Labor info for CO EC's

[ishium 80439]

I know all states are different with their regulations regarding trades and I just wanted to share something that I found out recently here in CO.

I contacted the Electrical Board to inquire if labor could be subbed out on an electrical job. Essentially I was asking if I could just bring some guys on for a day or several and pay them as subs. My workload currently is such that I can't keep a full time guy busy (had to lay off my j-man) but I have things that definately need an extra set of hands in short bursts.

Their email reply was "The Board has determined that subcontractors are contractors and must, therefore, be electrical contractors with a qualifying master and an EC registration".

I've learned from this site that other states have similiar restrictions and I just wanted to let you CO ECs know this is what I found out.

FWIW.

 

[hurk27]

Indiana doesn't have a state wide electrical license so we have to test and apply for one in each jurisdiction we work in, also to top it off each area has different requirements and the test are for the most part home grown, some areas will require 1099 workers to have their own insurance and bonding, and pass their own testing. where others here will just treat them as another worker, where you are the supervising license holder and are the person responsible for their work.

This has been one of my biggest pet peeves because I feel they should not have any say so in how I run my company, and how the taxes are managed, in the past I have worked for contractors who ran their shop as 1099, and it was great, we were allowed to work as much as we wanted and we would bid the jobs out of which a percentage would go for the overhead of the company, the thing I like is this motivated us to work as hard as we wanted and call backs were on us so it was very motivating to make sure everything was done correctly the first time, we could pay our taxes at the end of the year or we could have the company take out the 25% up front, I could pull 3 or 4 rough ins in a week and make a bundle, or a worker if lazy would make much less, many customers would ask for certain workers and this made customer PR very important to learn, which resulted in very happy customers, doing your own take offs and company would get have what you requested for that job, and since materials were coming off your money for the job, you were motivated to keep over runs down to a bare minimum.
The company did have helpers and labors on the clock as well as special positions that were salary, equipment was charged to our jobs like a rental, and we supplied our own trucks or vans and fuel
But since we were working under their license, we had to have in house inspections, and QC, which we understood but then knowing if you did a bad job and that customer would not want you back, you were definitely motivated to do good work, and if you got a red tag, you had to pay double one to cover the real cost, and the extra to make it hurt, but if it was a questionable call, it could be waved and the company lawyers were called into action to do the fighting for you.

I miss those days.

 

[MJW]

This sounds like bad news for companies like CLP (Construction Labor Pool). They provide licensed electricians and pay all taxes and insurance for them but as far as I know they are not a registered contractor. You might call them and see how they deal with this or if they are even aware they are not in compliance.