Washington Telecommunications License Service
Washington Labor and Industries governs the contractor license for Telecommunications Contractors. An electrical/telecommunications contractor's license is the equivalent of a specialty contractor's license. Getting a telecommunications license does not let you do any other work besides telecommunications.
There are two options you can take for doing telecommunications work in Washington State:
Option 1: Obtain an electrical telecommunications contractors specialty license. You will have to have an administrator take the 09 telecommunications test and have proof of passing. You will then need the electrical 4,000 bond. You will have to show proof of insurance. (The insurance requirements are very low and everyone will always have enough.) You will have to assign the administrator to the Telecommunications license. This type of license will allow you to basically have an administrator overseeing the work, but you could hire anyone to actually do the plugging in and general work of hooking up and maintaining the equipment you are hired to do. (You don't have to have a licensed electrician.)
Option 2: You can obtain a specialty Limited Energy System electrical contractors license if you already have someone that has passed the 06 test for Limited Energy Systems. Someone possessing a 06 electrical license is probably more geared towards HVAC, refrigeration, and other random low to medium voltage situations; whereas a telecommunications person is more geared towards security systems, video cameras, landscape lighting, and sprinkler systems. But maybe someone in your organization already has this, and then you won't have to have them take another test. A general 01 electrical contractor's license will NOT cover this. So you could do security systems under an 06 electrical contractor license, BUT everyone doing the work will have to be a licensed electrician or journeyman. So you could probably have cheaper labor long term if you just get the telecommunications license, and anyone can take the test and pass it pretty easily.
How long is the license good for?
24 months from the date the license is issued.
What kind of work is classified under telecommunications?
The telecommunications classification is limited to installation, maintenance, and testing of telecommunications systems, equipment, associated hardware, pathway systems, and cable management systems.
Such as:
-Installation of open wiring systems.
-Surface nonmetallic raceways.
-Optical fiber innerduct raceway.
-Underground raceways used exclusively for telecommunications.
-Short sections of circular or surface metal raceway shorter than 10 feet.
-Audio systems integrated into telephone system equipment.
-Closed circuit video monitoring systems not controlled by electrical controls.
-Satellite and antenna systems.
The Washington Telecommunications license is not for security systems, hvac, and alarms.
What is needed to get registered to do telecommunications business in Washington State.
- Register with the Washington Secretary of State.
- Get a Master Business License.
- Register with the Washington Department of Revenue.
- If you are going to have employees, get a Washington Industrial Insurance account.
- Have an administrator pass the 09 certification test, and apply for the administrator license.
- Assign the administrator to the company telecommunications contractor license application.
- Apply for the Washington telecommunications contractor license.
- Provide a 4,000 bond to Washington Labor and Industries.
- Provide proof of insurance showing Washington Labor and Industries as additionally insured.
You're done!
We charge $925.00 for regular full service contractor registrations. The Telecommunications part costs an additional $180.00 over a regular contractor registration, plus if you don't already have access to an administrator, you will need someone to get personally licensed as an administrator. The administrator license has an application fee of $115.40. So your total cost to have us do the Washington State telecommunications contractor registration service is: $1105 plus the administrator license of $115.40.
We hand walk (Negotiate) with the Spokane office of your behalf. The electrical and telecommunications licenses are not given to us on the spot in Spokane. For an additional 200.00 we can hand walk (Negotiate) with the Olympia office after we have hand walked into the Spokane labor and industries office to expedite the first part of the filing. We literally end up making 2-4 trips to Washington Labor and Industries AFTER all the other WA State agencies to get a Washington Telecommunications Contractor license for our clients.The part that you have to do:
-Pass the test and get us proof of that.
-Sign some documents we prepare for you and mail us the originals.
-Call your insurance agent and get the electrical/telecommunications bond for $4,000
-Fax us proof of insurance.
We'll do everything else for the initial registrations. When we have all your paperwork in hand, we walk into the Washington Labor and Industries office and obtain the temporary license. Generally speaking we save our clients about 2-3 months of time if they try to do it themselves. That being said, our only real goal in doing all this is to have your Washington registered agent service. We charge 65.00 a year to act as your registered agent for your corporation or LLC with the Secretary of State. You'll have to have a Washington registered agent whatever you do. So if you want to do all the paperwork yourself, you can just hire us for that.
Resources:
Washington Contractor License: http://www.washingtonregisteredagent.net/washington-contractor-license.html
Telecommunications License: TradesLicensing/Electrical/LicenseExamEd/LicenseCert/TelecommContractor/Default.asp
Washington Electrical Contractors License: http://www.lni.wa.gov/FormPub/Detail.asp?DocID=1787
Washington State Industrial Insurance: http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Insurance/FormPub/default.asp
RCW 18.27 Law governing Washington Contractors: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.27
WAC 296-46B-925: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=296-46B-920
Electrical Exam info: http://www.lni.wa.gov/TradesLicensing/Electrical/LicenseExamEd/ExamInfo/default.asp
Telecommunications Administrator Exam info: Electrical/LicenseExamEd/LicenseCert/TelecommAdmin/default.asp#2