NOTICE OF WEBSITE DOWNTIME:
Beginning at 11:00 PM on Saturday, January 28, 2012 Construction Contractors Board (CCB) website will be down while maintenance is performed on the agency web servers. Maintenance is expected to be complete by 2:00 AM. (Sunday, January 29, 2012)
During these three hours the agency website and CCB Online Services (including continuing education) will be unavailable.
We appreciate your patience.
(Salem, OR)—The Construction Contractors Board (CCB) reminds Oregon homeowners experiencing damage from recent flooding and high winds to work only with licensed Oregon contractors.
“Don’t get taken in by out of town scam artists going door to door, says Craig P. Smith, CCB Administrator. “The stress caused by storm damage can cause homeowners to fall prey to unscrupulous individuals seeking to take advantage of an already bad situation.”
Homeowners can easily check with the CCB to make sure the contractor is properly licensed through the agency website www.oregon.gov/CCB, or 503-378-4621.
It is important to verify a contractor’s CCB license before paying any money or signing a home repair contract. A CCB license offers some financial protection to consumers through the business’ bond and insurance.
“Be cautious of thieves pretending to be legitimate contractors,” says Robert Rambo, manager of CCB’s Field Investigation Section. “Weather events like the ones Oregonians are experiencing make homeowners prime targets.”
The CCB has the following advice on repairing your damaged property:
- Be wary of door-to-door repair solicitations, “too-good-to-be-true” bids and contractors using unmarked vehicles and vehicles with out-of-state license plates.
- Don’t pay 100 percent of the bill before the repairs are properly completed.
- Always use a properly licensed contractor.
The CCB is the state agency licensing more than 38,000 contractors. Anyone who is paid to repair, improve or build a home must be licensed by the CCB. Free consumer publications with helpful tips are available on the CCB’s website or by calling 503-378-4621.
Governor Kitzhaber announced the appointment of Andrew Colas and Melvin Oden-Orr to the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB) effective December 1, 2011. Both new members’ terms will run through June 30, 2015.
The board is comprised of nine members; six licensed contractors, two representatives of the public and one elected official of a local governing body.
“I would like to thank Governor Kitzhaber for his recent appointments to the Board,” said Craig P. Smith, CCB Administrator. “Each member brings with them the skills and expertise necessary to help us continue our journey to become a model regulatory agency. We look forward to the efforts that will be made throughout the duration of their term.”
Colas is the President of Colas Construction, Inc. 
a growing Commercial General Contracting firm, as a native Oregonian, Colas is “dedicated to growing the impact and opportunity for small businesses at a grassroots, local and statewide level.” Colas is the former Chair of the Portland Housing Bureau Commission, is a Board Member of New Avenues for Youth and the National Association of Minority Contractors. Andrew is also a member of West Hayden Advisory Committee and the Mayors Economic Development Cabinet.
Oden-Orr is the principal attorney at Oden-Orr Law. He currently represents a local chapter of a national trade association as general counsel on state and local laws related to minority, women and disadvantaged business enterprises. He has represented public agencies and individual contractors. Oden-Orr’s experience brings a “unique perspective to the Construction Contractors Board and will add value to the consideration of issues”.
Submitted by John Downing, ODOT
ODOT is stepping up to the task in these difficult times to help resuscitate Oregon’s economy and build small businesses into stable, strong companies positioned to deliver jobs across the state. Businesses certified through the Office of Minority, Women, and Emerging Small Business (www.Oregon4Biz.com) can embrace unique opportunities by ODOT to grow and thrive on projects where competition is restricted to those certified firms. Additionally, ODOT removes bonding requirements on these projects, which historically proves to be the greatest hurdle for most small companies.
ODOT is looking for certified Emerging Small Businesses (ESB) able to perform work on ODOT facilities, highways, and landscape, including specialty trades such as garage doors, guardrail, paving,windows,painting, roofing, striping, culverts, irrigation systems, architecture and engineering services, just to name a few. Relatively few businesses realize their potential to work on ODOT projects, but John Downing, ODOT’s ESB Program Manager, wants to change that.
Beyond hundreds of projects planned for the next two years, ODOT is joining the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network to provide classroom and online small business management courses to any certified firm able to work for ODOT. The classes are typically nine weeks long and include free, individualized business advising. The cost for each business is just $200, roughly 10% of the cost of enrollment. ODOT picks up the balance while adding ODOT-specific training to deliver a robust curriculum to participants. Visit www.BizCenter.org for more information.
Add the newly restructured ODOT-Specific Mentor-Protégé program, and you will find ODOT is paving new roads to build Oregon small businesses into stable, strong companies.