How to verify a license.

Verifying a Florida contractor's license takes about three minutes. Most people don't do it because they don't know how. This guide walks through the process the way you'd do it yourself, step by step.

The short version

Step one: Get the license number

Every Florida contractor license has a number in a specific format — three letters followed by a series of digits. The letters identify the license type. Common ones:

• CGC — Certified General Contractor (general construction)
• CBC — Certified Building Contractor (one- to three-story buildings)
• CRC — Certified Residential Contractor (one- and two-family homes only)
• CCC — Certified Roofing Contractor
• CPC — Certified Pool/Spa Contractor
• CMC — Certified Mechanical Contractor (HVAC)
• EC — Electrical Contractor
• CFC — Certified Plumbing Contractor

Ask the contractor for their license number in writing — on their business card, their proposal, their email signature, or their contract. They should have no problem providing it. If they hesitate, that's a flag.

Once you have the number, you can verify in any of three places.

Step two: Verify with the State of Florida

The official source is myfloridalicense.com — operated by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Here's the process:

1. Go to myfloridalicense.com
2. Click "Verify a License" in the main navigation
3. Enter the license number (e.g., CGC1520921)
4. The system returns the licensee's name, business name, license status, expiration date, and any disciplinary actions

This is the authoritative source. If the State of Florida shows the license as Current and Active, with no disciplinary actions, the contractor is in good standing as of the date you check.

Step three: Cross-check with this registry

Florida Contractor Registry refreshes its data from DBPR weekly. The information here should match what's at myfloridalicense.com — but our presentation makes a few things easier to spot:

• All licenses held by a single qualifying agent appear together (some contractors hold 4 or 5 licenses across different specialties — useful to see this in one place)
• The qualifying agent relationship is shown explicitly (you can see whether the business has had recent qualifier changes)
• Other contractors in the same county or city are easy to compare against

Search the contractor by license number or business name. If the registry shows a license as Current that DBPR shows as Delinquent or worse, our data is at most one week stale — use the State of Florida's version as the authoritative answer.

Step four: Match what the contractor told you

This is the step most people skip, and it's where fraud often shows up. Take what you learned from the State and what you see on our registry, and compare it carefully to what the contractor has told you and given you in writing.

Specifically, check the following:

• License number. Should match exactly across the contractor's business card, their proposal, the State of Florida record, and this registry. A typo on a business card is one thing; a different number on the proposal than what's on file with the state is a serious issue.
• Qualifying agent. The qualifying agent on file with the state should be a person who actually works for the business. If the contractor's website says "John Smith, Owner" and the State of Florida shows a different person as the qualifying agent, ask about the relationship.
• Scope of license. The license should be appropriate for the work being proposed. A CCC (roofing) doing kitchen renovations is not licensed for that work. A CRC (residential) trying to do work on your three-story commercial property is exceeding their scope.
• Expiration date. Should be at least 60 days away. A license that expires next month is fine if the contractor is going to renew, but you want to know in advance — and the renewal should happen before work begins.

Red flags during verification

Most license checks go smoothly. When they don't, it's usually for one of these reasons:

• The license is not Current. Stop here. They cannot legally pull permits or perform work over $5,000. Find someone else.
• The license doesn't exist. Some specialties (handyman work under $1,000, basic landscaping, very limited cosmetic work) don't require a state license. Most things you'd hire a contractor for do. If you're proposing work over $5,000 and the contractor doesn't have a license, that's unlicensed contracting under Florida law.
• The qualifying agent changed recently. Ask why. Was the previous qualifying agent disciplined? Did they leave the business? A clean explanation is fine. An evasive one is not.
• The license shows disciplinary action codes. This usually means past disciplinary action. Look at the details on the DBPR record. Old, resolved issues from years ago are usually not a problem. Recent issues or repeated patterns are.
• The license type doesn't match the work. Means the contractor is doing work outside what they're licensed for. This is illegal even if the contractor has a different valid license.

If anything doesn't check out

Stop. Don't sign. Don't pay a deposit. Don't allow work to begin.

It is much, much easier to walk away from a contractor at the verification stage than at any later stage. Once money has changed hands, your leverage drops to almost zero. Before money has changed hands, you have all the leverage.

Find another contractor whose verification is clean. There are 266,312 active licenses in Florida — there's no shortage of options.