Legal Question in Construction Law in California

I am offered a job where I would have to be the RME- previous RME left the company. I am a sole proprietor running my own small electrical contracting business. I need help with pors and cons of being the RME


Asked on 12/26/10, 10:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Well the key to the pros and cons is the job that goes with the RME status. As you probably know, as an RME your license is on the hook for any CSLB violations. So if you are the CEO, you have the control and you should take the heat for any violations. If you're going to be assistant project manager on one project at a time for a company doing a hundred projects at a time, its a whole other story. You could have license issues for things you didn't even know about, much less have any control over. Personally, in over twenty years representing contractors, I have never seen an RME get disciplined for something unfairly, but that is because all the RME's I've known have made sure to be in a job where it was appropriate for the buck to stop with them. The key advantage of being an RME is that it makes you a very valuable employee. Without an RME the company is an unlicensed contractor, with all the very ugly penalties that go with that, including potentially being unable to collect payment for ANY work on projects if their license lapses, not just during the time of the lapse. So the RME has a lot more job security than most employees. I see you're right in my neighborhood (my office is in 94597 and I live in 94598), so if you'd like to chat about this further over a cup of coffee or something, let me know.

Read more
Answered on 12/31/10, 11:21 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Construction Law questions and answers in California