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Contractors license for ground up construction
Does anyone know what kind of contractors license I need to do a ground up construction in Davenport Iowa? Also how I can get the contractors license in Davenport Iowa when I am currently out of state? We own a church and a single family home on one parcel in Davenport Iowa. The church building is old and is starting to fall apart, so the property is currently red tagged now. So we would like to separate the parcels so that the single family home has its own parcel and the church has its own parcel. Then we would like to knock down the church and build a duplex on this parcel. We've talked to a few lenders and they told us that we need to have someone with a contractors license to also be on the construction loan with us. We would appreciate any advice or help. Thank you.
Generally you will see them as how many stories you are allowed to contract on. For instance General A will be any height but General B may be limited to 3 stories and below.
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Does anyone know what kind of contractors license I need to do a ground up construction in Davenport Iowa? Also how I can get the contractors license in Davenport Iowa when I am currently out of state? We own a church and a single family home on one parcel in Davenport Iowa. The church building is old and is starting to fall apart, so the property is currently red tagged now. So we would like to separate the parcels so that the single family home has its own parcel and the church has its own parcel. Then we would like to knock down the church and build a duplex on this parcel. We've talked to a few lenders and they told us that we need to have someone with a contractors license to also be on the construction loan with us. We would appreciate any advice or help. Thank you.
A quick check tells me there's no GC state license in Iowa. There appears to be a registration process although there may be exemptions for owner builder. Here's a link
https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/building/contractors
I would suggest reading everything and understanding all requirements, plus checking with your insurance broker over what policies will be needed.
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
Generally you will see them as how many stories you are allowed to contract on. For instance General A will be any height but General B may be limited to 3 stories and below.
Thank you. The lenders are also telling us that we need someone with ground up build experience to be on the loan also. This is all that the lenders keep telling us. Technically, someone can just says that they have done several ground up constructions. So I'm assuming that there must be some type of documentation that the lenders need to see. But all the lenders just keep saying is that we need someone with ground up construction experience to be on the loan also. Do you know what the lenders are exactly asking for? Because it sounds like to me that the lenders just want someone to tell them "yes, I have ground up construction experience" to move on with the loan process.
Quote from @Alan F.:
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Does anyone know what kind of contractors license I need to do a ground up construction in Davenport Iowa? Also how I can get the contractors license in Davenport Iowa when I am currently out of state? We own a church and a single family home on one parcel in Davenport Iowa. The church building is old and is starting to fall apart, so the property is currently red tagged now. So we would like to separate the parcels so that the single family home has its own parcel and the church has its own parcel. Then we would like to knock down the church and build a duplex on this parcel. We've talked to a few lenders and they told us that we need to have someone with a contractors license to also be on the construction loan with us. We would appreciate any advice or help. Thank you.
A quick check tells me there's no GC state license in Iowa. There appears to be a registration process although there may be exemptions for owner builder. Here's a link
https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/building/contractors
I would suggest reading everything and understanding all requirements, plus checking with your insurance broker over what policies will be needed.
Thank you. The lenders are also telling us that we need someone with ground up build experience to be on the loan also. This is all that the lenders keep telling us. Technically, someone can just says that they have done several ground up constructions. So I'm assuming that there must be some type of documentation that the lenders need to see. But all the lenders just keep saying is that we need someone with ground up construction experience to be on the loan also. Do you know what the lenders are exactly asking for? Because it sounds like to me that the lenders just want someone to tell them "yes, I have ground up construction experience" to move on with the loan process.
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Quote from @Alan F.:
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Does anyone know what kind of contractors license I need to do a ground up construction in Davenport Iowa? Also how I can get the contractors license in Davenport Iowa when I am currently out of state? We own a church and a single family home on one parcel in Davenport Iowa. The church building is old and is starting to fall apart, so the property is currently red tagged now. So we would like to separate the parcels so that the single family home has its own parcel and the church has its own parcel. Then we would like to knock down the church and build a duplex on this parcel. We've talked to a few lenders and they told us that we need to have someone with a contractors license to also be on the construction loan with us. We would appreciate any advice or help. Thank you.
