Readiness review: a practice test for new contractors

Yukon has no published master electrician or contractor exam, so this lesson is not about test-day tactics. It is about readiness: a final review of the whole course, a practice test that covers each lesson, and a plan for the first year of Tagish Lake Electric. If you can answer the questions here without looking back, you know the Yukon system well enough to run a licensed electrical contracting business in it.

How to use this lesson

Work through the review in three passes. First, read the summary map below and mark any area that feels unfamiliar. Second, do the practice set without notes and score yourself. Third, go back to the lessons behind any question you missed. Rena does this the week before Tagish Lake Electric files its licence application, and again after its first six months.

The system in ten facts

Calculations you should be able to do

Three kinds of calculation come up in Yukon licensing work, and all three are short. Permit fees by bracket. Dates: licence expiry, annual permit expiry, and the 3-day injury notice. And special inspection charges at 50 dollars an hour plus travel. The script below runs one of each; try them by hand first.

import math
from datetime import date

def permit_fee(v):
    if v <= 500: return 25.00
    if v <= 1000: return 25.00 + 2.50 * math.ceil((v - 500) / 100)
    if v <= 3000: return 37.50 + 3.00 * math.ceil((v - 1000) / 100)
    if v <= 10000: return 97.50 + 1.50 * math.ceil((v - 3000) / 100)
    if v <= 50000: return 202.50 + 1.00 * math.ceil((v - 10000) / 100)
    return None  # larger brackets not needed here

print("Fee for 7,400:", permit_fee(7400))
print("Fee for 7,400 started without a permit:", 2 * permit_fee(7400))

issued = date(2027, 11, 2)
print("Annual permit expiry:", date(issued.year + (issued.month >= 10), 12, 31))

hours = 3.5
print("Special inspection time charge:", hours * 50, "plus travel")

Fee for 7,400: 163.5
Fee for 7,400 started without a permit: 327.0
Annual permit expiry: 2028-12-31
Special inspection time charge: 175.0 plus travel

Scenarios

Your first-year plan

Readiness is also a plan. Rena's first-year plan for Tagish Lake Electric has five lines:

• Licence, bond, insurance, WSCB registration and City business licence in place before the first job.
• Every job permitted, every stage inspected, nothing covered early, final operational checks before every final.
• A monthly routine: account reconciled, bulletins checked, records filed.
• A safety program that fits in the truck, with a remote-site plan and immediate reporting steps.
• At 12 months, a review of the year and an application for declaration authority if the record supports it.

What we could not confirm

An honest readiness review includes the gaps. When this course was prepared, we could not confirm from official sources: the full list of licence classes and the qualifications in section 13(3) of the Act; the current licence fee and processing time; whether the office sets any written test for a contractor licence; the Builders Lien Act's current holdback and deadlines; the transition rules in Bulletin 25-01; and the safety committee thresholds. Each is a question for the office, the WSCB or a lawyer before you rely on it. Making that list is itself a contractor skill.

A second practice set

Here is a second set of questions to test yourself. Try each without looking back, then check the answer and the lesson it comes from.

Scenario: the new partner

Scenario: the hotel maintenance contract

Final checklist

Before you take your first permit, check that you can say yes to each of these:

• I have read the Electrical Protection Regulation and can find sections 4, 5, 11, 14, 15 and 18.
• I know which licence class my company holds and who its accredited representative is.
• I can calculate a permit fee and know when it doubles.
• I know how much notice an inspection needs and what information a remote request should include.
• I know the Yukon bulletins that affect my common jobs, and where to find new ones.
• I have insurance, WSCB registration and a municipal business licence where needed.
• I know where to read Yukon's Builders Lien Act and when to call a lawyer.
• I know the immediate and written reporting rules for injuries, and that electrical accidents also go to the chief electrical inspector.
• I have a renewal calendar and a records system.

If any answer is no, go back to the lesson. If all are yes, you are ready.

The last word goes to Bill. He tells Rena that passing this review does not mean she knows everything. It means she knows what she knows, what she does not, and where to look. In a territory where the nearest colleague may be hours away, that is the skill that keeps a contractor safe and in business.

Rena files the checklist in the licence folder, books a call with the office to ask her list of unconfirmed questions, and sends the application. Tagish Lake Electric's first permit is three weeks away, and when it arrives, every system in this course will already be in place to support it.

If you are preparing your own business, copy that approach. Make your own list of unconfirmed points, call the office with it, and write down the answers with the date and the name of the person you spoke to.

Then go back through the four quadrants of the course map one more time, and for each one name the single habit you will build first. Those four habits are your own first-year plan.