Pesticide application records — and the printable spray record sheet
If you apply pesticides for hire, nearly every state requires a written record of each application: the product name and EPA registration number, the amount or rate, the date and location, the target pest, and who applied it. Federal rules for restricted use pesticides set a two-year minimum; states often require longer — California keeps structural records three years, Washington seven.
What a spray log has to say, and who says so
Three layers of rules can touch a spray you make for money. The federal one: certified applicators who use restricted use pesticides keep a record of each application for two years under USDA's federal recordkeeping program — and commercial applicators hand the customer a copy of the record within 30 days.
Then your state. California's rule (3 CCR §6624) spells out the fields — date, product, amount, site — and DPR's structural amendments added the EPA registration number and the license number of the applicator or supervising operator. Washington's agriculture department requires commercial records be kept seven years, including details like equipment and conditions. Most other states land between two and five.
Third, the label itself. Rate, site, re-entry interval — the label is the law, and your pesticide log is how you show you followed it.
The duties beyond the spray log
The log is one piece. The rest of the pest-control paper stack — none of which an app can do for you, all of which you should know exists:
- Licensing, before anything else. Structural pest control for hire is licensed in every state — company registration plus individual credentials (California's SPCB field rep and operator licenses, Florida's Chapter 482, Texas SPCS). No log substitutes for the license.
- The customer's copy. For restricted use pesticides, federal rules have commercial applicators furnish the customer a copy of the application record within 30 days. Several states expect service tickets or posted notice regardless of classification.
- Termite and WDO reports. Wood-destroying-organism inspection reports are a separate regulated document in most states, on their own required forms — not something a general invoice covers.
- Label-driven duties on site. Re-entry intervals communicated to the occupant, attention to kids, pets, and pollinators, and storage and disposal handled the way the label says.
The printable spray record sheet
A plain pesticide application record sheet with the columns the rules above actually name. Print it, keep it on the clipboard, file it by month. It's paper by design — one page, no signup, nothing saved. If you'd rather never manage the clipboard, SideWRK keeps this same record automatically on every job.
| Date | Product (brand name) | EPA reg. # | Amount / rate | Site / location | Target pest | Applicator (name, lic. #) | Wind / temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Or skip the clipboard — the spray record, kept on the job
The application record, on the job
Every job carries an applications card: product name, EPA registration number, amount, rate, area treated, target, and the applicator's name and cert number. Logged in the driveway, not reconstructed at the kitchen table in December.
It prints on the customer's document
Applications print on the invoice with the product and EPA number — so the customer copy many states expect is the same clean document that gets you paid.
License number on everything
Your structural pest-control license number prints on every estimate and invoice, next to your business name and logo.
Kept with the whole job
The record lives with the customer, the photos, and the logged approval. When the county or the state asks for two years of applications, it's a scroll — not a shoebox.
Recurring quarterly plans get the same treatment — each visit is its own job with its own application record. More on the business side in the recurring service plans guide. SideWRK for pest control →
EPA 608 refrigerant records
Three things, mainly. Keep proof of your Section 608 certification at your place of business. When you service an appliance holding 50 or more pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerant, give the owner an invoice showing the refrigerant you added. And when you recover refrigerant from a 5–50 lb system before disposal, keep the record — refrigerant program records generally stay on file at least three years. Behind all of it sits the big rule: recover, never vent.
The Section 608 paper trail, in plain terms
EPA's refrigerant program runs on a few documents, and they're all listed on EPA's recordkeeping page for stationary refrigeration:
- Your certification. Anyone opening a refrigerant circuit holds Section 608 technician certification and keeps a copy of it at the place of business. It doesn't expire, but you have to be able to produce it.
- The invoice on big appliances. Service an appliance with 50+ pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerant, and the owner gets an invoice stating how much refrigerant went in. That invoice is what feeds the owner's leak-rate math.
- Disposal recovery records. Recover the charge from a 5–50 lb system headed for disposal, and that recovery gets recorded.
And the rule underneath: knowingly venting refrigerant during service or disposal is illegal under the Clean Air Act. A driveway recharge is federal territory the same as a rooftop unit.
