Agents, licensed and unlicensed, tend to be masters of just enough information to be dangerous.

You should be evaluating the insurance companies reason for not accepting liability and see if it has good merit and worth pursuing, but if you have all of the documentation showing that the contractor was unlicensed and a report from another inspector or the adjuster from contractor insurance policy showing improper installation or anyone, your insurance company should take it from there and recover your deductible from the contractor policy.

I don't have to understand it in the slightest to be able to say "whoa... you want to build an unregulated, unlicensed, unsupervised particle accelerator in the basement?  

Some licensing is probably somewhat inconsequential; if an unlicensed barber cuts your hair, you probably just end up with a bad haircut.

Unlicensed wholesalers and real estate investors frequently operate in the gray.

@Marcia Maynard  Note that I used the past tense - there may have been a complaint to the city about an unlicensed daycare business.

And before RE became so regulated it was Caveat Emptor.So what we have in the industry is unlicensed buyers looking to buy from Sellers who are not represented..

Us RE brokers who study pay our E and O  and other things keep up with the rules of the road.. its offensive to me anyway that this activity by unlicensed and undercapitalized to the point of no capital folks get in and screw these deals up.

It may be different in Georgia but here in MD a personal assistant or office worker who is unlicensed can get MLS access through a licensed agent or brokage.

Agents can't share commissions with or pay lead fees to anyone that is unlicensed.