In compliance with the “Stay-at-Home” Order, California Contractors Insurance Services remain fully operational to provide the same level of service to contractors that it has since 1968. The Contractor State License Board (CSLB) also remains open to facilitate the regulation and management of contractor’s licenses. What about the 230,000 licensed construction businesses in California and their employees? What are contractors allowed to do with constant news of lockdowns that imply that only private businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies and utilities are allowed to operate outside the home?


Are Contractors Allowed to Keep Working?

Yes. The Order issued by the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, deems contractors and the services they provide essential to the needs of California and its residents. California’s March 19th, 2020 Executive Order N-33-20 Stay Home Except for Essential Needs clearly expresses the importance of not only construction, but specifically “housing construction” as necessary industries that are allowed to continue operations. Late on March 20th, Governor Newsom further defined the list of essential work to include “Construction Workers who support the construction, operation, inspection, and maintenance of construction sites and construction projects (including housing construction)”.

Obviously, any individual contractor is free to determine their level of comfort in continuing to work during this time of government mandated “social distancing” and business closures in response to the coronavirus, particularly those with preexisting health conditions. However, contractors are expressly permitted to continue to perform their trade. 

Questions still remain, however, to what level contractors can perform their work during this crisis? Our friends at the Sacramento Regional Builder Exchange, along with other construction associations, have been in contact with Governor Newsom’s office and have confirmed “ALL construction is exempt” from the Order.

The state of California clearly understands the importance of all  construction trades to our society and so long as contractors can do their work while maintaining social distancing and sanitation protocols, they should be confident in continuing their work. 


What about the City and County Orders?

Several counties put in place similar orders in the days prior to Governor Gavin Newsom’s statewide “Stay-at-Home” Order. The counties’ “Shelter-in-Place” orders included nearly identical language to the statewide Order as can be seen from the San Francisco County Order. However, these Orders used language open to interpretation such as; “including, but not limited to” in reference to many construction operations. Also the Order allowed “other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences, Essential Activities, and Essential Businesses”. This vague language left many contractors in those counties uncertain if their work was essential and therefore exempt from the order. For example, ”is my residential installation of shelves, which could be used to restock large quantities of toilet paper, allowed to continue?”.

Governor Newsom’s press secretary, announced the state order supersedes those originally issued by the counties, per KQED. Many contractor advocacy groups, along with California Contractors Insurance Services (we consider ourselves your advocate) continue to seek further clarification as to where the lines are drawn. We have listed all county and city orders in California available to us at this time below for your review at the end of this blog. Due to the speed of new developments relating to the COVID-19 outbreak, we will promptly update contractors know of further changes as they arise.

Ultimately, the decision whether you can work comes down to the interpretation of local or state orders by the County Sheriff or Health Department and your individual comfort level. 

Required permitting and inspections pose another issue for contractors to perform any job. You are legally not allowed to start most jobs without proper permitting and may not continue or finish a job without an inspector’s approval. In times of crisis some statutes allow emergency work to be started and a permit pulled later when the permitting office is available. This allowance would need to be directly given your local or state government official.

California Contractors Insurance Services is conducting surveys of the many permitting and inspection offices in California and will report our findings on their statuses as soon as possible. Governor Newsom’s newest does address inspectors and permitting as essential operations. Whether these county/city offices are open is another matter. We have heard of virtual inspections taking place over the past few weeks for jobs performed in the Silicon Valley area (no surprise there). 


Can I Still File My Paperwork with the License Board?

Yes, but not in person and new contractor applicants will have to postpone their testing until April 16, 2020.

The CSLB will remain operational to continue its obligation to protect consumers and regulate contractors in California. Per the CSLB COVID-19 update, most of the staff is on-duty, but face-to-face interactions with the public are halted. All public counters have been closed and it is recommended that consumers and contractors communicate with the CSLB by calling 1-800-321-2752 or by emailing the appropriate department listed below:

Licensing: licensing@cslb.ca.gov
Enforcement: enforcement@cslb.ca.gov
License Classification: classifications@cslb.ca.gov
Other Questions: info@cslb.ca.gov

You can also mail original documents to:
Contractors State License Board
P.O. Box 26000
Sacramento, CA 95826

The only department of the CSLB that is currently non-operational is license testing. Applicants and contractors attempting to add classifications will have to reschedule exams to a date after April 16th (or until further notice) per the CSLB Test Center Notice from March 18, 2020. To reschedule, either email exams@cslb.ca.gov or call (916) 255-3498.

Contractors still need to continue renewing their licenses, bonds and workers’ compensation policies on-time. Also, the CSLB will continue processing initial license applications and issuing licenses for applicants that have already completed the testing requirement.

We advise patience with the CSLB during this crisis, as many of its employees are working from home or utilizing time off, reducing the speed with which it can respond and process requests. Due to this, consider any potential delays in processing with the CSLB.


