I take a ‘shine’ to our first contractor question. A lesson on adding too much to your ‘official’ title description, and another inquiry holds a reminder on the contractor exam process…
Q: My company has a “B” license which we use to do Solar contracting. My employee holds the license, but I want to replace him on the license. I can’t qualify for a “B” license because I don’t really have General Building experience, only Solar. How would I go about replacing him but with the “C-46” (Solar) license?
A: You would be required to add the “C-46” to the license so your company would initially have both classifications. Once the “C-46” is added, if you want to remove your Qualifier, you would file a Disassociation notice. At that point, the CSLB will give you 90 days to replace the ‘B’ qualifier, and if no action is taken, the “B” classification will be removed from the license.
Q: We are going to be applying for a new license and we’ve designated a Qualifying Individual who has his own personal license. He wants to keep his license (Active) so we understand we need to give him an Officer title and 20% ownership of the new company. We are in the process of “creating” an Officer title within our company. We are thinking of something like “Supervisor of Construction Activity”. Do you see any issue with that?
A: Yes, in my experience the CSLB does not accept anything but “official” officer titles, which don’t worry, there are many! Even though “Vice President” is an acceptable title, we’ve seen applications rejected if you add descriptive words to it such as “Vice President of Construction”. Some examples of acceptable official Officer titles are of course President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, or Director. Then there is also Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, etc.
Q: Your company is going to be helping us with our new license but before we get started, our Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) who lives in Texas had a few questions for you. Does the person who takes the test have to be the “Qualifying Individual”, or can it be someone else? Is the test a proctored test at a particular test facility? Is there an online option for the test? Lastly, if the test must be taken at a qualified test facility, are there any such facilities outside of California, or will he have to fly in for the test?
A: The person taking the test must be the Qualifying Individual. The test is a proctored test given at certain facilities and there is no online option. He/she will need to fly to California to take the test. The examination sites are located in San Diego, San Bernardino, Norwalk, Oxnard, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fresno. CSLB testing staff use Zip Codes to assign applicants to the testing center nearest their business address. Coming from Texas, your Qualifier will likely be scheduled in Norwalk, however that can always be changed if a different location is more convenient. Fingerprinting is also required so plan to get that done while in CA.