This week I spoke with a licensed contractor who was as angry as they come. I was trying to help him find a class that was in his area, conveniently timed and offered at a value he couldn’t beat – like all our classes.
But this guy was arguing with me about the necessity of this class in the first place! “I am a flooring contractor. I have been a flooring contractor for 20 years. What can you teach me about flooring that I don’t know?”
He continued to rant and rave about the state law and county ordinance requiring him to obtain continuing education hour as a condition of his renewal. I couldn’t argue with his question. There is NOTHING I can teach him about flooring. But here’s the deal. Wherein he may know everything about flooring and be the best flooring installer on the planet, nothing about that says he will be a successful business owner.
This is what we teach in our classes – and I have to believe it is why the state and county require it. Our goal it to help you be better informed of legislative changes in the law and OSHA standards and other construction rules. Both the state and county open their laws by saying that they see it in the best interests of the general public health, welfare and safety for construction contractors to be regulated. Nobody can argue with this considering there are so many unlicensed workers out there ripping off so many John Doe’s.
This is why the gentleman I was speaking to on the phone earlier this week is misguided. He even said he was tired of complying with regulation and was NOT going to renew his license and just get jobs and charge customers for work without a license.
In Florida this is a first degree misdemeanor for an initial offense and a third degree misdemeanor the second time. Working without a license during a state of emergency is a third degree felony. I hope our friend thinks about that.
Contractors Education and Training Corporation is about helping make your Florida construction business MORE successful.