A quick check tells me there's no GC state license in Iowa. There appears to be a registration process although there may be exemptions for owner builder. Here's a link
https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/building/contractors
I would suggest reading everything and understanding all requirements, plus checking with your insurance broker over what policies will be needed.
Thank you. The lenders are also telling us that we need someone with ground up build experience to be on the loan also. This is all that the lenders keep telling us. Technically, someone can just says that they have done several ground up constructions. So I'm assuming that there must be some type of documentation that the lenders need to see. But all the lenders just keep saying is that we need someone with ground up construction experience to be on the loan also. Do you know what the lenders are exactly asking for? Because it sounds like to me that the lenders just want someone to tell them "yes, I have ground up construction experience" to move on with the loan process.
I don't know what specific requirements that lenders looking for. Different lenders may have different requirements.
@Andrew Jones the lenders are trying to vet you out. Or, more likely, they have vetted you out, and they want some extra insurance on the deal. Think about it if you were in their shoes and lending out money. Are you eager to lend to someone who has never done ground up construction before? I wouldn't be.
It's not unheard of. I have a friend who did a ground up with a local bank. The lenders came out to his sight and asked him all kinds of questions about his experience, who's doing this that and the other, etc.
As far as requirement, have you asked them directly what they are looking for?
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
@Andrew Jones the lenders are trying to vet you out. Or, more likely, they have vetted you out, and they want some extra insurance on the deal. Think about it if you were in their shoes and lending out money. Are you eager to lend to someone who has never done ground up construction before? I wouldn't be.
It's not unheard of. I have a friend who did a ground up with a local bank. The lenders came out to his sight and asked him all kinds of questions about his experience, who's doing this that and the other, etc.
As far as requirement, have you asked them directly what they are looking for?
Yes, I had several conversations with the hard money lender and asked the hard money lender directly what they are looking for and got these responses from him:
"...you need to add someone to the loan with construction experience that has been an owner of a property they constructed and not just a builder..."
"...someone that has been on title and that has done a build. if we have that, we have a lot of what we need..."
"we need someone that has ownership in the property that was built..." "we need someone that bought the land and did the build or at least can show that they were full or part owners..."
"They just need to have ownership in a property that was taken from a raw piece of land and made into a new build home. or, it could be a tear down of an existing home and into a new build. basically, we need to be able to go onto the property card and see their name on a new build as owner or see their LLC or an LLC they are part owner of listed as owner."
Did your friend have prior ground up building experience or was it his first ground up project too?
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
@Andrew Jones the lenders are trying to vet you out. Or, more likely, they have vetted you out, and they want some extra insurance on the deal. Think about it if you were in their shoes and lending out money. Are you eager to lend to someone who has never done ground up construction before? I wouldn't be.
It's not unheard of. I have a friend who did a ground up with a local bank. The lenders came out to his sight and asked him all kinds of questions about his experience, who's doing this that and the other, etc.
As far as requirement, have you asked them directly what they are looking for?
Yes, I had several conversations with the hard money lender and asked the hard money lender directly what they are looking for and got these responses from him:
"...you need to add someone to the loan with construction experience that has been an owner of a property they constructed and not just a builder..."
"...someone that has been on title and that has done a build. if we have that, we have a lot of what we need..."
"we need someone that has ownership in the property that was built..." "we need someone that bought the land and did the build or at least can show that they were full or part owners..."
"They just need to have ownership in a property that was taken from a raw piece of land and made into a new build home. or, it could be a tear down of an existing home and into a new build. basically, we need to be able to go onto the property card and see their name on a new build as owner or see their LLC or an LLC they are part owner of listed as owner."
