A client of mine sent me an email asking if I’d seen these articles from the WA Department of Labor & Industries before regarding contractor status being required of residential property owners that are fixing up and reselling properties for profit. Basically, it covers what are generally known as “flippers”.
I’ve written about this before but I thought I’d bring it up again as it also raised its head as I am working with another estate sale for a client and since contractors were potentially going to be brought in by the family to do work prior to selling we had to sort out if they fell under any of these state requirements. According to their attorney at Bates Ely, they don’t, which is great.
If you’re planning on doing work on a property you own, it would be a good idea to review the documents linked above. The jist of what I see is that if you own a non-personal residential property and you plan to do renovations of some type that would require a general or specialty contractor, you need to register as a contractor yourself – particularly if you plan on selling the property afterward. If you buy a property and plan to rent it out after the work is done then it’s not an issue. The new law really does focus more on the flipping of property – but read the full content to understand how and if it affects you.
