Florida · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
Florida licenses plumbing contractors statewide through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and its Construction Industry Licensing Board. A Certified Plumbing Contractor, prefix CF, passes the state exam and works anywhere in Florida. A Registered Plumbing Contractor, prefix RF, skips the state exam and works only where local competency was granted. Four years of experience is the core requirement.
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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 2026-09-11. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Plumbing is licensed at state level in Florida. The license is issued by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and the qualifying decisions are made by the Construction Industry Licensing Board that sits inside it. Section 489.115(1), Florida Statutes, puts it bluntly: no person may engage in the business of contracting in this state without first being certified or registered in the proper classification. There is no separate state plumbing board. Plumbing sits in the same board and the same statute as general, building, roofing, mechanical and pool work. Florida splits contractors into two divisions. Division I is general, building and residential contractors. Division II is everything else, and plumbing is in Division II. That split matters later, because insurance minimums and bonding guidelines are written per division rather than per trade. Florida does not issue a state journeyman plumber license and does not issue a state master plumber license. The only plumbing credential the state itself issues is the contractor license, in two forms: Certified Plumbing Contractor, prefix CF, and Registered Plumbing Contractor, prefix RF. Journeyman plumbing cards exist in Florida, but they are county credentials issued by county examining boards, not by DBPR. One licensed individual can qualify a business organization. Section 489.119 makes that person the qualifying agent, with final approval authority over construction work and over contracts, checks and payments unless a separate financially responsible officer is approved.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2leg.state.fl.us 3leg.state.fl.us 4
This is the single most misread thing about plumbing licensure in Florida. Certified and Registered are not two grades of the same license. They are two different routes with two different geographic scopes. A Certified Plumbing Contractor, license prefix CF, passed the state examination and holds a certificate of competency from the department. Section 489.113(4)(a) says a certificateholder who wants to work anywhere in the state has to do only two things locally: show the building official or tax collector a current certificate, and pay the same permit and business tax receipt fees anyone else pays. No second local competency exam. A Registered Plumbing Contractor, prefix RF, did not pass the state exam. Section 489.117(1) says registration is issued on evidence of compliance with the local examination and licensing requirements in the area the applicant wants to work, and that an examination is not required for registration. Registration then allows work only in the counties, municipalities or districts where the registrant has met local licensing requirements. Here is the trap. Section 489.117(2)(a) bars the board from issuing new registrations based on a local competency card from a local government that does not exercise disciplinary control and oversight over its licensees. Section 489.117(2)(b) opens one narrow door: an applicant who held a state registration or a local license in 2021, 2022 or 2023, and can show the local jurisdiction no longer offers that license type, may be registered for that jurisdiction. Registration is not a general beginner path any more. If you are starting today and want to bid statewide, the certified route is the route.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1leg.state.fl.us 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3
Section 489.105(3)(m) writes the scope of work in unusual detail, and it is worth reading before you turn down a job you are allowed to take. A plumbing contractor is a contractor whose services are unlimited in the plumbing trade. The statute then lists what you may install, maintain, repair, alter, extend or design without obtaining an additional local regulatory license, certificate or registration: sanitary and storm drainage, water and sewer plants and substations, venting systems, public or private water supply systems, septic tanks, drainage and supply wells, swimming pool piping, irrigation systems, and solar water heating systems, including boilers and pressure process piping, and including water, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas lines with their venting, and storm and sanitary sewer lines. The scope also carries air piping, vacuum line piping, oxygen line piping, nitrous oxide piping and related medical gas systems, fire line standpipes and fire sprinklers where authorized by law, ink and chemical lines, fuel oil and gasoline piping and tank and pump installation other than bulk storage plants, and pneumatic control piping. It applies on private and public property and includes excavation incidental to the work. Two limits. Anything specified as another trade has to be subcontracted to a contractor licensed in that field. And under section 489.113(3) the trades run the other way too: a general, building or residential contractor has to subcontract plumbing work unless that contractor also holds a plumbing certificate or registration. That subcontracting rule is why a CF license sells itself to builders.
