I am thinking about starting a security guard company. the situation is, i don’t want to go thru all of the time and expense before i get any contracts. naturally, i would not have any of my guards provide the services until all proper licenses could be issued, but i checked around and found that all of the licenses and insurances could be taken care of within an hour if (which i do) i have the paperwork filled out. i also know that most companies would not sign a contract without seeing some proof of my bona fides, but, as i say, i would not want to shell out any dough until it looked good. would it be illegal to solicit business for a company which does not exist…yet?
IANAL, but I think it would be a bad idea to misrepresent yourself. (Think fraud) But, soliciting business doesn’t sound illegal in and of itself so long as you aren’t making a misrepresentation.
How much does it cost to do the paperwork? Surely at some point you will get a contract, wouldn’t it be better to just be ready to go? I would think it would be a bit embarrising to have to say to a client, “Well, I can’t sign the papers today, you see I’m not licensed yet…”
well, the company (i) should be able to sign a contract, to my way of thinking. it is a company, by virtue that i say it is. i do not see it as making any misrepresentations. the services which require licensing would not be performed until licensed. it is the providing of the service that requires a license, kinda like a dr. if i practice medicine, i’m breaking the law. to get licensed would cost $1200-2000. not an unreasonable amount, but not the kinda money i would like to toss off on spec. so, is there some kind of legal issue which would come up? i would just call the licensing board, but, i do not want bureaucrats to waste my time guessing, and their expertise is limited to what constitutes a licensed agency or employee.
If you accept a contract to perform work that requires a license that you do not have, I think that might be a problem, especially if the client thinks you have a license. If you are up front with the client and tell them, I don’t have a license today, but I will have one tomorrow and begin work the day after that, and make the contract conditional upon your obtaining a license, then you would probably be ok. I’ll just repeat, IANAL, IANAL, IANAL.