on top of the general registration.
• Ask in the same call whether each registration requires its own bond, since the ordinance ties the bond to the issuance of a registration without stating a multiplier.
• Obtain the bond form prescribed by the Law Director. Do not have a surety issue on its own paper.
• Have the bond written for $25,000 in favour of the City of Independence.
• Legal business name exactly as it will appear on the registration application.
• Owner or principal information and authorization for a credit review.
• Complete the bond application, review the quoted premium, and pay it.
• File the executed bond with the Finance Director, with sureties approved by the Building Official. The registration does not take effect until that is done.
• Arrange liability insurance in parallel. Bodily injury of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate, property damage of $100,000 per occurrence and $100,000 aggregate.
• Obtain a current certificate from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and confirm subcontractor employees are covered either by their own policy or under yours.
• Register with the Regional Income Tax Administrator of the City first. No registration is issued until that evidence is provided.
• If you do electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, refrigeration or hydronics work, hold a valid Ohio licence under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740.
• Pay the $75.00 registration fee.
• If you are registering in December, ask for a bond valid for the next consecutive calendar year so the registration carries through that year automatically.
• Confirm your actual expiration date with the Building Department, since the ordinance describes both a calendar year requirement and a one year from issuance expiry.

Detailed Information About the Ohio Contractor License ($25,000) Bond:

The chapter is new, so check anything you read elsewhere

Every section of Chapter 1321 carries the same history line: Ord. 2025-94, passed 8-12-25. The City rewrote its contractor registration chapter in August 2025.

That means guidance written before then, including most of what is indexed online, describes a version of these rules that no longer applies. The $75 registration fee is one visible consequence, and the Building Department's own page notes the increase.

$25,000 flat, and it hangs off the registration

There are no tiers. Section 1321.06 names a single figure, a bond to the City in the principal sum of twenty five thousand dollars, and it does not vary by trade, contract value or company size.

What can vary is how many registrations you hold. Section 1321.02 says no person may work as a contractor in the City without registration from the Building Official, and adds that a general contractor performing specialized work of the types listed in Section 1321.01(b) through (g) must register separately for each specialty in addition to the general contractor registration.

Section 1321.06 then ties the bond to the issuance of a registration. Whether that means one bond per registration or one bond covering a firm with several registrations is not spelled out in the text, and it is worth a direct question to the Building Official at 216.524.1019 before you order anything. Getting it wrong in either direction costs you.

What the bond secures, and who controls the form

The bond secures that the registrant performs work in accordance with state laws, City ordinances and approved plans, and it becomes effective upon default.

Two procedural points that decide whether your filing goes through. The Law Director prescribes the form of the bond. And it must be filed with the Finance Director, with sureties approved by the Building Official, before the registration takes effect.

So three City officials touch this. The Law Director owns the wording, the Building Official approves the surety, and the Finance Director holds the filing. A surety's own form is not what the ordinance contemplates, so get the City's form before you have anything executed.

The trades the chapter covers

Section 1321.01 defines a contractor broadly, covering firms, individuals, partnerships, corporations and associations that construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, reconstruct or remodel a building or structure, or that submit bids for such work. General contractors, subcontractors and specialty contractors are all inside it.

The seven categories are general contracting, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning and refrigeration and hydronics, water and sewer and excavation and grading, paving, and specialty trades.

If you are bidding rather than building, note that submitting a bid is inside the definition.

The insurance is the real gate

More registrations stall here than on the bond.

Section 1321.10 requires evidence of insurance for bodily injury of $1,000,000 for each occurrence subject to a $1,000,000 aggregate, and property damage of $100,000 for each occurrence subject to a $100,000 aggregate.

Section 1321.11 adds workers compensation, carried at the contractor's expense for all employees at the work site. Subcontractors must carry it too unless their employees are covered under the contractor's policy. It has to be evidenced by a certificate from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and the contractor indemnifies the City against liability arising under the Workers' Compensation Law.

A $25,000 bond is a small, quick file. A million dollar liability certificate and a current BWC certificate are not things to arrange on the morning you want to register.

Two prerequisites that will stop the registration cold

Both are easy to miss because neither is about construction.

Section 1321.12 provides that no registration shall be issued until evidence is provided that the contractor is registered with the Regional Income Tax Administrator of the City. That is a tax registration, and it is a hard precondition rather than a formality.

Section 1321.13 requires all registered contractors engaged in electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, refrigeration and hydronics work to hold a valid Ohio licence under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740. Holding the state licence does not remove the City registration or the bond, and holding the City registration does not substitute for the state licence. Those trades need both.

Only one exemption, and it is narrow

Section 1321.14 exempts an owner of a dwelling personally performing work upon the premises occupied by the owner as such owner's established personal residence.

Every word in that is doing work. It is limited to a dwelling, to the owner, to personal performance of the work, and to a residence that is the owner's established personal residence. The Building Official may ask for verification of residency. And the exemption is from the registration chapter only. The work still has to comply with Ohio rules, regulations and codes and with City ordinances.

There is no exemption for small jobs, no exemption for subcontractors working under a registered general, and no grandfather clause for contractors who were already working in the City before August 2025.

Term, and a wrinkle worth reading twice

Section 1321.04 says the form of the registration is as the Building Official may prescribe, that registrations shall be required for each calendar year, and that each registration shall expire one year from the date of issuance.

Those two sentences do not describe the same thing, which is worth confirming with the Building Department rather than assuming.

The section then gives a rule that helps if you are registering late in the year. If a contractor registers in the month of December for that current year, accompanied by a bond valid for the next consecutive calendar year, the registration automatically continues through the following consecutive year. So a December registration with the right bond dates buys you the following year rather than expiring almost immediately.

What it costs to skip it

Section 1321.99 sets a fine of not more than $500.00 for each offense, and a separate offense is deemed committed each day during or on which a violation or noncompliance occurs or continues.

A daily accrual on a job that runs weeks is the part that matters, not the headline figure.

Eligibility and Requirements for a Ohio Contractor License ($25,000) Bond:

• A bond to the City in the principal sum of $25,000 under Section 1321.06.
• The bond conditioned on performing work in accordance with state laws, City ordinances and approved plans.
• A bond form prescribed by the Law Director.
• The bond filed with the Finance Director, with sureties approved by the Building Official, before the registration takes effect.
• Separate registration for each specialty under 1321.01(b) through (g) in addition to a general contractor registration.
• Evidence of insurance for bodily injury of $1,000,000 each occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate.
• Evidence of insurance for property damage of $100,000 each occurrence and $100,000 aggregate.
• Workers compensation coverage evidenced by a certificate from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, with indemnity to the City.
• Evidence of registration with the Regional Income Tax Administrator of the City.
• A valid Ohio licence under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740 for electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, refrigeration and hydronics contractors.
• A registration fee of $75.00.
• Business name on the bond matching the registration application exactly.

Ohio Contractor License ($25,000) Bond FAQs:

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