LICENSE & PERMIT
Construction business licences and other permits
With a construction business licence, keeping it is harder than getting it. The annual accounts filing, the renewal every five years, the notification when a director or engineer changes — miss one and you cannot renew. We stay with you from the application through to keeping the licence in good standing.
What we handle
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New licence (Chiba prefectural governor)
From checking whether the requirements are met, through gathering documents, to drafting and filing. If you do not meet them yet, we set out what has to be in place and by when.
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Adding categories, moving from general to specified
For holders of an existing licence, adding work categories or converting from a general to a specified licence.
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Renewal (every five years)
The application is due at least 30 days before expiry. We hold the deadline for you.
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Annual accounts filing
Due within four months of the end of each business year. Without it you cannot renew or add categories. If several years have gone unfiled, come and talk to us.
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Change notifications
Company name, address, directors, the managing officer, the full-time engineer, capital — each has its own filing deadline.
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Business condition assessment
Required to take public works as a prime contractor. It presupposes that the annual accounts filings are up to date.
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Other construction-related filings
We also prepare bid documents (including cost estimates), handle electrical contractor registrations and renewals, register businesses and workers on the Construction Career Up System (CCUS), and apply for MLIT approval of acceptance plans for Specified Skilled Workers in construction.
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Other permits
Secondhand dealer (kobutsusho) licences, industrial waste collection and transport permits, real estate brokerage (takken) licences, approval to establish a medical corporation, approval to establish a business cooperative, and filings for general incorporated foundations and NPOs. For anything not listed, ask us first.
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Beyond permits
We also handle subsidy applications, support with start-up loan applications to the Japan Finance Corporation, naturalisation applications, inheritance and wills, and document translation and apostilles.
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Together with hiring foreign skilled workers
Immigration work is also central to this office. The licence and the residence status of the people on your site can be handled through one point of contact.
The main requirements
- 01 A managing officer with construction experience
- Someone with experience managing a construction business must serve full time as a director or equivalent. Proving that experience means going back for old contracts, tax returns and similar records.
- 02 A full-time qualified engineer
- Each office must have, for each licensed category, an engineer with the national qualification or the required practical experience, assigned exclusively.
- 03 Financial basis
- For a general licence: net assets of ¥5 million or more, or the ability to raise ¥5 million or more.
- 04 Integrity and disqualification
- No clear risk of dishonest or improper conduct in contracting, and no director falling under the disqualifications in Article 8 of the Construction Business Act.
- 05 Minor works need no licence
- Works under ¥5 million (under ¥15 million for general building works, or a wooden house under 150 m² of floor area) can be taken without a licence. Whether you need one at all is itself worth asking us.
HOW IT WORKS
How we work
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Get in touch
Call us or use the form. We will arrange a time to talk.
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First consultation (60 min, free)
We listen to your situation and set out the options and the likely outcome. If a case is difficult, we say so plainly.
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Scope and fee
We set out what we will take on and what it costs, and begin only once you agree.
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Gathering and drafting
We tell you which documents are needed and prepare the application together with the written explanation and supporting materials.
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Filing and result
We file with the authority and respond to any request for further material. When the result arrives we contact you and explain what comes next.
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
- How long does it take?
- Beyond the standard processing time once the papers are complete, it is usually gathering the evidence of the managing officer’s and engineer’s experience that governs the timeline. Tell us what you already have.
- I have not filed the annual accounts for several years.
- They will have to be filed retrospectively. Left alone, you cannot renew, so come to us early.
- Can you keep acting for us after the licence is granted?
- Yes. The annual filing, the five-yearly renewal and the notifications when something changes — we hold all of it on an ongoing basis.
What we can and cannot do
Preparing licence applications and notifications and filing them with public authorities falls within the work of an administrative scrivener. Labour and social insurance procedures are the work of a labour and social security attorney, and tax returns that of a tax accountant.
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A PARTNER FOR LIFE AND BUSINESS
We think through the future that lies beyond the paperwork — with you.
Your first 60-minute consultation is free. By phone or through the form, tell us where you stand.
〒260-0028 4 min walk from JR Chiba Station South Exit
Open 10:00–19:00 (occasional closures)
Weekends, holidays and evenings by advance appointment (please contact us early)