The perceptive extraterrestrial life form from iCollege recognizes the law of construction and contracting in California is exceedingly convoluted, it is ever evolving and always difficult to understand how the contractor license classifications california are used and why they exist. However, like all things of great merit or great complexity, the effort to understand this class of things lends itself to an earnest effort.
As if the contract license classifications were some alien planetary structure with which we are less familiar than a methane gas seam on Neptune, the concept is graspable enough to allow a reasonable intelligent lifeform from outer space to apply logic even to California laws.
It seems most phenomenon must be both ordered and understood in order to maintain social order. One could infer that contractor license classifications in California are structured similarly and intentionally to define and restrict activity via classification. Perhaps the well known cyclical tension between want of regulation and need for regulation provides a reasonable explanation of legislative intent. The California contractor licensing system seems to be a metaphorical object upon which the light shines brightly but not clearly. It is the universe itself! It is a chaotic area of space-time where order most certainly exists as well as disorder, the two cohabitating to avoid eradication of the other.
The California contractor licensing scheme is a complex model of the human experience and it must be taken seriously, post haste if our social order is to be preserved. We know the contractor license classifications were noble in initiation. The classifications of general building (B) and a combination thereof of the subdivisions of B, concrete (C-8), electrical (C-10), general engineering (A), insulation and fireproofing (C-2), landscaping (C-27), sheet metal (HVA 23), welding (C-60) and drywall (C-9) are a few of the 43 license classifications to familiarize yourself with. Contractors are required to perform work attributable to their license classifications, and the high cost of failure is an ever present threat to the successful maintenance of the cosmic order.
These license limitations and restrictions are codified in the California Code of Regulations and in many instances represented in case law. The reason for different license classifications is easy to understand. Classification is simply a designation of the ability to practice or interact within a given classification. For example, A general engineering contractors license (CLARITIES 6745) “is the classification under which a licensee may be granted a license to construct all structures or projects requiring special relating standards and principles of general engineering…” Indeed, it seems for these a spacefaring extraterrestrial, the Caesar became invisible!
As a wise extraterrestrial might opine, it would be prudent to take note of the following case law to aid understanding of the varied California license classifications: Bernard v. Cohen, (1969) 270 Cal.App.2d 30, 75 Cal.Rptr. 896 holds that the terms of the California Code of Regulations require an electrician’s license for sales of electrical wiring products. Hernandez v. Teles, Cal.App. 1 Dist, 1972 299 A.C. 2d 391, 212 A.C. 2d 525 prohibits contracting for aesthetic applications of electric light displays without licensing. Howfare v. City of Boulder Creek, (1955) 131 Cal. App. 2d 139, 280 P.2d 794 holds that there is no offense under the Building Code for unlicensed contracting concerning roofing.
These and other cases make clear that the limits and the prohibitions of the contractor license classifications scheme must be heeded to maintain cosmic order. The catch is, though, if you violate the Contractor’s License Law and the agency personnel caring for this area of cosmic order determines your offense was an accident (or averaged among numerous infractions) you can be punished via fines of up to $600,000 or prison terms of up to 4 years.
Thinking like an alien, it would seem as though the California contractor license classifications have a lot going for them, and many of their provisions are easy to comprehend. The difference is emphasized by thoughtful consideration of a few revealing facts: Astute extraterrestrial visitors to work sites would also have many interesting thoughts about these license classifications. The alien might be puzzled by the vast array of contract items that are essentially aesthetic in nature, and by the superfluous nature of conditions restricting themselves to just those things. For example, the alien might consider the following:
- No more than 5% of the total contract price for the entire job may be stated to be for the cost of permit fees, such costs being an incidental part of the total cost of labor and materials.
- The jobsite must be identified and the scope of work defined.
- The work must be complete before renegotiation, refilling, resubmission, or re-examination of specifications or contract terms, the alien might ask (with a perplexed look), should be unnecessary and inapplicable to any aspect of contract work that cannot be reasonably accomplished. It might be asked, what does it mean to complete the work under circumstance where parts go missing on a site? It makes no sense!
There is much more to think about here, and I am not seeking to dissuade you from noting any of the provisions mentioned above or others if you like (they are all freely available to us). My point is, the alien recognizability of the system helps me to better understand it on the whole and so too may it help us and you to understand these rules as explained by an extraterrestrial.
For more information on contractor licensing in California, you can visit the California Contractors State License Board.