Licensed vs Insured

I’ve fielded a number of questions about being licensed recently and thought it would be good to make sure that people are asking the right questions from their contractors!
There are certain trades that are licensed by the province. Electrical work, gas fitting, boilers and refrigeration are a few of those, and it’s important to have someone licensed doing that type of work for you.
Builders and carpenters need to be licensed to be the general contractor on a new home, or to substantially renovate a building envelope on a condo building. Those are the only licenses offered to builders.
A contractor can work on portions of owner built homes, all sizes of renovations, and building envelope remediation on detached homes (and duplexes, apartments, hotels/motels etc) and there is no license offered to these builders.
Unless you want to hire someone to build a new home for you, it is more important to ask about insurance when looking for a builder/carpenter/contractor. Ask about business insurance, liability, and WCB coverage. Make sure that they are properly insured and up to date on their payments. Make sure that the insurance covers the type of work and the value of the project.
And finally, looking for training and experience in your contractor helps you find people who know what they’re doing and why they do it the way they do. Look for contractors who do their work to a high standard and properly, even if it’s not the fastest/easiest/cheapest way. Quality work at the outset gives longer lasting, better functioning work, fewer issues and repairs and better value over time. Your contractor should be confident in standing behind their work.
I’m happy to discuss what your particular project requires and whether it is something that I can help you with.

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