Hi,
I am starting my own service in Salem, Oregon.
I already have my general business licence with the state.
and just need to get out and start selling my services.
Any tips on: The salem Market
Pricing
Marketing
Potential customers
Welcome to the forum!
Thank you 
Than you
welcome to the forum. google add words has been working good for me
Great! I’ll look in to that 
Welcome! Be ready for heavy competition. There’s over 200 registered window cleaning businesses in Oregon and 40% of them are in the Portland-Salem I-5 corridor with an unknown number working out of Vancouver. You’ve also got a healthy contingent of ‘Bucket Bob’s’ that you’ll never see any official business listing for. Most Oregon people are cheap. We have one of the highest unemployment and welfare rates in the country despite what everyone seems to think.
It’s definitely doable but you have to find your niche and be patient. Get your business in order. It’s not just about cleaning glass and climbing ladders. You have to offer either cheap prices or customer service. You can’t give both and survive.
And you need to offer other services to make more money on each service call. Gutter cleaning, pressure washing, house washing, roof cleaning are all great options. If you do any moss/algae/lichen/mildew killing you HAVE TO HAVE a IIHS Moss Treatment license from Oregon Department of Agriculture. They will find you and they will FINE you. Every violation is a $10,000 fine and then each of your customers also gets hit with a $10,000 for hiring an unlicensed contractor.
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Oregon Law Who needs a construction contractor license?
Work that requires a license
Anyone who works for compensation in any construction activity involving improvements to real property needs a license. Examples include:
Roofing
Siding
Painting
Carpentry
Floor covering
Concrete
Heating
Air conditioning
Electrical
Plumbing
Tree servicing
Repair of attached appliances (ORS 701.005 (5)(a))
Manufactured dwelling installation
Land development
Home inspection
Most construction and repair services
Work that does not require a license
Examples include:
Gutter cleaning
Power and pressure washing for the purpose of cleaning (Roof, siding, sidewalks, etc.)
Debris clean up (yard or construction site)
Qualified real estate property managers managing a building under a property management agreement. Learn more.
A “handyman” working on one structure or projects if the price of all of the work is less than $1,000, and the work is casual, minor or inconsequential in nature. The exemption does not apply to anyone who advertises. Learn more.
Wow. Never saw this reply until today. This isn’t a construction contractor’s license which you don’t need. It’s a license from the Oregon department of agriculture to perform the service of applying a pesticide to treat moss. They classify anything that has the action of killing moss as a pesticide whether that be bleach/copper/zinc etc.
Also, as of Jan 1, 2018 any company providing janitorial service with employees must be state licensed as a Property Services Contractor. BOLI : Welcome Page : For Workers : State of Oregon
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Thank you for this info and update. Thankfully I don’t have any employees and only do window cleaning and gutter clean out.
Always new laws and licenses going into effect.
Welcome aboard …
