Depends on the city / state. Where I live (Georgia) that sort of thing is usually regulated at the County level, unless there is a city within the county that handles it. (In my county, only about 20% of the area is within the city; the remaining 80% is unincorporated)

Impossible to answer your question without more information.

@elbanditoroso City hall told me call the county clerk. I did. County clerk told me to call city hall. Its back and forth nonsense and nobody seems to know what they’re doing. The county clerk did tell me that if my city hall had no idea what I was talking about that it was a good indication my town doesn’t require the business to be bonded or licensed. She said to file a DBA and recommend getting insurance.

good advice

An insurance company might know since it would have an impact on them. Or try the Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau for the town.

If the city and county seem to not have any rules about it, then the last stop is the state. Even if the state you live in has no requirements, being bonded might be very good for marketing purposes. Customers will have more trust if you’re bonded.

I agree calling an insurer will help you get information also.

A business lawyer would probably know also, but I think if you’ve called city, county, and state then you probably don’t need to ask a lawyer. If you use a lawyer to set up an LLC, then the bond question would be a quick question though. You can set up the LLC without a lawyer though.

Try here first County Contact

IF that doesn’t help I’d recommend trying the Chamber of Commerce in your town. Or, maybe contact an owner of another cleaning business & tell them that you’re receiving conflicting info & would like to know what they had to do or how they found out.

It may not be a “city” question, and that might be part of the problem. In New York, for example, it’s the state that requires some businesses to be bonded for some purposes. For example, nail salons need to have surety bonds to guarantee the payment of wages. Contractors in the state who want to bid on state projects need to be bonded. If you have a business that operates outside of your city limits (or which “could operate” that way), then your city wouldn’t have much to say about that.

So my suggestion would be to look up “surety bonding” in whatever state you plan to do most of your business in, and start to ask questions of the bonding agents themselves. You’ll probably get better guidance from the people who want to sell you the bonds (including where and why you might need them, and the limiting amounts and statutes that apply) than you will from bureaucrats – unless you get very lucky and find the right one on the phone. (And that one, if he or she is smart, doesn’t often answer the phone in the first place.)

The people who want to sell you a bond will fall all over themselves to be helpful.