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California body shop regulations questions

My wife wants to move so I have some basic California body shop regulations questions. Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to open a body shop in California? Do you have to use special guns, booths, prep areas, etc...? Thanks for any advice.

John Elliott
- Houston, Texas
2003

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Visit the CalGOLD Business Permits Made SimpleÏ website at http://www.calgold.ca.gov/ Select your type of business, e.g., Automotive Body Repair, and location (county and city). The CalGOLD database then provides detailed information on the business permit, license and registration requirements from all levels of government, US to local. This includes a description of the requirement, the name, address, and telephone number of the agency, and usually a link to that agency's Internet web pages.

If your site is in an area of non-attainment of federal Clean Air standards, your Air Permit application will have to list type of gun (HVLP model), size of booth enclosure, exhaust filters, types of paints (with VOC content), VOC logbook, estimated annual usage and estimated annual emissions. ItÏs not so bad, the regulations, forms and sample documents/guidelines can be downloaded from most Air Pollution Control Districts. The South Coast AQMD (http://www.aqmd.gov/) has sufficient info on their website to answer your questions, and other APCDs accept SCAQMD-approved HVLP sprayguns, etc.

Ken Vlach [deceased]
- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.
2003