| We have all heard of fly-by-night
contractors who descend upon areas that have been hit by disasters
with the intention of collecting fees for projects, but skip
town before doing the work.
But there are some who are permanent residents
who continually do inferior work, overcharge, or make promises
that they have no intention to keep.
Most of the contractors and builders that I
have worked during my career have been honest, competent people.
But I have run into a few that are among the worst, because
they are the ones who talk a good game, but are either criminally
minded or incompetent to do the work.
In the state of Oklahoma, contractors are not
required to be licensed, and we are not the only ones. Colorado,
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont also
do not require licensing.
Licensing for contractors is needed for the
same reason architects, engineers, and doctors are required
to be licensed – to protect the public. Here are a couple of
examples of harmful behavior by contractors.
A contractor was paid nearly $100,000 on a monthly
draw on a particular project. When a contractor submits for
a draw, they normally fill out a form that explains what the
payment is for. In this case, the payment was for a number of
subcontractors and material suppliers, along with a certain
amount of profit, all of which were reviewed and approved by
the architect.
When the contractor received the payment, he
used it to pay off a loan at his bank instead. It took months
of legal pressure for the owner of the project to get the money
back.
In the meantime, one of the subcontractors was
unable to pay his bills, and went out of business. The contractor
who had taken the money offered no apology for what he had done,
and the Owner was so embarrassed by the incident that it chose
not to prosecute, fearing a public spectacle. Though this took
place many years ago, the contractor is still in business.
The other example involves a man who had little
prior experience in construction, but decided to go into the
construction business anyway.
He agreed to do a large remodeling project,
did not employ an architect, and quoted a fee that was far too
small to do the job.
He chose to prepare the drawings himself, doing
only a few sketches, and began work on the project without a
permit from the city.
The city discovered that he was working without
a building permit, and issued a stop work order to the contractor
until such time that he obtained one.
When he submitted the sketches to the city with
his building permit application, the city rejected the drawings
because the drawings did not address the many code issues that
existed, along with a number of other issues.
The contractor finally got an architect involved,
who worked with the city to address the code issues and to produce
a set of construction drawings. The architect then submitted
the drawings for a building permit.
Unfortunately, the contractor had not included
in his price all of the work that was going to be required to
meet the building codes, and the owner was forced to borrow
a substantial amount of unbudgeted money to pay for the extra
work.
When the permit was issued, the contractor did
not follow the drawings, and began to build things that were
unsafe and could have led to a structural collapse. Fortunately,
the architect caught it and forced him to correct the work.
Throughout the whole process, the city issued
numerous fines to the contractor, most of which had no effect
on the contractor’s behavior. The city is now considering criminal
prosecution for other infractions.
Hopefully our new legislature will be more willing
to look at the issue of contractor licensing, because it is
desperately needed to keep dishonest or incompetent contractors
from preying on the public.
In order for a contractor to receive a license,
he or she should demonstrate knowledge in construction, laws,
building codes, and many other construction issues.
Again, most contractors and builders I have
dealt with are good people. I’m sure that most of them would,
even if reluctantly, agree that there is a need for some type
of regulation.
I’m also sure our building officials would welcome
it, because it would give them additional leverage when they
need it, because when someone has to depend on their license
to make their living, they are far more likely to do their work
in a professional manner.
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