It is becoming harder to become a licensed builder these days. While some may complain about all of the legislated regulations focused on builders, this is actually a great news for the general public. Today we are seeing and hearing less about those contractor horror stories that used to be so common, and we can thank that partially to the mandatory courses and training that is now required to be a licensed builder.
Think about it, you would never hire an unqualified or unlicensed plumber or electrician, yet for years carpenters and contractors required no formal training or certifications to manage or build the structure of your home. Arguably these are two of the most important aspects of construction and until recently it was common practice to have someone managing your largest purchase you will make in your life (your custom home) have absolutely no qualifications to do the job.
No wonder contractors have got such a bad rap.
Regulation and Education
Provincial and Federal governments noticed the large gap in this industry and began the regulations be ensuring customers’ interests were protected when building a home and began requiring contractors and home builders to become licensed. For many contractors this is a good thing. We (as professionals) have been advocating for this for years. We have worked hard in our field and have been voluntarily taking courses to develop better building and business practices. By mandating mandatory Continual Professional Development for all licensed builders, we are ensuring that people looking to build a home can ask any builder if they are licensed and with relative certainty trust that they can competently build.
Licensing and Warranty Insurance
If you are interested and thinking about building your new dream home, know that you will have to hire a builder who is licensed with BC Housing and does carry 2-5-10 Home Warranty Insurance. This will ensure that your contractor will be required to repair or fix any defects that may show up in your new home for up to ten years for certain aspects of the build. Knowing that your home is protected by warranty, and was built by a team that is continually developing best practices, you can relax in your new home feeling confident that it was built in your interest at or above industry standards.