Simplifying Life Through Technology
SoundVision LLC is a lifestyle technology company located in Mooresville, North Carolina. We interview vendors, clients and staff with the purpose of demystifying the capabilties of new technologies for your home or business and sometimes highlighting local content that is important to our community.
Simplifying Life Through Technology
Who is Doing Unlicensed Security Work? We Were Surprised!
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On this episode of “SoundVision Tech Talks,” Mark, Michelle, and Andrew tackle a pressing issue affecting the Lake Norman area: Unlicensed AV contractors performing security work without a North Carolina Alarm Systems Licensing Board (ASLB) license.
We pull back the curtain on the hidden dangers and legal risks of hiring unlicensed contractors for your audio, video, and security projects. Discover how unlicensed work can compromise your home, business, or construction site, exposing sensitive information and creating safety vulnerabilities.
This episode examines how the lines between AV and security services have blurred, offering all-in-one solutions—but with that integration comes the need for strict regulatory oversight. Learn about the rigorous process of obtaining a North Carolina ASLB license, including state-mandated background checks, fingerprinting, and continuing education requirements that ensure professionals meet the highest standards of safety and accountability.
We also shine a spotlight on the growing trend of unlicensed contractors operating in the Lake Norman area, leaving homeowners, builders, and businesses at risk. Understand the potential legal and financial consequences for contractors and builders who fail to verify credentials, as well as the tools available to help you confirm licensing and alarm system registrations.
Whether you’re a homeowner, builder, or industry pro, this episode equips you with the knowledge to avoid costly mistakes. Protect your projects and your peace of mind by learning why working with licensed professionals isn’t just a legal requirement—it’s your strongest safeguard against risks to your safety and security.
Tune in to learn how to verify credentials, avoid unlicensed contractors, and make informed decisions that prioritize safety and professionalism. This episode emphasizes why credentials are more than just paperwork—they’re your first line of defense.
To check if your contractor is licensed:
https://aslbapplication.permitium.com/publicapp/actives/licensee/list?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYyEXrnsuKEJTjznEbNOleUMz0yHAzFrlpc_uXxo_cQS_84IlkIxdcfbGI_aem_2aa8-9YIpA8KWa0B9YXECw
To learn more about Alarm Licensing:
https://www.ncdps.gov/about-dps/boards-and-commissions/alarm-systems-licensing-board?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZtW0zR8jXM8Axc6ZV0lcGehO943z_vO-VkSJOirDeYcevFafEcyisaLho_aem_5-nta0WCAYr9flWsF0l9Rw
To learn more about SoundVision:
https://www.svavnc.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/soundvisionllc/
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https://open.spotify.com/show/7fIkJuLZ7lZ8xbafz62muQ
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Understanding Security Licensing in North Carolina
Speaker 1So what are we doing, Michelle?
Speaker 2So today we're going to talk about security licensing in the state of North Carolina.
Speaker 1Why on earth would we do that?
Speaker 2Why wouldn't we do that? It's a relevant, exciting, potentially exciting topic that we can only say so much about that definitely pertains to security.
Speaker 1Why would our customers care about security licensing? That is anything. The only thing it beats on the excitement level is paint drying.
Speaker 2I respectfully disagree.
Speaker 1You do.
Speaker 2I do.
Speaker 1Can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 2Security licensing is basically who you're letting into your home. It is a state-governed industry first of all. Andrew, it is a state governed industry First of all.
Speaker 1Andrew, you see how exciting this is. Already Michelle's got like a legal pat. There we go.
Speaker 2It is, it is very important. Well, important and exciting are two different things, so it's about who we're letting in our home what information they have access to, like your personal information, your access to your cameras, your security system.
Speaker 1Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You said security licensing just a second ago, but then you said cameras, Are those things? Did you intentionally mean to?
Speaker 2say that I did intentionally mean to say that. Tell us more they are both um covered under chapter 74d of north carolina state law andrew, when's the last time you delved into chapter 74d in north carolina state law?
Speaker 1actually early this morning, oh yeah, wow, that's outstanding, but before that I I probably never Alright, so tell us more about that. Why do we care?
Speaker 2Well, why do we care?
Speaker 1Dead air is very bad.
Speaker 2I'm taking a pause Crickets. Okay, why do we care? I gonna. I'm gonna use a big word liability. Oh yeah, liability is certainly whoever's doing the work on your home. From a security standpoint needs to be trained and skilled labor versus just anybody. The liability of having somebody come in and set up your alarm system incorrectly or have access to your cameras that maybe they share or maybe they log in and watch, is important, but from a homeowner's perspective, there's that. From a builder's perspective, there's liability issues if you're using an unlicensed subcontractor on your project so.
