Georgia general contractor marketing that leads with your license type and the written warranty

Georgia does not hand out one contractor license. It hands out four, in two divisions, and the one your company holds decides which projects your website can fairly chase.

The residential division issues residential-basic and residential-light commercial licenses. The general contractor division issues a general contractor license and a limited tier. The limited tier rule asks the applicant to affirm a net worth of at least $25,000.

Each type also sets a floor for insurance. The residential-basic rule asks for proof of at least $300,000 in general liability. The general contractor rule asks for $500,000, and so does the light commercial one. All of them require workers' compensation as state law sets it, and the certificate stays on file with the division.

Here is why this matters for marketing. The board can discipline a contractor for failing to represent qualifications and scope accurately. So a residential-basic company that runs a "commercial build-outs" page, or a "we build anything" headline, is making a claim its license may not back.

What we check on each page:

• The service list. Every project type named should sit inside your license type. Where it does not, the page goes or the license changes first.
• The company name. A license goes to the qualifying agent and to the business named on the application. Ads should carry that business name, not a brand the board has never heard of.
• The proof line. Name the license type in plain words near the form, such as "Licensed Georgia residential-light commercial contractor". Naming yours answers the question a careful homeowner would ask anyway.

The three words painted on so many contractor trucks are each a statement of fact. The board can ask you to prove every one of them.

The board's discipline rule lists grounds that read like an ad review checklist. It covers fraudulent, misleading or deceptive advertising. It covers signing a statement on a project or contract that falsely says the work is bonded. It covers falsely indicating that workers' compensation and general liability insurance are provided.

The same rule reaches the people you hire. Knowingly using a sub who lacks the state license for electrical, plumbing or HVAC work is a ground for discipline. So is starting a job without the local permits and inspections it needs.

Georgia's consumer law adds a second layer on household work. Under the Fair Business Practices Act, saying your services carry an approval they lack is deceptive. "State certified" on a remodeler's site, when the state issued a license and nothing more, is the kind of phrase to cut.

The fixes are small:

• Say "bonded" only on jobs where a bond exists, and say which kind.
• Keep the insurance line in step with the certificate on file. The rules give a licensee 30 days to report a change.
• Write "licensed electricians, plumbers and HVAC technicians on every job" only if each sub's license is checked before they start.

Georgia lets people without a contractor license do repair work under strict conditions. Those conditions mark out the jobs only a licensed contractor should be advertising.

The repair rule allows unlicensed repair when four things hold. The person tells the owner in writing that they are not licensed as a residential or general contractor. They hire no one but their own employees to oversee any part of the work. The work leaves life safety and structural integrity alone. And they still pull the permits and inspections the city or county asks for.

The rule spells out the structural part. Repairs under it do not include removing or adding a load-bearing wall, or removing or cutting a structural beam or bearing support.

On our reading, that gives a licensed contractor a clean way to split its pages:

• Pages the handyman cannot match. Wall removal and open-plan conversions, beam replacement, additions, and any job where you bring in and run subcontractors.
• Pages you may not need. Small fix-it work, where a handyman's price wins and Georgia allows them to do it.
• One sentence that sorts the leads. "If your project touches a bearing wall or needs more than one trade, it needs a licensed contractor in Georgia." Put it on the wall-removal page, with the repair rule linked.

Homeowners searching for help taking out a wall rarely know any of this. The page that explains it in two lines earns the call.

In Georgia a company's contractor license hangs on a named person, the qualifying agent. When that person leaves, the license behind every ad and quote is on a clock.

The change of status rule sets it out. The qualifying agent has 30 days to tell the board they have left. An owner or officer has 45 days to do the same. If that person was the company's only qualifying agent, the business has 120 days from the departure to apply with a new one. After that it is placed on inactive status and is no longer treated as licensed.

The rules also require the agent to work for the company full time and supervise its projects, under the residential qualifying agent rule. A name borrowed from a retired partner does not meet that.

What this means for marketing:

• Keep a list of every place the number and name appear. That means the site footer, quote and contract templates, Google and Facebook profiles, directory listings and truck lettering.
• Name a second qualifier if you can. The rule allows more than one, and it keeps a single resignation from putting every ad at risk.
• Pause license-led ads during a gap. Running "licensed Georgia contractor" while the company is inactive is exactly the misleading claim the board can discipline.