ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area non licensed work

The strange thing in Florida is a person without any license at all is going to make out better with the authorities than someone who is just exceeding his license boundries.
Most enforcement is administrative (actions against your license) and folks without any license at all don't have much to lose.
The trunk bangers usually have to screw up so bad they can be charged with felony fraud before they can attract the attention of the cops and DAs.

How would you fellow sparky's handle this? I am a Journeyman Industrial Electrician. I am always getting asked for advice on resi work. I love the call when someone has work they tried to do themselves and it won't work. I am not licensed as an Electrical Contractor but I have been in the trade for over 25 years. I will usually go over and help them at no cost. I guess I sleep better knowing that after I have corrected the mistake maybe their house won't burn down.

When I worked for my boss back in 1975-1984 he was liscensed and I was not. Did I do side work? Yes, but it was for my parents, my brother and my grandfather, but that was it. I didn't do work for other people because I didn't have a lic., nor did I have insurence in case of a problem. I know that a lot of people have "Friends" who dabble in electrical work and they are not lic., but IF something did happen, will an insurence company pay out if they find out that the person who did the work was did not have a lic. I am not too sure. I am a AHJ now and people still ask me to do side work, BUT I don't have insurence in case something goes wrong. I will not work for anyone without the insurence to back me up.