Section 489.111 sets the gate. An applicant must be at least 18 years of age and of good moral character, and must satisfy one of the listed experience routes. DBPR's plumbing application form, DBPR CILB 5-M, lists the same routes in the order an applicant fills them in, and states that one year of experience means 2,000 hours. The routes are: a four year construction degree in building construction, engineering or architecture from an accredited school plus one year of proven experience in the category; one year as a foreman plus at least three years of accredited college credits; one year as a skilled worker plus one year as a foreman plus at least two years of college credits; two years as a skilled worker plus one year as a foreman plus at least one year of college credits; or four years of active experience as a worker, of which at least one year was as a foreman. That last route is the one most plumbers use. Four years in the trade, one of them supervising. DBPR's own FAQ page states it the same way: four years of field experience, one of which must be supervisory. Up to three years of the field experience may be satisfied by military service or by college credit, and DBPR's FAQ notes the military service or education does not have to be construction related. Section 489.115(6) and (9) add a statewide criminal history check and a full set of fingerprints for state and federal processing on every initial application.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3leg.state.fl.us 4
Plumbing candidates take Business and Finance plus the Plumbing Trade Knowledge examination. Section 489.113(1) adds one shortcut: an applicant holding a baccalaureate degree in building construction from an accredited four year college with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher takes only the business and finance portion. The Plumbing Trade Knowledge exam is the outlier in the whole DBPR construction program. Every other construction trade moved to computer based testing. DBPR's examination page states plumbing is still administered in paper and pencil format, on scheduled dates only, at a single site. The candidate information booklet for Construction Contractors, Plumbing only, describes the day: a morning session of four hours and thirty minutes covering five isometric drawings, and an afternoon session of four hours and thirty minutes covering 110 multiple choice questions. Scoring is stated in points, not percent. The booklet says the drawings and the multiple choice questions together make 160 possible points, and that a candidate must score 112 out of 160 to pass, which is 70 percent. The Business and Finance exam is computer based through Pearson VUE and runs six and one-half hours. All Florida construction examinations are open book. Candidates get four years from the date of the first sitting to pass every portion, with no cap on retakes inside that window, and DBPR's FAQ page states you must then apply for licensure within four years of passing. Miss either window and the passing scores stop counting.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3www2.myfloridalicense.com 4www2.myfloridalicense.com 5
Florida prorates the initial fee against the renewal cycle, so the same application costs two different amounts depending on the month you file it. For a certified plumbing contractor, DBPR form CILB 5-M states $245 for an application filed between May 1 of an even year and August 31 of an odd year, and $145 for an application filed between September 1 of an odd year and April 30 of an even year. For a registered contractor, form CILB 2 states $305 for an application filed between May 1 of an odd year and August 31 of an even year, and $205 between September 1 of an even year and April 30 of an odd year. Both are payable to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Examination charges are separate and are billed by two parties. DBPR's construction examination application packet lists a $135 registration fee payable to Professional Testing, Inc. for every candidate. On top of that, a computer based Business and Finance test with Pearson VUE is $80, and the paper based Plumbing Trade Knowledge administration is $80 payable to the Florida DBPR. Section 489.109 caps what the board may charge by rule: an initial certificate application fee no higher than $150, or $350 where an examination cost is folded in, and an initial certification fee and renewal fee no higher than $250. Registration application is capped at $100 and registration and renewal at $200. Qualifying a business organization is a flat $50 on top, at both application and renewal.
