Hiring an access control installer in Missouri

Missouri put a statewide electrical contractor license in place, yet the wiring that runs an access system is excluded by law. Section 324.915 of the Revised Statutes names the work those licensing rules leave out.

That list's item 6 deals with remote-control, signaling and power-limited circuits in class two and class three. These names are drawn from the National Electrical Code. Put simply, these are the thin low-power cables that serve readers, keypads, door strikes and intercom stations.

A company that limits itself to that cabling therefore sits outside the state electrical license. It doesn't mean no rules cover the work; local requirements still come into play.

Alarm and security companies get their licenses at the local level. One place that makes this plain is St. Louis County. Alarm companies doing business there must get licensed through the Saint Louis County Department of Revenue, its regulation states.

For annual background checks, the county forwards every application to the police. The county's site says you pay a $415.00 fee to apply and it won't be refunded.

Within the City of St. Louis, any business installing or monitoring alarms must get a Construction Industry Contractor Graduated Business License from the License Collector. For its part, Kansas City handles contractor licensing on its own and offers a search of active licensed contractors that residents and owners can use.

• For your address, check with the installer about the city or county licenses they carry.
• Reach out to your local building department ahead of the job and ask if low-voltage door hardware calls for a permit.

An access project sometimes involves line-voltage tasks too, for instance running a new mains circuit to a gate operator or to a power supply. Those tasks fall under regular electrical work.

Applications were first accepted on July 1, 2019 by the Office of Statewide Electrical Contractors. You need to pass a nationally accredited exam and carry $500,000 of liability insurance. Under one path, the experience requirement is 12,000 verifiable practical hours doing equipment and wiring installations.

The state license isn't your only option. Where a local body demands no license, state law says a contractor can keep working without one. A state lookup called MOPRO licensee search shows who holds a license.

There isn't one building code that applies across all of Missouri. Fire and building codes in Missouri are put in place at the local level, as the Division of Fire Safety explains.

Your city's adopted code therefore decides the requirements for a magnetic lock, which uses an electromagnet to stay locked, on an exit door. Your local building or fire official determines which release devices and fire alarm connections you must have. Only firms with the right qualifications should install fire protection systems.

We didn't find a statewide license that covers this work. The state's electrical law exempts power-limited and signaling circuits; cities and counties may license alarm and security companies in their place.