By Shauna Krause, President, Capitol Services
A twisty tale carries us from the ‘Show Me’ state to our Golden one! Getting a head start is one thing, jumping the gun is another. Our final contractor issue finds a quick happy solution…
Q: We are a construction company out of Missouri and we need to obtain a CA contractor’s license for an upcoming project. We happen to have an employee who has a CA license and he is willing to assign his license number to our company. Can you tell us the steps and how this works?
A: Thank you for contacting me. He will not be able to transfer the actual license number to your company unless he owns 51% of the entity, which I imagine is not the case. You would be required to apply for a new license under your company’s name with him as the Responsible Managing Employee (RME)/Responsible Managing Officer (RMO). Without at least 20% ownership in your company, he would be required to disassociate or inactivate his current license.
Q: We have a potential large project coming up in the State of California that we are needing a license for as quickly as possible. I’ve read through the requirements for an LLC (Limited Liability Company) and we have almost everything together for the application. I’m wondering if we submit the required contractor’s bond and LLC employee/Worker Bond with our application, will that speed the process up?
A: No, you shouldn’t request the bonds from your bonding company until the application has been accepted and the CSLB requests them. We always recommend this for reasons such as if they don’t approve your business name and you have to add a “dba”, you would have to have the bonds re-issued. There are other things that could come up which would cause the application to be delayed and requesting the bonds too early can result in you paying for them when they wouldn’t be attached to the license for several weeks/months. Most bonding companies can turn around bonds in a day or two so it shouldn’t hold up the application to hold off until the CSLB requests them.
Q: I am the license holder for our plumbing department at the company I work for. I am applying to add the “C-42” (Sanitation) classification so we can do more septic and well work. Our previous CEO who signed for me for the “C-36” (Plumbing) is no longer with the company. Our new CEO is not listed with the CSLB yet. Will this cause a problem or delay if he signs for me?
A: That will not be a problem. Your certifier is required to have first hand knowledge of the work experience described, he/she is not required to hold any particular title with the company.
***
While knowledge is power, knowing where to go for the answers is half the battle. Get expert assistance immediately when you call 866-443-0657, email info@cutredtape.com, or write us at Capitol Services, Inc., 3609 Bradshaw Rd, Ste H, #343, Sacramento, CA 95827. Search past columns at www.cutredtape.com