Master of record / renting your license out

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housemoney

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I've been approached by a large EPC firm out of CA looking for a master of record to build a 100MW solar farm in a state I'm licensed in.

This state does not have a "master electrician" license, simply a contractor's license- which I have previously obtained by obtaining liability insurance & license reciprocity with my home state. I have not performed any work/pulled a permit in this state yet.

The EPC firm has drawn up a contract to use my contractor's license including language protecting my liability- hold harmless and indemnify and is willing to cover the significant undertaking fee which is required to begin contracting/pull the permit. I would work a rotation shift as a superintendent on site 50% of the time.

I'm sure there are many on here who have done similar.

What are some additional issues that I should be covering in this written contract before I sign it?
 
This question is periodically seen on this forum with no helpful answers.

A licensed contractor is asked to sign a contract, indemnify the corporation, and assume all liability as Responsible Managing Operator (RMO).

Some of the desperate cries for help seen posted here come from RMO's already a few months into the contract.

With their trade licenses subject to liability for management's conduct, dangerous conditions on job sites, and unqualified hiring practices, these RMO's are usually distressed about illegal activity & violations that persist regardless of their correction efforts, and seem certain of imminent liability that can only be remedied by resignation.

If one of the uninsured laborers try to collect on an injury, or other criminal conduct blows up, the labor Dpt., Unemployment Dpt., OSHA, State License board, and if violating Building Permits, the municipality will all descend upon that RMO contractor, strip his license, levy fines & jail time.

All the while the culpable management hiding behind the corporate vail are shredding records, and complete the project with another RMO license.

RMO's are the corporate sacrificial pawn, the regulators whipping boy. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
 
ramsy said:
uninsured laborers
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ramsy said:
This question is periodically seen on this forum with no helpful answers.

A licensed contractor is asked to sign a contract, indemnify the corporation, and assume all liability as Responsible Managing Operator (RMO).

Some of the desperate cries for help seen posted here come from RMO's already a few months into the contract.

With their trade licenses subject to liability for management's conduct, dangerous conditions on job sites, and unqualified hiring practices, these RMO's are usually distressed about illegal activity & violations that persist regardless of their correction efforts, and seem certain of imminent liability that can only be remedied by resignation.

If one of the uninsured laborers try to collect on an injury, or other criminal conduct blows up, the labor Dpt., Unemployment Dpt., OSHA, State License board, and if violating Building Permits, the municipality will all descend upon that RMO contractor, strip his license, levy fines & jail time.

All the while the culpable management hiding behind the corporate vail are shredding records, and complete the project with another RMO license.

RMO's are the corporate sacrificial pawn, the regulators whipping boy. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
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Thank you for your reply! With the labor shortage I have no doubt there is going to be with issues with uninsured laborers and JW/apprentice ratios as they would be utilizing manpower from CA.
 
housemoney said:
I've been approached by a large EPC firm out of CA looking for a master of record to build a 100MW solar farm in a state I'm licensed in.

This state does not have a "master electrician" license, simply a contractor's license- which I have previously obtained by obtaining liability insurance & license reciprocity with my home state. I have not performed any work/pulled a permit in this state yet.

The EPC firm has drawn up a contract to use my contractor's license including language protecting my liability- hold harmless and indemnify and is willing to cover the significant undertaking fee which is required to begin contracting/pull the permit. I would work a rotation shift as a superintendent on site 50% of the time.

I'm sure there are many on here who have done similar.

What are some additional issues that I should be covering in this written contract before I sign it?
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Outside of the liability issues, might want to make sure you can even "rent out" your license in that particular state.

I know here and likely many the surrounding states you can not do that. If you are involved you (or the company you are operating) would at least need to be actively involved in the project and not just filing the legal paperwork.
 
kwired said:
Outside of the liability issues, might want to make sure you can even "rent out" your license in that particular state.

I know here and likely many the surrounding states you can not do that. If you are involved you (or the company you are operating) would at least need to be actively involved in the project and not just filing the legal paperwork.
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Yes, I would be employed as a superintendent on site upwards of 50% of the time, sorry about the misleading "rent your license" title. This state is a neighboring state of yours also.
 
kwired said:
I know here and likely many the surrounding states you can not do that. If you are involved you (or the company you are operating) would at least need to be actively involved in the project and not just filing the legal paperwork.
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There are a lot of big contractors where there is just no way the one guy they have filling out all the paperwork has the time to be involved with any project much beyond doing the paper shuffling for the permits.
 
Is your lawyer involved in the contract process? This is not the time to be trying to save a few thousand dollars by being a DIYer.
 
petersonra said:
Are you suggesting that actually paying for legal advice is better than getting free legal advice from more or less random people on the Internet? :)
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Yeah.
I think it is fine to hear about other experiences, after all you don't know what you don't know, but we should support other licensed professionals also.
 
petersonra said:
There are a lot of big contractors where there is just no way the one guy they have filling out all the paperwork has the time to be involved with any project much beyond doing the paper shuffling for the permits.
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Doesn't mean the owner/general manager needs to be present. Big contractors that don't even happen on their regular projects that often. But those workers from the company that obviously doesn't have a valid contractor license (for the location anyway) still needs to follow the rules - someone has to be "in charge" that has the contractor license, and there needs to be at least a journeyman or higher license holder on site when work is in progress. If the out of area crew doesn't have a journeyman the local contactor could send one of his journeymen to supervise the project. Here in NE if none of the out of area workers hold a journeyman or higher NE license, they would at least need to register as apprentices with the AHJ, or inspectors will make them leave the project. They could come back after he leaves, but if they are caught again more trouble will be coming from inspector.
 
This may very well be no big deal at all and completely common practice. I worked on some utility scale PV projects in Georgia with my former partner and some of his guys from NY state. I think I was the only one with an electrical license (WA and MA). The "permit holder" we harder ever saw him.
 
As a long time reader and new poster of this forum, its notable when you all agree.
And many arguments / debates have two sides worth considering.
Every thread I have read about this kinda thing, everyone agrees ---bad idea.
There really is no upside.
EOT
 
gene6 said:
As a long time reader and new poster of this forum, its notable when you all agree.
And many arguments / debates have two sides worth considering.
Every thread I have read about this kinda thing, everyone agrees ---bad idea.
There really is no upside.
EOT
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I really don't see an issue as long as the appropriate contract is in place. It's done all the time. I don't know how some people on this forum even leave their house out of fear of something happening 😂
 
Its state by state, as fellon said if its legal in that state you might be ok. But the libility does not end with the project.

The gotcha is some states typically have laws that say the 'Master of record' must be 'continuously employed',
and you must be 'available to meet inspectors on demand'
Here in Oregon a "signing Supervisor" (we call it a Supervisor IDK why) can really only have one employer, and they have to be employed at the company whenever the company is operating. OAR 918-282-0140(2)(i),
and https://oregon.public.law/rules/oar_918-251-0090 :

“Continuously Employ” means a person, including a person leased from a worker leasing company licensed under ORS 656.850 (License), during time periods when electrical work for which they are responsible is performed, devotes their entire time of employment to tasks of supervising, designing, laying out, planning, controlling, and making electrical installations for the electrical contractor for which the supervisor is registered as signing supervisor.
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There was an inspector here who rented his Masters license while he worked as an inspector in another town, he got fined and had both licenses suspended.
There are also cases where people had a masters license in WA and Supervisors in OR with two different companies, and they got fined.
 
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