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Licensing Requirements for Building Workers?

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Licensing Requirements for Building Workers?

Postby Jezebel » Sun Sep 08, 2013 5:55 pm

Are building supers (or other management employees) who regularly do apartment repairs required to be licensed by any city or state licensing board? I know that contractors doing more than $200 worth of work are required by the city to get a regular Home Improvement Contractor license from the DCA, but what about salaried staff?

None of the management employees who do work in my building (a large building with nearly a hundred apartments owned by a very large corporate landlord) are registered with any of the city or state agencies that are searchable online; they regularly do work that I would think would necessitate licensure.

I have a number of repairs that need to be done in my apartment and I'm trying to figure out how I handle it when the same yahoos show up to do the work who have done incredibly shoddy 'repairs' in the past -- some of which have made the condition they've come to fix demonstrably worse.

Any help on the subject is greatly appreciated.
Jezebel
 
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Postby TenantNet » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:02 pm

It depends on the nature of the work.

The Housing Maintenance Code requires a Certificate of Competency. See http://tenant.net/Other_Laws/HMC/sub2/art13.html

For work done on electrical or plumbing systems, the Dept. of Buildings requires licensed electricians or plumbers.
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Postby Jezebel » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:44 pm

Thank you for that link.

Do you have any thoughts about repairs that fall in between the janitorial and electrical/plumbing ends of the spectrum?

For example, I have large cracks and holes in my walls and ceilings, in some places quite severe. There are areas around some of my windows that have gaps as wide as two inches.

Previously, one of the guys from the building repaired one of these areas by slathering on an enormous amount of joint compound. After the joint compound dried, it was so heavy that a few days later it came crashing down, pulling part of the window lintel with it and creating a much larger hole.

When I complained about the way the work was done, I was told that I had to let them do the repairs as they saw fit -- if I thought the work was inadequate after it was completed, I could file an HP action. I'm just trying to get a sense of what I can ask for before they do any more damage in my apartment.
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Postby TenantNet » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:57 pm

Cracks & Holes...

Those are not structural, so would not require licensing as far as I know. If they use outside companies, it's possible they might be required to be licensed.
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Postby Jezebel » Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:59 pm

Hmm. I thought that might be the case.

Thanks for your response.
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 3:54 pm


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