The full duty stack goes past the refrigerant program, so see it whole. A state contractor license for HVAC work (California's C-20 classification), typically required above your state's minor-work dollar limit — and required regardless of price once refrigerant or gas is involved. A mechanical permit and inspection on equipment change-outs. The refrigerant sales restriction — suppliers can only sell most refrigerant to certified technicians, so your 608 card is also your buying credential. And on big commercial appliances, the owner's leak-rate records are built from the invoices you write: your refrigerant-added numbers feed someone else's federal paperwork, which is a good reason they're exact. The license, the permit, and the certification are yours to hold — no app changes that.
How the record gets kept in the app
The system carries its refrigerant type
Each piece of equipment you log — split, heat pump, mini-split — has a refrigerant field (R-410A, R-32, R-454B, R-22). The job knows what's in the lines before you quote it.
Refrigerant work is an itemized line
A recharge or a recover-and-repair goes on the estimate and invoice as its own line with the price — so what was done, and how much went in, is on the customer's document, not in your head.
The app won't write up a vent
SideWRK refuses to document venting or releasing refrigerant. It documents recovery and repair. That guard is built in, per trade.
License, permit, and notices ride along
Your contractor license number prints on every document, the permit card tracks a mechanical permit and its inspections on change-outs, and each invoice carries the refrigerant and safety notices for the HVAC trade.
SideWRK for HVAC → · Maintenance plans that bring customers back
Mobile auto body: the 6H lanes and the repair paper
Two kinds of records. The air-quality lane markers: under the federal 6H rule, spray refinishing belongs in a filtered enclosure with HVLP equipment, while brush, pen, aerosol, and small-cup (3 oz or less) work sits outside the spray rule. And the repair paper: in regulated states like California, a written, itemized estimate the customer authorizes before work begins — plus the VIN, pre-work photos, and parts with their condition on the invoice.
The 6H lanes: where a mobile operator can spray
The federal rule is 40 CFR 63 Subpart HHHHHH — "6H" in shop talk. It exists to keep the heavy metals in refinish coatings (cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, nickel) out of the air. For spray-applied work it requires a ventilated, filtered enclosure, HVLP or equivalent guns, and painter training — which is why full-panel respray is booth territory, not driveway territory.
The lanes that stay open to a mobile SMART operator, per state 6H guidance like North Carolina's: brush, roller, paint pen, and aerosol work aren't spray-applied under the rule, and neither is a handheld gun fed from a cup of 3 fluid ounces or less. One catch EPA has put in writing — refilling that little cup over and over to sneak a big job through counts as circumventing the rule.
Doing spray work under the rule carries its own duties beyond the equipment: painter training and certification, an initial notification filing to EPA or the delegated state agency, and periodic filter maintenance — the shop-level obligations 6H sources own. And the mess is regulated too: sanding residue, masking, and paint or solvent waste go to an authorized facility, never a drain or the ground.
Then the local layer. Cities, residential zoning, and regional air districts restrict mobile spray work in ways the federal rule doesn't. Check yours before you offer it, not after a complaint.
The repair paper: estimate first, then authorization
Body and paint work for pay is regulated auto repair in several states. California's Bureau of Automotive Repair registers repair dealers — mobile operators included — and its 2025 estimate rules tightened what an estimate and invoice must spell out: specific descriptions of the work, in plain language, authorized before work begins, with any increase re-authorized.
That's not just a California habit. A written estimate the customer said yes to — with the amount, the name, and the time — is the record that ends the "I never agreed to that" conversation everywhere.
Authorization you can point to
The customer approves the itemized estimate from their phone; the name, amount, and time print on the document. If the job grows, SideWRK warns you when the running total passes what was authorized — so you re-authorize before the extra work, not after.
Photos before you touch it
Time-stamped pre-work photos of the damage and any prior bodywork ride with the job. On blends over aged paint, that's your color-match disclosure backup.
VIN, paint code, parts condition
The vehicle record holds the VIN and details; every part line carries its condition — new, used, customer-supplied — right on the invoice.
Registration number on the document
Your BAR/ARD or state registration number prints on every estimate and invoice, along with the auto body trade notices — including the 6H enclosure statement for any spray-applied work.
