Contractor license exemption for rentals????

[Ryan Braman]

I've been doing work on a couple derelict houses that I bought in order to get them up to rental standards. The City Building Official freaked out that I've not used a licensed contractor for ALL the work..I used separate licensed contractors for the Asbestos removal, drywall, roofing and HVAC. Everything else has been a 'like-kind' replacement of existing work. 

The BO sent me the Virginia Regulations for the Board of Contractors and told me to apply for a contractor's license, but while reading through it I saw that in Section 54.1-1101 it states that the license provisions don't apply in a bunch of scenarios, such as work on primary residence, work on a home that will be gifted to an immediate family member provided they live in the house, and most interestingly 'Any person who performs or supervises the repair or improvement of residential dwelling units owned by him that are subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.'

Anyone have any insight on this? I'll call the Board on Monday to ask directly, but I figured that I know there has to be other Virginia based landlord / builder / handyman / contractors who've seen this.

I'm not trying to skate by with anything here..I'm actively supervising and involved in all the work at the house. Does this mean that I can basically give the BO an affadavit stating that I am in fact going to rent these units out? This seems like a major loophole and that makes me think it doesn't mean what I'd like it to mean..