How to Check a Florida Contractor's License

Before you hand a deposit to anyone working on your home, take five minutes to confirm they hold an active Florida contractor's license. It is free, it is public, and it is the single best way to avoid an unlicensed or out-of-area contractor. This guide walks through the state lookup step by step and explains the license codes you will see along the way.

Why the license check matters

In Florida, most construction work on a home has to be done by a contractor licensed under Chapter 489 of the Florida Statutes. Licensing means the contractor (or the person who qualifies their company) has met state requirements for experience, examinations, financial responsibility and insurance. It also means there is a state board, the Construction Industry Licensing Board, that can take disciplinary action if something goes wrong.

Hiring an unlicensed contractor can leave you with work that cannot be permitted, problems with your homeowners insurance, and few practical ways to recover your money. Florida treats unlicensed contracting as a crime, and penalties are stiffer when it happens during a declared state of emergency, such as after a hurricane.

How to look up a license on the DBPR website

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) runs the state's public license search at myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp. Here is how to use it:

Get the license number first. Ask the contractor for it, or look on their estimate, contract, truck or website. Florida licensed contractors are generally required to include their license number in their advertising, so a business that won't share it is a warning sign.
Search by license number or by name. On the search page, choose to search by license number or by name. If you search by name, try both the person's name and the company name, since a business is licensed through a "qualifier," the licensed individual responsible for its work.
Check the status. You want to see a status of current and active. Statuses such as delinquent, inactive, suspended, revoked or null and void mean the license cannot be used to contract right now.
Check the expiration date. Contractor licenses renew on a cycle. Make sure the license won't lapse in the middle of your project.
Match the names. The name on the license record should match the name on your contract, or the company should be listed as qualified by that licensee. If a salesperson gives you someone else's number, ask why.
Look at the license type. The code at the front of the license number tells you what the contractor is allowed to build. More on that below.
Review any public discipline. The record may show public complaints or final orders. Complaints stay confidential until the state finds probable cause, so a clean record doesn't rule out an open complaint. One old complaint is not necessarily a deal-breaker, but a pattern deserves questions. You can contact DBPR directly if you want to know more.

What CGC, CBC, CRC and CCC mean

Florida contractor license numbers start with letters that identify the license category. The "C" at the start means the license is certified, which is a statewide license issued by the state. The common categories you will see for home projects are:

CGC: Certified General Contractor. The broadest of the three building categories. A general contractor can take on residential and commercial projects of essentially any size, including large and multi-story buildings.
CBC: Certified Building Contractor. Can build and remodel homes and commercial buildings up to a set height limit, and can do remodeling and repair work on larger buildings as long as it does not affect structural members.
CRC: Certified Residential Contractor. Focused on homes: construction, remodeling and repair of one-, two- and three-family residences within a height limit. For most single-family remodels, a residential contractor is properly licensed.
CCC: Certified Roofing Contractor. Licensed for roofing work. Despite the letters, CCC is the roofing category, not a general license.

For a kitchen, bath, addition or whole-home remodel, any of CGC, CBC or CRC may be appropriate depending on the scope. A roofer (CCC) handles roofs. Exact scopes are defined in Florida law, so if your project is unusual, such as a multi-story addition or work on a condo building, confirm that the license category covers it.

Certified vs. registered licenses

You may also see license numbers that start with R instead of C, such as RG, RB or RR. These are registered licenses. A registered contractor holds a local certificate of competency and is registered with the state, but can generally only work in the local jurisdictions where they hold that local license. A registered contractor can be a perfectly good choice; just confirm their registration covers the city or county where your home is.

Specialty trades

Electricians, plumbers, air conditioning contractors, pool contractors and other specialty trades have their own license categories. Electrical contractors are licensed by a separate state board, so you'll find them under a different board in the same DBPR search. Some specialty trades are also licensed at the county level. If your project includes significant electrical, plumbing or HVAC work, your general contractor will usually hire licensed subcontractors for those trades and list them on the permit.

Beyond the license: other checks worth doing

A license is the minimum. A few more steps help you separate good contractors from merely licensed ones:

Insurance. Ask for a certificate of insurance showing general liability coverage, and have it sent to you directly from the insurance agent if possible. Ask about workers' compensation as well. The Florida Division of Workers' Compensation offers an online proof-of-coverage search.
Local business tax receipt. Most Florida cities and counties require businesses to hold a local business tax receipt. It doesn't prove skill, but it shows the business is established locally.
Permit history. Many local building departments let you search permits by contractor name. A contractor who regularly pulls permits in your area is one who works within the system. Our guide to remodeling permits in Lee County, Cape Coral and Fort Myers explains how permits work locally.
References and recent work. Ask for two or three recent customers with similar projects, ideally in your part of Southwest Florida.
A written contract. Get the scope, price, payment schedule, start and finish expectations and warranty in writing. Florida law requires certain notices in residential construction contracts, including information about the state's Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund, which may help homeowners harmed by certain licensed contractors. That fund generally does not help if you hired someone unlicensed.

Red flags to watch for

Be cautious if a contractor:

won't give you a license number, or the number belongs to someone else,
asks you to pull the permit yourself as an "owner-builder" when they're doing the work,
wants most or all of the money before work begins,
pressures you to sign the same day,
only accepts cash, or
shows up uninvited after a storm offering a deal. Our guide to hiring a contractor after a hurricane covers storm-chaser scams in detail.

Quick checklist

Before you sign, confirm that:

the license is current and active on the DBPR lookup,
the license category fits your project,
the name on the license matches the contract,
you've seen proof of insurance,
the contractor (not you) will pull the permit, and
the payment schedule is tied to completed work.

How SWFL Contractor Match fits in

SWFL Contractor Match is a free referral service, not a contractor. When you request quotes, we match you with up to three licensed local contractors who serve your area, from Fort Myers and Cape Coral to Naples and Punta Gorda. We still encourage you to run every contractor through the DBPR lookup yourself. It's your home, and verifying a license takes only a few minutes.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. License categories, scopes and requirements are set by Florida law and can change. Confirm details with the Florida DBPR and your local building department.