South Carolina access control installers and the license question

The Alarm Systems Business Act says you break the law if you run an alarm business without a license the Contractor's Licensing Board issued. Even so, the statute treats camera systems, card access and walk-through alarms as exceptions. A reader and electric strike used only to control door access belong in that category.

When doors are tied to an intrusion alarm, the situation shifts. Under the act, a burglar alarm system detects intrusion, burglary and breaking or entering. The burglar alarm license is required for any business that takes on designing, installing or servicing that type of system.

A list of non-regulated work from the board names "low voltage cable wiring and installation.". That means the thin cable feeding readers, keypads and locks from a small power supply.

The list also warns that a mechanical or general contractor license may still be needed for parts of a job. Contractor licensing law sets the trigger at regulated work costing more than $10,000. Control wiring and panels fall under the Electrical subclassification. Contracts with electrical work above 50 volts go to a contractor holding an Electrical subclassification license.

That means the project could require a licensed electrical contractor whenever you add an outlet or circuit serving a gate operator or door controller.

In South Carolina, burglar alarm firms and fire alarm firms hold separate license types. For each, you need a primary qualifying party; that person must pass the PSI exams and get registered with the board. On the licensure page you'll see an alarm code of laws exam, a burglar alarm exam and a fire alarm exam.

• Anyone taking the burglar alarm exam must have NTS Level I or II certification.
• For the fire alarm exam, you need NTS Level I or II, or NICET Level II or III.
• General liability coverage of $100,000 or more is what the firm must carry.
• Fire alarm systems may also be designed and installed by a mechanical contractor who has an electrical license.

Burglar and fire alarm licenses are listed on the burglar and fire alarm lookup. Give only the digits of the license number, leaving out the BAC or FAC letters. For Electrical work, check the separate contractor lookup; active status there confirms the firm may work and pull permits.

Local building officials are required to reject a permit for someone who qualifies as an alarm contractor yet fails to present a license or exemption.

The codes adopted by the South Carolina Building Codes Council are enforced by every county and town. Both the 2021 International Building Code and the 2020 National Electrical Code, as modified by the state, are part of the codes in effect. That set started being enforced locally on January 1, 2023. Ask the local building department early, because those codes decide how a powered lock must release on an exit door.

The alarm act doesn't cover an entity that installs an alarm system for its own use on property it owns or leases. Card access also appears on that exception list, so talk to your local permit office about power wiring.