Keeping Contractors, their Employees and their Customers Virus Free

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) provides extensive information regarding how to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. Social distancing and frequent sanitation should be taken seriously and observed, primarily for the health and safety of contractors and their family members. Keep in mind, the important legislative exemptions gained by contractor advocacy groups in a highly regulated state like California could be jeopardized if contractors were to not follow the CDC guidelines. Below are suggestions providing various ways contractors can apply the CDC’s recommendations to keep their worksites safe.

Worker Sickness: Encourage sick workers, or those with sick family members, to stay home. Send workers home if they develop a fever or display respiratory illness symptoms while on the job site. If a worker contracts COVID-19, notify other workers they may have been exposed, but do not disclose the identity of the infected party. The confidentiality of the individual must be protected. Also, check with CAL/OSHA on how to report the incident as those guidelines are still evolving. 

Health Training: Provide information and training on washing hands, cough and sneeze etiquette, the avoidance of face touching, and other practices. If practical, encourage workers to avoid sharing tools or at least wipe them down with disinfectant wipes. Provide hand sanitizer (if you can find some and let us know where you got some) to the crew and ensure shared spaces such as bathrooms and eating areas are cleaned. If the public is going to come into contact during or after the work is done, then take extra time to sanitize the area once work is completed for the day.

Limited Interactions: As required by the Stay-at Home Order, contractors should maintain social distancing when interacting with customers. This will enable contractors to limit their exposure to customers that may be infected with COVID-19 and also protect customers from contractors that may fall ill. . As such, work in homes of infected or potentially infected people may be halted, unless they have vacated the premises and had the home properly sanitized. 

While it is  common practice for jobsites to be segregated from the public for safety purposes, contractors also need to potentially adapt the way they provide quotes and invoices and enter into contracts while still maintaining the required social distancing. Email, mail, or a simple letter left in a common area are better ways to interact safely than face-to-face contact. 

You may also consider staggering employee schedules to limit the number of workers on the job site at any given time, if possible, to limit interactions with the public and reduce their exposure. 


What is in your Contracts?

California Contractors Insurance Services highly recommends contractors promptly review any contracts currently in place to understand the provisions that may be impacted including change orders, time extensions and suspension of work provisions. Work delays may be addressed  by these sections for events outside of your control like COVID-19 Orders.

Contractors need to reach an understanding with the hiring party or general contractor about change orders, time extensions or work suspension provisions due to extraordinary circumstances. Contractors usually must obtain written approval from their customer to proceed with any contractual changes or must abide by the contract. 

Contractors are also advised to account for costs relating to the suspension and resumption of work.. If the contract allows for these costs to be accounted for then contractors can invoice appropriately.  If not in the contract, a change order must be agreed upon in order to account for those costs.

Should subcontractors refuse to work or the project owner prohibits work while the Order is active, a change order may be required depending on the language of the contract. Contractors need to be released or allowed to delay appropriately via change order or could face potential legal action for not abiding by the contract. 



Insurance Companies Remain Open

California Contractors and its insurance partners are permitted to operate. Financial Services operations, including insurance services, have also been deemed essential according to the COVID-19 Orders. Surety bond providers are also exempt, enabling California Contractors to issue, renew and service contractors’ license, contract or permit bonds (“Stay-at-Home”: List of Essential Services Matters Greatly to the Surety Industry). The California Department of Insurance issued a statement to California Contractor Insurance Services that our services must be uninterrupted during the Stay-at-Home order.


Where can I find information specific to my City or County?

Below are links to a number of individual city and county orders issued in recent days. We recommend you carefully read the order applicable to your area of operation, which may include unique provisions. We will continue to update this list and seek clarity as to the validity of restrictions or exemptions at the municipal level that exceed the state Order.

Alameda County Order of the Health Officer
Amador County Health Officer's Shelter in Place Order
Contra Costa County Order of the Health Officer
El Dorado County Public Health Officer Restricting Activities in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak
Fresno (City) Exempt and Non-Exempt Business
Fresno County Order of the Health Officer
Humboldt County Order of the Health Officer
Imperial County Health Officer's Orders
Lake County Order of the Health Officer
Los Angeles County Safer at Home Order for Control of Covid-19
Marin County Order of the Health Officer
Mendocino County Order of the Health Officer
Monterey County Order of the Health Officer
Napa County Health Officer Order
Orange County Health Officer’s Order
Placer County Health Officer's Shelter in Place Order
Riverside County Shelter in Place Order
Sacramento County Order of the Health Officer
Santa Barbara County Stay at Home Order
Santa Clara Order of the Health Officer
Santa Cruz County Shelter in Place Order
San Benito County Health Officer's Orders
San Bernardino County Health Officer's Orders
San Diego County COVID-19 Update
San Francisco County Order of the Health Officer
San Joaquin County Health Officer's Orders
San Luis Obispo County Mandatory Shelter At Home
San Mateo County Health Officer’s Shelter in Place Order
Siskiyou County Health Officer's Orders
Solano County Health Officer's Shelter in Place Order
Sonoma County Health Officer's Shelter in Place Order
Sutter County Health Officer's Orders
Tehama County Health Officer's Orders
Ventura County Health Officer's Orders
Yolo County Shelter in Place Order
Yuba County Health Officer's Orders