Sourceswww2.myfloridalicense.com 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3leg.state.fl.us 4
Florida is one of the few states that reads your credit before it reads your references. Section 489.115(5)(b) requires an initial applicant to furnish a credit report from a nationally recognized credit agency showing financial responsibility, credit and business reputation, either personal or for the business organization being qualified. DBPR publishes the threshold plainly. Its financial responsibility handout and the CILB 5-M application both state that an applicant demonstrates financial stability with a FICO derived credit score of 660 or higher and no unsatisfied judgments or liens. An applicant scoring under 660 must complete a board approved 14 hour financial responsibility course instead. Section 489.115(7) sets the outer bounds for anything the board asks beyond that. The board may adopt guidelines for net worth, cash and bonding, and those guidelines may not exceed $20,000 for Division I certificateholders or $10,000 for Division II certificateholders. Plumbing is Division II, so the $10,000 figure is the one that applies. The same subsection lets 50 percent of the financial requirement be met by completing the 14 hour financial responsibility course. Where a business uses a separate financially responsible officer rather than putting the qualifying agent in charge of the money, DBPR's FAQ page lists a $100,000 bond for that officer. DBPR also publishes a list of acceptable credit reporting agencies through the Construction Industry board page, which matters because a report from an agency the board does not accept sends the file back.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3www2.myfloridalicense.com 4www2.myfloridalicense.com 5
Section 489.115(5)(a) requires an affidavit at initial issuance and at every renewal attesting that the applicant carries 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 by random sample. The amounts themselves are printed on DBPR's own application forms and on its FAQ page. General and building contractors carry $300,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage. Every other category, plumbing included, carries $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage. Those are the state floors for an active license. They are not a bid requirement and they are not what a commercial general contractor will accept on a certificate of insurance, so treat the state number as the minimum to hold the license and nothing more. Workers compensation has a second track. Section 489.115(5)(d) allows an initial applicant who intends to claim an exemption under section 440.05 to file an affidavit stating the exemption will be obtained within 30 days after the initial license is issued. Enforcement is local as well as state. Section 489.113(4)(c) lets a local government deny a building permit, or suspend a permit already issued, where a contractor fails or refuses to provide proof of the public liability and property damage coverage required by section 489.115(5) and the workers compensation coverage required by section 489.114. Letting a policy lapse mid job can stop the permits, not just the license.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3leg.state.fl.us 4
Section 489.115(4)(a) sets a two year cycle. Certified and registered licensees renew on different years, which trips up contractors who hold one of each. DBPR's FAQ page states certified contractors renew by August 31 of even numbered years and registered contractors renew by August 31 of odd numbered years. Continuing education is 14 classroom hours per biennium, each hour being at least 50 minutes, under section 489.115(4)(b)1. The statute requires the board to allocate part of those hours to workers compensation, business practices, workplace safety, applicable wind mitigation methodologies, and one hour on laws and rules. DBPR's FAQ page sets out the current allocation as one hour each of workplace safety, workers compensation, business practices, advanced module building code and laws and rules, with the balance in general credits, and notes wind mitigation applies to general, building, residential, roofing, specialty structure and glass and glazing licensees rather than to plumbing. New licensees get relief. DBPR's FAQ states 7 hours are required where the license was issued one to two years before renewal, and none where it was issued less than a year before. Section 489.115(4)(b)1 backs that up by directing that a person licensed for less than an entire biennium must not be required to complete the full 14 hours. DBPR's current renewal insert lists an active renewal at $205, or $255 where you also qualify a business, rising to $230 and $280 after August 31, 2026. Inactive renewal is $55, rising to $80. Reactivating from inactive is $305, rising to $330.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2www2.myfloridalicense.com 3
Contractors moving into Florida ask about reciprocity first, and for plumbing the honest answer is short. The Construction Industry Licensing Board publishes two documents on its own board page, one for reciprocity and one for endorsement. Neither covers plumbing. The reciprocity document lists agreements with Louisiana, North Carolina and Mississippi, and covers General, Building and Residential licenses only. The endorsement document lists specific out of state examinations the board treats as substantially similar, including Alabama roofing, Arkansas master HVACR, several California classifications, Georgia pollutant storage, Iowa master HVACR and South Carolina mechanical air conditioning, plus the NASCLA General Contractors Exam from 2009 forward for Division I categories. Plumbing appears in neither list. Section 489.115(3) still leaves statutory doors open that do not depend on a signed agreement. The board must certify by endorsement an applicant who has passed a substantially equivalent national, regional or state examination and meets section 489.111; who holds a valid license from another state issued on substantially equivalent criteria; who holds a license from a state with a reciprocal agreement; or who has held a valid current license in another state for at least ten years before applying and is applying for the same or similar license. That last route has to be used while the other license is active or within two years of it last being active. In practice a plumbing contractor arriving from another state should plan on the Florida examination and should plan the four year experience documentation as if starting fresh.
