Out with the Old, In with New Apps and Enforced Rules

As anyone who has been connected with us for any length of time will know, we are always saying that things could change at any time. Well they did, but thankfully the state has given us time to adjust by allowing us to continue the old way for a while as we (and they!) learn their new system. What are we talking about? New applications. The state has updated their forms and we have scoured them to be able to let you know how they are easier than the old ones and more importantly how they are more difficult.

Let’s start with the easy. For Initial Issuance applications, the state no longer requires someone else to verify (sign off) on experience. Also, none of the new applications require bank letters or financial statements. The form that was streamlined the most, though, is the Qualifying an Additional Business Entity application. They no longer require CPA prepared financials or letter of capitalization, 3-months bank statements, bank verification letter, a list of projects completed by each company, information about who can pull permits or vendors, or a signature from a “responsible party” of each company.

This is sounding pretty good, maybe too good, right? Well, now let’s discuss why they are harder. Old applications only looked at credit reports for open bankruptcies/liens/judgments, but the new applications also look at credit SCORES.  Any applicant with a credit score below 660 is required to get a financial stability bond.  For Division-1 licenses (CRC, CBC and CGC), the bond is $20,000. For Division-2 licenses (everything else), the bond is $10,000.  Bond amounts can be cut in half ($10,000 D-1, $5,000 D-2) by taking a 14-hour financial responsibility course, but we are finding that surety companies are only offering these bonds on a very limited basis. From what we’re hearing right now the bond cost is around 3-5% of the bond amount PLUS collateral equal to the bond amount!

Although experience requirements have not changed, the way that experience is provided on the application has become much more detailed.  Now (for D-1 apps) every month of experience required needs to be accounted for on the paperwork with specific projects.  Also, the main ‘buzz words’ of each license type are listed as check-box items.  Each project must list the specific time period when the work was performed, and the check-boxes that apply to the project must be selected.  The combination of check boxes & months must be calculated to come up with the appropriate amount of experience.  D-2 is a bit more lenient than D-1, but the details are still much more elaborate than on the old forms. In addition to all of that, the name, license number, email address and phone number of the contractor that supervised the experience must be listed for each project.  This is to make sure that only experience gained while under the employ of a licensed contractor is used on the application.

We know this is a lot to take in… trust us… WE KNOW. We have until July 13^th to submit the old forms, which gives us some time to learn the new ins and outs, so to speak. No one likes change, but as always, if you have any questions just give us a call. The one thing that can be counted on, we are here to help you.

Congratulations, April licensees!

Congratulations to the following Licenses, Etc. clients who were approved in April:

• Wilson Douglas Fisher of Orlando, FL
• Jason Travis at Travis Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Inc. of Fort Myers, FL
• Suresh Gupta at Park Square Enterprises, LLC DBA Park Square Homes of Orlando, FL
• Michael Zakarian at MKS Construction and Inspections, Inc. of Lake Worth, FL
• Forrest Paul at EQ Industrial Services, Inc. of Wayne, MI
• Gary Mighell at Mighell Development, LLC of Naples, FL
• Gregory Prescott at Terracon Industries, Inc. of Jupiter, FL
• Fritz Sullivan of Naples, FL
• Mario Wilson at Wilson Civil Associates, LLC of Orlando, FL
• Donna Grose at B.B. Wolf Contractors, LLC of Naples, FL
• Robert McCoy of Miami, FL
• Whitney Porter at Armstrong Air Condition & Heating of Central FL, Inc. of Windermere, FL
• Stephen Taul at Taul Design and Construction, LLC of Tallahassee, FL
• Allen Ivy at JAT General Contractors, LLC of Daphne, AL
• James Brann at Hayden Air, Inc. of Fort Pierce, FL
• Deborah Beetson at DPR Construction, A General Partnership of Redwood City, CA
• Isabelo Rodriguez at Accutilities, LLC of Miramar, FL
• Mihai Alexandro Simut at Florida West Coast Construction, Inc. of Naples, FL
• David Thoren of Dania Beach, FL
• Wallace Naylor at Air Repair of S.W. Fl., LLC of Lehigh Acres, FL
• Paul Richards at Armstrong Air Condition & Heating of Central FL, Inc. of Windermere, FL
• Ryan Flowers at REO Construction & Design Group, LLC of Auburndale, FL
• George Doikos at Sozio Building Company, Inc. of Fort Myers, FL
• James Payne at NTVI Communications, Inc. of Fairbanks, AK
• Scott Thomason at TH Building Group, LLC of Delray Beach, FL
• Robert S. Holmes at Gulfstream Building Group, Inc. of Fort Pierce, FL
• Dominic Martino of Palm Beach Gardens, FL
• Thomas Blalock of Air Conditioning in Paradise, LLC of  Cape Coral, FL
• Anthony Archibald of Brahma Group, Inc. of Magner, UT

For Social Media Networking sites such as these that we manage:

·         KleanPros

·         Barbara Rooch Interior Environments

·         The Lykos Group, Inc.

·         Imperial Fire Alarm & Security, Inc.

·         ProFloors, Inc.

·         Kinetico Water Systems of SWFL

·         Kitchen Designs by Clay, Inc.

·         Prescriptions Plus

Call Lisa at 239.777.8321 for more information on social media services.

Raised Fees Don’t Necessarily Mean More Money

Starting May 1^st the initial issuance and qualifying an additional business entity application fees for the CILB increased by $100. This means that the fee to get a new license is now $249 ($409 if you completed testing prior to 2009) and the fee to get an additional license is $209. Funny enough, just because the fees went up it does not mean you as the applicant are actually paying more in the long run.

