Move to Hawaii. The state licenses everything here. It requires a contractor's license for almost any kind of work over $1000 in total cost and you cannot break up the total job to keep it under a thousand. Example, I will trim this tree for $500 on one contract and remove another one for $750 on another contract if both are on the same jobsite.
Licenses are renewed every even numbered here in September. In 2004, I did not renew my license and placed it on inactive status. I continued to operate status quo, no difference at all in amount of work I got and free from Dept. of Commerce regulation. This month I reactivated my license, not because of any legal pressure, but because my son-in-law will be buying my business over the next 5 years and I figured I better get it all above board for him. We have tons of guys operating big time, chippers, dump trucks, 12 man crews, all without licenses. They don't bother me, as I already have more work than I can handle.
I know another guy who is doing hundreds of thousands of $$$ in masonary work each year. Currently working on a project over $250K, all without a license and has been doing so for several years. Bottom line is, do licensing laws prevent people who don't care about them from working? The answer is no, at least here in Hawaii. It only gives guys who want to be legal a huge disadvantage in competing with the unlicensed guys who don't have to pay into the things like the contractor's recovery fund, payroll taxes, state umemployment fund etc.