Florida · Concrete licensing · official-source guide
Florida has no concrete contractor license. The Construction Industry Licensing Board, part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, licenses general, building and residential contractors, who are responsible for structural components such as foundations and load bearing walls. Concrete and masonry are not mandatory state categories, and the board offers voluntary certified specialty categories for structural masonry and precast concrete work.
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Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing BoardState-level license
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-26. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Florida does not issue a license named concrete contractor. The Construction Industry Licensing Board sits inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and licenses contracting under Part I of Chapter 489 of the Florida Statutes. The statute splits contractors into two divisions. Division I holds general, building and residential contractors. Division II holds the trade categories, running from sheet metal and roofing through plumbing, mechanical, pool and underground utility and excavation. Read the Division II list and concrete, masonry, flatwork and foundations appear nowhere in it. That absence shapes everything else a Florida concrete company has to do. The statute does define a specialty contractor as one whose scope of work and responsibility is limited to a particular phase of construction established in a category adopted by board rule, and whose scope is a subset of the activities in one of the listed paragraphs. So concrete work reaches the state license system through two doors rather than holding one of its own. The first door is Division I, because the statute makes a general, building or residential contractor responsible for the construction or alteration of any structural component of a building or structure. The same statute defines a structural component to include a foundation, an exterior or interior load bearing wall, a column, a column beam, a floor and a roof structure. Footings, stem walls, load bearing slabs and structural masonry walls all sit inside that definition. The second door is the voluntary certified specialty category. A certified contractor holds a certificate of competency issued by the department and may contract in any jurisdiction in the state. A registered contractor met the competency requirements of one jurisdiction and may contract only there.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1leg.state.fl.us 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3
The split between certified and registered decides where a concrete crew can legally take work. Anyone who wants to contract on a statewide basis must be certified, and to establish competency must pass the examination approved by the board and certified by the department. Anyone who wants to contract on other than a statewide basis must be registered instead. No examination is required for registration. What registration does require is evidence of successful compliance with the local examination and licensing requirements, if any, in the area for which registration is desired. Registration then allows contracting only in the counties, municipalities or development districts where the registrant has complied with all local licensing requirements, and only for the type of work the registration covers. A registrant must report to the board each local jurisdiction and each category in which it holds a certificate of competency or license within 30 days after obtaining it. The department prints the difference on the license itself. Certified license codes begin with the letter C, as in CG for certified general and CB for certified building. Registered codes begin with R. The specialty codes are SCC for certified and RX for registered. For a certificate holder, expanding into a new part of Florida is a paperwork step, not a new qualification. The statute says the certificate holder need only exhibit evidence of a current certificate to the local building official, tax collector or other person in charge of licenses and permits, and pay the occupational license and building permit fees required of everyone else. A local construction regulation board can still deny, suspend or condition permit privileges after a public hearing on fraud or a willful building code violation.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1leg.state.fl.us 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3
Structural concrete and masonry work lands on a Division I license. A general contractor has services unlimited as to the type of work he or she may do and may contract for any activity requiring licensure under Part I, subject to the subcontracting rules. A building contractor is limited to commercial buildings and single or multiple dwelling residential buildings not exceeding three stories in height, plus accessory use structures, or to remodeling, repair or improvement of a building of any size where the services do not affect the structural members. A residential contractor is limited to construction, remodeling, repair or improvement of one family, two family and three family residences not exceeding two habitable stories above no more than one uninhabitable story, plus accessory use structures. Site work splits along the same lines. A certified general contractor or certified underground utility and excavation contractor may perform clearing and grubbing, grading, excavation and other site work for any construction project in the state. A certified building contractor or certified residential contractor may perform the same work, but limited to the lot on which a specific building is located. That limit matters for a concrete company that also does dirt work and site prep across a subdivision. The statute requires a contractor to subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool and air conditioning work unless it holds the matching state certificate or registration. Concrete is not on that mandatory subcontract list, which is one more sign that the Legislature treats concrete as work a Division I licensee owns rather than a separate regulated trade.