SideWRK for auto body → · Teardowns and hidden damage, honestly
Mobile PDR: BAR registration and the estimate-first habit
In California, PDR for pay is auto body repair under state law, and repair dealers register with the Bureau of Automotive Repair — including mobile operators, under regulations that took effect October 1, 2025. The paperwork that comes with it: a written estimate authorized before work begins, re-authorization for any increase, and extra details on a mobile transaction's invoice. Other states run their own registrations; the habit of good records travels everywhere.
What changed in October 2025
California's BAR had long registered brick-and-mortar body shops as Automotive Repair Dealers. The regulations adopted in 2025 (16 CCR 3351 and the new 3351.7.1–3351.7.2, laid out in the BAR's initial statement of reasons) close the mobile gap: they define what makes a repair dealer "mobile," bring driveway dent work into the registration scheme, and spell out extra information a mobile repair invoice has to carry.
The estimate side got tightened too. California's estimate-writing rules want specific, plain-language descriptions of the work on both the estimate and the invoice — authorized by the customer before the work happens, and again before anything is added.
Outside California: New York and Florida register repair shops under their own schemes. And insurance hail work brings its own paper — claim numbers and direction-of-pay forms — no matter the state.
The record a PDR job should leave behind
1 · The vehicle, decoded
Year, make, model, VIN — the decode also tells you whether that hood or door is aluminum before you price it. It rides on the job and prints on the document.
2 · Pre-work photos, time-stamped
The panel and any pre-existing damage, shot before a tool comes out. PDR fixes the dents you listed — the photos are what separate your repair from the scratch that was already there.
3 · The authorized estimate
An itemized, written estimate the customer approves from their phone — name, amount, and time logged, printed on the document. If the job grows, SideWRK flags the total passing what was authorized so you get a fresh yes first.
4 · The invoice with your number on it
Your BAR/ARD registration number prints on every estimate and invoice, along with the PDR trade notices. Insurance job? Note the claim number on the job so it's on the record too.
Electrical permits, inspections, and the job record
The short version: work that adds, extends, or modifies wiring needs a permit from the local building department, a rough-in inspection before the walls close, and a final — and in most states, a licensed electrician to do it. On top of that, California puts your license number on every contract, bid, and ad by law. The record worth keeping per job: permit number, authority, both inspection results, and the invoice that ties it together.
Permit, rough-in, final — the sequence the paper follows
Permitting is local, but the shape is consistent. Washington's Department of Labor & Industries lays it out plainly on its electrical permit basics page: buy the permit before the work, get it inspected, corrections signed off, then it closes. New circuits, panel work, and anything that extends wiring is squarely permit territory; a like-for-like receptacle swap often isn't. The line moves by jurisdiction — the building department where the job sits draws it, not the internet.
Homeowner permits exist in many places, but they're narrow: the owner's own primary residence, doing the work personally — they don't stretch to a rental, a flip, or work a customer hires out. Worth knowing before somebody suggests it as a shortcut, because the permit trail protects you as much as the house.
Two disclosure rules ride alongside the permit. California's Business & Professions Code 7030.5 puts the license number on all construction contracts, subcontracts, calls for bid, and all advertising — an easy one to trip on, and an easier one to automate. And a California residential job over $500 needs a written home-improvement contract (B&P 7159), signed before work starts. The license itself, the contract, and the code work are on you; the record of them is what a tool can keep straight.
How the record gets kept per job
A permit card on the job
Status (needed → applied → issued → closed), the permit number, and the issuing authority — plus rough-in and final inspections, each with its own status and date. The permit number prints on the document.
Permit fee as its own line
One tap adds the permit fee to the estimate as a separate line, so the customer sees it for what it is instead of it eating your labor number.
License number on everything
Enter your electrical license once; it prints on every estimate and invoice next to your business name — the 7030.5 habit, automated.
Photos before the drywall
Shoot the run while it's open. The photos live with the job, alongside the customer's logged approval and the itemized materials with their condition — new, reused, customer-supplied.
