By Shauna Krause, President, Capitol Services, Inc.
It’s not ‘smoke and mirrors’ but a General needs to ‘reflect’ on my answer before taking action! While not a ‘marriage’ breaking up is still hard to do when you’ve got a shared license between you. First, we ‘engineer’ a solution by breaking down this three-part question…
Q: Can you tell me whether a licensed General Contractor and licensed Professional Engineer may form a legit Joint Venture (JV) for both public and private works in California?
A: The CSLB will issue a Contractor license to any combination of individuals, corporations, Limited Liability Companies (LLC), Partnerships, or other Joint Venture, each of which holds a current, active Contractor’s license. Each license must also be active and in good standing.
The Professional Engineer may be able to qualify for an “A” (General Engineering) contractor’s license. Once that is obtained the two entities can apply for the JV license.
Licensed Joint Ventures are permitted to perform both public and private works in California.
Q: I am currently the RMO (Responsible Managing Officer) on three licenses with several classifications, which are three different entities. We want to open a separate division of one of our current entities, which will only handle electrical work. We intend on doing business under a different name (DBA name), but it will be the same company. Will I be able to qualify all four licenses assuming the fourth one is the same entity as one of the current licenses, only with a ‘dba’ name?
A: In order to qualify the fourth license, you would need to make sure that all of the personnel (Officers, Members, Partners, etc) are a mirror image of the personnel listed on the current license. Meet that requirement then you will be able to be the Qualifier on all four licenses.
Q: We have a Joint Venture license made up of three entities. We need to remove one of those entities and change the name on the license. What paperwork is required to get this done?
A: Joint Ventures are considered a Partnership and you cannot make any changes to a Partnership license. Therefore, you would need to cancel the existing license and apply for a new license for the remaining two entities.
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, emailinfo@cutredtape.com, or write us at Capitol Services, Inc., 1225 8th St. Ste. 500, Sacramento, CA 95814. Research past columns at www.cutredtape.com.
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