Sourceswww2.myfloridalicense.com 1www2.myfloridalicense.com 2leg.state.fl.us 3www2.myfloridalicense.com 4
Florida treats unlicensed contracting as a crime, not a paperwork problem. Section 489.127(1) prohibits falsely holding yourself or a business out as a licensee, using a suspended or revoked certificate, engaging in or advertising availability to engage in contracting without being registered or certified, operating a business organization more than 60 days after its only qualifying agent left without naming a new one, and starting permit work with no permit in effect. A first violation by an unlicensed person is a misdemeanor of the first degree. A repeat violation is a felony of the third degree, and so is any violation committed during a state of emergency declared by the Governor. The same section makes clear that a person operating on an inactive or suspended license counts as unlicensed, and that a local business tax receipt is not a license. Section 489.127(4) reaches licensed contractors too. Renting out your license number, knowingly letting someone else use it, or pulling a permit for work you have not actually contracted to perform is itself a first degree misdemeanor, rising to a third degree felony on a repeat. Section 489.13 adds administrative exposure, with the fine ceiling stated in the statute, plus investigative and legal costs. Section 489.13(5) bars a local building department from issuing a building permit to anyone without a valid active certificate or registration, and states that a local competency card is not sufficient. Section 489.127(3) lets the department issue a stop work order for all unlicensed work on a project.
This is the rule Florida plumbing contractors trip over most often, because it applies to marketing rather than to fieldwork. Section 489.119(5)(b) requires that the registration or certification number appear in each offer of services, business proposal, bid, contract or advertisement, regardless of medium. Website, service van wrap, door hanger, radio spot, Google Business Profile post and written estimate all sit inside that sentence. Section 489.119(5)(c) handles vehicles specifically. Where a vehicle bears the name of a contractor or business, or any text or artwork that would lead a reasonable person to believe the vehicle is used for contracting, the license number must be conspicuously and legibly displayed with that name, text or artwork. The statute also says nothing in that paragraph creates a mandatory vehicle signage requirement, so an unmarked van is allowed. A marked van with no number is not. Local governments may separately require display of a local competency number. Section 489.119(5)(d) carves out business stationery and promotional novelties such as balloons, pencils, trinkets and clothing. Enforcement runs in two steps under section 489.119(5)(e). The board issues a notice of noncompliance for a first offense. It may then assess a fine or issue a citation for failure to correct within 30 days, or for any subsequent offense. Section 489.119(5)(f) lets a local government fine an unlicensed person who claims in an advertisement to be licensed without holding a valid local competency license, or who claims to be insured while the work is not covered by general liability or workers compensation. Section 489.119(5)(a) closes the loop at the permit counter: the number goes on every permit application, and building departments must require it before issuing.
Sourcesleg.state.fl.us
A certified plumbing contractor works statewide, but local paperwork still exists and the two largest counties in the state run their own examining boards on top of the state system. Miami-Dade County licenses plumbing through its Regulatory and Economic Resources department and its construction trades qualifying board. The county issues a Plumbing Contractor license, which requires a master plumber as the qualifying agent, and a separate Journeyman Plumber certificate that requires three years of proven experience in the trade or the education equivalent, with no more than half a year of that experience allowed as education. Examinations are required for every county plumbing license type except portable chemical toilets. The county also issues lawn sprinkler, swimming pool piping and journeyman gas fitter credentials. Broward County runs Central Examining Boards and issues Certificates of Competency for engineering, mechanical, electrical and plumbing, plus separate plumbing journeyman certification. Broward's own page states that contractor certification requires a trade exam plus a business and law exam, that journeyman certifications do not require the business and law exam, and that the general passing grade is 70 percent but rises to 75 percent for plumbing, electrical, mechanical and engineering. Section 489.117(4) limits how far any local government may go. A local government may not require a state or local license, or condition a permit on one, for a job scope that does not substantially correspond to a licensed category. The statute names painting, flooring, cabinetry, driveway installation, handyman services, pressure washing, stuccoing and caulking among the examples. Plumbing is not on that list, so plumbing work stays licensed everywhere.
