journeyman card worthless in Fl?

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

billdozier 78

Member
Location
Orlando
Just wondering what other states don't require a licensed electrician on the job. I went out and obtained my license last October. Thought I could get better pay. Problem is there are no requirements for a licensed guy on every job. Keeps mechanic wages low and prevents people from applying themselves.
 
hire the homeless let them do electrical....:happyno:

around here its 1 license 1 helper, some places its 1 license 2 helpers
 
Tighten up!

Tighten up!

In florida, if you can get in touch with a licensed electrician (cell phone) you don't need a licensed journeyman. It is stupid and myopic, but it is the law.
It promotes everyone doing their own work irregardless of licensing or skill set.

I got a call today from someone I gave an estimate to a week ago. He said he and a friend had installed the material and wanted me to inspect the work and how much to do that. He balked because he wanted me not to charge him, like I'm the electrician fairy. Then he wanted to know If I would pull the permit and how much. I said no and he hung up.
Must have been beer thirty.

The point is the respect for a license and what it represents is gone here because it has no value and reflects the lack of respect for the Statutes of the State of Florida and the enforcement mechanisms. Its not good. It allows people to break the law because there are no consequences. If you sell a bag of crack you get 20 years mandated, cocaine 5 years. ITS THE SAME THING just different socioeconomic victims. Advertise to contract without a license and because you are not in their system and the investigator has been riffed out you are ignored, forget to put your license number in your add and you get gigged $200 because they can find you. The priorities are a babble tower of confusion because the system has been broken on purpose. Maybe some lobbiest got ripped off by an electrician. Don't know, don't care, I just feel cheapened and deregulated.

The unintended consequence of this public deregulation and restructuring of the industry is the lack of training and apprenticeship of the next generation of electricians. Kids need structure, why not the electrical industry here? Because it is cheaper in the short run and puts the onus on the industry to regulate themselves. Worked so well with the banking and illicit drug industry. To bad the damage will end up being so pervasive and ubiquitous. :rant:
 
Many states have required all electrical workers to be in a registerd training or have a certificate with someone in the company holding a license. This was true in California only the last few years. It was a major battle that took years to implement. There seems to be no enforcement however. Inspectors will not ask for a card or check. They claim they don't have the time.
 
billdozier 78 said:
Just wondering what other states don't require a licensed electrician on the job. I went out and obtained my license last October. Thought I could get better pay. Problem is there are no requirements for a licensed guy on every job. Keeps mechanic wages low and prevents people from applying themselves.
Click to expand...

Regretfully, there is good and bad with the Contract law in Florida. Several years ago, every local municipality could set its own rules, and would often use these rules to protect local Contractors and prevent reasonable competition from nearby municipalities. So the State passed laws that require all local municipalities to set no codes that are more strict than the State codes (NEC modified by the Florida Building Code) At the time there was not (and still isn't) a State Journeyman's License so part of the law was that local Municipalities (Brevard was a bad one for example) could not require Journeyman's license on a job, because there is no State License. All you can really do is lobby for a State license requirement. I will join you.
 
Contact THE local building official.

Contact THE local building official.

The mechanism that was used to eliminate local licensing was for the state to say if you can't or don't enforce your local rules you cant have local licensing. A good beginning to reinvent the Journeyman's level is to ask for local board enforcements. The local code boards could be used' every city & county has them. They enforce the zoning and building ordinances. It would be a small step to create and enforce the journeyman level of competency. You would need to talk to the city attorney and or respective board attorneys, I would think. That would get the ball rolling toward the city or county Commissioners. Getting the building official involved would be very good too.
There is a saying "you cant beat City Hall." There has to be some profit in this locally and wont happen if it is not substantial. The benefit for the local building official would be better inspections and educated installers/mechanics. For the contractors it costs less to do an install because staff knows what they are doing. Material prices are rising and it would cover the costs of hiring a journeyman if you only have to do it once. Its a win/win all around.

It would give the trade status which creates demand.
 
GUNNING said:
The mechanism that was used to eliminate local licensing was for the state to say if you can't or don't enforce your local rules you cant have local licensing. A good beginning to reinvent the Journeyman's level is to ask for local board enforcements. The local code boards could be used' every city & county has them. They enforce the zoning and building ordinances. It would be a small step to create and enforce the journeyman level of competency. You would need to talk to the city attorney and or respective board attorneys, I would think. That would get the ball rolling toward the city or county Commissioners. Getting the building official involved would be very good too.
There is a saying "you cant beat City Hall." There has to be some profit in this locally and wont happen if it is not substantial. The benefit for the local building official would be better inspections and educated installers/mechanics. For the contractors it costs less to do an install because staff knows what they are doing. Material prices are rising and it would cover the costs of hiring a journeyman if you only have to do it once. Its a win/win all around.

