BC has no single contractor licence. To work in Kelowna or Vernon, get a business licence from the town where you're based, then add the $150 inter-community licence to cover other Okanagan towns. Electrical, gas and new-home work need provincial licences on top, and hiring workers means registering with WorkSafeBC.
You'll find plenty written about each piece of this. City pages explain the city licence and training schools explain the builder licence. We couldn't find one page that lays out what a roofer or a plumber working from Vernon to Penticton has to hold, so here it is, taken from the towns' own bylaws and fee schedules. All amounts are in Canadian dollars. We're a marketing company, not lawyers or accountants, so confirm the details with the licence office before you rely on them.
How Do You Get Licensed in the Okanagan, Step by Step?
Work through these six steps in order, because the name you pick in step one goes on every form after it.
- Pick your name and register it if you need to. Trading under your own name needs no provincial registration. Any other name costs $30 for the name request and $40 to register.
- Get any trade licence your work requires. Electrical, gas and new-home building have their own licences, and seven trades need certification. The table below lists them.
- Apply for a business licence where your business is based. If you run it from home, that's your home town.
- Add the inter-community licence if you work in other towns. It's $150 a year on top of your home licence, and you get it from the same office.
- Sort out tax and WorkSafeBC. GST comes in at the $30,000 threshold, and WorkSafeBC coverage comes in when you hire.
- Put the same details everywhere customers look. Your truck, your website and your Google profile should all show the name you registered, plus any licence number the rules require.
Do You Need a Licence in Every Town You Work In?
In most Okanagan towns, yes, unless the inter-community licence covers you. A town's licence rules aren't limited to businesses with an office there. Vernon's bylaw, adopted in July 2025, treats a non-resident business as one “carried on within the City or with respect to which any work or service is performed within the City”, and that business can't operate without a valid inter-community or non-resident licence.
West Kelowna says it more plainly. Businesses with no physical location there still need a licence to provide services in the city, and “This includes contractors from out of area or province”. Coldstream's version is “If you are operating a business in Coldstream, even a home based or agricultural business, you need to apply for a business license”.
Kelowna's website refused our automated requests, so we couldn't read its pages directly. The city's wording, as it appears in search results, says the same thing: work done in the city needs a licence, even with no premises there. Its business licensing office can confirm your case at businesslicences@kelowna.ca or 250-469-8617. Vernon's is at (250) 550-3634.
What Does the $150 Inter-Community Licence Cover?
It lets a business based in one participating community work in the others without buying a licence in each one. You pay your normal licence fee at home and an extra $150 a year. Vernon's page says it's for businesses that work by moving from client to client, including “contractors of all types (e.g. tradespeople, landscaping services, janitorial services, pest control, etc.)”. It's one of 17 mobile licence partnerships the Province lists around BC, and this one is the Okanagan's.
It covers Armstrong, Coldstream, Enderby, Kelowna, Keremeos, Lake Country, Lumby, Oliver, Osoyoos, Peachland, Penticton, Princeton, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Spallumcheen, Summerland, Vernon and West Kelowna, plus the rural areas of the Central Okanagan regional district. The lists differ at the edges. Vernon and the Province also name Revelstoke, and the Province adds Merritt, while Penticton's and Coldstream's lists name neither. Ask before you count on those two.
Here's what it doesn't do:
- It doesn't replace your home licence. The regional district puts it plainly: “You must obtain a business licence from the municipality or regional district where your business is located first”.
- It doesn't let you shop for a cheaper town. West Kelowna says it “can only be applied for in the municipality where the business is located”.
- It doesn't cover Westbank First Nation land. West Kelowna warns that “WFN is not a participant in the Inter-Community Business Licence Program”, so work there needs a licence from WFN's own office.
- It doesn't cancel local rules. Summerland says a holder “must comply with all of the bylaws and regulations of each municipality in which it operates”.
- It doesn't cover a storefront. Vernon says “the primary licence would be required for the storefront business”, and the add-on only covers the part of your business that moves from client to client.