DBPR runs a free public license search, and it is the page your customers, your general contractors and your insurance carrier will all land on. It sits at myfloridalicense.com and allows a search by name, by license number, by city or county, or by license type, for applicants as well as licensees. What the record shows is as important as whether it exists. The search returns license type, so a customer can see CF for certified plumbing or RF for registered plumbing and can tell statewide authority apart from a single jurisdiction. It returns status, which is why an inactive or delinquent license is a live problem: under section 489.127(1) a person operating on an inactive or suspended license is treated as unlicensed. The same portal carries related searches a prospect may run without telling you, including complaint records, continuing education course records and an unlicensed activity search. Section 489.13(6) requires the department to maintain a web page listing known information about unlicensed contractors, searchable by name or by county, and bars the department from limiting the quality or quantity of that information. Two practical consequences. First, the name on your license record and the name you advertise under should match, because section 489.119(5)(e) treats a mismatch as a display failure and because a customer who cannot find you assumes the worst. Second, keeping a license active through the August 31 deadline is a marketing act as much as a compliance act. A lapsed record is public the same day it lapses.
Sourcesmyfloridalicense.com 1leg.state.fl.us 2leg.state.fl.us 3leg.state.fl.us 4
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.
At the state level. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation issues the license through the Construction Industry Licensing Board, and section 489.115(1), Florida Statutes, says no person may engage in contracting without being certified or registered in the proper classification. Counties still issue journeyman cards and local competency cards, but the contractor license itself is a state license.
CF is a Certified Plumbing Contractor. That person passed the state examination and may contract anywhere in Florida by showing the certificate to the local building official. RF is a Registered Plumbing Contractor, which requires no state examination but only authorizes work in the specific counties or cities where the registrant has met local licensing requirements.
Only in narrow circumstances. Section 489.117(2)(a) blocks new registrations built on a local competency card from a local government that does not exercise disciplinary oversight. Section 489.117(2)(b) allows registration where the applicant held a state registration or local license in 2021, 2022 or 2023 and can show the jurisdiction no longer offers that license type.
Four years of active experience, at least one of it as a foreman, under section 489.111. DBPR counts one year as 2,000 hours. College credit or a construction degree can substitute for part of it, and DBPR's FAQ page states up to three years may be covered by military service or college credit that need not be construction related.
Yes. DBPR's construction examinations page states the Plumbing Trade Knowledge examination is administered in paper and pencil format on scheduled dates, while other construction trades moved to computer based testing. Business and Finance is computer based through Pearson VUE and runs six and one-half hours.
The candidate information booklet for Construction Contractors, Plumbing only, states the exam is worth 160 possible points across 110 multiple choice questions and five isometric drawings, and that a candidate must score 112 out of 160 to pass. That is 70 percent. Both sessions run four hours and thirty minutes.
A FICO derived score of 660 or higher, with no unsatisfied judgments or liens, according to DBPR's financial responsibility handout and the CILB 5-M application. An applicant below 660 must complete a board approved 14 hour financial responsibility course. Section 489.115(5)(b) is the statutory basis for requiring the credit report at all.
DBPR application forms and the board FAQ page state $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage for every category other than general and building contractors, which carry $300,000 and $50,000. Plumbing falls in the lower tier. Workers compensation under chapter 440 is required separately, or a filed exemption.
Every two years under section 489.115(4)(a). DBPR's FAQ page states certified licensees renew by August 31 of even numbered years and registered licensees renew by August 31 of odd numbered years. Continuing education is 14 classroom hours per cycle, reduced to 7 hours for a license issued one to two years before renewal.
No. The board's reciprocity document covers General, Building and Residential licenses with Louisiana, North Carolina and Mississippi. The endorsement document lists specific out of state exams the board accepts, none of them plumbing. Section 489.115(3) still allows endorsement routes that do not require a signed agreement, including ten years of licensure elsewhere.
On the website and every advertisement, yes. Section 489.119(5)(b) requires the number in each offer of services, business proposal, bid, contract or advertisement in any medium. On vehicles, section 489.119(5)(c) requires the number wherever the vehicle carries the business name, text or artwork suggesting contracting, though an unmarked vehicle needs no signage.
Section 489.119(5)(e) directs the board to issue a notice of noncompliance for a first offense. If the offense is not corrected within 30 days, or on any later offense, the board may assess a fine or issue a citation. Business stationery and promotional novelties such as pencils and clothing are excluded.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.