Sales license v. Technical License

[Jeffrey Stasz]

This is something I find kind of interesting and thought I'd throw it out for discussion. 

We get a lot of discussion on BP around the relative value of getting an agents license but almost no discussion about the value of a technical license such as a GC, LEED AP etc etc. 

I find this kind of strange as the technical license is, in my view, far more valuable than a sales persons license. For example: A licensed GC knows what they are looking at and have the skills and expertise to properly scope a job before it starts. A licensed GC can acquire a bond for commercial building and apply individually for building permits, to name just a couple of advantages. 

As a flipper/builder/developer this gives me way more flexibility in how I run my jobs as well as additional legal and financial protections if things go wrong. Additionally, I am able to provide consulting and other fee for service products to other investors, agents and homeowners. 

I think this makes me a much stronger candidate as a partner and a much stronger candidate for commercial lending. Just think about your own deals and partnerships and ask yourself what is more valuable: a person that has a good idea of the market, can see a lot of properties and is legally able to sell the property (sales person)? or a person that has a good sense of the market, is able to see a lot of properties, has the skills and abilities to scope, bid and execute a project, is legally allowed to contract with subcontractors directly, is legally able to negotiate municipal permitting rules and is legally able to carry the GL insurance to cover against injury and loss at a level unavailable to unlicensed folks? And as an added bonus are able to take a 30-40% discount on building materials available to commercial contractors.  

Clearly, this is not helpful for the buy and hold folks, or the folks out buying up turnkey rentals so yes, the relative value of the license is dependent on one's chosen strategy. Still..for all the talk about getting a sales license, I am consistently surprised at how few discussions there are about the merit of getting a license where most of the value add is captured.