Any new licenses that are applied for right now will be issued with a 2014 renewal date instead of a 2012 renewal date. This means that you won't have to pay a renewal fee in August to keep the license active for another cycle. Also, no continuing education is necessary until the 2014 renewal period either and as we know time is money. Really, the savings outweigh the costs.

If you have any questions about this change in fees, do not hesitate to reach out. We are the gals with the answers!

New Rules & Forms for CILB

Effective immediately, new rules and forms for all CILB license applications have gone into effect (http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/pro/cilb/index.html). Specifically, the 660 Credit Score Rule we've been telling you about is now being enforced, and there is no longer a requirement for experience verification. DBPR has also posted all new forms for all types of applications.

What does this mean for you?

• If you are applying for a new license or want to make changes to your existing license, you MUST have a credit score of 660 or higher; otherwise, you will need to purchase and maintan a bond.

• If you are applying for a new license, you no longer need to have your experience verified by another license holder (but the experience information required has changed drastically).

Important Note: You may apply using the old forms with the old rules (credit score not necessary, but experience verification is) until July 16, 2012. However, those forms are no longer publicly available. Licenses, Etc. still has these forms and can submit your application prior to July 16, 2012, without meeting the credit score requirement. Contact us ASAP (239-777-8321 or 239-777-1028) for more information. We will be extremely busy during this period, so don't delay!

Also, while we have you, don't forget that your Annual Report for your business (not your license) is due by May 1, 2012. Anyone who has a business or foreign entity in the state of Florida MUST file this report. If you wait until after the deadline, there is a $400 penalty! File at http://sunbiz.org/. Our temporary addition to the Licenses, Etc. team, Charlotte, will be calling as many clients as possible to remind you to file this report and to offer to take care of it for you. Please be alert for that call. We don't want you throwing away $400 because of a missed deadline!

Thank you,

The Gals at Licenses, Etc.

Chrissi, Kristie & Lisa

Congratulations, March licensees!

Congratulations to the following Licenses, Etc. clients who were approved in March: 

• Michael Boni at Econstruction, Inc. of Coral Springs, FL
• Roy Lansdown at Panorama Home Services, Inc. of Marco Island, FL
• Erik Reed at EJR Construction, LLC of Boca Raton, FL
• Michael Figueredo at Sol-ARCH Construction, LLC of Miami, FL
• Tim Gerker at Gerker Construction, LLC of DeLand, FL
• Ed Forgue at Fitzgerald Construction, Inc. of Lakeland, FL
• Joseph Bazzle at Balanced Pools, Inc. of Ft. Myers, FL
• Dennis Rome at Pinnacle Commercial Development, Inc. of Manasquan, NJ
• Douglas Ford at SunCoast Roofing Solutions, Inc. of Odessa, FL
• David Dollar at DJ Directional, LLC of Ocala, FL
• Matt Skipper at J Reynolds & Company, Inc. of Fort Worth, TX
• Gene Yacobacci at Radon Mitigation Services, LLC of Punta Gorda, FL
• Thomas Cuenot at Air-Ref Electric, Inc. of Delray Beach, FL
• Mia Batson of Crestview, FL
• John Frazier at Frazier Engineering of Melbourne, FL
• Matthew Plonys at Boston Investors Group, Inc. of Miami, FL
• Joseph Baker at C.D. Smith Construction, Inc. of Fond du Lac, WI
• Richard A. DeCola, Sr. at DeCola Plumbing, LLC of North Haven, CT
• George Alan Vedope of Estero, FL
• David Thoren at Daves Home Improvements of Dania Beach, Inc., Dania Beach, FL
• Brian Hall at H & W General Contractors, Inc. of Owings, MD
• Robert Dunn at Blue Collar Contractors, LLC of Grand Island, FL
• James Smith at Freezin' Air Heating and Cooling, Inc. of North Port, FL

And to Social Media Networking sites such as this:

•  The Ledge Radio Show Facebook Page

Call Lisa at 239.777.8321 for more information on social media services.

Facebook Timelines

As of today, March 30^th, all Facebook business pages will be converted to Timeline. There are a lot of new features that are incorporated to the Timeline and overall will allow users to access past posts a lot easier than previous pages. Read on for some of our favorite features:

-          Admin Panel:  The area at the top of the page makes it easier to see updates that you need to respond to. You will need to click on "Updates by others" to see some of them. You can also see new "likes" easier, so you can welcome them by name.

-          Cover Photo:  This prominent photo allows you to choose a unique image to boldly express what your page is all about. There are differences between personal Timelines and page Timelines, so what you know about personal Timelines may not necessarily apply to the page one.

-          Milestone:  Now you are able to pinpoint an exact date of a special occurrence. These special dates will be accessible via a special list.

-          Private Messages:  Pages still aren’t able to send messages, but if they choose to allow their fans to message the page then admins will be able to privately respond as the page.

-          Highlighted Applications:  Admins can choose what page information is highlighted by adding the box to the top of the page. They can also drag and drop to choose the order.

There are many more features to be excited about. We found this article that we think is worth sharing <Click here to read more.>

As always, many people do not like the change. We believe this to be a step in the right direction. Stay tuned and we will continue to provide you with up-to-date information about these changes. Use them to your advantage! 

New Building Code for Exams

As the state legislature continues modifying building codes and laws, the contractor exams must be revised. A new exam is developed every few years based on the most recent codes. This is one of those years.

Beginning June 19-20, 2012, the 2010 Florida Building Code will be used for the contractor examination. If you have purchased books and taken classes based on the 2007 building codes, April is the last exam for which these books will be good. You will want to take this exam if you still need to test. Otherwise, you will be forced to purchase new books. The registration deadline for the April 17 - 18, 2012 examination is March 18, 2012.

Sign up here: www.floridaexam.com.