State License Help

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AdamR

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GA, USA
Hello Everyone,

Looking for some assistance/advice from you fine gentlemen. First off I reside in the state of GA. When I departed the military I went to 2-year trade school. While I was going to school I worked as a commercial electrician (contractor). After graduating I moved into the Industrial field, where I work in Industrial electrical at a plant.

I would like to get my state license to eventually start my own small business on the side. Here the issue, there are no license electricians at the plant. So I am not currently building up time under one. From my understanding you need four years of documented work under one. I have a year from trade school and a year from my commercial work, from what I understand about the code that qualifies. I just don't know how I will get the other two years. I can't leave my job, so I seem stuck.

Do any of you know a way to resolve this? I read you can sometimes just go take the test. Does my current industrial electrical count even though i'm not under a license electrician? Sorry for the long post but any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
As someone who has worked in plants, campuses, and similar I am confused.

Someone has to qualify for this work to be performed in house, that person should be able to document your hours. While many places like this have some cowboy practices, never heard of a proper place not have a licensed qualifier somewhere in administrative.
 
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I asked the members of my shop, none of them knew of anyone who could sign off on my hours. If what you say is true then this person must work at corporate. I guess I will need to talk to corporate to find out who that individual is. Can they sign off on my hours even if I have never met the person?
 
You'd have to ask corporate about the presence of a licensed person on staff, and the state licensing authority about whether they will allow such a "remote" person to monitor your time. It could be argued that your work is electrical, that you have qualified supervisors, and therefore your work time is relevant. If successful you might even push your luck and get prior time signed off.

But I too am curious...if GA requires a license, then how is it your coworkers aren't licensed but allowed to work as electricians?
 
Craigv said:
But I too am curious...if GA requires a license, then how is it your coworkers aren't licensed but allowed to work as electricians?
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Georgia does not require a license to work as an electrician. Georgia requires a licensed to become an electrical contractor (sell electrical services to the public).

Most of the time a plant electrician is working on equipment and not building wiring and if the person is honest this time doesn't count ( I know from personal experience ).

What the OP can do is submit his work experience to the board and see if they accept it.
 
AdamR said:
Do any of you know a way to resolve this? I read you can sometimes just go take the test. Does my current industrial electrical count even though i'm not under a license electrician? Sorry for the long post but any help would be greatly appreciated.
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The company that you work for probably has an engineer that can submit a letter to verify work experience.

Be honest, how much construction experience do you have? You get one year for the school and one year for the commercial but how much construction have you done in the plant? In some plants they do a bit of construction but in others it's strictly maintenance of machines.

Any experience you have can be submitted to the board for approval. It's up to the board to accept this experience.

I'll give you an example, you can work for years for a power company as a lineman and never get any construction experience because they are not under the NEC.
 
growler said:
Georgia does not require a license to work as an electrician. Georgia requires a licensed to become an electrical contractor (sell electrical services to the public).

Most of the time a plant electrician is working on equipment and not building wiring and if the person is honest this time doesn't count ( I know from personal experience ).

What the OP can do is submit his work experience to the board and see if they accept it.
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:thumbsup:
 
R

R

First off I would like to thank all of you for the help. From what I gather my time in the plant doesn't technically count. I work mainly on motors, Machines and all the control systems(relays, sensors and PLCs). I do put in new lighting an receptacles here and there but not the norm. I work with high voltage systems so I thought it would count. I didn't realize it was only focused on construction for licensing.

I guess this brings me back to my original question. If the board decides not accept my time what are my options? I really want to get the state contractor license and can't leave my current employment.
 
AdamR said:
I asked the members of my shop, none of them knew of anyone who could sign off on my hours. If what you say is true then this person must work at corporate. I guess I will need to talk to corporate to find out who that individual is. Can they sign off on my hours even if I have never met the person?
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You will need someone with an electrical license to sign off on your working hours. I just don’t know how the state of Georgia licensee rules work.
 
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