Builders bemoan lack of licensing

Thursday, June 3, 2004

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Reader comments:

• This lack of restriction is hurting Cayman in all areas. This country needs to tighten up and put restrictions in place for people who want to do business here. Otherwise, the consumer gets ripped off and the genuine businessman has his business eroded by charlatans.
  
  It’s the same scenario that the car dealers are facing. We have been bemoaning the fact that people can import cars off the Internet and sell them, thus eroding the established car dealers business. Now we read that contractors face the same unfair competition from unlicensed builders.
  
  It’s not fair for someone to pay Trade & Builders Fees, and all others fees that comes with running a business and then face competition from some body who runs an unlicensed business.
  
  Where are Government's eyes? If a contractor is applying for work permits, don't they have to show their Trade License/Contractors License?
  
  Cayman needs some serious restrictions on people who are allowed to do business and those who are allowed to import anything into the Cayman Islands. Other countries have these restrictions, why not Cayman? Recently a certain expatriate returned to Cayman from his vacation with a trailer full of tiles and sold them to various builders at a significant cheaper price that they could get them at the store. This is undermining our established merchants. How in the world was that individual able to clear Customs? How can someone just import a trailer full of building supplies without some supporting documentation proving he is a merchant?
  
  We have strict rules in the financial industry, why not place those same restrictions in other areas? Or are we only concerned with protecting the investments of the rich and don't care about the poor little contractor/ car dealer who is trying hard to run a decent operation?
  
  Serious restrictions are needed to protect our business people who have invested heavily in the Cayman's marketplace. They should not face competition from unlicensed individuals - Direct Current
  
   
• I can also sympathise with the builders facing competition from unlicensed builders, as I am also a licensed car dealer whose business is being eroded by unlicensed car importers, many of whom are expatriates.
  
  Where are the officers of the Trade & Business License of the Immigration Dept.? I know they have been made aware of the dilemma being faced by car dealers facing competition from unlicensed car importers, but we have not seen/heard of them taking any action to restrict people who are doing business without the necessary documentation.
  
  Customs have also been alerted to look out for individuals who are repeat car importers and are therefore in business. So has the Department of Licensing. But, does anyone listen? Apparently not.
  
  Cars continue to be imported and sold by individuals who do not have a license to do so (including civil servants). An expatriate boasts that he has built his home in Canada from profits made by selling cars in Cayman... while he was working at an office job. He was therefore violating the terms of his work permit as well as conducting an unlicensed business... and the various Government departments turn a blind eye. Meanwhile, this type of competition hurts my business. And while our business is going down, we still continue to pay various Government fees, as well as pension and health insurance for our employees.
  
  This lack of restriction results in unfair competition to established businesses. This is a problem that needs to be addressed by Government.
  
  Why is it that the banks don't face this problem? It’s because Government has certain legislation in place to prevent banks facing unrestricted competition from unlicensed bankers. Why can't this tight restriction be applied to all areas of business?
  
  To understand this issue, Mr. Bush needs to have a meeting with the business people of this country whose businesses are hurting because of the fact that any and everybody can run an unlicensed operation and can even put the established merchant out of business.
  
  Tighter restrictions are needed because the merchants of this country are hurting - Observer
  
   
• Nearly every week I hear stories from car owners about how they were ripped off by people selling these cars off the Internet. I feel sorry for them but they should deal with established local car dealers - Observer
  
   
• I bet real estate agents have to be properly licensed. No competition wanted there - Observer

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