How do I check that a Florida contractor is licensed and insured?
Four checks, about ten minutes, all free. (1) Look the company and the qualifying individual up in the Florida DBPR licensee database and confirm the licence is active and covers the work. (2) Check the state’s workers’ compensation Proof of Coverage database. (3) Ask for the certificate of general liability insurance from the agent or carrier, not from the contractor. (4) Ask your local building department whether they also require a local competency licence.
This is worth doing before money moves. Florida Statute § 489.128 states that as a matter of public policy, contracts entered into by an unlicensed contractor are unenforceable in law or in equity by that unlicensed contractor — which is a remedy after the fact, not a substitute for checking first.
1. The DBPR licensee search
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishes a public licensee search. You can search by licence number, by individual name, or by the business name on the contract.
- Get the exact business name on the contract and the licence number. If the contractor will not give you a number, that is the end of the check and the answer.
- Search the number. Confirm the name on the record matches the name that is going to sign your contract — not a related company, not a former DBA.
- Confirm the status reads as current and active, and read the expiry date.
- Read the licence category, and compare it against what your building department told you they will accept for your structure.
- Look for any disciplinary history shown on the record.
In Florida a licence is held by a person — the qualifying individual — who then qualifies a business. A company can appear legitimate while the qualifier has left. Check that the qualifying individual on the DBPR record is still associated with the business you are contracting with, and that the business itself appears in the record.
2. Certified or registered — and why it matters to you
Florida licenses contractors two ways, and § 489.113 requires one or the other before anyone may engage in contracting.
| Type | Issued by | Where it lets them work |
|---|---|---|
| Certified | The state, through the Construction Industry Licensing Board. | Statewide, subject to local registration and permitting requirements. |
| Registered | Registered with the state on the basis of a local competency licence — see § 489.117. | Limited to the jurisdiction whose competency licence supports the registration. |
The practical consequence: a registered contractor who is entirely legitimate in the next county over may not be able to pull a permit at your address. That is a question for your building department, not for the contractor.
3. Workers’ compensation
If someone is injured on your property working for an uninsured contractor, the exposure can land on you. Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation publishes a Proof of Coverage database you can search by employer name.
Two things to know before you read the result. First, the construction industry has a lower employee threshold for mandatory coverage than other industries — the definitions live in F.S. § 440.02. Second, corporate officers in the construction industry may hold a state-issued exemption, which is legal and common in small firms, and which means exactly what it says: that person is not covered. If the crew that shows up is larger than the set of exempt officers, ask who covers the rest.
4. General liability insurance — from the carrier, not the contractor
A certificate of insurance is a PDF. PDFs are editable. The check that means something is the one that does not pass through the contractor’s hands:
- Ask for the insurance agency name and phone number, not a file.
- Ask the agency to send the certificate directly to you, with your name and property address as certificate holder.
- Confirm the policy is in force on the dates your job will run, and that the named insured matches the business name on the contract.
A contractor who is used to commercial work will not find this unusual, because commercial clients ask for it every time.
5. The local licence your county may also require
Statewide certification is not always the end of it. Many Florida counties and municipalities maintain their own competency licensing or local registration on top of the state record, and a permit clerk will check theirs before they check anyone else’s. One phone call to your building department answers it: “What do you require from a contractor before you will issue a permit for a detached accessory structure at this address?”
Signals that should stop the conversation
- “You pull the permit as the owner.” Sometimes a genuine owner-builder situation. Very often a licensed contractor keeping their own licence off your job, which moves the liability onto you. Read F.S. § 489.103 before agreeing to it.
- “We don’t need a permit for something this small.” That is a decision your building department makes, not the contractor.
- No written contract, or a contract missing the recovery-fund and lien-law notices that § 489.1425 and § 713.015 require.
- A large deposit in cash before anything is drawn. Money before scope is money you cannot follow.
- A licence number that belongs to a different company name.
The same check applies to the engineer
The person who seals your structural drawings is licensed too, in a different register. Verify a Florida PE through the Florida Board of Professional Engineers licensee search, and confirm it is a Florida licence — a licence from another state does not authorise sealing for a Florida permit. The full check.
Florida has 67 counties and hundreds of municipalities, each of which adopts its own local amendments, its own licensing categories and its own submittal checklist. Everything below is sourced from the statute, the Florida Building Code, or a named building department’s own published document — but the only answer that governs your project is the one from the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) at your address. Call your city or county building department before you order materials.
Questions people actually ask
How do I check if a contractor is licensed in Florida?
Search the Florida DBPR licensee database by licence number, individual name or business name. Confirm the record matches the business that will sign your contract, that the status is current and active, that the licence category covers the work your building department expects, and check for disciplinary history. A Florida licence is held by a qualifying individual who qualifies a business, so confirm that person is still associated with the company.
What is the difference between a certified and a registered contractor in Florida?
