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Heights Enterprises
License Status & Verification
Verification of Valid Licenses on City Web sites
Three conditions to consider when thinking about licensing & contractors:
- Unlicensed anywhere - The contractor may be competent
and reputable, but he is "flying below the radar" of regulations and
may not be financially strong enough to complete a project or financially
responsible enough to carry the proper insurance against business risks.
There is no evidence - other than reputation - to support either conclusion owners are at greatest risk when dealing with these contractors.
- This group is unable to secure permits
- Licensed elsewhere - The contractor is licensed in
other local municipalities. Demonstrates he is willing to stand up to
regulatory scrutiny, is able to carry the appropriate insurance and
in some cases be bond-able.
- It also suggest, if the project requires a license by the municipality, 99.99% certainty he will be able to acquire one readily.
- This contractor is license-able, but there are limited financial incentive to "pre-register" in municipalities that he does not derive a significant flow of business from, so he has chosen to license on an ad hoc basis in those cities where business arises.
- There are 74 municipalities in the Cleveland area. The approximated annual costs to be licensed in all of these exceeds $30,000 per trade (e.g. carpentry, general, plumbing, etc.).
- Licensed locally - Contractor is licensed in the
municipality you plan to do work in.
- He has met the standards for licensing by your government.
2011
| Municipality | License # | Insured | License-able | Bonded | Link* |
| Beachwood |  |
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| Chagrin Falls | |
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| Cleveland Hts | |
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| Gates Mills | |
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| Hunting Valley | |
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| Lyndhurst | |
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| Moreland Hills | |
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| Pepper Pike | |
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| Shaker Hts | |
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| Shaker Sq (Clev) | |
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| South Euclid | |
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| University Hts | |
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*Link to local building department for details & verification
Regulations and practices vary substantially from municipality to municipality. Sometimes the license is held by Heights Enterprises, other times by Robert Pullan depending upon municipal practices.
EPA Lead Safe Certification
Heights Enterprises has completed certifired training and is fully certified as a Repair, Renovate and Painting Lead Safe contractor and will always follow the rules set forth to keep customers and their families as SAFE as the regulations require from the considerable dangers of lead paint dust. Certification requirements include both US EPA and State of Ohio regulatory compliance.
Insurance and Bonding
One key goal/requirement of the licensing process is insuring the contractor has adequate insurance. The requirements and amounts vary from municipality to municipality.
- All require some business liability coverage be in force to get licensed,
and remain licensed.
- Heights Enterprises maintains liability limits that are higher than the minimum required by many cities.
- Heights Enterprises is insured by Nationwide Insurance, a firm rated A by A.M. Best, the most respected insurance rating service.
- Some also require a "Contractor's Bond" - A bond that assures the
completion of all permits in a manner consistent with prevailing city
building codes.
- In all cases where required Heights Enterprises is bonded
- Bonding is often the hurdle many providers have difficulty overcoming because the bonding requires evidence of financial responsibility and strength.
- Heights Enterprises is also bonded by a unit of Nationwide (also rated A) and one of the world's largest insurance firms.
Repairs & Minor renovation
MOST REPAIR, INTERIOR AND NON-STRUCTURAL RENOVATION WORK TYPICALLY DOES
NOT REQUIRE A BUILDING PERMIT/LICENSE.
Major repair & New Construction
Licenses are required for major construction work, electrical, plumbing
or other projects that involve serious changes to the structure or infrastructure
of the premises.
The exact details of when licenses are required vary by municipality, so the above should be considered a general guide. Detailed examples of when a license is required
Heights Enterprises is licensed as a General Contractor and can either perform work for which it is licensed or sub-contract work with licensed tradesmen in a manner to optimize your project result.
What is licensing all about
The purpose of licensing by the cities has three general purposes.
- To protect citizens from unscrupulous fly-by-night businesses and operators
- To insure the construction quality and standards are maintained within the city.
- To assure the city collects income taxes on work performed within their borders
The relative importance of these two goals varies by city.
To be licensed all cities require the payment of a fee and protection from lawsuits as a co-insured on the business insurance policy of the licensee. A few (such as Cleveland Heights) go a step further and require the posting of a bond. For trades other than those which require State of Ohio certification (plumbers, electricians, etc.) no other competency check or certification is required. The real potency of licensing is the process:
- weeds out the "fly-by-night" operators or those too financially weak to afford insurance or qualify for a bond.
- allows the city to deny a license to those licensees who's business practices or work quality has proven unacceptable to the regulators.
License/Bonding
Generally, if a firm/individual is licensed and or bonded in one city,
one may assume they can readily become licensed or bonded in others.
So why is Heights Enterprises licensed in every city and not a specific one? The answer is expense.
Every city requires a license fee, and require insurance , some also require a surety bond all of which are expensive.
Much of the work Heights Enterprises performs do not require building permits or licenses. Therefore, what all firms prefer is to acquire licenses where we historically do most of the business that require permits and only acquire additional licenses when or if a project/venue requires them.
Heights Enterprises strives to be legal in everything we do. We will ALWAYS do our best to meet or exceed building codes on everything we do regardless. If a project requires a permit or that we become licensed, we will do so.