The 2024 and 2025 sessions pushed the board toward naming concrete work directly. The statute now says the board shall by rule designate the types of specialty contractors that may be certified, and that the limit of scope and responsibility of a specialty contractor is set by board rule. It then adds a sentence every concrete contractor should read twice. A certified specialty contractor category established by board rule exists as a voluntary statewide licensing category and does not create a mandatory licensing requirement. Any mandatory statewide construction contracting licensure requirement may only be established through specific statutory provision. The statute directed the board to establish certified specialty contractor categories for voluntary licensure, by July 1, 2025, for twelve job scopes. Two of them are concrete work in plain terms: structural masonry, and structural prestressed, precast concrete work. The other ten are structural aluminum or screen enclosures, marine seawall work, marine bulkhead work, marine dock work, marine pile driving, rooftop solar heating installation, structural steel, window and door installation including garage doors and hurricane or windstorm protection, plaster and lath, and structural carpentry. For a masonry or precast outfit, the practical reading is that a state specialty certificate in your own trade name is available to hold and to advertise, but holding it is a choice rather than a condition of doing the work. The value is reputational and commercial. It gives a subcontractor a state license number to put on bids, a statewide credential that is not tied to one county, and a listing in the department's public records under its own trade category.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us
Florida took the local licensing question away from cities and counties for most flatwork. The statute says a local government may not require a person to obtain a license, issued by the local government or the state, for a job scope that does not substantially correspond to the job scope of one of the contractor categories defined in the statute or one of the certified specialty contractor categories established by board rule. The same sentence bars a local government from requiring a state or local license to obtain a permit for those job scopes. The statute then names examples, and the list reaches a concrete business directly. It includes driveway or tennis court installation, decorative stone, tile, marble, granite or terrazzo installation, plastering, stuccoing, pressure washing, caulking, painting, flooring and handyman services. A plain driveway or patio pour, a decorative stamped overlay and a terrazzo or stone surface are therefore work no Florida city or county can demand a trade license for. Three exceptions survive. A county that includes an area designated as an area of critical state concern may still offer a license for a job scope requiring a Part I license if it imposed that requirement before January 1, 2021. A local government may keep offering a license for veneer, including aluminum or vinyl gutters, siding, soffit or fascia, for rooftop painting, coating and cleaning above three stories, and for fence installation and erection, if the requirement predates January 1, 2021. Finally, a local government may not require a license as a prerequisite to bid a public works project when general law does not require one for the work.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us
Most concrete companies in Florida run as subcontractors, and the statute has a specific lane for that. A subcontractor who is not certified or registered may perform construction work under the supervision of a person who is certified or registered, provided the work is within the scope of the supervising contractor's license, the supervising contractor is responsible for the work, and the subcontractor is not doing work that would require a license in one of the Division II trade categories. Concrete, masonry and foundation work are not in those categories, so a concrete crew fits the exception. The statute adds that this subsection does not affect the application of any local construction licensing ordinance. A second provision covers houses. Any person not required to be certified or registered in a Division II category may perform contracting services for the construction, remodeling, repair or improvement of single family residences, including a townhouse as defined in the Florida Building Code, without obtaining a local license, if that person works under the supervision of a certified or registered general, building or residential contractor. The statute says supervision shall not be deemed to require the existence of a direct contract between the licensed contractor and the person performing the specialty services. That matters on jobs where the concrete sub is hired by a framer or a developer rather than by the general contractor. The protection has a sharp edge. Contract directly with a homeowner for work that needs a Division I license, with no licensed contractor above you, and you are the contractor for that project with no license to be it.
The eligibility rules for a contractor examination are set in statute, not in policy. An applicant must be 18 years of age, be of good moral character, and meet one of several experience or education criteria. One route is a baccalaureate degree from an accredited four year college in an appropriate field of engineering, architecture or building construction. A second route is a total of at least 4 years of active experience as a worker who learned the trade by serving an apprenticeship as a skilled worker able to command the rate of a mechanic in the particular trade, or as a foreman in charge of a group of workers, with at least 1 year of that active experience as a foreman. The statute then allows combinations. Not less than 1 year of experience as a foreman plus not less than 3 years of credits for accredited college level courses qualifies. So does 1 year as a skilled worker plus 1 year as a foreman plus two years of college credits, and 2 years as a skilled worker plus 1 year as a foreman plus 1 year of college credits. Junior college and community college courses count as accredited college level courses. For concrete and masonry work, the foreman year is the part applicants miss most often, because running a crew on footings, walls and slabs is exactly the experience the board is looking for and it has to be documented as supervisory. The statute also gives upgrade paths. An active certified residential contractor can move to certified general after passing the general examination with a minimum of 4 years of proven experience in the certified classification.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us
