General Contractor Requirments For Your State!
I was hoping to find out what would be the best means to find out what your state requires in order to be a General Contractor.
I see some states require a license, other might only under certain circumstances, and yet, some appear to not require a GC license at all.
Any information about what state/local offices I can contact or websites,....ect that I can contact within my state to obtain this information is greatly appreciated.
I did find one site : http://www.contractors-license.org/
that state the following, can anyone confirm:
Pennsylvania
Construction Contractors are not licensed in Pennsylvania. However the Department of Transportation has certain requirements for public works contractors.
You will need a certificate or license to perform asbestos abatement work in Pennsylvania.
Come on now, is this really that hard? Have you tried to do a search for "contractor license requirements PA"? or something similar. I would assume your state has a official website that has all sorts of business information, about sales taxes, licensing...
I should add, that there is usually a difference between becoming a contractor and working for others and just what is required to work on your own home. Most states allow for a homeowner to do almost 100% of the work without a licenses, but yours could be different. There can also be a difference between what they consider to be a homeowner and somebody who is buying properties and selling them all the time.
Take it at face value.
There is NO licensing of construction contractors in PA.
[addsig]
Yep, that could be the case. See if you see licensing for electricians and plumbers, usually in that area of the website would be the information about GCs too. It is usually spelled out if it require or not though.
Futher I would get the phone number you find there and call and talk to somebody until you get the answers you need.
Oh, by the way, keep in mind that if you find out there is no state license requirements for a GC, that may not mean anything thing. There could also be county level or city level licensing requirements. In Colorado there is no state level licensing requirements for GCs but there are individual city license requirements, making you have to get multiple licenses in individual cities to work in them or do your rehabs.
Hey Rehab,
Amazing how local governments like to call taxes by other names..........such as a "license fee".
NC
Pgh,
I wrote an article on this very topic, you can find it located at the below link.
I suggest you read it first and then decide if you are ready to take on such a project.
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/residential/modules.php?name=Articles&file=article&articleid=639
NC_Yank
Thanks so much for the reply and article.
Personally, I have been preparing towards the path to highering a general contractor first, and for as many rehab projects until I felt I was educated enough in the area to do it myself.
However, watching one in action and gaining the needed training by watching it done first hand, is probably the best training tool, but not the only one. Therefore, I was hoping prior to having that opportunity, that any reading material or other open avenues to learn as much about being a general contractor will be benificial until then.
Thanks again, Hopefully others might put their .02$ in as well.....