You've Gotta Be Kidding! You need to be a contractor to rehab????

OK, so I have been BUSY this past week.

As some of you might know, In addition to being a full-time REALTOR I'm an active real estate investor and I buy old junker houses and fix them up for sale.

Now, I always use licensed contractors when I need to (just about everywhere) and I give the end user a great product and a great home. I also clean up the negihborhood as the homes I buy are never the nice house on the street.

Now the legislature - along with the Department of Labor and Industries says I have to have a contractor's license!


Check out:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1843

Hove you ever tried to get a contractor's license? My *minimum* insurance premium will be $10,000! That's because I haven't ever officially worked as a contractor...


If I'm hiring licensed contractors, then shouldn't I be OK?

It's all about consumer protection, then I *get it* - and I *agree* with it. Buyers should get a quality product.


Up until recently, any homeowner was allowed to do work on their own home. Of course you have always had to hire licensed folk to do work beyond the $500 limit (I know - it's tiny, but that's what it's been forever) You were always able to hire the various contractors yourself.

If you take the law as written, then all that has gone away. To buy a home, renovate it and then sell it (or lease it) requires that you have a General Contractor's license.

Will L&I enforce a lot of this? Probably not. There are too many confusing elements to the law and several contradictory exemptions. for example, the *law* states that if you're doing any work to your home with the intention of selling it, then you need that license. Probably not enforceable, but that's the law!


As it's written, it looks like you'll need a contractor's license if you buy a rental property (a condo, a house or commercial) and do any fix-up prior to a tenant moving in.

I'm working with a bunch of local folks to get this changed. I'll let you know how it goes!


Wow!