Running the Business · Part 0
Who qualifies the license: sole owner, RMO, RME, and why lending your license ends careers
Every contractor license has a qualifying individual: the person whose four years of experience got the license issued, and who is legally responsible for supervising the company's construction work. For a sole owner that is you. For a corporation or LLC it is a responsible managing officer (RMO) or a responsible managing employee (RME), and the rules for each are different. This lesson explains the three paths, what "direct supervision and control" legally requires, why a qualifier can serve only one company at a time, and why the offer you will eventually get to "just put your license on my company" is a misdemeanor for you and the end of the license.
What the full lesson covers
- The qualifier must have four years of journeyman, foreman, supervising, or contractor experience within the last ten years (B&P 7068), and is legally responsible for direct supervision and control of the company's construction operations (B&P 7068.1).
- Sole owner: you qualify your own license. RMO: an officer or LLC manager who qualifies the company's license. RME: a bona fide employee who works at least 32 hours a week or 80 percent of the company's operating hours, whichever is less (16 CCR 823).
- An RMO who owns under 10 percent, and every RME, needs a $25,000 bond of qualifying individual (B&P 7071.9).
- A qualifier serves one active license at a time, with narrow exceptions (20 percent common ownership, subsidiary or joint venture, same majority of officers), and never more than three firms in a one-year period.
- Qualifying a company you do not actually supervise is a misdemeanor: up to six months in county jail and a $3,000 to $5,000 fine, plus discipline against the license (B&P 7068.1(e)); allowing your license to be used by an unlicensed person is separate grounds for discipline (B&P 7114).
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