Based outside these towns, in Kamloops or Calgary, say? West Kelowna and Summerland both describe a route in. Get a licence from any one participating town, then add the inter-community licence to it.
What Does a Contractor Licence Cost in Each Okanagan Town?
The add-on is $150 in every town below, but the home licence changes from town to town. Here's what each one publishes. Some of these schedules are old, so treat them as a starting point and confirm before you budget.
| Based in | Licence per year | New-application fee | Add-on per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon | $125 for contractors | $100, or $50 for a home occupation | $150 |
| Coldstream | $120 for general contractors, $100 for most trades | Not on the schedule | $150 |
| Lake Country | $125, or $65 if clients don't come to your home | $30 | $150 |
| West Kelowna | $60 from home with no fire inspection, $135 for most commercial or industrial sites | Not on the page | $150, or $75 after Aug. 1 |
| Peachland | $125 | Charged, amount not stated | $150 |
| Enderby | $75 once for most businesses, with no renewal fee | Not stated | $150 |
| Kelowna | Varies by business type, not confirmed | $50 | $150 |
Kelowna is the gap in this table. The city says fees vary by business category and are set out in its licensing bylaw, and we couldn't open the schedule. Castanet's report on that bylaw when it was proposed put the standard fee at $160. That gives you a rough idea, but it isn't a quote for contractors.
Using Vernon's numbers, a contractor with a shop there pays $375 in the first year ($100 application, $125 licence, $150 add-on), then $275 a year. Vernon's non-resident contractor licence costs $150 in its first year ($125 plus a $25 application fee). So the add-on costs about what one non-resident licence costs in one town, and it covers the whole list. If you work in more than one other town, it's an easy call.
Watch the calendar, because renewals are coming. Kelowna's window runs December 1 to January 15, with a $25 late fee. West Kelowna adds $25 after January 31, and Coldstream's payment is due by February 15. Starting late in the year can matter too. West Kelowna drops the add-on to $75 after August 1, but Peachland, Lake Country and Enderby don't prorate it.
Which Trades Need a Provincial Licence Too?
Only some do. The general contractor licence people ask about is narrower than it sounds. BC Housing licenses general contractors of new homes, not contractors in general, and its bulletin on the rule says “If you are only acting as a trade or managing construction of one or two components of the new home (such as foundation and framing) you are not a general contractor”.
| Your work | What you need | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Contracting in electrical, gas, elevators and lifts, boilers, pressure vessels or refrigeration | A contractor licence, with the number on all digital and print ads | Technical Safety BC |
| Working as a construction or industrial electrician, powerline technician, steamfitter/pipefitter, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, Class A or B gasfitter or sheet metal worker | Each worker certified as a journeyperson, or registered as an apprentice or trade qualifier | SkilledTradesBC |
| General contractor on a new home under Part 9 of the BC Building Code | A residential builder licence. The fee is $600, and you need 24 months of managing or supervising residential construction in the past five years | BC Housing |
| Building envelope renovation | A building envelope renovator licence, though some projects are exempt | BC Housing |
| Asbestos abatement | A licence for the contractor, plus certification for the people doing the work | WorkSafeBC |
If your work isn't in this table, you may not need a provincial licence at all, though specialty work can have its own rules. Ask the town when you apply. Penticton, for one, asks contractors and trades for a copy of their trade qualification numbers with the application.
Do You Have to Register Your Business Name?
Not if you trade under your own name. The Province says “if you're going to do business under your name, you do not need to request a business name or register the business with the province”. Any other name takes a $30 name request and a $40 registration, and you have 56 days after the name is approved to finish registering.
Do this before you buy a domain or wrap a truck, and know what it gets you. Registering doesn't make the name yours alone. “Only incorporated companies, cooperatives or societies can guarantee exclusive use of their name”. It's also separate from your city licence. The Province calls those two different things and sends you to your local government for the licence.
