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I think that there is a dollar amount that determines when you need a license. Used to be $300, but that changes. Bidding a job above that amount is contracting without a license. You need one to protect yourself from our government.
A contractors license in California does not make anyone a better mechanic or business person, only a legal one. You get tested on your knowledge of laws; some pertaining to practices with employees and some with customers. You get trained about taxes and leins and witholdings, and a very little bit about the trade.
A sign contractor in this state has a specialty license that is bundled up with garage door installers and other such trades. The electrical license is a whole different category as is the big structural stuff.
Get as many of these as you can! They cost $300 each every few years, and you're also required to be bonded. Buying these licenses provides the state with the needed funds to go after those yet unlicensed.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6713 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hello Adrienne, I hope you are feeling better following your recent mishap.
Rick has it correct as best as I can tell. Perhaps he is being tongue in cheek about "getting all the licenses you can"?
The license isn't about you, its about the other guy. Think of it like a driver's license. Just imagine the lack of knowlege of someone who cannot pass a CA driver's test. It helps keep the worst of the worst off the road.
So the law is meant to protect the public from you.
At the same time,it can help you get work. You can go online to see if a license is current and valid. You can pull a building permit by yourself. When you bid a job to, say, Marine World, the license shows them that you meet some minimum level of knowlege, that you have a bond posted at the state for their protection,and so on. Big companies like licenses. It helps cover their rear ends if the balloon goes up.
There's way too much chicken blip in the license process.
I still have a valid CA contractors license. I think it is good for business, notwithstanding the chicken blip. Vic G
-------------------- Victor Georgiou Danville, CA , USA Posts: 1746 | From: Danville, CA , USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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My Alabama "Contractors License" cost $30.00 per Year. Individual City License about the same,needed in 4or5 cities I work in. Cheaper than Yellow Page Ads,while avoiding FINES Hope this helps
-------------------- PKing is Pat King The Professor of SIGNOLOGY Posts: 3113 | From: Pompano Beach, FL. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Every one of us is a lawbreaker - who really drives the speed limit, for instance.
So it is matter of how much you are breaking the law. Nobody cares if you paint a window because it is not part of the structure, and there are no safety issues. Nobody is going after you for digging an occasional posthole for a short sign that has no safety risk. It's about safety and integrity. The only way you might get in trouble is if you really honked someone off and they called the license board. The state won't even come out if a third party complains unless there is a serious infraction. They are too busy chasing the serious scumbag contractors, and there are some real bad guys out there.
On a risk scale of 100 your risk is about 0.5, in my estimation. Just don't start erecting 30 foot pole signs. (yuk yuk) Vic G
-------------------- Victor Georgiou Danville, CA , USA Posts: 1746 | From: Danville, CA , USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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