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How to Acquire a Contractors License

6K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Kgmz 
#1 ·
Hello all. I am in King County, Washington. We are a Supplier and do not have a contractors license. I wish to join forces with a very small company called ABC General. He does have a contractors license.

My company will hire his people and they will do the work under my company name in my trucks. The only problem is that we must use his contractors license, which is under ABC General.

- Do we acquire the company?
- Do we call it a subsidiary?
- Can we add our name to his license?
- Should we get our own license?
- Can we use an ink stamp and just stamp his name and license number on our quotes, invoices, trucks?

What is the easiest way to accomplish this joint venture. The expense of changing my company name, logos, printing supplies, invoices, business cards, vehicle graphics, bank accounts is just to great.
 
#6 ·
How long have you been doing business in the state of Washington, and selling materials to contractors?

It is easy to get a contractors license in Washington as long as you can get insured and bonded. Why would you want to split the profit with someone else?

Also there is no such company as "ABC General" licensed as a contractor in the State of Washington. I did see a company called "ABC Fences" in Kent.

If your company does wholesale fence materials to other contractors, what are they going to think if you start competing with them.

And last what is the name of your company.
 
#8 ·
The Department of labor and industries has a website that you can look up contractors and see if there has been any claims against their bond. As to a supplier getting into installer services this seems like it is happening more and more. The local lumberyard has starting doing this (I have done some trim work for them) and I know of 3 others North of Seattle and on the Peninsula that have started doing so as well.
 
#9 ·
WA state you need License, Bond, and Insurance.

Sounds like you need the GC version, which I believe is $50 or so, the bond is $6K or $8K, which you can get through your insurance company depending on your credit report, and you will need(or be prepared to take a financial beating) a whole bunch of insurance to cover your company.

Do it right or you will go down the hard road.
 
#10 ·
The easiest way would be to hire his company under their license as a subcontractor. A No-no under your company's name. It sucks, but this is the best alternative. Make sure the contract spells out the terms of your agreement clearly. Eventually, If you wanna run the whole show, you must get your company licensed. Good Luck.

your questions?
-maybe, but not necessary
-if you are partners
-no
-yes
-only if you are legal partners in bizness. ( remember,the license holder is the one responsible to answer lawsuits, pull permits, do work to code)

hope this helps...
 
#13 ·
Well he must have bought the contracting company or bought a share of the company, otherwise this isn't legal.

And for those that don't know what a MBA is, Master Business Application, which is just the starting point of the changes.

But it isn't that simple, all these changes need to be done with L & I (Labor & Industries) also. Which will require a change in the insurance and bond. Plus a change with workmans comp, employment security, and the department of revenue.

And he never answered the question as to the point of buying a company rather than starting up with his own license. Doesn't make sense to me to share the profit, and you also know what happens with most partnerships.
 
#15 ·
wow, I have spent 3 weeks researching this and I have not formed a single biased opinion. I post on this board one time and I receive tons of completely out of this world crazy accusations!!!! and nobody knows anything except me! ok, look,,,, Yes, it is legal, per L&I and Wa State. I also called Idaho and Montana and they agreed. This will be my last post. I can't spend my time defending myself. My research is over and now the real work begins. But, seeing as how you all did bother to respond to me, I guess I can take a moment to share my newfound knowledge. Maybe you can use it to help your business prosper.................... The DBA isn't fraud. The main aspect of a DBA allows a person to legally do business under a different name, without have to create a completely new business entity. With DBA, you are able to advertise, accept payments and represent yourself under a fictitious name. They still retain complete control of their company, I just have the power to facilitate what they do not have the skills to do. Through the use of the DBA, I can bring companies together and facilitate our growth as a single entity. Most people fail in business because of business. Instead of 1 company struggling to make ends meet, we are now 7, sharing the costs, offices, trucks, tools, materials, accounts. Good luck to you all.
 
#16 ·
One simple fact, you cannot DBA or register a Trade Name for a business that you do not own or have a partial ownership in.

Go to Washington State Department of Licensing, Trade Names.

I have dealt with this states business licensing for over 30 years now. We have two C corporations, and have owned dozens of business through the years. And have done the DBA/Trade name thing several times as some of the businesses under the corporations were not related at all. Such as we have owned several convenience stores with gas and also owned a couple of Honda/Yamaha motorcycle dealerships under one corporation. And of course they all had different names so a DBA/Trade name had to be applied for. Our first corporation was Incorporated in this state in 1975, the second in 1981.
 
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