Did your friend have prior ground up building experience or was it his first ground up project too?
what market? we would qualify anywhere in ohio. we build 5 houses at at time in columbus ohio and multifamily as well. currently have hotel deals going and apartments up to 70 million dollar deals
@Andrew Jones my guy had not pulled one out of the ground before, but had significant experience in framing and finishing, along with a lot of personnel resources through his job and contact list. ALSO, I noticed you said hard money lender and my red warning light went off. They absolutely have a time and place, but are you certain the terms of the deal/ the holding costs aren't going to tank your project?
I'm asking because I have come in after the fact and purchased properties after the hard money lender had foreclosed on the deal due to non performance. Be aware that if you have any issues with your timeline or late payments many hard money lenders will have an "emergency interest" rate. This is a rate that is above and beyond what is usually already a high rate.
I'm not trying to steer you one way or the other, it's your deal and you have all of the skin in the game. Just something else to be aware of.
Quote from @Robert Ellis:
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
@Andrew Jones the lenders are trying to vet you out. Or, more likely, they have vetted you out, and they want some extra insurance on the deal. Think about it if you were in their shoes and lending out money. Are you eager to lend to someone who has never done ground up construction before? I wouldn't be.
It's not unheard of. I have a friend who did a ground up with a local bank. The lenders came out to his sight and asked him all kinds of questions about his experience, who's doing this that and the other, etc.
As far as requirement, have you asked them directly what they are looking for?
Yes, I had several conversations with the hard money lender and asked the hard money lender directly what they are looking for and got these responses from him:
"...you need to add someone to the loan with construction experience that has been an owner of a property they constructed and not just a builder..."
"...someone that has been on title and that has done a build. if we have that, we have a lot of what we need..."
"we need someone that has ownership in the property that was built..." "we need someone that bought the land and did the build or at least can show that they were full or part owners..."
"They just need to have ownership in a property that was taken from a raw piece of land and made into a new build home. or, it could be a tear down of an existing home and into a new build. basically, we need to be able to go onto the property card and see their name on a new build as owner or see their LLC or an LLC they are part owner of listed as owner."
Did your friend have prior ground up building experience or was it his first ground up project too?
what market? we would qualify anywhere in ohio. we build 5 houses at at time in columbus ohio and multifamily as well. currently have hotel deals going and apartments up to 70 million dollar deals
This is in Davenport Iowa.
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
@Andrew Jones my guy had not pulled one out of the ground before, but had significant experience in framing and finishing, along with a lot of personnel resources through his job and contact list. ALSO, I noticed you said hard money lender and my red warning light went off. They absolutely have a time and place, but are you certain the terms of the deal/ the holding costs aren't going to tank your project?
I'm asking because I have come in after the fact and purchased properties after the hard money lender had foreclosed on the deal due to non performance. Be aware that if you have any issues with your timeline or late payments many hard money lenders will have an "emergency interest" rate. This is a rate that is above and beyond what is usually already a high rate.
I'm not trying to steer you one way or the other, it's your deal and you have all of the skin in the game. Just something else to be aware of.
Thank you I appreciate all of your advice. Ya your right, after going over all the numbers the loan from the hard money lender wouldn't work. We're not sure what to do now.
Quote from @Andrew Jones:
Quote from @Malcomb Stapel:
@Andrew Jones my guy had not pulled one out of the ground before, but had significant experience in framing and finishing, along with a lot of personnel resources through his job and contact list. ALSO, I noticed you said hard money lender and my red warning light went off. They absolutely have a time and place, but are you certain the terms of the deal/ the holding costs aren't going to tank your project?
I'm asking because I have come in after the fact and purchased properties after the hard money lender had foreclosed on the deal due to non performance. Be aware that if you have any issues with your timeline or late payments many hard money lenders will have an "emergency interest" rate. This is a rate that is above and beyond what is usually already a high rate.
I'm not trying to steer you one way or the other, it's your deal and you have all of the skin in the game. Just something else to be aware of.
Thank you I appreciate all of your advice. Ya your right, after going over all the numbers the loan from the hard money lender wouldn't work. We're not sure what to do now.
Sleep on it and come at it fresh in the morning.