THE LOW DOWN ON

SYRACUSE LICENSED CONTRACTORS

We are often and rightfully asked to present our license & insurance to our potential or pre-existing customers on their home improvement projects. We always explain to them that in most cases we do not have a license, aren’t required to have a license, and are not even able to get a license if we wanted to! In other parts of the country there are licenses for “Builders” and in places like Florida, there are specialty licenses for Roofing even, however in NY we only have a few specialty licenses.

Now in some cities, like Liverpool, NY you can and are required to pull a license when completing certain types of home improvement work but these “licenses” are temporary and expire. Here in NY we have code officers who follow stringent code and are required to complete a General Contractor’s licensing course themselves and they must complete continued education.

The New York Department of State does not offer a blanket builders type license, they only offer a General Contractor’s license which is not required to complete most of the home improvement projects that we do. The point of the GC license, at least in NY is for large firms who sub-contract the majority of their work and over-see larger building projects. The code officer will be your primary line of defense against crappy work.

SPECIALTY LICENSING

There are numerous home improvement trades that require specialty licensing that your average contractor can not simply have right off the bat, they require working under a Master as an apprentice and then slowly moving up the licensing ladder over many years just like you would when you’re going for different college degrees. These specialty trades that require this licensing are the following. Please note that these specialty trades are required to be licensed and when working on your home or when building a new home; you can not even pull a permit for these types of work item without the corresponding permit.

HVAC – Heating, ventilation, and Air Conditioning is a specialty trade in New York that requires specialty licensing.

Plumbing – Plumbers require specialty licensing as well, they have Apprentices all the way up to Master Plumbers.

Electrical – In some parts of NY state, typically the suburbs of the bigger cities, you can hire a contractor to do the work or you can do it yourself but you must hire a licensed electrical INSPECTOR to inspect the work, tell you what needs to change, and then sign off on the work as you go. The inspector will call the electrical company to give them the approval to turn your power back on, they will also communicate with the codes office to make sure you’re in full compliance. In Syracuse however, you must hire a licensed electrician to complete the work.

Mold Remediation & Mold Inspectors – The guys who deal with mold in NY are cooler than in many other states. In other states all you have to do to become licensed is take a certification course. This actually leads to large national firms just opening shop all over the country since they have national certification and ultimately they sub-out a lot of the work which can lead to poor quality control. In NY we require NY specific, NY approved mold licensing & training. We require a license for the MOLD INSPECTOR and a license for the MOLD REMEDIATION CONTRACTOR. In NY the same company can have both licenses but can not be your inspector & remediation contractor as it is a conflict of interest. We will have more posts on mold remediation in Syracuse, NY in the future.

Asbestos – Asbestos was an absolutely fantastic building material but the reason it was such a good material was the same reason it was banned! It never breaks down and when the asbestos dust gets into your lungs, it stays there and can ultimately cause lung cancer. For this reason, any project involving asbestos must be done with care. Do not mess around with asbestos, it’s too dangerous. In New York we require special licensed asbestos abatement firms to remove the debris. These abatement firms use special equipment to prevent the spread of any asbestos dust. We

see a lot of asbestos siding in Syracuse.

Lead Paint – Lead paint is common and is relatively safe, it is not as dangerous as asbestos but we see lead paint in many old buildings. You can tell the different between common paints and lead paints because the lead paint tends to crack into thousand of pieces when it breaks down. These pieces of lead paint can contaminate the ground and can cause lead poisoning when ingested. There are numerous training courses and licensing courses. Our company carries two licenses, we carry the HUD Lead Abatement Inspector certification and the EPA License for Lead Abatement Contractors. Syracuse requires the EPA license and some of our other clients require the HUD certification.