Competency for a certificate is established by passing the examination approved by the board and certified by the department. The department has contracted with Professional Testing, Inc. to register candidates and to develop and score the examinations for the Construction Industry Licensing Board. The board's own description names the tests candidates sit: construction trade knowledge, contract administration, project management, and business and finance. The fee rule treats the contract administration and project management tests as one test for fee purposes. There are two important shortcuts. An applicant who holds a baccalaureate degree in building construction from an accredited four year college, or a related degree approved by board rule, with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, is only required to take and pass the business and finance portion of the examination. Separately, an eligible applicant who fails a contractor's written examination, other than the general and building contractors' examination, and gives the board acceptable proof of lack of comprehension of written examinations, may petition for a uniform oral examination. That oral option requires the applicant to document 10 years of experience in the appropriate construction craft, to file written recommendations on competency in that craft, and it is given only once in any 1 year period. A concrete or masonry foreman sitting for the general or building examination cannot use the oral route, since those two examinations are carved out of it. Registration is the other path and involves no state examination at all, only proof that local requirements were met.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2flrules.org 3
Board rule sets the fees, and they are modest next to the cost of the experience behind them. The application and examination fee for an applicant for certification is $335.00 and is nonrefundable. That total breaks into pieces the applicant pays at different moments. The applicant pays $135.00 directly to the department or the department's examination development vendor when scheduling the tests that make up the examination, pays $80.00 to the department or its assigned vendor for examination administration for each test administered, and pays the department $40.00 to process the application after passing. An unsuccessful examinee, or an approved applicant who failed to appear, pays $135.00 for the next test or both tests if necessary, plus $80.00 per test for administration. The application fee for registration is $100.00. The initial certification or registration fee is $200.00, reduced to $100.00 when it is remitted in the second year of a biennium. The initial designation fee for a financially responsible officer is $200.00. The application and initial issue of certification or registration for a business organization is $50.00. Transferring a license from one business entity to another is $50.00. Moving a license from active to inactive status is $50.00, and reactivating an inactive license is $100.00. Reviewing an examination is $75.00, and a duplicate copy of a previously issued license is $25.00. The biennial renewal fee for certification and registration is $200.00, and $50.00 on inactive status. Fees are per license, so a masonry company that also carries a general certificate pays each one separately.
Sourcesflrules.org
Insurance is a condition of getting and keeping the license. As a prerequisite to initial issuance or renewal, the applicant must submit an affidavit attesting that it has obtained workers compensation insurance as required by Chapter 440, public liability insurance and property damage insurance, in amounts set by board rule. The board verifies those affidavits through random sample audits. The rule sets the aggregate amounts. A general contractor and a building contractor each need $300,000 of public liability and $50,000 of property damage coverage. A residential contractor needs $100,000 and $25,000. Specialty contractors, unless specified otherwise, need $100,000 and $25,000. The rule also dictates what the certificate of insurance must show, including the exact name of the qualified business organization and any fictitious name, the policy number and dates, the licensee's correct license number, and the State of Florida, Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing Board as the certificate holder, with a thirty day written cancellation notice. The insurance must at all times be carried in the name of the licensee. Financial responsibility is separate. An applicant for a certificate must furnish a credit report from a nationally recognized credit agency reflecting financial responsibility. The statute caps what the board may demand: minimum requirements for net worth, cash and bonding of no more than $20,000 for Division I certificate holders and no more than $10,000 for Division II certificate holders. Fifty percent of the financial requirements may be met by completing a 14 hour financial responsibility course approved by the board. A local government may also deny or suspend a permit if a contractor will not show proof of liability and workers compensation coverage.
A Florida contractor license runs on a two year cycle. Each certificate holder or registrant who wants to continue must renew the certificate or registration every 2 years, and the department mails a renewal application. Renewal is not a fee alone. The licensee must provide proof, in a form established by board rule, of completing 14 classroom hours of at least 50 minutes each of continuing education during each biennium since the issuance or last renewal. The board sets by rule what portions of those 14 hours must address workers compensation, business practices, workplace safety, and for applicable license categories, wind mitigation methodologies. The board may accept alternative nonclassroom continuing education on an hour for hour basis and may prescribe by rule what education, if any, is required in a first biennium of initial licensure. A person licensed for less than an entire biennium is not required to complete the full 14 hours. A licensee who holds licenses under both Part I and Part II of the chapter may apply course hours across them in the circumstances the statute describes. The fee side is straightforward. Biennial renewal for certification or registration is $200.00, and $50.00 for a license kept on inactive status. The same $50.00 inactive rate applies to licensees who are building code administrators, plans examiners or inspectors employed by a local government whose employment terms bar an active certificate. A masonry or concrete business that goes quiet for a season can park a license on inactive status and pay $100.00 to reactivate it later rather than requalifying from scratch.
