Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: contractor laws

What you're proposing to do, as you seem to know, is illegal.

Your best bet would be to have the property manager hire you as an employee, but they'll probably be unwilling to do that.

Violations of the contractor licensing law occur all the time. The bite of the law is mostly on the workman, since the law is designed to protect the owner.

If the job goes well, and you get paid, everything will turn out fine. If anything goes wrong, you indeed would not have a leg to stand on. You aren't totally without protection, but 99% of your rights would be forfeited.

Re: contractor laws

I agree with Mr. Whipple. The only things I can suggest are: 1) get a license; 2) only do work that does not require a license; 3) get paid in advance; or 4) don't take the job.

Re: contractor laws

One other thing to consider: If you work as a contractor without a license you could face criminal charges. This isn't as rare as you might imagine, even for small operators, although the District Attorneys tend to concentrate on the unlicensed people who do bad work.

Really, the only option is to work as an employee which means that the employer will have to have worker's compensation, pay payroll taxes, etc.

I should warn you about one other thing. Although you call yourself a handyman, chances are that you are performing tasks for which a license is required. You may say that the jobs are under $500, so are exempt from licensing. But this isn't necessarily the case. A little known requirement is that the small job exception to licensing only applies if a special written notice is given to the purchaser and you disclose that you're not licensed. If you don't do these two things, then you must be licensed, even if the job is for only $20.