California court warns equipment suppliers

Short summary

California Court of Appeal ruled that equipment installation can require contractor licensing based on fact-intensive analysis—attachment methods, removal difficulty, damage risk, and repurposing potential all matter. Equipment suppliers can't assume an exemption just because they're selling a product; licensing compliance is outcome-determinative.

• •Equipment installation licensing depends on whether items become a 'fixed part of the structure'—a fact question requiring evidence, not a simple bright-line rule.
• •Courts now consider 8 practical factors: attachment method, removal difficulty, product/building damage risk, design for replacement, reusability, prefabrication, and whether connections are incidental.
• •Critical for equipment suppliers, specialty contractors, and design-build teams operating in prefabricated systems and integrated technology scopes.

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