SideWRK for electricians → · Flat-rate pricing for electricians · Voltage drop calculator · Permits on the job
Plumbing permits, the water heater checklist, and lead-free paper
Do you need a permit to replace a water heater? In most places, yes — even swapping like for like. Many California cities require a plumbing permit and inspection for a water heater replacement; some jurisdictions, like Phoenix, exempt the swap when a licensed contractor does it in a one- or two-family home. Gas piping adds a pressure test. Your building department draws the line — and the records worth keeping are the permit, the inspection, the code checklist, and the lead-free parts on the invoice.
The whole duty list, plainly
Plumbing for pay carries more paper than most trades. Here's the full picture, so nothing sneaks up on you:
- Permits and inspections. Water heater replacement is permit-and-inspection work in much of the country — Morgan Hill, California says so outright, and San Francisco requires a plumbing permit before cutting into or replacing pipes. The exceptions cut the other way too: Phoenix exempts a licensed contractor's like-for-like replacement in one- and two-family homes, but an unlicensed swap needs the permit. Re-pipes, sewer and water service, and gas lines are permit work close to everywhere.
- Gas piping. Permit, pressure test, inspection — and in many jurisdictions, a licensed plumber or gas fitter to do it. Combustion air and venting are where a cheap water heater swap turns dangerous.
- The code items an inspector checks. On a water heater: seismic strapping where required, the T&P relief valve with a proper discharge line, an expansion tank on a closed system, a drip pan where called for, combustion air and venting done right.
- Lead-free parts on potable water. Federal law — the Safe Drinking Water Act, tightened by the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act — caps lead at a 0.25% weighted average on wetted surfaces for pipes, fittings, and fixtures that touch drinking water, with manufacturer certification required since September 2023. NSF/ANSI 372 is the mark on the box.
- Your license, and where it goes. Most real plumbing work requires a state license (California's is the C-36). California also requires the license number printed on every contract, bid, and advertisement (B&P 7030.5), and a written home-improvement contract, signed before work starts, on residential jobs over $500 (B&P 7159).
Not all of that is record-keeping an app can do for you — the license, the permit itself, and passing inspection are yours. But every one of them leaves paper, and the paper is what you can keep straight.
The paperwork side, in the app
Permit card per job
Status, permit number, issuing authority, rough-in and final inspection results with dates — and the permit fee added to the estimate as its own line. The permit number prints on the document.
Water heater code checklist
Work through the safety items — strapping, T&P relief and discharge, expansion tank, pan, venting — and the completed list prints on the invoice as "installed per code," item by item.
Lead-free on the line item
Mark potable-water parts lead-free and the condition tag rides the invoice line, with the NSF/ANSI 372 note in the document's standard notices.
License, approval, photos
Your plumbing license number prints on every estimate and invoice. The customer's approval is logged with name, amount, and time, and photos of the finished install stay with the job.
SideWRK for plumbers → · Referrals and reviews for plumbers · Permits on the job
The honest part, once, for all six
SideWRK documents the work. It records the application, tracks the permit, itemizes the refrigerant line, logs the authorization, and prints your license or registration number on every document — and it stops there. It does not verify a license, pull a permit, pass an inspection, or decide whether your setup meets 6H, your city's zoning, or your state's registration rules. It will not write up a refrigerant vent, and it can't tell you whether the swap you're quoting needs a permit — that's your building department's call.
Nothing on this page is legal advice. The federal rules named above, your state's boards and departments, and your local code authority are the authority. When in doubt, ask before the job, not after.
Common questions, all six trades
What goes in a spray log or pesticide application record?
The core of nearly every state's requirement: the product name and its EPA registration number, the amount or rate applied, the date, the location or site treated, the target pest, and who applied it. Some states add the applicator's license number, the area treated, equipment used, and weather conditions for outdoor applications. Federal law adds its own record for restricted use pesticides.
How long do pest control application records have to be kept?
Federal restricted-use-pesticide records are kept two years. States often go longer — California requires structural applicators to keep use records for three years, and Washington requires seven. Your state's department of agriculture (or structural pest board) sets the number that applies to you.
Do the federal pesticide rules apply if I only use general-use products?