It would give the trade status which creates demand.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I am reading what you wrote correctly, but I know that when I studied for my Florida EC license, Mike Holt classes taught that local municipalities could not require journeyman's licenses for holders of an EC license. I should have mentioned earlier, that locals are allowed to issue an ER (restricted license) that allows contracting only in the issuing jurisdiction and the Municipality can impose additional restrictions such as journeyman licenses on them, but not on a State Licensed EC.
 
jiggawatt79 said:
both of these were good. I had considered moving to Florida but this sounds like a mess. My license means something here at least. They don't always card me but when they do..

View attachment 7202
Click to expand...

DO NOT move to Florida for the work! They call it a sunshine tax, but the wages are unbelievably supressed here!!!!!!!!!!!!! On a decent night, you would make much more from tips at Denny's than working as a Journeyman. Likely to be $15 to $19 per hour in my area. The $19 being more of a foreman
 
Strathead said:
DO NOT move to Florida for the work! They call it a sunshine tax, but the wages are unbelievably supressed here!!!!!!!!!!!!! On a decent night, you would make much more from tips at Denny's than working as a Journeyman. Likely to be $15 to $19 per hour in my area. The $19 being more of a foreman
Click to expand...
Well out of curiosity then, why did you move to FL from CA?

Roger
 
roger said:
Well out of curiosity then, why did you move to FL from CA?

Roger
Click to expand...

Staring at the ring around my finger! My wife hated Ca. I did very well there, and had 2 Contractors who I could always work for, but who knows if they would be even capable in this environment? There are aspects of Florida that I Love, but work environment and wages are not one of them! The only other things I really miss are the Mexican food and the mountains. The people here are far more outgoing, congenial and accepting! It is all about the people, so I am happy.
 
There is no statewide license in Indiana.

It is up to each town / city / county as to make their own ordinance and enforce it.

This makes it very easy at times to work in a particular place that has no requirement for licensure whatsoever and a pain and expensive at other times because you need multiple licenses if you work around the state.

Some are reciprocal with one another but it is still a pain to do the paperwork not to mention expensive to hold several licenses and have to renew them every year, some requiring bonds payable to the city.
 
In my experience, very rarely do any inspectors ask to see your credentials. I have been doing electrical work for over 30 years and i can only remember two times an inspector has asked to see a license. They do it more often, them maybe we could get better pay. Good for the employee, bad for the employer. Lol.
 
First electrical job I was on in FL the Inspector shut the job down till the journeyman showed up. It really made a difference in the work and respect for and on the job.
Turned out the plumber cut a joist in half, and of course there was the wire going out the hole...
No journeyman on the job so he shut it down till the Jman showed up and called the office.
This was in the dark ages before cell phones. Before beepers come to think of it.
Everyone sat around like the principle caught us in the bathroom smoking
It really makes a difference.
 
Last edited:
comm.

comm.

= (
GUNNING said:
In florida, if you can get in touch with a licensed electrician (cell phone) you don't need a licensed journeyman. It is stupid and myopic, but it is the law.
It promotes everyone doing their own work irregardless of licensing or skill set.

I got a call today from someone I gave an estimate to a week ago. He said he and a friend had installed the material and wanted me to inspect the work and how much to do that. He balked because he wanted me not to charge him, like I'm the electrician fairy. Then he wanted to know If I would pull the permit and how much. I said no and he hung up.
Must have been beer thirty.

The point is the respect for a license and what it represents is gone here because it has no value and reflects the lack of respect for the Statutes of the State of Florida and the enforcement mechanisms. Its not good. It allows people to break the law because there are no consequences. If you sell a bag of crack you get 20 years mandated, cocaine 5 years. ITS THE SAME THING just different socioeconomic victims. Advertise to contract without a license and because you are not in their system and the investigator has been riffed out you are ignored, forget to put your license number in your add and you get gigged $200 because they can find you. The priorities are a babble tower of confusion because the system has been broken on purpose. Maybe some lobbiest got ripped off by an electrician. Don't know, don't care, I just feel cheapened and deregulated.

The unintended consequence of this public deregulation and restructuring of the industry is the lack of training and apprenticeship of the next generation of electricians. Kids need structure, why not the electrical industry here? Because it is cheaper in the short run and puts the onus on the industry to regulate themselves. Worked so well with the banking and illicit drug industry. To bad the damage will end up being so pervasive and ubiquitous. :rant:
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top