Joint Ventures, Matching Business Names and Who Signs Renewals

One for all and all for one, these contractors get served a ‘split’. Another venture gets a short answer on a ‘joint’ license bid, and a ‘hyper’ contractor gets to chill on his worries!…

Q:  We have a Joint Venture (JV) license made up of three entities.  One of the entities is no longer a part of the JV, so we are going to be filing a Disassociation for that entity.  Will we (meaning the remaining two entities) be able to keep the same license number?  I ask because we are in the middle of a large job.

A:  You will not be able to keep the same license number.  Joint Ventures are viewed as “partnerships” and once you make a change to the structure of a partnership license, the license is cancelled.  You will need to apply for a new license, however you can request a continuance for the existing license in order to complete work currently in process.

Q:  We have a Joint Venture license between two companies.  We will be bidding on a project which has a requirement of the contractor to hold a valid “A” (General Engineering) and “B” (General Building) license.  If one entity holds a “B” license and the other holds the “A” and a “B”, I assume that would be acceptable to bid on the project as long as the portion of the work related to the “A” classification is only performed by the entity with the General Engineering license?

A:  Yes that is acceptable.

Q:  We received our Bond and fee letter from the CSLB.  It states the business name on the Bonds should match exactly what is on the application.  On the CSLB’s pending application query, our entity is listed in all capital letters with no comma.  Our business name as filed with the Secretary of State is not in all caps and it contains a comma, which is how the Bonds were issued.  I know this a hyper-technical question, but I remember a couple of years ago the Board gave us a hard time with our Worker’s Comp certificate because our broker had put a comma in our business name.  Should I request the Bonds be re-issued?

A:  No, they will be fine.  The CSLB always uses all caps for business names, and they do not use punctuation (commas and periods) regardless of how you are registered with the Secretary of State.

Q: We just received our renewal notice in the mail.  We have two Qualifiers listed on the application and three Officers.  Do all individuals listed need to sign?

A:  No.  Both Qualifiers will need to sign as well as one Officer, unless one of the Qualifiers is an Officer, in which case only the Qualifiers will be required to sign.