Olathe has issued 612 commercial permits to businesses with fewer than twenty employees so far in 2026, the highest count in the city's records and a 19 percent increase over 2025.
Who is filing
Home services and trades dominate: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping and general contracting account for 41 percent of the permits. Personal services — salons, studios, small gyms — account for another 22 percent.
- Trades and home services: 251 permits
- Personal services: 135 permits
- Food and beverage: 88 permits
- Professional services: 74 permits
- Other: 64 permits
Most of these are small footprints. The median permitted space is 1,850 square feet, and 38 percent are home-occupation permits for businesses operating from a residence.
The digital gap
A city survey of 200 permit holders found that 44 percent had no website at all, and another 21 percent had a site that had not been updated in more than two years. For trades businesses, the phone is still the primary channel.
That works until it does not. Several contractors described losing jobs to competitors who appeared in local search results while they did not, particularly for emergency work where the customer searches rather than asks around.
I have been in business nineteen years on referrals. The referrals started getting younger and they all look you up first.
An Olathe HVAC contractor
What the city is doing
Olathe's economic development office runs a quarterly small-business clinic covering permits, licensing and basic digital setup. It is free and consistently oversubscribed.
Danny Okafor
Danny writes about jobs, small business and the regional economy. He spent six years covering commercial real estate before joining the newsroom.
