The company
Are you licensed and insured?
The short answer
We carry insurance, and you can request a certificate before scheduling work. Permit and registration requirements depend on the job and location. Share your project and any contractor requirements so we can confirm the applicable documentation.
What “licensed” means in Texas
Texas licenses some trades at the state level — electricians, plumbers and HVAC among them. Concrete work, structural and ornamental steel, and mechanical insulation are not on that list. There is no statewide general contractor license to hold for them — which is why a contractor waving a “state license number” at you for a driveway is holding something else: a city registration, a sales tax permit, or a number that means nothing at all. Ask which office issued it and for what.
So the real question splits into three. Is the job permitted the way the city wants it permitted? Is the contractor registered where registration is required? Is there insurance behind the crew standing on your property? Those three have answers. A flat “yes, we’re licensed” does not.
Two edges worth naming. Asbestos abatement is state-licensed in Texas and we are not licensed for it — our insulation removal is non-asbestos material only, and anything suspect stops and goes to a licensed abatement contractor. And we do not work as a general contractor: three trades, our own crews, no other trades’ subs to manage. More on that in working with general contractors.
The permits that actually attach to this work
The drive approach is the common one — the piece of driveway that crosses the sidewalk and the city right-of-way. In Arlington that connection belongs to the city, so cutting or replacing it is permitted work, sometimes with an inspection before and after the pour. Replacing the flatwork behind the sidewalk, on private property, is usually a different story.
Retaining walls past a certain height need a permit and, at that height, an engineer’s design. The threshold is set by the city, not by us. Structures follow the same pattern: a carport, a covered patio or a shop cover is a building permit almost everywhere, while a small freestanding pergola may not be, depending on how that city counts roof area and setbacks.
Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie and Fort Worth all write these rules differently, and they change them. That is why we confirm permit requirements during the walk-through with the city that actually has jurisdiction, rather than telling you on the phone what we think the rule is. The written estimate says which permits the job needs and who is pulling them. Where a city requires a contractor to be registered before it will issue one, keeping that registration current is our side of it.
Certificates of insurance, and what to send us
If you are a property manager, a general contractor, or a plant that wants proof before a crew badges in, ask for a certificate of insurance. It is issued by our agent rather than typed up by us, and it can name your company as certificate holder — and as additional insured where your contract calls for that.
To get it right the first time, send four things: the limits your contract requires, the exact additional-insured wording you need (including waiver of subrogation or primary-and-noncontributory language, if your contract asks for either), the certificate holder name and address exactly as it should print, and the property or job reference. Guessing at any one of those means going back to the agent for a corrected certificate.
Ask early — before the job is on the schedule, not the morning the crew pulls up. If the limits your contract requires are higher than what the policy carries, that is a conversation worth having while there is still time to have it. For repeat work on the same property it is worth setting up once, which is how most of our commercial property maintenance accounts run.
What we would ask any contractor, us included
Three questions get you further than the word licensed. Which permits does this job need, and who is pulling them? Can I see the certificate of insurance, from the agency and dated, before the work is scheduled? Are the people standing on my property your employees or somebody else’s? We answer those the same way every time: in writing, from the agent, and ours — we do not sub out concrete, steel or insulation.
Anyone who gets vague on those three is telling you something. Call (214) 603-9142 or email support@cjmtrades.com and ask us for all three before you decide anything.