Anybody a California contractor?

Who here is in California?

Tinner -

Utah & Idaho are good options as they both have state contractor licensing.

Texas has no licensing and is pretty-much a carbon-copy of Colorado.....Great for established outfits & crooks......Not-so-good for a legit start-up.

There are plenty of free, non communist states in the territory known as the USA, you could check into. Utah, Idaho, and Texas come to mind right off. Many of the coastal states have gone the Stalin route, but central areas are fair to middling.

Ya know what it all boils down to......Plain & simple; Gov't mucking things up, no matter what the situation/locale.....Through over, under & corrupt regulation/governing.

We just have to make our way, as we navigate the squall of governments we've created for ourselves.

Well sorry to hear you have even more to deal with. Its never fun and get pretty discouraging after a while.

TCR - Having operated roofing businesses in both California & Colorado, there's waaayyyy more "crap" to deal with in CO as opposed to CA.

Sure your going to have non-compliant/unscrupulous types no matter where you go or what business your in - that's just life.

However, imagine if you will, your so-called "competition" increasing ten-fold - Imagine some hack awarded local government municipality projects - Imagine every municipality, (cities, towns, counties), all with there own notion of licensing/non-licensing, etc.....You'd have to live it, to believe it.

Colorado is one of the, (if not THE), most litigious states there is. Lawyers are as prevalent as contractors, (LOL). I'm sure the lawyers do their best to keep state licensing at bay here.

CA appears to be cracking down on non-licensed contractors - According to some of my former employees who are now contractors themselves. That's awesome!

I am in California and I know hundreds of contractors, does that count?

I'm tired of California. Seems like more and more crap to deal with every year. And you can't get away from the no. Licences hack their everywhere you go. I'm an hour north of Santa Rosa

Salesmanship? It's more like a Reverse Auction here :(

Thanks for the input Woody.

You right - need sunshine; Although Wash/Ore. do have state licensing.

The notion to move back to California was brought about due to facts, I already have a license/familiar with business climate, and the "climate" of course.

It is so fickle/seasonal here, (even more so in the resort/mountain locales). Client base as well as labor pool/workforce. My longest-standing employee is a guy that's been on-board for a few months. That's absolutely crazy & I'm just plain tired of it.

Thought the business climate as well as weather in Ca. would provide for more of a steady business model of yester-year. More like a typical employee retention of 5 - 10yrs or more.

I remember 20yrs back in Ca.....Your success was based on merit, (quality/efficiency).....Real simply; Do good work at reasonable rates and you'll succeed/grow.....That's not-so-much gospel today.....It's all about salesmanship.

Now, I'm REALLY ranting :(

I don't know if the climate up here is right for someone trying to escape snow/cold. Do you like upper 30's in the rain? New construction would be hard to break into here. The planning/land use restrictions have made it so mostly just the big boys can afford the land and are building over 80% of all new work. If you landed one of them, you would need to already have crews ready to go.

Since I'm on the border, I chose to live in Washington because back in 1978 there was a business advantage to being here over Oregon. That has since reversed and Oregon now has better WC and insurance choices.

Thanks for the run-down. I appreciate it. Every place has it's quirks - good & bad, I suppose. Not always greener on the other side, etc.....

I moved up here, in the mountains, about 5 yrs ago to escape the hail frenzied crappola of the "front range", only to experience yet other dynamics, (for lack of better terms).

Contractors up here wouldn't last ten minutes in the "real world". Mostly hacks, with a few authentic craftsmen sprinkled-in. There's a couple of long-established outfits that get by simply because they've been here forever.....Craftsmanship doesn't matter cause they I&W everything anyhow.

Lot's of wealthy, absent second home owners. Price is not an issue, a lot of the time either. It baffles me. It's all about salesmanship/perception.

The workforce is absolute junk. Part-time ski bums and illegals.

As far as Yreka goes, I'm sure you must have bumped into the world's most famous palindrome (same word when read either backwards or forward) more than once in the last thirty years: Yreka bakery. Yreka is part of what the locals in northern Cal and southern Oregon fondly proclaim as the State of Jefferson.

As to the prospects for starting up here, you know what, a good man can usually make decent headway wherever he goes. Something has to give so why not have it be the other guy? Tons of roofing contractors here. Tons. Almost entirely hispanic work force now. There are five big companies working the area that I can think of and probably twenty somewhat smaller companies that pump a lot of volume besides them. At least another twenty independent owner/operator types. Probably another twenty or thirty complete hacks. My client base is so large and I'm so entrenched that as long as I wear tools I can always stay busy. With the B license, you'd have a leg up, aside from your experience and I'm sure a full range of other attributes.

Times were pretty rough for a lot of roofing and carpentry folks here for several years, but things have picked up a lot. I'm knocking on wood, of course, but this last general slowdown did not affect me really in the slightest. For me, personally, I have so many other interests that slowing down is something I wouldn't mind much, and I'm dreadfully close to retiring anyway. If you don't mind commuting to Marin county, there would almost definitely be prospects for you.

Hey, except for low pitches, ice and water shield isn't even an issue so you wouldn't be getting annoyed every time you turn around either. But if you really want to make some serious money, go up to Portland and steal all Woody's clients. (Just kidding.)

Seriously though, just like everywhere else in the country, the general level of craftsmanship here is really very poor. Plenty of room for creating your own niche. As Richard Kaller (rip) once said, "Our competition makes us look good."

Today I spoke w/CSLB.....I have to apply for a C39 classification all over again. I only have the B currently.

Because I kept a bond up and the license, (C39 & 'B'), "active" up till 2006', CSLB dropped my C39 because I didn't have a w/c cert w/them when that new law was adopted in 06'......If I wouldn't have kept it active, I'd still have the C39.....Go figure - Here we go.....

Yreka - I spent a summer there when I was a teenager....Just today a guy mentioned he' d lived in Yreka. I think that's the only two times I've heard reference to that town in 30+ years!

uh-oh.....We're contemplating moving to, and starting up in the Santa Rosa area......Sounds like that's your stomp'n grounds.

We're just tired of the snow/cold and all the general less-than-desirable business/contracting climate an un-licensed environment creates.

Been in Colorado for 20 yrs - Still feel like a fish-out-of-water, (i.e., no state licensing and "subs" vs. employees....who really aren't subs, except the practice still flies from the continental divide - east.....)

My sis lives in the Nbay area - She needs a kitchen remodel & a new roof. Thought I'd take drive out and putts-around the locale.