{"id":899253,"date":"2021-10-20T14:15:19","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T20:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=899253"},"modified":"2021-10-20T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T20:15:22","slug":"contract-without-a-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contract-without-a-license\/","title":{"rendered":"Yet ANOTHER Reason not to Contract without a License"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christopher G. Hill | <a href=\"https:\/\/constructionlawva.com\/yet-another-reason-not-to-contract-without-a-license\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Construction Law Musings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember when I stated that you\u00a0<em>cannot<\/em>\u00a0lawfully perform construction work in Virginia\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contractor-license-working-without\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">without a contractor\u2019s license<\/a>? Remember when I said that you\u00a0risk <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/design-professional-negligence-claim\/\">non-payment<\/a> if you do so?\u00a0 If you needed another reason, a relatively recent Virginia Court of Appeals decision upholding a\u00a0<em>criminal<\/em>\u00a0conviction for performing construction work without a license should be that reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\u00a0Riddel v. Commonwealth, the Court took up an appeal from the conviction of Jeff Riddel where Mr. Riddel was verbally asked by homeowners to inspect and then repair their septic system.\u00a0 Mr. Riddel then contracted with Fairfax Suburban Septic to pump out and repair the system.\u00a0 Mr. Riddel then delivered the homeowners an invoice from Fairfax Suburban Septic and instructed the homeowners to pay Fairfax Suburban Septic directly.\u00a0 After payment, the homeowners became aware that the work was not completed and that neither Mr. Riddel nor his subcontractor was licensed to perform septic work in Virginia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the trial, Mr. Riddel argued on a Motion to Strike the Commonwealth\u2019s evidence that (1) he merely arranged for licensed contractors to perform the repairs to the septic system, arguing that Virginia Code \u00a7\u00a7<br>54.2-801 to 802 permitted Riddel to arrange the work without a contractor\u2019s license and (2) no written contract to perform a septic inspection or repairs existed.\u00a0 The Circuit Court denied the motion and Mr. Riddel was convicted under\u00a0Va. Code 54.1-111\u00a0for performing the work without a license.\u00a0 Needless to say, he appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction.\u00a0 It first restated the reasons that the Circuit Court properly denied the motion to strike.\u00a0 These included the necessity for a Class C license for Riddel pursuant to\u00a0Va. Code 54.1-1100\u00a0because he provided an estimate and entered into an agreement to provide the septic repair services with the homeowners (written or otherwise).\u00a0 Because Mr. Riddel did not hold such a license at the time of contracting, he did so in violation of Virginia statute.\u00a0 The Court then went on to state that Mr. Riddel\u2019s separate argument under a different set of code sections had been brought up for the first time on appeal and was therefore not properly before the Court.\u00a0 Be sure to read the opinion (linked above) to get a flavor for these arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, contracting without a license can and will get you into trouble civilly and criminally so don\u2019t do it.\u00a0 If you have questions about whether what you are doing is \u201ccontracting\u201d or if you require a license for your work, be sure to contact an\u00a0experienced Virginia construction attorney\u00a0for assistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher G. Hill | Construction Law Musings Remember when I stated that you\u00a0cannot\u00a0lawfully perform construction work in Virginia\u00a0without a contractor\u2019s license? Remember when I said that you\u00a0risk non-payment if you do so?\u00a0 If you needed another reason, a relatively recent Virginia Court of Appeals decision upholding a\u00a0criminal\u00a0conviction for performing construction work without a license should&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/contract-without-a-license\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Yet ANOTHER Reason not to Contract without a License<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[9895,10552,357],"class_list":["post-899253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-contractors-license","tag-virginia","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yet ANOTHER Reason not to Contract without a License - Advise &amp; 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