The federal USDA recordkeeping rule covers restricted use pesticides applied by certified applicators. General-use products are governed by your state's rules — and most states require a record of every commercial application regardless of classification, so the safe habit is to log every application the same way.
What records does EPA Section 608 require from a technician?
Keep a copy of your Section 608 certification at your place of business. When you service an appliance holding 50 or more pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerant, the owner gets an invoice showing the amount of refrigerant added. When you recover refrigerant from a 5-to-50-pound system before disposal, you keep a record of it. Refrigerant program records are generally kept at least three years.
Is it illegal to vent refrigerant?
Yes. Under Clean Air Act Section 608 it is illegal to knowingly vent or release refrigerant while servicing, maintaining, or disposing of AC and refrigeration equipment. Refrigerant gets recovered with certified equipment — never vented. That applies to a driveway mini-split job the same as it does to a shop.
Do I need EPA 608 certification for side work?
If you open a refrigerant circuit — recharging, replacing a coil or compressor, recovering a system — you need Section 608 technician certification, whether it's your full-time job or a Saturday job. Certification type depends on the equipment; most residential split-system work is Type II.
Can I legally spray paint cars as a mobile business?
Under the federal EPA 6H rule, spray-applied refinishing must happen with HVLP (or equivalent) equipment inside a ventilated, filtered enclosure by a trained painter. Work that is not spray-applied sits outside those requirements — brush, roller, paint pen, aerosol can, and spray guns with a cup of 3 fluid ounces or less. Cities, residential zones, and air districts add their own restrictions, so local rules can say no even where the federal rule says yes.
What is the 6H 3-ounce cup exemption?
Coatings applied from a handheld device with a paint cup of 3 fluid ounces or less are not treated as spray-applied under 40 CFR 63 Subpart HHHHHH, so small-cup touch-up and mobile spot work can operate outside the rule's spray requirements. EPA has said that repeatedly refilling a 3-ounce cup to do a bigger spray job counts as circumventing the rule — the exemption covers genuinely small repairs, not a full panel fed 3 ounces at a time.
Does mobile dent repair need BAR registration in California?
Yes. Paintless dent repair for pay is auto body repair in California's eyes, and repair dealers register with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. Regulations adopted in 2025 — effective October 1, 2025 — specifically define mobile automotive repair dealers, bring mobile dent repair into the registration scheme, and add information a mobile transaction's invoice must include.
Does electrical work need a permit?
Generally, any work that adds, extends, or modifies wiring needs a permit from the local building department and inspection before it is closed up — commonly a rough-in inspection with the walls open and a final. Swapping a like-for-like receptacle or fixture is often exempt, but the line varies by jurisdiction, and in most states permit-required electrical work also requires a licensed electrician. Your local building department is the authority.
Does my license number have to be on the contract or invoice?
In California, yes — Business and Professions Code 7030.5 requires licensed contractors to include the license number on all construction contracts, subcontracts, calls for bid, and every form of advertising. Other states have similar disclosure rules. Printing it on every estimate and invoice is the simple way to never think about it.
Do you need a permit to replace a water heater?
In most places, yes — even for a like-for-like swap. California cities such as Morgan Hill require a plumbing permit and inspection for water heater replacement, and San Francisco requires a plumbing permit before replacing pipes generally. Some jurisdictions carve out exceptions: Phoenix exempts replacement in one- and two-family homes when a licensed contractor does it, but requires a permit otherwise. The building department where the job sits is the authority.
What does "lead-free" mean for plumbing parts?
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, pipes, fittings, and fixtures that touch drinking water must be lead free — a weighted average of no more than 0.25 percent lead across wetted surfaces, per the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act. Since September 2023 manufacturers must certify products meet the standard; NSF/ANSI 372 is the certification you will see on the box. Using certified parts on potable lines, and being able to show you did, is part of the job's record.
Does SideWRK make my business compliant?
No. SideWRK documents the work — applications, refrigerant lines, permits and inspections, authorizations, photos, license numbers on documents — and keeps it with the job. It does not verify a license or registration, pull a permit, or determine whether your records meet your state's law. The rules named on this page and your local authorities are the authority; this is not legal advice.