Speaker 1So let's back up just a little bit. Um, we have been in this industry for quite some time, excuse me, and back long, sorry too long.
Speaker 1I wonder, I wonder people in any industry, when they've been in as long as we have, if they don't say too long, no matter what the industry is, uh, back in the day, uh, the day being, let's say, the early 90s, it was very rare for a, an audio video company to do security, to do alarms, by the way, and that same back in the daytime, there were almost no cameras or the cctv, closed circuit television, uh, that was utilized in a residential application, it was all commercial, and so there were two distinct, different contractors.
Speaker 1You had a, an audio video person, and then you had a security person it's's fine, builders all use two, whatever and then, over time, those two kind of came together. In a lot of cases there's still security people out there that just do security. There's still audio video people that just do audio video, but there's also a lot of companies like us that do all of it under one roof. Lot of companies like us that do all of it under one roof. Okay, cool, that's fine. But now what we're talking about is doing them properly and doing them with the proper licenses doing them legally.
Speaker 1Thank you, andrew, don't think it say it. So, yes, doing them properly from an installation standpoint, doing them legally from a business standpoint, and it has come to our attention through some auditing and through some stuff, because we spend a lot of time on it. Michelle, what on earth do we have to do every single year to continue our licenses, which we have to do every single year to continue our licenses, which we have, all of them?
Speaker 2So it's not just one thing Every time we hire somebody or we consider somebody for hiring. We'll start there. We need to submit them for a state run background check and fingerprints within 20 days of hiring them. So we can't, first of all, we can't just hire anybody. It has to be approved by the state. It can't have a record.
Speaker 1They can absolutely cannot have a record, because one of the state requirements for a security, for a company to be licensed as a security company, is that everybody that works with the company not just the people that go and install stuff, not just the people that sell stuff, literally the warehouse people, the accounting people, the operations people, all of them have to be criminally background checked, fingerprinted and have continuing education every year on some form of security or cameras. Every two years oh, I'm sorry, it's every two years, excuse me Every two years.
Speaker 1Every two years. Oh, I'm sorry, it's every two years, excuse me. Every two years every two years.
Speaker 2Yep, uh, initially, when we bring somebody in, they go to the local police station. They're fingerprinted. We take that. Kristen actually takes that fingerprint card, does the application and submits it to the state. Usually 60 to 90 days ish we will get the rejection letter from state and then have to pay $10 and send it back.
Speaker 1Sorry, state of North Carolina, can you just charge us $10 more? Literally, this happens in 90%.
Speaker 2Andrews went back like 13 times Ugh that record. Yes, so we do that, so we do that, and then you get to sit in a fantastic engaging continuing education class yourself all day long, every two years as well.
Speaker 1Yes, so to get a security license in North Carolina, we're bouncing all over, but I just let me let me kind of crystallize this here To get a security license in North Carolina, you have to. It's very akin to an electrical license. You have to have experience over a certain period of time.
Speaker 2Oh, you're starting from the beginning, so we were starting with employees of an existing business. So go ahead and start from the beginning of what you need to actually start. Kick off, get your initial license yeah that's a good point.
Speaker 1So before we can ever hire anybody and do all the stuff that Michelle was just referring to, we have to actually have a license. All the employees are registered under the license and every company has to have a license and I'm the license holder. So, like 20 years ago, I got the license and essentially what you had to do to get a security license before you could do that you had to have proof that you had done worked in the security industry. You could have done installations, you could have worked underneath somebody with somebody, you could have sold security. You had had some kind of experience for two years. You had two years at least of experience at the time yep apprenticeship apprenticeship.
Speaker 1Thank you. You also had to apply for and obtain a low voltage license. At the time you just needed that as a stepping stone to get to the security license. But now that has a second important thing, in that a lot of the counties we do work in we have to actually apply for permits for the work that we do. To apply for that permit, you have to have a low voltage electrical license. So we're talking about security licenses now. But another thing is if your contractor, your low voltage contractor, does not have a low voltage electrical licensee on staff, they can't legally apply for permits. Correct, now, there's ways around that. Like the electrician could apply for the permit, or the general contractor could apply for the permit, but that means that person is liable for the work that the company that doesn't have the license is doing. So that's that's really important. So now you have to do all that to get your security license.
Speaker 2You also have to pass a state exam and undergo a very thorough investigation where they call up people from your past.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, the, the state bureau of investigation, the sbi, the, the local fbi, if you will state, bureau of investigation. In the time sent a guy. He spent a half a day with me like we drove around. He came to my house, we did an interview, yeah, and then we drove around he he wanted to see a job site. Um, now, I've been a licensee holder for 20 plus years. I don't know that. That still happens.