A certified contractor is licensed by the state through the Construction Industry Licensing Board and may work statewide, subject to local registration and permitting requirements. A registered contractor is registered with the state on the basis of a local competency licence under F.S. § 489.117, and is limited to the jurisdiction that supports the registration. A registered contractor who is legitimate in one county may not be able to pull a permit in yours.
What happens if I hire an unlicensed contractor in Florida?
F.S. § 489.113 requires certification or registration to engage in contracting. F.S. § 489.128 provides that, as a matter of public policy, contracts entered into by an unlicensed contractor are unenforceable in law or in equity by that unlicensed contractor. That is a remedy after the fact. It does not undo an uninspected structure, an uninsured injury on your property, or an open permit problem at resale.
How do I verify a contractor's workers' compensation coverage in Florida?
Search the employer name in the Florida Division of Workers' Compensation Proof of Coverage database. The construction industry has a lower employee threshold for mandatory coverage than other industries — see the definitions in F.S. § 440.02 — and construction-industry corporate officers may legally hold a state-issued exemption, meaning that person is not covered. If the crew is larger than the set of exempt officers, ask who covers the rest.
How do I verify a contractor's liability insurance?
Ask for the insurance agency's name and phone number rather than a PDF, and have the agency send the certificate directly to you with your name and property address as certificate holder. Confirm the policy is in force for the dates of your job and that the named insured matches the business name on the contract.
Should I pull the permit myself if the contractor asks me to?
Be careful. Florida's owner-builder exemption in F.S. § 489.103 is real, but it applies to owners improving their own property who do or directly supervise the work, under conditions in the statute, and it transfers responsibilities a licensed contractor would otherwise carry onto you. A licensed contractor asking the homeowner to pull the permit is often keeping their own licence off the job. Read the statute and ask your building department before agreeing.
Do I also need to check the engineer's licence?
Yes, in a different register. Verify a Florida professional engineer through the Florida Board of Professional Engineers licensee search: confirm the name matches, the licence is active, and that it is a Florida licence. A licence from another state does not authorise signing and sealing construction documents for a Florida permit.
Licence checks that are already done
Ten minutes per contractor is fine for three contractors and unbearable for ten. Built Roster keeps the professional credentials on the account rather than on your to-do list.
Built Roster is the platform where the three sides of a Florida patio-structure project work the same file. A homeowner posts the project and receives quotes from available contractors. The contractor prices real dimensions and finds a licensed Florida professional engineer without leaving the workspace. The engineer opens a project that is already digitized — dimensions, member sizes, post layout, county wind data — reviews it, changes whatever needs changing, and signs and seals.
Each side gets the tools for its own part: AI photo analysis and renders, sketch vectorization, a plan generator, an AI plan reader that turns an existing drawing into editable sheets, and structural calculations run against ASCE 7-22 for wind, AISC 360-22 for steel, ACI 318-19 for concrete, NDS 2018 for wood and ADM 2020 for aluminum — with wind data seeded for all 67 Florida counties, including the HVHZ and the 34 wind-borne debris regions.
What we will not claim. Built Roster does not pull, file or process permits. The licensed professionals on the project do their own work, and whatever gets submitted goes to your building department through whoever that jurisdiction allows to submit it. The AI drafts; a licensed PE decides and seals. Our county data is reference material to be verified with your AHJ, not a substitute for it. Homeowners can start pergola projects today — screen enclosures are the next structure type and are not open yet. Payments are still running in Stripe sandbox. Joining is free for homeowners, contractors and engineers — no card, no subscription — and Built Roster charges a 5% platform fee to the contractor and 5% to the engineer only when a project closes.
Join free — no cardQuestions? hello@builtroster.com. Built Roster connects the three sides of a Florida patio-structure project; it does not pull, file or process permits. Homeowners can start pergola projects today. Screen enclosures are next, and we will not pretend otherwise until they ship.
Sources
- Florida DBPR — Licensee search (MyFloridaLicense) — https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp
- Florida Statutes § 489.113 — Qualifications for practice; restrictions (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/489.113
- Florida Statutes § 489.117 — Registration; specialty contractors (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/489.117
- Florida Statutes § 489.128 — Contracts entered into by unlicensed contractors are unenforceable (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/489.128
- Florida Statutes § 489.103 — Exemptions, including the owner-builder exemption (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/489.103
- Florida Statutes § 489.1425 — Duty of contractor to notify residential property owner of recovery fund (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/489.1425
- Florida Statutes § 713.015 — Mandatory provisions for direct contracts (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/713.015
- Florida Division of Workers' Compensation — Proof of Coverage database — https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/wc/employer/proof-of-coverage
- Florida Statutes § 440.02 — Workers' compensation definitions, including the construction-industry employee threshold (Florida Senate) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/440.02
- Florida Board of Professional Engineers — licensee verification — https://fbpe.org/