An out of state concrete or masonry contractor coming into Florida uses certification by endorsement rather than a reciprocity shortcut. The board must certify as qualified for certification by endorsement any applicant who meets the certification requirements set out in the statute, has passed a national, regional, state or United States territorial licensing examination that is substantially equivalent to the Florida examination, and has satisfied the experience and education requirements. The statute also recognizes an applicant who holds a valid license to practice contracting issued by another state whose certification criteria the board finds substantially equivalent, an applicant whose state or territory has entered into a reciprocal agreement with the board for recognition of contractor licenses on substantially equivalent criteria, and an applicant who has held such a license in the past. Timing is restricted. The application must be made either while the other state license is active or within 2 years after that license was last active. Division I contractors and roofing contractors seeking endorsement must complete a 2 hour course on the Florida Building Code that includes information on wind mitigation techniques, and the statute allows the required courses to be completed online. An applicant who has had a contracting license revoked, suspended or otherwise acted against by another licensing authority faces a separate hurdle. The board publishes its reciprocity and substantially equivalent examination material alongside its endorsement material, so an applicant should confirm the current status of any agreement with the board before building a Florida bid list around it.
The penalties attach to acting as a contractor without the license the work requires. The statute makes it unlawful to engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor, or to advertise yourself or a business organization as available to do so, without being duly registered or certified. It is separately unlawful to falsely hold yourself or a business out as a licensee, to present another person's certificate as your own, to use a suspended or revoked certificate, or to commence or perform work for which a building permit is required without that permit being in effect. A person or business operating on an inactive or suspended license is not duly licensed and is considered unlicensed, and the statute states plainly that a business tax receipt issued under Chapter 205 is not a license. A first violation by an unlicensed person is a first degree misdemeanor. A repeat violation after a prior finding of guilt is a third degree felony, and so is a violation committed during a state of emergency declared by executive order of the Governor. The department may issue a stop work order for all unlicensed work on a project on probable cause. Local enforcement runs in parallel. A county or municipality may designate code enforcement officers to cite unlicensed contractors, with a schedule of penalties whose maximum civil penalty may not exceed $2,000, and an enforcement board or special magistrate may order a civil penalty of up to $2,500 per day for each violation. That order can be recorded as a lien against the violator's property.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us
Florida regulates what a licensed contractor puts in front of customers, and the rules are specific enough to audit. The registration or certification number of each contractor must appear in each offer of services, business proposal, bid, contract or advertisement, regardless of medium, used by that contractor or business organization in the practice of contracting. Board rule defines the terms advertise and advertises to apply to business cards, business proposals, contracts, construction site signs, newspapers, airwave transmission other than internal company communications, any electronic media including Internet sites, phone directories, handbills, billboards, flyers, shopping and service guides, magazines including trade association publications, classified advertisements, manufacturer authorized dealer listings, and signs on vehicles. The rule excludes balloons, pencils, pens, hats, shirts and other promotional novelties, and excludes a single line phone directory listing or a free listing of one, two or three lines that shows nothing more than the name, company name, address and telephone numbers without bolding, highlighting or further elaboration. The statute adds that business stationery and promotional novelties are not advertisements. Vehicles get their own sentence. If a vehicle bears the name of a contractor or business organization, or any text or artwork that would lead a reasonable person to believe the vehicle is used for contracting, the number must be conspicuously and legibly displayed with that name, text or artwork, although the statute says this does not create a mandatory vehicle signage requirement. The number also goes on every building permit application and permit. Enforcement starts soft. The board issues a notice of noncompliance for a first offense and may assess a fine or issue a citation if the offense is not corrected within 30 days. Claiming to be licensed or insured when you are not exposes an unlicensed person to a local civil fine.
Miami-Dade County still runs the deepest local system for concrete trades. Its Construction Trades Qualifying Board issues building specialty licenses, and three of them are concrete work. A Prestressed Precast Concrete Erection Contractor may erect structural precast units such as decks, beams, girders, walls, columns and stairs, including the welding and rigging, and precast guard rails and decorative panels above the ground floor, with three years of experience required. A Reinforcing Steel Placing Contractor may fabricate, place, tie and weld reinforcing bars used to reinforce concrete buildings or structures, also three years. A Concrete and Masonry Fence Contractor may lay concrete block or erect precast units including columns and caps in fences not exceeding four feet in height that are not used as a building or structural wall, with one year of experience. The county requires one to five years of proven field experience depending on the license, proof of experience through employer letters or W-2 documents, a passing examination grade of 70 percent or above on an open book test, proof of liability and workers compensation insurance after board approval, and payment of $315 on submittal. Non-exam specialty trades require 16 hours of continuing education before the license issues. A personal certificate of competency comes first, then a business certificate of competency. Jacksonville's Construction Trades Qualifying Board regulates general, building, residential, roofing, pool, sheet metal, electrical, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, water treatment, irrigation, natural gas, pool subcontractors and carpentry subcontractors, with no concrete category. Hillsborough County states that local jurisdictions may issue local licensure for license types that mirror a DBPR license. In Orange County, building permits may be obtained by a Florida licensed certified or registered general, building or residential contractor.
