Watch out for Unlicensed Solar Contractors
All contractors in the State of California must list their contractors license number on their advertising material. This includes websites. If you aren't sure about whether your sales company has a license, look it up on their website. If you don't see it on their website, there is a pretty good chance they don't have a license or they are breaking the law by selling residential services over $500 without a license.
What does this mean to you? Well, the first time an unlicensed contractor gets caught in a Contractors State License Board sting, they may go out of business. You won't have any one to call when your system breaks down. Your warranty will be worthless.
There are a few examples of companies that don't list a contractors license on the front page of their website in the San Diego area.
Note: I'm not listing the names of unlicensed contractors any longer as one of them has objected. They called me up and asked me to remove their name from the list. When confronted with unlicensed contracting activity, they claim that they are just solar consultants. Here is what the Contractors State License board says about this:
Licensing Requirements. A number of companies have entered the photovoltaic market as “sales companies, integrators, or solar leasing companies.” It is important to check with the Contractors’ State License Board to determine if these businesses are required to hold a State Contractors’ License (www.cslb.ca.gov). Current law (Business and Professions Code) states:
“7026.1. The term "contractor" includes all of the following:
(b) Any person, consultant to an owner-builder, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, or company, who or which undertakes, offers to undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a bid, to construct any building or home improvement project, or part thereof.
7027.1. (a) It is a misdemeanor for any person to advertise for construction or work of improvement covered by this chapter unless that person holds a valid license under this chapter in the classification so advertised, except that a licensed building or engineering contractor may advertise as a general contractor.
(b) "Advertise," as used in this section, includes, but not by way of limitation, the issuance of any card, sign, or device to any person, the causing, permitting, or allowing of any sign or marking on or in any building or structure, or in any newspaper, magazine, or by airwave or any electronic transmission, or in any directory under a listing for construction or work of improvement covered by this chapter, with or without any limiting qualifications.
(c) A violation of this section is punishable by a fine of not less than seven hundred dollars ($700) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), which fine shall be in addition to any other punishment imposed for a violation of this section.
(d) If upon investigation, the registrar has probable cause to believe that an unlicensed individual is in violation of this section, the registrar may issue a citation pursuant to Section 7028.7 or 7099.10.
7027.2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any person not licensed pursuant to this chapter may advertise for construction work or work of improvement covered by this chapter, provided that he or she shall state in the advertisement that he or she is not licensed under this chapter.
7027.3. Any person, licensed or unlicensed, who willfully and intentionally uses, with intent to defraud, a contractor's license number that does not correspond to the number on a currently valid contractor's license held by that person, is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in state prison, or in county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The penalty provided by this section is cumulative to the penalties available under all other laws of this state. If, upon investigation, the registrar has probable cause to believe that an unlicensed individual is in violation of this section, the registrar may issue a citation pursuant to Section 7028.7.
I am sure that there are many more, but it is difficult to contract without a license for very long. These companies can't get permits from the local building authority so they have to hire a subcontractor to get the permits. Unlicensed contractors can't hire a subcontractor without breaking the law. Eventually, the CSLB will step in. If you contract with an unlicensed contractor, are you at risk. Should a worker fall off the roof and there is not general liability insurance or workmans comp., you will pay the bill.
