Guide
Florida roofing contractor license: certified, registered, verified
Updated
Florida is one of the strictest licensing states for roofing. Two credentials exist, they are not interchangeable across the state, and both are searchable in about a minute.
What a Florida roofing contractor is allowed to do
Florida statute defines a roofing contractor as one "whose services are unlimited in the roofing trade", covering installation, maintenance, repair, alteration and extension of all kinds of roofing, waterproofing and coating. The statutory scope expressly includes skylights, required roof-deck attachments, any repair or replacement of wood roof sheathing or fascia needed during roof repair or replacement, and the evaluation and enhancement of roof-to-wall connections for structures with wood roof decking (F.S. 489.105(3)(e)).
That matters for your bid: sheathing repair and roof-to-wall work are inside the roofer's scope, so a bid that treats them as somebody else's problem is a bid that has not been thought through.
Certified and registered are different things
- Certified roofing contractor
- Holds a certificate of competency issued by the department and, in the statute's words, "shall be allowed to contract in any jurisdiction in the state without being required to fulfill the competency requirements of that jurisdiction" (F.S. 489.105(8)).
- Registered roofing contractor
- Registered with the department having fulfilled the competency requirements in the jurisdiction for which the registration is issued. Registered contractors "may contract only in such jurisdictions" (F.S. 489.105(10)).
Both appear on the same public register. The practical question for you is whether the credential is valid at your address, and whether it is current.
The verification, step by step
- Ask for the license number and the exact business name on the license, and the qualifying individual's name.
- Look them up on the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's licensee search.
- Confirm the license is current and active, that the category is roofing, and whether it is certified or registered.
- If registered, confirm with your own county or city building department that the credential is valid there.
- Ask for the certificate of general liability and workers' compensation insurance, and check the named insured matches the contracting entity.
Do this before the contract, not after. Florida ties several homeowner protections to the contractor being licensed, and an unlicensed person who breaks the roofing solicitation rules is separately liable for unlicensed contracting (F.S. 489.147(4)(b)). See the contract and solicitation rules.