rkeytex, that is a terrible story. I mostly work with contractors I respect and enjoy working with, but stories like yours remind me how many scumbag builders are out there. Jeesh.

rkeytex, I'm glad they take their job seriously. As you stated you were advertizing yourself as an Architect in California, when infact you did not have a California License.

snooker, I agree that CAB has a job to do and needs to do it - but the contractor who turned him in was also advertising himself as an architect, no?

not necessarily lb, the project was just for a house.
ECF must've had the word 'architect' on his drawings w/o a CA license...tsk tsk.

So if Eric was only doing a house, then he was acting as "designer" not architect, right? Which is legal.

If it did say "architect" on the drawings then yes that is wrong - but the pain of being turned in by a slimeball contractor trying to weasel you out of a job is what irks me and makes me feel sympathy for Eric. No harm done, as I see it, on his part, certainly not to the spirit of the law..

And honestly, like janosh, I get a certain gleeful schadenfruede out of reading Board punishments - of people who indeed are NOT architects who are pretending to be.

i agree lb - SF is a pretty small town for a contractor to pull that kind of stuff and not expect fallout. very bad decision since ECF seems pretty well connected and visible.

LB, It was not the house, but the web site....which got him in trouble with the Board. In their opinion he was advertising himself as an Architect in California when he wasn't.

Understood, snooker. And yes that is wrong.

In the meantime, a licensing board should come after me because after 12 years in this profession I still can't draw a simple wall section without f*ing up the brick coursing and having to spend an hour chasing down where the mistake was. Ugh. I need to stick to "designs" like our buddy Philip up there.

lb...I have been fricking with a Lunch Counter all morning long....intergating an 1890's with new construction...yikes how things can get so complicated.

I guess that is what happens when you feel like poo, poo....sick

Our drawings read "Designer" which is why the CAB went after the website instead.

The contractor listed himself as "Design/Build" and had a "CAD person on staff."

I am not the revenge type, so I did not file a complaint against him with the Contractor Licensing Board. Connections and visibility do not make things easier.

My mistake was putting our office address on the website. This is why I fought it for so long.

I am all for punishing people who are falsely acting as architects, but this was a little bit of a reach on the part of the CAB. Especially given how I have been doing work around the country and was licensed for some time in two other states.

I thought you all would get a kick out of that story.

oh - i just assumed that if the contractor gave the drawings to CAB, it was the drawings that violated the practice act. my bad.

what a drag - sorry.

rkeytex: I state again you could have filed against him and they would have not been obligated to bring action against him it was
a house he was working on unless it states otherwise in the State Statutes. My understanding is that they went after you because you
were advertising you were an Architect in California. If your web site
had said you were a designer in California and an Registered Architect in Arizona and New Mexico I doubt if they would have brought action against you. It is a simple and clear fact you can't run around calling yourself an Architect in a State when your not one.
Anyhow that is what the Newletter published by the board in the newsletter. Their action was taken because of the website.

Sorry for playing Devil's Advocate here, but if he was registered in other states, he can call himself an architect, regardless is he lives in California or not, am I right? As long as he didn't mislead people into thinking he is registered in California.

cuervomuerto,
his business address on his website was in San Francisco, therefore it is presumed he was soliciting work as an architect in california.
as i understand it now - this was the infraction.

cm: I'm sure this is his position, but I'm sure if someone has contacted him in California for Services and it isn't specific to his website that he is just a designer in Californina the board would look at in a different light. Certainly being that he was Advertising he was
from California. Then again who knows. I myself would not want to
put myself on a slippery slope without knowing the ground rules.