Question for you guys

[peter d]

You think that's bad?

Yes, absolutely it's bad. Look on the map and closely examine the New England states.

I live about 3 miles away from the border between RI and MA. I frequently cross that border to shop and to work. Right now I have to maintain multiple licenses. If there was a New England regional type license it would make cross border commerce much simpler and it would make the licensing process cheaper as well (less license fees.)

But that's just it anyway, it's all about the money to these states anyway, so they have no incentive to change it.

 

[acwservices]

I live in MA and have lic. in MA, NH, VT, RI, CT, as do most of my co-workers. We do quite a bit of out of state work.

Speaking of RI, how difficult is this exam? Their website indicates that that they do not have reciprocity with any states, and their exam is closed book- is this correct?

 

[peter d]

Speaking of RI, how difficult is this exam? Their website indicates that that they do not have reciprocity with any states, and their exam is closed book- is this correct?

Yes, it is closed book.

As far as how difficult it is, it all depends on who you ask. I found the test to be easy and I passed it in 30 minutes.

 

[Smart $]

Yes, absolutely it's bad. Look on the map and closely examine the New England states.

I live about 3 miles away from the border between RI and MA. I frequently cross that border to shop and to work. Right now I have to maintain multiple licenses. If there was a New England regional type license it would make cross border commerce much simpler and it would make the licensing process cheaper as well (less license fees.)

You didn't qoute my entire post...

I have to maintain four (4) municipal JW licenses just to work in my local area... all in the State of Ohio, 3 in one county and 1 in an adjoining county.

So what was your beef again?

But that's just it anyway, it's all about the money to these states anyway, so they have no incentive to change it.

In Ohioans case, the state does not get any money. There's been talk for years about a state JW license but so far it's just been a lot of hot air.

 

[peter d]

You didn't qoute my entire post...

Because I didn't need to. We're talking about the same thing here. :roll:

So what was your beef again?

Having to maintain multiple license for such small states when all the New England states require licenses and have basically the same process to obtain them.

 

[EBFD6]

Speaking of RI, how difficult is this exam? Their website indicates that that they do not have reciprocity with any states, and their exam is closed book- is this correct?

Yes, it is closed book.

As far as how difficult it is, it all depends on who you ask. I found the test to be easy and I passed it in 30 minutes.

As Peter stated, the level of difficulty depends on the person. I personally didn't think the exam was that hard and was one of the first guys to be finished. However, I know a few guys that I would consider more knowledgeable than I am code wise, with more experience in the field, and they have failed and said it was extremely difficult.

Some people take tests well, and some don't.

 

[EBFD6]

Having to maintain multiple license for such small states when all the New England states require licenses and have basically the same process to obtain them.

I have a bit of a different take on this, JMO.

My company pays all of the fees to maintain licenses, renewal fees, code updates, etc..., so the cost is not an issue for me.

Having all of the out of state licenses puts me a notch above the guys who can't be bothered to take the extra tests, or cannot pass the exams.

We do a decent amount of work in RI, but out of 40 journeymen (MA) in the company, only 12 of us are lic. in RI. JOB SECURITY!

I would like to think that based on skill alone I would be pretty safe even if the company had a major layoff, but every little advantage helps.

 

[peter d]

I have a bit of a different take on this, JMO.

My company pays all of the fees to maintain licenses, renewal fees, code updates, etc..., so the cost is not an issue for me.

Well, if you were paying out of your pocket to maintain your licenses as I am, I'm sure your opinion would change.

 

[EBFD6]

Well, if you were paying out of your pocket to maintain your licenses as I am, I'm sure your opinion would change.

Absolutely! That's why I said cost was not an issue.

I live in MA, and as far as I am concerned there are enough contractors with enough work in MA that someone would keep me working, even if the only lic. I had was MA.

The company wants us to have out of state lic., and I expect them to pay or I wouldn't have them. While I do think they give me a little advantage over the guys who don't have them, the extra licenses are not important enough to me to accept the extra cost.

 

[Smart $]

Because I didn't need to. We're talking about the same thing here. :roll:

I guess that's a matter of opinion.

IMO, we may be talking about something similar, but I bet the area I have to maintain 4 licenses in is much smaller than the area you would require 4 licenses. The farthest distance between any two points in the 4 jurisdictions local for me is ~30 miles. That's about the same distance as it is from top to bottom of RI... where you are only required to have one license, right?