City Room: Helping Unlicensed Chinese Contractors by Bridging the Language Gap

If New York City’s licensing test for home improvement contractors were given in Chinese and included the finer points of bamboo scaffolding, contractors like Gary Lin, 42, of Queens would breathe much easier taking it.

Mr. Lin worked on bamboo platforms while working in construction in Changle, his home city in the Chinese province of Fujian. Now, despite speaking very limited English, he is trying to start a legitimate home improvement company in Flushing, which is rife with unlicensed contractors.

And since the city does not allow bamboo scaffolding – and currently does not offer the test in Chinese – Mr. Lin found himself in a new class with about 20 other Chinese immigrants one recent Saturday preparing for the city-administered test for a home improvement contractor license, a requirement for contracting with a homeowner to do work like repairs, renovations and remodeling.

The class, offered by the Queens Economic Development Corporation, is aimed at familiarizing contractors with the test, which is administered by the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs and consists of 30 multiple choice questions. It is offered in English, Spanish, Korean and Bengali.

Starting in February, the test will also be available in Chinese, city officials said.

To Nicholas Hardie, who teaches Mr. Lin’s class in Mandarin, the change is long overdue. The classes, which cost $100, are part of a pilot program to explore ways of addressing challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs. Mr. Hardie, a Wisconsin native, said he believed that there were an enormous number of Chinese immigrant contractors in Queens working without city home improvement licenses.

“A main reason is the language barrier,” said Mr. Hardie, who said he had arranged with Department of Consumer Affairs officials to take groups of students from two of his classes for the test next month.

He said that his students would be ready to take either the English or the Chinese test, and that he was helping them with the application process, which, among other things, demands proof of liability and disability insurance, and workman’s compensation insurance.

In response to a listing for the class , 78 Chinese immigrant contractors inquired, Mr. Hardie said. But many opted not to take the class or the exam because they thought the language barrier would make passing the test impossible. Of the 37 who registered, most have either been working as employees or have been working for cash under the table, he said.

Burton Hung, a developer and licensed contractor in Queens who volunteered to help Mr. Hardie teach the class, said that oftentimes a Chinese immigrant contractor would save money to buy a van and tools and then hire day laborers.

“If you don’t speak English, you can always hire people to speak English, so you can work outside the Chinese community,” said Mr. Hung, who worked in construction as a child and after immigrating to the United States started as a small contractor and eventually earned a master’s degree in business. But unlicensed contractors have to dodge authorities, and they often get bargained down on prices. And they find it much harder to work under the heavy scrutiny in Manhattan for higher-paying jobs.

At a class on Jan. 21, about 6 of the 20 students could speak some English.

Mr. Hardie explained to them how to collect a deposit and give a written estimate, how to draw up a contract and how to legally cancel one. He covered the finer points of certificates of occupancy and charging sales tax, as well as complying with sanitary, fire and health regulations.

He handed out Chinese translations of the contractor’s exam and license information, as well as translations he made of previous tests.

Mr. Hardie said that, in the past, some contractors who spoke no English still managed to pass the English-language test by memorizing earlier test questions and also by training themselves to recognize key words, phrases and numbers. Adopting this technique, he taught students how to spot such clues.

For example, the mention of $200 in a question most likely refers to the rule that a license is not necessary for jobs paying less than that amount. And the number six in a question may refer to the number of years a contractor must keep contracts on file. The number three may very likely refer to the number of days a contractor must wait between signing a contract and beginning work.

On the subject of contracts, one worker, Kevin Zhang, 36, who immigrated to Flushing four years ago, held up his phone and asked if the contracts could simply be recorded, instead of written. No, Mr. Hardie said.

One of the other Chinese immigrant students was Rose Lu, who owns United Structure Solution, a metal shop in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that has many large contracts and 10 full-time employees. Ms. Lu said she wanted a home improvement license in order to do interior work at a hotel because the license covers lodging establishments.

Ms. Lu said many unlicensed Chinese contractors in Brooklyn and Queens operate as fly-by-night operations.

“A van can bring in a lot of laborers, but there’s no address, no sense of responsibility,” she said, adding that more licensing would help legitimize things.

“The more people who know what they’re doing, the better,” she said.

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City Room: Helping Unlicensed Chinese Contractors by Bridging the Language Gap