LICENSING EXEMPTIONS

Licenses

In most states, contractors, architects, and engineers are required to be licensed in order to perform construction work. Some states have enacted statutes that provide exemptions for license requirements. However, these exemptions are extremely limited and are strictly interpreted by the courts.

One exemption for a license for construction work is work that is to be performed by an owner on the owner's property. This exemption does not apply if the owner provides services to another person, if the owner constructs more than a certain number of residential structures per year, or if the structures are not related or incidental to a residence.

Contractors who perform construction work on behalf of the federal government are exempt from state licensing requirements. This exemption is based on the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution, which provides that federal laws shall be the supreme law of the land and shall be superior to any conflicting state laws. However, contracts with the federal government may require that all contractors be licensed in accordance with state licensing requirements.

Contractors who perform construction work outside their own state may be exempt from another state's licensing requirements if the contractors do not maintain an office in the other state. However, the contractors must be licensed in their own state and must designate a licensed subcontractor to perform the work in the other state.

In some states, public utilities may be exempt from being licensed for construction work on their own properties. The reason for this exemption is that the public utilities are regulated by public utilities commissions, which commissions protect the public from incompetence and dishonesty on the part of the public utilities.

In some states, architects and engineers who perform "cross-over" design work, that is, work that overlaps architectural and engineering work, are exempt from being licensed for the "cross-over" work. The exemption applies as long as the work is incidental to the work that is being done by the architect or the engineer and as long as the architect or the engineer is licensed to do his or her own work. This exemption is strictly limited to the "cross-over" work. It is not to be used as an excuse for practicing architecture or engineering without a license.