Speaker 2It still happens. Uh, when I was working with somebody on helping them get their license a few years back, uh, the state investigator came to the office and sat down with me and asked me a bunch of questions on moral character, if you will and then also looked up everybody who was listed as a reference out of his past and spent quite a bit of time with him as well.
Speaker 1So some people might be falling asleep while driving and they're going. Why the heck are we talking about this? And here's why this is important because security and sort of by connection cameras are life safety. They're, they're, they're a life safety system.
Speaker 1Um, we, we had a customer one time that I met with, uh, middle-aged lady, and she was very security conscious and she wanted security contacts on every window, even on like second floor, and I made some silly, stupid, snide, ridiculous comment that I would make about oh, like you know, only Spider-Man could get to those windows. Well, being put in my place, cause I was a jerk. She says to me well, I've actually had someone that has followed me across the country and I've had to, like, change my name. And now, being a guy and I'm stereotyping here being a guy like we don't necessarily think about that and being a woman, um, this was an enormous thing for her and it taught me a huge lesson that day. But she was actually.
Speaker 1She wasn't scared of something being stolen, she wasn't scared it wasn't a TV. She was scared for her personal, for her person, her life, her life and that's and that's life safety. And so, if you, no one wants to think about it, but as a security licensed company, we have to think what if something happens? And if something happens, then what are the ramifications of that? So that's why it's so important to make sure that we can do the installations properly, we can test properly, we can do all that stuff. That's also why it's important that everybody that touches a system that we do and is involved with our customers is checked and clean and good, and so that people are are comfortable and can trust that.
Speaker 2Well, I think and I don and I don't necessarily know that I'm going to say it's also relevant because, upon recent auditing, we've discovered that it seems like maybe some folks are advertising that they do this line of work.
Speaker 1It doesn't seem like they are.
Speaker 2And they're not listed in the state database as licensed, and it was surprising to those of us that looked at it. And it's very important for customers and builders as well to be conscious of the fact that this is a regulated trade for a reason because it does involve life safety and there is so much that goes into it. You can't just hire anybody and there are many people who think, well, I'm just connecting a ring doorbell. Ring doorbell is a DIY product. Diy stands for do it yourself. Per, the state investigator who I've been speaking to is not with the intention that the homeowner is hiring somebody else to do that particular installation, because then that person would need to be licensed, because they're going to have access to their personal information and potentially their camera. That's the genesis.
Speaker 1That's right and and where this started recently is the. The state is starting to crack down on this stuff and starting to take a harder look uh at at contractors and at this, this specific type of contractor, and so they came to us and they're kind of, you know, making sure that we got our RIs dotted and T's crossed and all that kind of stuff, and thankfully we do and we've got you mentioned, kristen. I mean Kristen stays up on on this like regularly making sure that everybody and sometimes that means chasing down people in-house- make sure that they do their classes and stay regular.
Speaker 1But um so, uh, that takes time and and there's there's a lot that goes into it. So we were surprised because they they actually looked us up and there's a, there's a locator or uh there's a licensee lookup that we can we'll post the link in the show notes sure, and the the licensee lookup. We, you know they, they looked us up. Make sure we're like on there. Okay, cool. So we get kind of curious. We're like well, hey, pause, I'll get it, that's lunch that's lunch.
Speaker 1Come back momentarily after lunch. So when the doorbell rang that, I think it was on Taylor Swift just a minute ago, but whatever it went black, I think it should have come up with. We have a camera up there. Right, we have a chime. We have come up with. We have a camera up there. Right, we have a chime. We have a chime, but do we have a camera?
Speaker 2We do have a camera.
Speaker 1Okay, so we should have been able to see the dude or dudette at the front door. We don't want to eat in here.
Speaker 2Let's go eat in the conference room and come back. Can we pause? Or do you want to wait and finish this and then go eat? Okay, and finish this and then go eat.
Speaker 1Okay, let's do that let's keep him hangry. Full disclosure. Before my shot this morning I went to Zander's and had a bagel.
Speaker 2That's a long drive.
Speaker 1It's a really long drive, which so ticks me off that I can't go to New York Bagels or the Metro Bistro. But I didn't. I went to Zander's.
Speaker 2Did you see Chef Re's barbecue shut down this weekend? The barbecue place Chef Re's, or Chef Re's the barbecue place that Komakoff was always promoting online.
Speaker 1Oh really. No I didn't even know who that was. I must have missed.
Speaker 2I can't believe I missed that. It's over by Fusion Bowl.
Speaker 1Oh, and that's fairly new Over by yeah, is that the one that's in? That was that in that one space that's been like a bunch of different things.
Speaker 2I was going to say yes, people keep coming through. I think the Salty Caper was there at one point.
