General

A contractor is a natural person, a partnership or a legal person who/that carries out, or has a third party carry out, construction works for others. A person who makes or submits tenders, either personally or by proxy, in view of carrying out or of having someone else carry out such works, to the former person’s own benefit, is also considered a contractor. A developer who enters into a contract with a third party with a view of selling this person a building that the developer has built, is having built by someone else, or which he/she commits himself/herself to build or to have someone else build, must also hold a building contractor’s licence.

For the RBQ, construction work is any work related to foundations, erection, renovation, repairing, maintenance, alteration or demolition of a building, of an equipment intended for public use, of a facility which is not attached to a building, or of a civil engineering structure, all work performed at the construction location and on site. This definition includes the preliminary site development works.

The RBQ can provide you with information on the construction standards related to all types of buildings to the exception of those mentioned in Article 1.022 from Chapter I, Building, from the Construction Code. In this case, you must contact your municipality. Professional engineers, technologists or architects may also give you the relevant information you need.

Penal provisions are set out for anyone who commits any offence described in the Building Act. The amount of the fine will vary according to the type of offence committed.

When a person is acting as guarantor for a contractor, it means that this guarantor shall be actively involved in all decisions related to the contractor’s area(s) of competence. The company which the guarantor empowers, and chiefly its officers, must, in the same capacity as the guarantor, meet the criteria of probity. This simply means that if this person becomes the guarantor of a company which, for instance, declares bankruptcy or has its licence suspended or revoked because one of its officers has been declared guilty of a statutory offence or a criminal act, the guarantor could be declared ineligible, together with the officers of the company, to act as such for any other company for a period of three (3) years.

There is no requirement that a guarantor must reside within the province of Quebec. However, be advised that acting as a dummy (front man) is illegal, and that you will be held responsible of any incident even if you were not present at the site.

If one of the companies that you are an officer of declares bankruptcy, this will affect your other companies as well. Thus, if you are an officer within a company having declared bankruptcy, or which licence has been either suspended or revoked because one of its officers has been found guilty of a statutory offence or of a criminal act, you could be declared ineligible to act in this capacity within another company for a period of three (3) years.

Your son shall wait until he reaches majority to be able to become a guarantor on your licence, according to section 58, paragraph 3, of the Building Act.