Well, when you’ve solved all the difficult and scary crimes, you just have to raise the bar and go after new targets. Makes since.
This is a genius idea! We should have a blogging license that requires you to pay a $400 fee, take an annual accreditation course and attend a four year college degree.
Why stop with these kinds of sting operations? Place more ads, and schedule people for interviews for non-existent office jobs. Then station a few squad cars in the right places, and have them pull over the would-be job seekers when they fail to achieve a complete stop at the stop sign near the location of the interview.
What are the requirements for a contractor’s license for landscaping? I can understand requiring certification for plumbing or electrical work or even painting (a bad exterior paint job could leave wood vulnerable to rot,) but what potential harm is there in unprofessional landscaping? Erosion?
You mean you didn’t have to do that?!
Yes concentrate on the Landscaping thing while allowing unsanitary and unlicensed personal services. Not to mention the 10’s of thousands of dollars and potential for injury an untrained and unprofessional housing contractor can cost.
No, you shouldn’t need a license to mow somebody’s yard, the rest? Yep
Homeowners association racketeering.
House painting without a license seems to be a pretty petty thing to enforce with jail time.
Landscapers don’t mow lawns, they move dirt, install plumbing, put in new trees. I am not sure about California, but Connecticut specifically says that any job costing less than $1,000 per year does not require such a license.
As a bit of devil’s advocate, California might have added this because water usage and chemical usage are a big part of lawn care. They may have wanted to make sure they licensed people doing that type of work. Looks like it is a one-time $250 fee.
A person I know has had a business designing and making kitchens for over 30 years. He employs several people in his community. Recently there has been lobbying in the state by parties with interests in design schools and who would make money on licensing to require people to hold a degree and be certified to do his job. He would be forced to either retire or go back to school in his 60s.
I’ll just say this. I am sick and freakin tired of people being assholes to other people.
As usual follow the money trail to see who benefits from this. I’m willing to bet the same people who demand all the licensing hurdles complain loudly about poor people being unmotivated to work.
Bingo.
This is important these people hurt people, set houses on fire etc… I know licensed contractors who can barely make ends meet because of the illegal contractors out there. That license insures the person knows the codes and is insured. Landscaping is one thing but painting, hire an unlicensed person or someone using illegals and when they fall off the lader or your roof, you end up holding the bag, and almost all homeowners insurance policies do not cover injuries to unlicensed contractors, so you loose your home in the process. Insurance is probably the largest issue. They generally do not pay into workers comp, and do not cary general liability. ANd anyone who is a contractor know those two items are a large part of your cost when you bid a job.
It is a valid point that licensing fees can be a barrier to work. However I don’t know about the US, but in Australia if your unemployed you can hook up with an unemployment agency that can arrange the government to pay the licensing fee on your behalf.
Additionally while some people may genuinely want to work there is also people who do substandard jobs that leave the home owner with a bigger clean up bill than they started with.
Any construction work (including landscaping) costing more than $500 requires the contractor be licensed. So it is not people mowing lawns who are getting into trouble.
I’ve treated guys who’ve fallen off ladders, been injured lifting, or had hands/feet crushed in equipment. We essentially treat them on spec, but know that we’re often not going to get paid. The companies will often fire workers who are injured, and intimidate them into not getting treatment and not talking to attorneys. If they don’t fire them, they threaten their jobs if they try to get treatment. I’ve seen this happen in licensed companies as well, but making sure contractors have insurance is a legit reason for licensing.
Don’t forget “removing food assistance for the able-bodied who can’t find work” for the trifecta.
In my opinion, Conservative Corporate U.S.A. is out to drive everyone else out of the country, into servitude, or into jail. “If they won’t join you, beat 'em.”
Licensing is needed for the serious landscaping stuff, though. I’d love to strangle the guy who “landscaped” my mom’s house with a negative slope towards the foundation. I had to rip all the carpet up for her when the basement flooded.
When it comes to trees, unlicensed “arborists” kill or severely compromise trees all the time, and in municipalities the homeowners typically bear the cost with fines or required replacement. And compromised trees are a significant threat to property and lives: often one that is hard to detect years after the tree has attempted to re-grow around the damage.
