Contractors Could Get Their Home Improvement Licenses Sooner

FREDERICK COUNTY, MD - How long it takes contractors to get their home improvement licenses in Maryland could soon change.

Delegate Michael Hough wants to change one thing about the business.

"One of the bills I'm putting in is to lower the requirement in order to get a home improvement license," said Hough, (R) Frederick and Washington Counties.

Hough is sponsoring a bill requiring contractors only get one year of experience for their licenses.

Currently, everyone from painters to drywall installers need two years experience. Hough hopes the bill would encourage more people to open small businesses and make the home improvement field in Maryland more competitive.

"These are the Harry Homeowner, Harriet Homeowner type repairs," Hough said. "I've hung drywall, painted my house, things like that. I didn't have two years experience, so if I wanted to go out and start a business now, I couldn't do it."

Those at Habitat for Humanity think each craft brings something different to the table.

"If you're a painter for example, it wouldn't take two years of experience to get a license. I think if you were a framer, an electrician, or maybe a plumber, you need more than one year experience to be licensed," says Dean Jacoby, with the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Hough says a contractor or subcontractor currently has to work for someone else or apprentice for two years before they can open their own business.

"I'm not Bob Vila over here, but anything I have the skills to be able to do, I figure that somebody who's worked on it for six months or a year, and that's what my bill says, just take it down to a year, certainly has the ability to go out and charged people for it," says Hough.

Hough will introduce the bill when session begins in two weeks. He hopes to drill some new business into the state's economy.