ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion License, Registration & Bond fees

ITO does a good job of dividing these expenses. I figure it as a wash. The GC is bringing you work without advertising expense. The GC or homeowner is paying for the permit. The other expenses are overhead.

I can only think of three departments in my limited territory that require registration fees, and one that I pay the license and insurance for. The total of all these Licence, Registration, and Bond fees is less than $1,000 per year.

However, if I'm working in a new area I call the building department and ask the following:

Do you have a Registration Fee?
Do you have a Bond requirement?
What Code are you on and do you have any ammendments?
What do you want to see for a grounding system? (I ask this because the response varies from unprotected conductor to bonded and tagged RMC).

I use this information to formulate the bid, but I'd never show it as a line item or an extra with a Contract Proposal.

Dave

Had this situation been with a different GC I wouldn't have bothered with the C/O. I believe this GC would have me register and then have me re-bid the new drawings. If he felt my price was too high he would have no problem sending the drawings out to the two other EC's that he uses.

If one of the other bids came in lower he would then call me and say I need to lower my bid or he would have no 'choice' but to award the job to the other guy. At this point I would ask for a refund of my reg/bond fees and I know I wouldn't receive it.

I explained this possible scenario to the GC's project manager and he understood and signed the C/O.

I had another job in the past w/ this same GC that was being done w/out permit. The job got shut down and he requested that all subs register w/ the village to the tune of $175.00. I did and he refused to pay me for the fees. This is why I insisted on the C/O for this current project.