More Concrete Generals, When to Get Fingerprinted and Electrical

We all know what we know, think we know more and often have no clue what we don’t know! In the cases of these contractor questions for our expert, the unfortunate answer was no how, no way…

Q:  I currently have a Sole Proprietor General Building (“B”) license that’s been Inactive for about three years now.  I want to add the “C-8” (Concrete) classification to my license in order to obtain a separate Concrete license for a Partnership that I am starting with my business associate.

My attorney said I may be able to Waive the Trade exam based on my General Building license if I can show that concrete has been a significant portion of my work for five out of the last seven years.  What does the CSLB consider acceptable documentation to prove my concrete experience?

A:   Your attorney is referring to B&P Code Section 7065.3, which allows for a Waiver of the Trade exam when adding a classification to your license if you meet the requirements.  As your attorney stated, one of the requirements is the classification needs to be closely related to your current classification and it must have been a significant portion of the work you performed for five out of the last seven years.  Since your license has been inactive for three years now, there is no way for you to document using your General Building license for performing Concrete work as required.

Q:  Our corporation is going to be applying for a new license and our Officers all live in Michigan.  I read that if they get fingerprinted outside of CA the process can take months longer than if they do it in California.  They will be out in CA next week to meet with the client that they will be doing a project for (once they are licensed of course).  Can they get fingerprinted at that time?  Do they just save the receipts and submit them with the application?

A:  No one can be fingerprinted until you apply for the license and get the notification from the CSLB to get fingerprinted.  The CSLB will send out Live Scan Request forms, which they will be required to take with them to get printed.

Q:  Our Company currently has a “C-10” (Electrical) license however over the past several years we have strictly been doing low voltage work.  As I’m sure you’re aware, the “C-10” license requires that our employees obtain an Electrical Certification to perform any work.  If we wanted to obtain a separate “C-7” Low Voltage license to avoid the electrical certifications, would our Qualifying Individual need to take an exam, or would he be eligible for a waiver based on the fact that he passed the full electrical exam for our current license?

A: If your company is applying for a separate “C-7” license and your Qualifier has never held the license before then he will not qualify for a waiver of the trade exam.

Under certain circumstances, B&P Code section 7065.3 allows an individual to request a waiver of an exam when adding the classification to an existing license. To request this, you have to be able to show that the classification being added is closely related to the classification currently listed on the license.  Additionally, you will need to show that low voltage work has been a significant part of the work you have done with your “C-10”.  The CSLB will want to see that you have at least four years of experience within the last ten performing “C-7” work at a journeyman level or above.

Since your work is strictly low voltage, once you add that classification, you may want request to have the “C-10” classification removed from the license in order to avoid the need for electrical certifications for your employees.

As these questions and answers show clearly what you don’t know is why you call the experts!