By Shauna Krause, President, Capitol Services, Inc.
When your business is ‘married’ to a Qualifier for your contractor’s license, can you ‘divorce’ them and keep the license if trouble develops? When you replace a Qualifier is your Joint Venture license still legit? A contractor’s plan may go ‘down the drain’ if he can’t get the right answer in Nevada…
Q: I have a question regarding our electrical license. We obtained the license by hiring a Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) who already had the electric classification. I would like to know how we could separate ourselves from the RMO. Are we able to apply independently after a certain number of years?
A: You can replace your RMO at any time with an employee or Officer of your company that can show at least four years of electrical experience, and pass the law and trade exams. In certain circumstances, an Officer who has been listed on the license for at least five years can apply to replace the RMO and request a Waiver of the exams. In order to qualify for the Waiver, the Officer would need to show that they have been continually employed by the company in a supervisory capacity in the same classification being applied for.
Q: We used your company to help us obtain our company license and also several Joint Venture licenses. We recently replaced our former Qualifying individual on our company license with a new one. Is there anything we need to do with regards to the Joint Venture (JV) licenses?
A: Thank you for contacting us again. When you replace your Qualifying individual there is nothing that you need to do to update your JV licenses. A Joint Venture license is made up of two or more entities, and as long as each entity’s license remains active and in good standing, the Joint Venture licenses will also remain active and in good standing (assuming you continue to renew the JV licenses of course!)
Q: My Company currently has a General Building license in Nevada. We have been asked to do a large plumbing job. I am aware that we cannot self-perform the work without the specialty plumbing license, so do we need to have one of our employees take the exam to obtain that license for the company, or can we sub-contract the job out to a licensed “C-1d” plumber?
A: In Nevada, according to NRS 624.215, unless your company holds the appropriate specialty license, a General Building contractor may only contract to perform specialty contracting if he or she is a prime contractor on a project upon which the construction or remodeling of a structure or building is the primary purpose. A General Building contractor shall not perform specialty contracting in plumbing, electrical, refrigeration and air-conditioning or fire protection without a license for the specialty. Therefore, if you wanted to take on this job your company would need to obtain the “C-1d” classification.
Contractor Alert: Please be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently sent out information to contractors about the Renovate, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule, which has to do with safe workmanship standards when working around lead-based paint. The campaign is aimed at a range of contractors from plumbers and painters to home improvement/remodeling contractors. You can find more information about the RRP Rule by going to http://epa.gov/lead/rrp/index.html.
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., 1225 8th St. Ste. 580, Sacramento, CA 95814. Research past columns at www.cutredtape.com.
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