To answer your question yes you need the low voltage and business license. This is required to work in the state and in many states in fact. Some states even have a cable TV or telecommunications license. If you are not licensed and you get caught you will face fines and possible jail time depending on state laws. When you register your business with the state that simply registers your trade name and it cannot be used by another business in that state. The next step is to get a business license. There are several business licenses depending on your state. For example some states only require a state license and others have a state, city and county licenses. The fees for these pay for the inspectors and licensing agencies to insure contractors are doing their job correctly and in some states the fees go into a fund for victim relief to help victims of bad contractors.
If you want to be a reputable business and be in compliance with the law these are things you must do. This will also give you credibility as a contractor and make you available for prime contract work. I here all of the guy’s on here saying it cost too much. And that they can’t afford it. Well then I tell them go back and work in-house if you don’t have what it takes to work as a contractor. Everyone thinks the prime contractors are taking all their money until they try to do it there self’s and see what it takes to do business the right way.
The best advice I can give you is to go to the state licensing agency in the area you want to work in and set down with a licensing agent and he can tell you what all of your requirements will be and give you the proper forms to set your business up correctly. This will protect you from missing anything and getting in trouble. If you are a regional or national contractor you will need to do this in each city, county and state you will be working in. It can get costly if you cover a large area.
Also look at the type of work you will be doing and license you will need. I am a prime contractor and carry a class A contractor’s license. I can do any size job in my classification. This required 1500 hrs of classes and around 30 different test and around 2000.00 if fees. But if I were a smaller contractor and each job I invoiced for was under a few grand I could go for a class B or C depending on my annual revenue. The class B license only requires the class time and no testing and three years of industry experience so the fees are cut in half and the class C only requires industry experience and a $150.00 fee. So do your homework and cover what you need now and as your company grows you can always test up and increase your classification.
If you would like more information or hemp getting your business setup correctly, pm me and I will send you my e-mail address. I would be happy to give you some web links and information to help go along the way.
