ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion The Scandalous California Contractors Board

"homeowners are more concerned with price than they are with bonding and license."

One of the main reasons for license, is to protect the homeowner, from himself, a non licensed guy will not have workers comp, so when he gets injured, at the home, It can cost the owner everything.

"they got to eat too"

Yes, just pass the test to show your qualified, pay your way like everyone else, and follow the laws, that excuse, I have to eat too, Is the biggest cry babby crock I ever heard, sure why not let them do brain transplants, they can start with their own.

"The flip side"

The health industry, and many other services are highly regulated, and consumers have price options. Most consumers are price gouged with unlicensed operations.

"I don't think chasing service calls will work out for you if you have $60K invested in your truck and tools."

There are a lot of EC's that have been doing service work with more then that amount invested, and doing very well, try this link
http://ecmweb.com/mag/electric_serves_right/index.html

The testing requirement is four years journeyman experience not five. It's not uncommon for 7 series licensees not to know the testing requirements...

When i took my test i was surprised how easy the trade portion was. The law was hard. But the trade was a joke. i wish the state will make the trade much harder.
The only reason you need a contractors license, is that you can do work worth more than $500. having a license does not mean by any imagination that you know the electrical system. I know a person that took the electrical portion of the test 5 times, finally passed it and now he calles himself a master electrician. That is a joke that a person can take the test until they pass.

Consumers believe that if one has a license they automaticly know the trade.

And furthermoer, my license starts with 7 and i had to earn mine. So, having a license that starts with 7 does n ot mean that you got your off of the shelf.

Edward

I was ready to accept an apology for your claiming that 7 series contractors are bogus. Instead you insult me further. It's not my fault you can't get a job hanging a cieling fan.I have no shortage of industrial work (consistently).Your in no postion to call me a fraud. I was kind of feeling bad for ya, now I hope you get wiped out of business.I don't care what the min requirement is I summited five years.

{Skipr, please don't sink to the level of personal insults, this is not helping anyone.}

OK, lets calm down, and act with SOME restraint!

When a man feels his livelihood is at risk, and that others may have received special treatment that puts him at a disadvantage .... it's easy for tempers to flare. I know I get PO'd when the rules change in the middle of the game.

Let's cut the OP a little slack. It seems clear he was posting with passion as much as anything, and no purpose will be served by goading each other.

In the meantime, let's save our vitriol for those who think government solves much of anything. I believe Romex Racer has made a good case that, this time, they have made it worse!

Regarding the difficulty of the California C-10 test, I'd have to agree with Niko that it was very easy. To some, it represents the intellectual challenge of their lives, but in reality it is about as hard as the test for a drivers license.

This is another area that the CSLB needs to upgrade, and continuing education might be something else we should start.

I'm in favor of raising standards, this thread is a perfect example of how controversial the subject of raising standards can be, but in the long run, raising standards benefits everyone.

I believe the CSLB is in need of serious reform.

We went thru this in New Jersey years ago, back in 1984 there were complaints the testing was too difficult, and the Board was accused of keeping applicants from getting a license. In response to pressure on the board, they outsourced the testing, and the teat standards dropped, making it easier to pass, and with the testing dumbed down, they still had high failure rates, so no matter what the standards are there will always be some that find it difficult, and some that find it easy.

With the dumb down testing, licensed guys were only cheating themself, they passed the test and had to preform in the field, and that is where the lack of knowladge showed up, inspectors were finding little or no improvement in code work, and basic knowladge, so what happened is, we ended up with an ever increasing CEU hours requirement, to bring up the standards.

So please try to keep the excitment down a bit, It will all work out in the long haul, what might be a good idea, is for all the Cal guys that want to improve things to get involved with their local independent contractors assn. or start their own chapter, that is what we did here in Jersey to improve communications with the board and make good things happen.

Save your strength, to fight with the board, not with each other!

Quote: "in the long run, raising standards benefits everyone."

do brain transplants?

Yeah like hanging a ceiling fan and brain surgery are the same...and lot of people do seek alternative medicines, its a major market in case you have not noticed.

Most home owners only care if you have bonding AFTER there is an accident. Sure the laws are designed to protect them, but like alternative medicine most people decide what is best for themselves and what their budget can afford. I am not defending the position I am just acknowledging that it exists.

The way I see it, the task is not the same, but they both require a license in our state.

A poor ceiling fan installation, can wipe out an entire family, brain operation gone bad just wipes out the patient, true they are not the same, poor ceiling fan install can take out more lives.

Your 100% on target, with the consumers decision to put price over everything else.

About 3 years ago I was hungry for work, and chased a job pretty hard that would have really been nice to have at the time. It was a CarMax used car lot that had a good size show room, car wash, repair shop and huge lot with about 40 pole lights. When I NEED work, I can get cheap and this bid was probably a bit below cost but I figured it could be made up on project management. The guy who beat me took it about 20% under my bid.

For the next 6 months I drove by this job on the way to and from work watching the progress. The electrician who took it worked out of a station wagon and rigged wire reels out of the back of it for the pole light pulls. Some nights there would be whole crews of what looked like day labor out in the lot standing up the poles with a man lift. From my perspective it was a joke, but they took the work from me and CarMax got what they wanted, a cheap price.

There is always somebody out there who will do it for cheaper than you.