Sourcesmiamidade.gov 1contrades.coj.net 2hcfl.gov 3orangecountyfl.net 4
Florida gives homeowners and general contractors a free way to check a concrete company, so assume every serious prospect uses it. The department runs a licensee search on its licensing portal where anyone can search by name, by license number, by city or county, or by license type. The same portal carries an unlicensed activity search, a complaint form, an application status view and a continuing education course search. The results show the license type code, which is how a customer can tell a certified license from a registered one, since certified codes begin with C and registered codes begin with R. That distinction tells a customer whether the contractor may work statewide or only in the jurisdictions where local requirements were met. Local discipline feeds the same record. Local jurisdictions are responsible for providing the board with licensure information, code violation information and disciplinary information within 30 days after licensing or taking disciplinary action against a locally licensed contractor who is registered with the board, and the board must make that information available through its automated information system. Permits create a second public trail, because the statute requires the registration or certification number on each building permit application and on each permit issued and recorded, and the local building department must require it before issuing. For a concrete business, the practical move is to put the license number where a prospect finds it without asking, since the statute already requires it on bids, proposals, contracts and advertising.
Sourcesmyfloridalicense.com 1leg.state.fl.us 2leg.state.fl.us 3
These are common details other guides publish about Florida, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No state license names driveway work, and the statute bars a local government from requiring a license for driveway or tennis court installation. Plain flatwork that touches no structural component sits outside the Chapter 489 categories. The moment a pour carries building load, it becomes work a general, building or residential contractor is responsible for.
A Division I license. The statute makes a general, building or residential contractor responsible for construction or alteration of any structural component, and it defines a structural component to include a foundation and load bearing walls, columns, beams and floors. General is unlimited, building stops at three stories, residential covers one to three family homes.
Yes, as a voluntary category. The statute directed the board to establish certified specialty contractor categories for voluntary licensure, including structural masonry and structural prestressed, precast concrete work. The statute also says a certified specialty category does not create a mandatory licensing requirement, so holding one is a credential choice rather than a condition of working.
Yes. An uncertified, unregistered subcontractor may perform work under the supervision of a certified or registered contractor when the work is within that contractor's license scope, the contractor is responsible for it, and the work is not in a Division II trade category. Concrete and masonry are not Division II categories.
Board rule sets the application and examination fee for certification at $335.00, nonrefundable. Of that, $135.00 goes to the department or its examination vendor at scheduling, $80.00 covers administration of each test given, and $40.00 pays for application processing after the examination is passed. A registration application is $100.00 instead.
Board rule sets aggregate amounts by category. General and building contractors each carry $300,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage. Residential contractors carry $100,000 and $25,000. Specialty contractors, unless specified otherwise, carry $100,000 and $25,000. Workers compensation under Chapter 440 is required separately, and the board audits the affidavits at random.
If a vehicle bears your name or any text or artwork that would lead a reasonable person to believe it is used for contracting, the number must be conspicuously and legibly displayed with it. Board rule lists signs on vehicles as advertising. The statute says this does not create a mandatory vehicle signage requirement.
Yes. The number must appear in each offer of services, business proposal, bid, contract or advertisement, regardless of medium. Board rule counts any electronic media including Internet sites, business cards, construction site signs, billboards and flyers. Promotional novelties and plain one to three line directory listings are excluded.
Every two years. A certificate holder or registrant must renew each biennium, provide proof of 14 classroom hours of continuing education of at least 50 minutes each, and pay the fee. Biennial renewal is $200.00 active and $50.00 inactive. Reactivating an inactive license later costs $100.00.
The board sets by rule which portions of the 14 hours must deal with workers compensation, business practices, workplace safety, and for applicable categories wind mitigation methodologies. The board may accept nonclassroom education on an hour for hour basis. Someone licensed for less than a full biennium is not required to complete all 14 hours.
A first violation by an unlicensed person is a first degree misdemeanor, and a repeat offense or one during a declared state of emergency is a third degree felony. The department may issue a stop work order. Local citations carry a maximum civil penalty of $2,000, and a magistrate may order up to $2,500 per day.
Yes. Its Construction Trades Qualifying Board issues building specialty licenses including Prestressed Precast Concrete Erection Contractor and Reinforcing Steel Placing Contractor, each needing three years of experience, and Concrete and Masonry Fence Contractor needing one year. Applicants pass an open book examination at 70 percent or above and pay $315 on submittal.
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