Speaker 1Yeah, Well, the Salty Caper that place was the hardest place to show up when they were open. For years it took like five trips there to finally get in when they were open.
Speaker 2I literally just made it into Chefry's two weekends ago after walking the track and I was like, finally they're open when I go there. And so I went this last weekend because I was like they were closing. Yeah, and he had the door, he had all the umbrellasas up, but I saw that I was like he's supposed to be open. I was like, oh, I bet he's closing down and then I saw the online post.
Speaker 1Next week we'll talk about how to run a restaurant. So, uh, let's see. Uh, we were at um, where were we? What was I talking about? So we got into how you obtain it.
Speaker 2You're talking about Kristen maintaining everybody's.
Speaker 1Oh and they were looking us up. There was the locator and they looked us up, that's what it was. So we got kind of inquisitive, oh pause. So we got kind of inquisitive on, you know they looked us up who else is on here and on you know they looked us up. Well, who else is on here and who you know, whatever? So we, you know we're we're just noodling around on the site and we find that, wow, there's a lot of folks that we know of that aren't on here, that are actually advertising. You know, you know security and camera installations. And so we thought, wow, this is, uh, I don't know who knows about this or who doesn't know about this or whatever.
Speaker 1Um, and we're not trying to call out anybody hey, like, check yourself. If you're a competitor of ours, check yourself, see if you're on there and if you're not, go through the steps and get, get licensed like you're supposed to be. Um, but for contractors uh, general contractors, builders, folks around here it is really important that you check whoever you're using to make sure they are licensed, just like your electrician. If your electrician is not licensed I know I'm speaking to the choir If your electrician is not licensed and the house burns down, you are liable as the builder. If your security company the company you're using to put in security system and cameras is not licensed and something happens, you are liable as the builder. Is that correct, michelle, or did I go off my wrong?
Speaker 2that is correct. It is correct. It's also. It's also illegal. I mean this. The state law is pretty damning when it comes to it on the company that's doing the work that's not licensed, sure on the company that's doing the work that's not licensed?
Speaker 2sure, on the company that's doing the work that's not licensed. It's described as a threat to public safety. It's also a class one misdemeanor. There's a lot of legalities that go with it because it is a state regulated trade. So it could just be a matter of information getting to the right people and not understanding that. Say, you have an electrician who says I'm an electrician, I can do security. No, that is not true. Your electrician still has to be licensed with this specific license as well.
Speaker 1And I'm glad you brought that up because and I know a lot of people don't know this that includes pulling wire for the system. So you cannot legally pull the wire. Even if somebody else, a licensed person, comes in after you and does a system, you cannot legally pull the wire for doing that. I know a lot of builders, especially the smaller ones, will use an electrician just to pull the wire and from based on the North Carolina law, you can't do that.
Speaker 2That's correct. I was. I was just surprised by some of the names on the list that I didn't see that are very well-known local competitors, that I was surprised and maybe you know it's, maybe it's a clerical error that that that they're not on the list, that maybe they should check it themselves and look into if they're not Well actually I know my license number because I've had it for like 20 years and my license number on the list was a different number.
Speaker 1I'm there, but my number was different than the one that I've known for a really long time. So certainly there could be errors, we don't know. Another reason, just to check it's an. I mean it's legal and the right thing to do, of course. Also, you know, this just goes to show again, we reinvest in our company. You know we have the experience center here. We've got a whole operation center, we've got all kinds of processes built around um, built around the, and they take money and they take intentionality and a lot of companies. You just need to eyes wide open. Hey, who am I working with and do they do this? Do they do all the right steps? Because it's not just, we're not just doing TVs anymore. I guess a lot more than that. So Michelle is just sitting there.
Speaker 2I'm hungry she's hungry. The food is here. Mark hasn't argued with me at all.
Speaker 1I tried to argue. I tried to argue this is why we don't have her in anymore.
Speaker 2Oh wow, oh no, I don't need you in here with me. I can hold court all on my own.
Speaker 1Andrew well knows so we will say that the most listened to episode of our podcast was a recent one that Michelle led solo. I'm sorry, were you in here, andrew? I was in here so clearly.
Speaker 2I am the weakest link. Goodbye, led solo. Well, I'm sorry, were you in here, andrew. I was in here.
Speaker 1Cause. I was not in here so I don't know. So clearly I am the weakest link. Goodbye, wow.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1So sad, so sad.
Speaker 2Okay, well, we'll put in the show notes, uh, the link so you can look up your provider or your business and see if you are properly registered, legally registered, and then we'll also put up another link for the landing page for the Department of Safety where you can learn more about alarm licensing. Anything to add?
Speaker 1Stay aware, stay safe and stay secure. Wow, that was really good.
Speaker 2Thanks All right, we're out Bye.
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