1. (a) The license holder shall choose the business affiliation that will use the license holder's license. The license can be used by only one business affiliation at one permanent office at a time. The license holder shall furnish the department with his or her permanent mailing address and the name, address, and phone number of the business affiliation. A physical address is required. If the business affiliation uses an assumed name(s), the name(s) must be legally registered as being owned by the business affiliation. The company name and assumed name(s) must be shown on the license and on the certificate of insurance.
2. (b) If the license holder for the business, whether the owner or an employee, also works as an employee for another air conditioning or refrigeration contracting company, the license holder must work under the license of that other company.

3. (c) A licensed air conditioning and refrigeration contractor may subcontract portions of work requiring a license under the Act to unlicensed persons, firms, or corporations so long as:

   1. (1) such licensed contractor actively provides work or services requiring a license, either in person or with the contractor's bona fide employees;
   2. (2) the work provided in person or with the licensed contractor's bona fide employees consists of more than accepting a contract or request for service, scheduling the work, and providing supervision of the work; and
   3. (3) the licensed contractor is ultimately responsible to the customer for all work performed by the subcontractor.
4. (d) A licensed contractor who works as a subcontractor for another air conditioning and refrigeration company must work under the license of the other air conditioning and refrigeration business. The work must be scheduled and billed by the other air conditioning and refrigeration company, and the license holder working as a subcontractor must be paid by the other company. The licensed contractor who is acting as contractor, not subcontractor, is responsible for all subcontracted work.
5. (e) Each air conditioning and refrigeration company shall have a license holder employed full time in each permanent office operated in Texas. All work requiring a license under the Act shall be under the direct personal supervision of the license holder for that office. The license holder's license number shall appear in all proposals and invoices for that office.
6. (f) Each license holder must register his/her license with the municipality in which work is to be performed in the manner prescribed by the municipality, including appearing in person if required by the municipality.
7. (g) If a license holder is employed by a company as the license holder for the company or a permanent office of that company, the license holder is responsible for work done under his supervision. If the owners, officers, or managers of the company do not allow authority to supervise, train, or otherwise control compliance with the Act, the license holder is still responsible under the Act.
8. (h) If an air conditioning and refrigeration company uses locations other than a permanent office, these locations shall only be used to receive instructions from the permanent office on scheduling of work, to store parts and supplies, and to park vehicles. These locations may not receive calls from customers or schedule work. The air conditioning and refrigeration company shall provide address(es) of these other locations to the department no later than 30 days after the locations are established.
9. (i) A license holder may not permit any person or company to use his or her license for any purpose unless the person is a bona fide employee or subcontractor in accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of this section.
10. (j) Each license shall be displayed at the contractor's place of business as listed with the department.
11. (k) Each licensed contractor shall display the license number and company name in letters not less than two inches high on both sides of all vehicles used in conjunction with air conditioning and refrigeration contracting. Job sites not identified by a marked vehicle shall be identified by a posted sign visible and readable from the nearest public street, containing the Texas air conditioning and refrigeration license number and company name.

12. (l) All advertising by contractors licensed under the Act designed to solicit business shall include the contractor's license number. Advertising which requires the license number shall include:

    1. (1) printed material;
    2. (2) television ads, except that in nationally placed television advertising, a statement indicating that license numbers are available upon request may be used in lieu of the contractor's license number;
    3. (3) newspaper ads;
    4. (4) yellow page ads, except that yellow page listings that contain only the name, address, and telephone number are not required to contain the license number;
    5. (5) business cards;
    6. (6) billboards;
    7. (7) telephone solicitations, except that the statement that the company is licensed by the state may be substituted unless the consumer requests the number; and
    8. (8) proposals, quotations, and invoices.
13. (m) Items intended to attract business, other than promotional items of nominal value such as ball caps, tee shirts, and other gifts, must include the license number. Letterheads and printed forms for office use are not required to have the license number included. Signs located outside the contractor's permanent business location are not required to have the license number displayed.
14. (n) A license holder must have the following information on all proposals and invoices given to consumers: Regulated by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, P.O. Box 12157, Austin, Texas 78711, 1-800-803-9202, 512-463-6599. A licensed contractor that also acts as a general contractor may provide a one-time notice stating the information above to customers for whom they provide services requiring a license under the Act.
15. (o) A license holder is required to notify the department in writing within 30 days of any change in permanent mailing address, business affiliation, change of business location, or business telephone number. A license revision is required for any change to information printed on the license. The permanent address shall be considered the license holder's permanent mailing address. All correspondence will be mailed to that address.

16. (p) A license holder wishing to revise a license shall:

    1. (1) make the request in writing;
    2. (2) return the current original license;
    3. (3) pay the appropriate fee required in §75.80 of this title (relating to Fees); and
    4. (4) provide a revised insurance certificate if the business affiliation name or address has changed.
17. (q) A license holder must identify him or herself by showing the identification card issued by the Department when requested by a consumer or any local, state, or federal employee.
18. (r) Unlicensed persons who operate as general contractors and subcontract work requiring a license under the Act may not bid or contract for a job that consists of work requiring a license under the Act unless the person or company has a bona fide employee whose license is assigned to the company. If a general contractor advertises that air conditioning, heating, or commercial refrigeration work is available as part of a job, the ad must state that air conditioning work will be performed by a licensed contractor.

Source Note:The provisions of this §75.70 adopted to be effective November 16, 1993, 18 TexReg 7927; amended to be effective August 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 5637; amended to be effective February 9, 1995, 20 TexReg 435; amended to be effective January 10, 1997, 22 TexReg 737; amended to be effective January 1, 1998, 22 TexReg 12757.