Two tax lines belong here as well. For GST, the Canada Revenue Agency's small supplier rule applies until you pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, and you can register voluntarily before then. For PST, the Province tells contractors “you need to pay PST on taxable goods you acquire to fulfil a real property contract”, and its FAQ says you generally don't charge your customers PST on those contracts. There are exceptions, so ask your accountant.
When Do You Need WorkSafeBC?
As soon as you hire workers or unregistered subcontractors. WorkSafeBC says “All employers are legally required to have WorkSafeBC coverage unless the employer is exempt”. Working alone is different: “There is no requirement for you to register for coverage if you are self-employed and do not hire any workers or unregistered subcontractors”. A solo owner may be able to buy Personal Coverage for lost salary and medical expenses after an injury on the job.
Clearance letters come next. A clearance letter “confirms a business is registered with us and paying its premiums”. It protects you when you hire subs, because if a registered sub isn't paying, “you could be liable for insurance premiums relating to the work or service they provided to you”. WorkSafeBC's advice is to “always get a clearance letter before and after you receive services from a subcontractor”. Most letters come from its online application, by account number or precise legal or trade name, for up to 150 firms at once. Anyone hiring you can look you up the same way.
What Can Happen If You Skip the Licence?
You can be fined. Vernon's bylaw sets a maximum of $50,000 on conviction, with each day of a continuing offence counted separately. That's the ceiling, not a typical amount, and the same bylaw also allows bylaw notices and tickets. We didn't find figures on how often contractors get fined.
Two more Vernon rules are worth knowing. You must “only use sub-contractors who hold a Business Licence or Inter-Community Business Licence”, and you have two weeks from a written request to hand over a list of the sub-trades on a job. So your subs' licences are your problem too. For mobile services, the city adds that “a copy of the licence should be carried in the equipment/vehicle or with the individual”.
Licensed and ready to be found? Book a free 20-minute call. We'll look at your Google profile and website, then tell you what doesn't match and what to fix first.
Book a Free Profile Check →What Should Match on Your Truck, Website and Google Profile?
Your name comes first. Google's guidelines say “Your name should reflect your business's real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers”, and “Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted”. So the name you register should be the name on the truck, the site and your Google profile. If a town isn't part of your real name, leave it off your profile. The lift from a town name in Okanagan searches looks small anyway.
Licence numbers come second. Contractors in electrical, gas, elevators and lifts, boilers, pressure vessels and refrigeration have to put their Technical Safety BC number on all digital and print advertising, and that includes your website. For everyone else it's your call, but a number gives a careful customer something to look up.
Service areas come third. The towns on your Google profile, your website and your ad targeting all tell customers you work there, so check your licence covers them before you add one. The add-on licenses you across the whole list, but Google says a profile's service area “shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based”, though it allows that larger areas suit some businesses.
Don't expect the licence to move your rankings. Google's business profile guidelines don't mention a licence, and we've seen no evidence that it's a ranking factor. What it does is give people something to check. When we asked an OpenAI model with web search in October how to check a Penticton plumber, city business licences, trade regulators and WorkSafeBC were all on its list. Customers can check too, because Vernon's Business Licence Search is public. Google's verification page also lists “non-sensitive business documents” among the ways to show you manage a business on a live video call, though it doesn't name a licence.
Getting found is a separate job, and it's the one we sell. See our local SEO service and how we approach Vernon and Kelowna.
What We Read to Answer This
The licence rules here come from government and regulator pages, read on November 5, 2026. That covers the Province's mobile licence page (last updated September 21, 2026), Vernon's Bylaw 6100, the regional district's bylaw and West Kelowna's bylaw, plus the licence pages for the towns linked above. The Google rules come from Google's own help pages. Some fee schedules are dated. Coldstream's comes from a 2017 amendment, Lake Country's table is labelled 2025 and Vernon's is an undated scan.
Two sites blocked our automated reads: kelowna.ca and Castanet. We didn't try to get around that, so Kelowna's details and the $160 figure come from their wording as shown in search results, and we couldn't confirm a contractor rate. None of this is legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change, so check with the licence office.