Obtaining Contractors License For Purchase

FWIW, I acquired a trades businesses and got the licenses myself without prior experience in the industry/trades. Brad is correct - requirements vary a lot state to state and whether this is feasible often hinges on if there's an X years (or hours) experience requirement vs. just needing to pass ICC or other exams. In my case, it was the latter, so it took a lot of study, but it was doable. Make sure you deeply research and understand what's required for that business in its jurisdiction. In my experience, sometimes the sellers don't even know, as requirements can change but existing licenseholders sometimes get grandfathered in (e.g., I found out I had to take an ICC exam that neither seller had ever had to take).

Thanks for the tag ^Searchfunder member‌ ... ^Searchfunder member‌ nailed it. I do a lot of deals involving the transfer of licenses that are required to run the business. The laws vary significantly state by state involving the transfer or qualification of an existing business license (e.g., New York - easy; California and Nevada - extremely difficult).

For the more difficult jurisdictions, options involve either (1) keeping the Seller on in some capacity to qualify the license (whether its an officer, employee, partial equity owner or a combination); or (2) hire a third party RMO/RME who is not the seller to qualify your license. You also need to consider whether the business owner holds the license personally or the LLC/Corp holds the license. In some states, any change in control of a license held by an LLC/Corp will automatically cancel the license which kills the deal.

In most states, however, the process is usually simple and licenses can be acquired via sale. It's just a handful of states which require some careful navigating. Feel free to DM me or email me --@----.com - happy to chat through.