Catching Crooked Contractors
By Wally Conway, Fri Dec 9th
Few times in the life of a homeowner can be more challengingthan when significant repairs are needed. The number of issues,options and decisions seems endless, the most daunting of whichis contractor selection.
When choosing a contractor for a repair or renovation the mostfundamental of screening techniques is the assurance that thecontractor is properly licensed. The tales of tragedy broughtabout by the illegal actions of unlicensed contactors are enoughto scare us into never making repairs! Thankfully, it is freeand easy to eliminate these thieves from our lives if we do somesimple research.
The State of Florida requires that all contractors be properlylicensed under the auspices of The Construction IndustryLicensing Board. Each licensed contractor or company qualifiedto conduct business in the state has a license number. Thelicense number makes it easy to know what a particularcontractor or company is licensed to do, but only if we know thecode!
Fortunately the code is easy to break. Nearly every licenseissued by the State of Florida is a combination of three lettersand six numbers. The letters identify the type of work thecontractor is licensed to perform and the numbers specify theindividual contractor or company. At the top of the list are:
CGC Certified General Contractor (Builders of big buildings)
CBC Certified Building Contractor (Builders of small offices andstores)
CRC Certified Residential Contractor (Builders of homes)
It's starting to get simple! The licenses begin and end in theletter "C". A builder can build any building in or below thelicense level, so a General Contractor could build a home, but aResidential Contractor could not build a bank!
Every system in a home or building is also required to beinstalled or repaired by properly licensed people. The simplesecret code on this is:
CCC Certified Roofing Contractor CAC Certified MechanicalContractor (Heating and Air) CPC Certified Pool Contractor CFCCertified Plumbing Contractor EC Electrical Contractor
To help us even more in avoiding unlicensed contractors thestate requires that a contractor display their license number onevery vehicle, invoice, bid, business card and solicitation. So,you can tell if a person is licensed before you even speak tothem!
Most people assume that the risk posed by unlicensed work islimited to poor quality or unfinished work. But it gets muchworse! The homeowner who hires unlicensed contractors isresponsible for all unpaid bills, fines, and worst of all,payment for any injury to the unlicensed contractor! It isillegal and ill-advised to hire these scoundrels!
A quick link to all this and more, including everything you everwanted to know about permitting - but were afraid to ask - is atwww.gohomepro.com. Forewarned is forearmed, so check it out andkeep the risks of unlicensed and illegal work away from yourhome!
Copyright © Florida HomePro, Inc. and Wallace J. Conway. Allrights in all media reserved.
About the author:Wally Conway is President of Florida HomePro Inspections, andhas recently written a book entitled "Secrets of the Happy HomeInspector", available at GoHomePro.com. As a speaker, writer,and instructor,Wally blends the right amount of up-to-dateinformation with just the right amount of humor, insight,motivation, and real-world application. Visit WallyConway.comfor more information!
