Florida’s rule fits in one line of §489.113(2): “A person must be certified or registered in order to engage in the business of contracting in this state.” Two boards in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) share the work: the Construction Industry Licensing Board under Part I of Chapter 489, and the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board under Part II. The general method for any state is in Do I Need a Contractor License? This is Florida in detail.
Certified or registered
Those two words are the map:
| Certified | Registered | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you may contract | “In any jurisdiction in the state without being required to fulfill the competency requirements of that jurisdiction” (§489.105(8)) | Only in the counties, cities or districts where you met the local licensing requirements (§489.117(1)(b)) |
| How you qualify | Pass the board’s examination (§489.113(1)) | Show you met the local exam and licensing requirements; “An examination is not required for registration” (§489.117(1)(a)) |
| DBPR license code | Begins with C | Begins with R |
| Working somewhere new | Show the local building official your certificate and pay the local fees (§489.113(4)) | Meet that jurisdiction’s requirements, then report it to the board within 30 days (§489.117(1)(c)) |
Registration has a limit: the board may not issue a new registration based on a local license from a county or city that does not exercise disciplinary control over its locally licensed contractors (§489.117(2)(a), with a narrow exception in (2)(b)). Certification is the license that travels with the truck.
Division I and Division II
§489.105(3) splits Part I contractors into two divisions:
The divisions matter on the job because of §489.113(3): a contractor “shall subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work” unless it holds the state certificate or registration for that trade. There are exceptions: a general, building or residential contractor need not subcontract shingle roofing on a new building of its own construction, and a general contractor need not subcontract structural pool work. Outside those exceptions, a Division I license does not let you do the listed trades yourself. And no general, building or residential contractor certified after 1973 may advertise as a roofing contractor without a roofing license.
Qualifying for a state certificate
Florida’s workers’ comp rules for construction are their own subject; see Workers’ Comp: When Your State Requires It.
Electrical work answers to a different board
Under Part II, an electrical contractor is one who installs, repairs, alters, adds to or designs “electrical wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, conduit, or any part thereof” (§489.505(12)). DBPR lists the license types: the unlimited electrical contractor; alarm system contractor I (all alarm systems) and II (all but fire); and specialty contractors limited to one segment, such as residential electrical contracting, low voltage systems or maintenance of electrical fixtures. It adds that a registered electrical contractor “MAY NOT contract for any alarm system.”
Certification under §489.511 takes the exam plus experience, for example at least 4 years as a supervisor or contractor in the trade within the last 8 years. One more difference matters for small jobs: Part II’s list of exemptions, §489.503, has no casual-and-minor dollar exemption like the $2,500 one in Part I. Do not lean on $2,500 for wiring or alarm work.
Local licenses: what counties and cities may still require
§489.117(4)(a) draws a hard line. A person whose job scope does not substantially correspond to a state category need not register with the board, and a local government may not require a state or local license for that work, or to get a permit for it. The statute’s own list includes painting; flooring; cabinetry; interior remodeling that includes no task needing a state license; driveway or tennis court installation; handyman services; decorative stone, tile, marble, granite or terrazzo installation; plastering; pressure washing; stuccoing; caulking; and canvas awning and ornamental iron installation.
Exceptions keep some local cards alive. A local government that required them before January 1, 2021 may keep offering licenses for veneer (including aluminum or vinyl gutters, siding, soffit and fascia), rooftop painting, coating and cleaning above three stories, and fence installation; a county with an area of critical state concern may keep licenses it imposed before 2021. Counties and cities may still issue journeyman licenses in plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical and HVAC (§489.1455). So a painter or pressure washer needs no contractor license for ordinary painting or washing, while a fence or gutter installer should check the county first.
What a handyman may do
Part I’s exemption for casual, minor work under $2,500 (§489.103(9)), and the conditions that void it (a split job, or advertising as a contractor), are laid out next to California’s and Arizona’s in the general licensing article linked at the top. For a handyman, Florida adds two lines drawn earlier in this article: the job scopes for which no license may be required at any price, and electrical work, where Part II has no dollar exemption at all.
Say a handyman agrees to paint two bedrooms and replace door hardware for $2,000, and the homeowner then asks for a new bathroom exhaust fan on a new switch. The painting and hardware fall in job scopes the statute names, painting and handyman services, for which no license may be required. The new wiring is electrical contracting under Part II, which has no $2,500 exemption, so it goes to a licensed electrical contractor.
What unlicensed contracting costs
Once licensed, §489.119(5) puts your number on every offer, bid, contract and advertisement “regardless of medium,” and on any vehicle that bears your business name; the details are in Your License Number in Ads. DBPR lets anyone verify a license by name or number, so look yourself up the way a customer would, and make sure the name and number on your truck match it.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.