First, I am familiar with the technical steps of licensure for construction contracting in Oregon. This topic thread is not a question that is about that. Those kinds of questions should always be directed to the licensing boards.
Aside from reviewing ARE material about liability, which I know will increase in scope with the scope of work.
Those of you who have done or currently do design and construction contracting such as design-build, design plus construction management. What are your thoughts, suggestions, or pointers that you may have about the various models and how you went about it and your experiences. There isn't a singular clear question that I have yet that is clearly composed.
As for me, I am looking into the CCB license for reasons that involve oversight of construction outcomes but that is a factor but I am not looking at doing all or most of the actual construction work itself. This is where an aspect would be similar to construction management but the delivery model may also resemble something closer to design-build.
The training would be ~$20 for the "16-Hour" pre-licensure training program and the exam itself is $60 and it would be able to be proctored online so that would make accessing the exam equally comparable to the ARE exam and the CPBD Certification exams which I am also taking. After the CCB exam is taken, I would then require to get the insurance coverage, surety bond, and pay the licensing fee.
Part of the driving force is my brother is studying welding and plan on doing some custom welding work. This may or may not trigger the need for CCB (contractor license). There are arguments and concerns some may have. I am aware of a number of the risks associated with welding so that would be something that needs to be addressed before I would 'greenlight' welding activities as part of the business activities.
On the bright side, the business is an LLC. There is a plan to also carry professional liability insurance (Errors & Omission) not just the construction contractor general liability insurance. I am and have been researching insurances so that's a start on that end.
Ricky, $20 for 16hr of training + $60 exam... so total investment is 8 Starbucks venti Frappuccino's? Sounds like this exam is not really hard or important if it costs so little... so why not get it then? A reasonably sane person (ie. not jawknee) should be able to knock this out during their lunch break.
What's more important here is that insurance(s) is expensive to carry and you need to know how you'll absorb that cost... Not sure your brother's custom welding sculptures require this tho unless you're doing the physical installation.
It is laughably easy. The course only covers the legal administration, when to fire someone for drug use, and types of businesses (corporations, LLC., sole proprietor, etc.) There is a very small throwaway portion that talks about flashing on decks but no construction knowledge is necessary. Any Joe Blow with $200 can begin building a house, legally speaking, within 30 days of deciding to get licensed. Comparing the CCB to any other professional exam is a joke.
Rick, I think you should simply focus on the things you've already started (ARE exams, CPBD exams, etc.) rather than taking anything else on.
That being said, doing this seems more attainable and appropriate for you than those other things and I wouldn't hold it against you if you dropped those to focus your business on metal fabrication. I'll happily report back here if I ever come across some shop drawings you do for any Div 05 work on one of my future projects.
That being said, don't ask us these questions. You can't (or shouldn't) trust any of the answers we'd give you. Seek out some mentorship from people you can trust and who might actually have your best interests in mind.
I went looking for a question mark on the first post, couldn't find one, although there was a what, without one, but buried in the rambling. I still don't know what is being asked.
Hell, not even in the subsequent responses, is there a question.
You mention a few things that point to the varied experiences in the world of design-build. One of my first jobs out of school was architect-led design-build in the world of small scale / high end construction. The reason it was design-build was to be able to control construction outcomes, as you mentioned. We had a shop and self performed metal work and millwork (and occasionally did non-MEP work as well- rough carpentry, insulation, roofing, etc), and while there were people that only worked in the shop/ on site or only worked in the office; most employees did some of both. Some projects we were just the architect in a normal architect capacity, but we never built other architect's work; so it was an architecture firm that was a GC/ metal shop/ millwork shop for the goal of building their own work to the standards they wanted.
It was a great experience for learning construction hands on by literally figuring out how to build and install what we designed; but also learning some of the CM office tasks like estimating, scheduling, logisitcs, and herding subs like cats. Ultimately, I know the experience made be a better architect now that I only do standard architecting.
This sounds kind of like what you allude to with your brother welder and custom metal work; however this is very, very different than the vast majority of 'design-build' firms that are contractor led or firms that offer construction managment. I've worked on a couple of large TI projects as the architect with a third party CM hired by the owner. CM's seem to vary widely in capabilities and qualifications, but the good ones were basically like another me during construction ensuring work on site went smoothly and conformed to the design intent. The CM's also did a lot of things that are outside of the architect's CA role- like these projects have several contractors performing different scopes so the CM manages them all and coordinates utility work, post substantial completion things like utility services, FFE load in, etc; basically everything to get to a turn key tenant space.
Architects & Designers that also have a Construction Contractor license
First, I am familiar with the technical steps of licensure for construction contracting in Oregon. This topic thread is not a question that is about that. Those kinds of questions should always be directed to the licensing boards.
