Can an electrician be licensed and NOT insured and bonded?

Question

We are building a home in OREGON and the electrician that my boyfriend hired said he was licensed but NOT bonded and insured. Will we still be able to pass inspection?

Answer 1

yes  but if he burns down your house, there's no ins. to cover the damage

Answer 2

You would Neeed to go to your state's website and look  under contractors to find out the laws. In California it's very strict. No bond-no license. If a contractor has employees he must carry Workers Comp Ins. (You would be responsible for an employee injury on your property if he didn't have this insurance). Liability insurance is optional.  The State should have this info listed or at least a phone number so you can call and Find out.

Answer 3

Yes, some places do not require an electrician to be insured, in order to be licensed.  A lot of places, actually.  And I don't know of any that require an electrician to be bonded.  

Hmm.  Aside from payment and performance bonds, I've never even insured an electrician, for bonds.  And I've written A LOT of contractors.

The inspection, it doesn't matter AT ALL if the electrician is licensed, they only want the work to be done right.  The reason you need the electrician to be licensed, is to pull the permits for you.

Now, don't get me wrong - I think it's DUMB to hire an electrician with no insurance.  If he crosses wires wrong, and burns the house down, you're screwed.

Answer 4

Yes is the short answer.

However, in the long answer, what if he made an error and burned your house down?  Without insurance he would not be able to pay for the damages and it's also possible your homeowner's insurance wouldn't pay for it since you hired an uninsured contractor.  Then the bank where you have the mortgage could put you into bankruptcy.

That's a long shot situation obviously, but it could happen.  Given there are likely plenty of insured and bonded electricians out there, I would only hire your guy for very small jobs and only if he was really cheap.