Aside from reviewing ARE material about liability, which I know will increase in scope with the scope of work.
Those of you who have done or currently do design and construction contracting such as design-build, design plus construction management. What are your thoughts, suggestions, or pointers that you may have about the various models and how you went about it and your experiences. There isn't a singular clear question that I have yet that is clearly composed.
As for me, I am looking into the CCB license for reasons that involve oversight of construction outcomes but that is a factor but I am not looking at doing all or most of the actual construction work itself. This is where an aspect would be similar to construction management but the delivery model may also resemble something closer to design-build.
The training would be ~$20 for the "16-Hour" pre-licensure training program and the exam itself is $60 and it would be able to be proctored online so that would make accessing the exam equally comparable to the ARE exam and the CPBD Certification exams which I am also taking. After the CCB exam is taken, I would then require to get the insurance coverage, surety bond, and pay the licensing fee.
Part of the driving force is my brother is studying welding and plan on doing some custom welding work. This may or may not trigger the need for CCB (contractor license). There are arguments and concerns some may have. I am aware of a number of the risks associated with welding so that would be something that needs to be addressed before I would 'greenlight' welding activities as part of the business activities.
On the bright side, the business is an LLC. There is a plan to also carry professional liability insurance (Errors & Omission) not just the construction contractor general liability insurance. I am and have been researching insurances so that's a start on that end.
... have you ever been on a construction site in any oversight capacity?
Ricky, $20 for 16hr of training + $60 exam... so total investment is 8 Starbucks venti Frappuccino's? Sounds like this exam is not really hard or important if it costs so little... so why not get it then? A reasonably sane person (ie. not jawknee) should be able to knock this out during their lunch break.
What's more important here is that insurance(s) is expensive to carry and you need to know how you'll absorb that cost... Not sure your brother's custom welding sculptures require this tho unless you're doing the physical installation.
It is laughably easy. The course only covers the legal administration, when to fire someone for drug use, and types of businesses (corporations, LLC., sole proprietor, etc.) There is a very small throwaway portion that talks about flashing on decks but no construction knowledge is necessary. Any Joe Blow with $200 can begin building a house, legally speaking, within 30 days of deciding to get licensed. Comparing the CCB to any other professional exam is a joke.
Rick, I think you should simply focus on the things you've already started (ARE exams, CPBD exams, etc.) rather than taking anything else on.
That being said, doing this seems more attainable and appropriate for you than those other things and I wouldn't hold it against you if you dropped those to focus your business on metal fabrication. I'll happily report back here if I ever come across some shop drawings you do for any Div 05 work on one of my future projects.
That being said, don't ask us these questions. You can't (or shouldn't) trust any of the answers we'd give you. Seek out some mentorship from people you can trust and who might actually have your best interests in mind.
Did Rick just get nuked from his own thread? He had a response here I was going to reply to.
I went looking for a question mark on the first post, couldn't find one, although there was a what, without one, but buried in the rambling. I still don't know what is being asked.
Hell, not even in the subsequent responses, is there a question.
So there's more than one Balkins...does your brother know you're on archinect Rick?
You mention a few things that point to the varied experiences in the world of design-build. One of my first jobs out of school was architect-led design-build in the world of small scale / high end construction. The reason it was design-build was to be able to control construction outcomes, as you mentioned. We had a shop and self performed metal work and millwork (and occasionally did non-MEP work as well- rough carpentry, insulation, roofing, etc), and while there were people that only worked in the shop/ on site or only worked in the office; most employees did some of both. Some projects we were just the architect in a normal architect capacity, but we never built other architect's work; so it was an architecture firm that was a GC/ metal shop/ millwork shop for the goal of building their own work to the standards they wanted.
It was a great experience for learning construction hands on by literally figuring out how to build and install what we designed; but also learning some of the CM office tasks like estimating, scheduling, logisitcs, and herding subs like cats. Ultimately, I know the experience made be a better architect now that I only do standard architecting.
This sounds kind of like what you allude to with your brother welder and custom metal work; however this is very, very different than the vast majority of 'design-build' firms that are contractor led or firms that offer construction managment. I've worked on a couple of large TI projects as the architect with a third party CM hired by the owner. CM's seem to vary widely in capabilities and qualifications, but the good ones were basically like another me during construction ensuring work on site went smoothly and conformed to the design intent. The CM's also did a lot of things that are outside of the architect's CA role- like these projects have several contractors performing different scopes so the CM manages them all and coordinates utility work, post substantial completion things like utility services, FFE load in, etc; basically everything to get to a turn key tenant space.
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